SDMEA Hometown Power - Winner

Winner

WhiletravelingtoWinner,IdrovesouthonHighway47to 49andfinallyto44west.IhavetraveledtoWinnerviathis route before, but as I traveled south on 47 I had a new appreciation for the countryside that Isaw. Traveling aroundthestatehasmademerealizejusthowbeautifulthe state of South Dakota is and just how lucky we are to be able to have so many scenic variations.

WhenIarrivedatWinner,thefirstthingIrecallseeingwas asignonabuildingthatreads“WelcometoWinner,Home of Frank Leahy ” (Frant Leahy played football for Notre Dame from 1928-1931 and was also head coach for Notre Dame).Iwasalittleearly,soIdrovearoundtowntocheck itoutandseesomeofthetownthatIhadnotseenthispast winterwhiledrivingthroughtotheArmoryforawrestling tournament. Winner is another wonderful town in South Dakota and I encourage everyone to visit!

I failed to ask Electrical Superintendent Myles McIntyre where he wanted to meet upon my arrival, so of course, I went directly to Winner City Hall. City Hall, which was the old Winner Middle School, has been purchased by the

The old Winner Middle School now houses City Hall. city. There is also an SDSU Extension office in the building. Iwalked in and was greeted by Finance Officer RhondaAugspurger,PublicWorksDirectorBrentGilland Mayor Frank Finney. I also quickly found out that Myles does not have an office in the building and they needed to call him to come show me around.At this point, I felt like Ineeded to communicate a little better!

Myles arrived and proceeded to show me around town. The first thing that we decided to check out was the substation which is located just south of town. It is a WAPAsubandhasabayfortheCityofWinner,aswellas a bay for Rosebud Electric.

WAPA Substation: Winner bay to the north, Rosebud Electric bay to the south.

We also drove to a couple of locations where the Electric Department has been working on installing underground services. Earlier this summer, in August, they were working on installing 1,000 feet of underground primary andMylesinformedmethattheyusuallyinstall2,000feet per year. They also have a boring machine and bore their secondarytothehouses.Winnerhasbeenmakingprogress onconvertingsometroubledoverheadtoundergroundand are excited to continue to make improvements to their system.WMU also tries to replace power poles in the fall.

They have been replacing about 20 light poles per year. Myles has been working in Winner since 2006 and has beentheElectricalSuperintendentforfiveyears.Heisthe oldest of five employees in the Electrical Department, at 37yearsold.(Ibetthereareabout33otherMuniElectrics that wish they had that young of a crew). Since Myles has taken over, they have been working on upgrading the system and have also installedAMR in residential meters.

RVW WinMaster GIS System.

Winner Electrical Department does some load management in residential meters and has the ability for remote disconnect through theirAMR.

They also have a GIS system that overlays all utilities and can be a great tool for locating outages.

Whenmyinterviewwasover,MylestookmebacktoCity Hall to get my vehicle. As I started heading back east, I realized that the sign that reads “Welcome to Winner, Home of Frank Leahy ” is on the Winner Electrical Department building. I feel as though I am usually much moreobservantthanIwasonthewayintotown,however, when I return to Winner Iknow Iwill know where to find the Electrical Department and Electrical Superintendent Myles McIntyre! I look foward to returning to Winner, hopefully before next summer when I return to play baseball in the beautiful Leahy Bowl.

Myles and the crew at Winner are ready to continue to make improvements to their electrical system. Their dedication to making their city better, as well as the great prairie views, are just part of what makes their HOMETOWNgreat!

Left to right: Myles McIntyre, Tyson Steskal, Craig Vogt, Steve Steinke, Ty Bennett.

Questions? Comments? Email me at chris@sdmunicipalleague.org or call at 605-770-6299.