Archive for category: General Information

Staff left Overland Park Wednesday morning to visit six KMGA member cities over the next two days.  The first stop was at the City of Howard, where they met with Becky Oakleaf, Ernest Tousley, and Kevin Mitchell.  The next destination was the City of Winfield.  At Winfield staff met with Gus Collins and James Ging.  Jim Neal also provided a tour of Winfield’s power plant facility.

On Thursday staff met with Amber Kummer and Larry Berry with the City of Anthony.  From Anthony they traveled to Attica to meet with Suzann Shippy.  The next stop was in Argonia to meet with city clerk Mindy Mages.  The final stop was at the Wellington power plant.  There, staff met with Roger Estes and Ryan HainThe visits included reviewing historical usage data, looking at current rate calculation processes, discussing services and assistance that KMGA can provide, as well as making note of our upcoming Annual Conference in November. We thank everyone for taking time to visit with us.  It is always very beneficial and productive to meet with member cities.

Speaker- Allen Mosher, APPA

Yesterday KMEA sponsored a solar energy symposium in Lindsborg, Kansas. The event included presenters from Cornerstone Energy and MC Power both solar energy developers. Also, Allen Mosher, Vice President of Policy Analysis for the American Public Power Association presented on distributed resources and APPAs Public Power Forward. It was a great event with more than thirty people in attendance and several on the phone. Thanks to Colin Hansen as well for his presentation on metering laws and regulations concerning parallel and distributed generation. It was a great day in Lindsborg and we hope everyone came away more informed on the solar industry and how it may affect our communities and customers.

Energy Management Project No. 1 (EMP1) is celebrating 10 years of existence. It was officially created in 2006, by a set of agreements between KMEA and five member cities: Baldwin City, Gardner, Garnett, Osawatomie and Ottawa.

Under the EMP1 agreement, project cities operationally combined their municipal electric systems to purchase electric power and transmission as a centrally dispatched group, and to manage power supplied from their resources in the GRDA, SPA and WAPA projects. KMEA began delivering electricity under the EMP No. 1 on June 1, 2006.

The City Pomona became the newest member of EMP1 in 2015. The City started to receive power from KMEA on July 1, 2015.

On June 28^th, the EMP 1 monthly meeting was held at KMEA’s Office. EMP1 members and staff celebrated the anniversary with a delicious cake.

KMEA Staff members attended the American Public Power Association National Conference and Public Power Expo in Phoenix last week. The weather “cooperated” as it hovered just over 100 degrees each afternoon and we can tell you that dry heat is still hot. The national conference is an opportunity to catch up on the latest happenings in the public power sector, attend training and information sessions, and to learn about the latest technologies affecting our industry. It is a valuable opportunity to network with the leaders of other public power bodies as well as the APPA staff and the vendors. APPA is an organization that provides valuable leadership, training, information, and legislative guidance for America’s public power sector. Visit www.publicpower.org  for more information and resources.

(Pictured from left to right) Mike Elliot, Craig Figge, Bret Bauer, Scott Fredrickson, and Kerwin McKee

Yesterday, Bret Bauer celebrated his last day as City Manager of the City of Holton in style by hosting the monthly EMP3 meeting at the Holton Power Plant …and Grill (for a day).  Craig, Andrew, Anthony, Corey, Mike, Ira, and the rest of the crew professionally balanced starting and running multiple generators with grilling Holton’s famous steaks and brats for an enjoyable lunch for the group.  Bret has served dutifully in his role at Holton for over five years.  He has been actively engaged in the Agency from day one, at times serving as a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors, and the chair of the Finance Committee.

It was appropriate that part of Bret’s last day was spent with the EMP3 group, as he played an instrumental role in the formation of the Project, which started in 2013.  He served stints as EMP3 chair and vice-chair.  Fittingly, Bret is off to a city whose motto is ‘We Shoot Straight With You’, Gun Barrel City, Texas.  Chosen from thirty-five initial candidates (per Council minutes), he jumps right into the frying pan on the first day of Summer and will become City Manager of Gun Barrel, a city of 5,700 people which is approximately 60 miles southeast of Dallas, on Monday, June 20^th.  KMEA thanks Bret for his vocal advocacy and support for public power, EMP3, and the Agency.  Please join us in wishing Bret the best of luck.