Welcome Gerry Bieker – Newest Addition to the KMEA Staff

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Gerry Photo

Beginning August 31st Gerry Bieker will join the KMEA Staff as your new Manager, Member Services. Gerry comes to KMEA with a background of public service in Kansas dating back to 1991. Gerry was the Director of Public Utilities for the City of Colby before moving on to Paola in 2004 to serve as Director of Public Works. In 2009 Gerry moved to Chapman to become the City Administrator. In July of 2014 Gerry became the City Manager of Goodland where he currently serves.

Gerry has an impressive list of achievements during his time in city government. We are very excited to welcome Gerry as the newest member of your KMEA team.

 

 

Out and About

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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.

 

 

The City of Lindsborg Hosted KMEA Executive Committee Meeting

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The Executive Committee had its monthly meeting at the beautiful City of Lindsborg on Wednesday.

Lindsborg was settled in 1869 by a group of Swedish immigrants. The City kept the Swedish culture and today you can see the Dala Horses displayed throughout Main Street. The Dala Horse is a wooden carved and painted horse statuette that symbolizes Dalecarlia the Swedish province where the Dala Horse originated from. Lindsborg is the home of Bethany College and has a population of 3,458.

Greg DuMars, the former president of KMEA and the City Administrator of Lindsborg attended the meeting. The meeting was held at the Sundstrom Conference Center a striking event venue located on Main Street.

 

Solar Energy Symposium

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Allen Mosher, APPA

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.

Coffeyville’s New Power Plant

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20160706_134244Yesterday we visited the City of Coffeyville and had a great time. We discussed a number of items and after lunch we took a tour of their new power plant currently under construction. Coffeyville has teamed with the Grand River Dam Authority to install three 18 megawatt Wartsila generator sets. Groundbreaking took place on the newly acquired site last fall and the completion date is scheduled for January 1st. Many thanks to Gene, Mike, and Tony for their hospitality.

 

EMP1 Celebrates 10 Years

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

Hesston Hosted KMGA Meeting

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City of HesstonOn June 21st, the KMGA Executive Committee met in the City of Hesston for their monthly meeting. The meeting was held at El Cerrito Mexican restaurant and was led by J.R. Hatfield, KMGA President.

Located in south central Kansas, the City of Hesston was established in 1886 and it is located in Harvey County. The City has a population of 4,024.

Hesston is the home of Dyck Arboretum, one of the largest native plant gardens in the region with more than 1,000 varieties of native and adaptable trees, shrubs, wild flowers and grasses. The City is also the home of Hesston Golf Park, a popular Golf Course for many Kansans.

We thank Gary Emry, Hesston’s City Administrator and member of the Executive Committee for hosting the meeting in his beautiful City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPA National Conference 2016

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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.

KMGA Board Recertification Underway

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It’s that time again!  One-half of KMGA’s Board of Directors must be recertified.  If you have Board members whose terms expire August 31st, you should have received an email from us with instructions for recertification.  For your convenience, we have placed copies of your current Board Certificates in ShareFile, which can be accessed at https://kansasmunicipalenergyagency.sharefile.com.  Once you Log In (let us know if you don’t already have a User Name and Password), go to Shared Folders/Cities/Your City/Board Certificates.  And, remember to add this item to your Council/Commission agendas.

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Joni Shadonix at (913) 660-0238 or shadonix@kmea.com

KMEA Bids A Fond Farewell To Bret Bauer

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City of Holton

(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 20th.  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.