By Chris Hill, Director of Municipal Electric Services
SDML Conference Recap
Conference is over. I hate to admit it, but I was kind of dreading conference this year. Actually, I’m embarrassed to admit that because every year I have a great time and enjoy seeing everyone! This year I had a great time again as we all gathered to learn and share. I guess this month, the Hometown Power is a shout out to our host city, Aberdeen. Although it is not a municipal electric community, I do enjoy Aberdeen and always have. My first experiences of Aberdeen were State “B” basketball tournaments and I made many references as to how close the hospitality room resembles a very familiar scene from those very basketball tournaments. The conversations have changed, but the atmosphere is shockingly similar. Some things may never change. There are also things that I don’t want to change. My first conference I was able to meet a lot of great people, but two of the most memorable people that I met at that conference were the two responsible for making sure the hospitality room was cleaned out on Friday morning. Al Cerny from Gregory and Mike Grosek of Webster are two of the most wonderful people that I have met and continue to impress me with their selflessness and dedication not only to their cities, but to the SDML as well. This year I was even lucky enough to have Al on my golf team. Although we didn’t finish with a great score (37), we had a great time. Along with Dawn Wendland (Baltic) and Gregg Jorgensen (Banner) we had a very fun time at the SDML golf tournament.
Wednesday began the breakout sessions and the SDMEA annual meeting was at 9AM. The meeting began with an update on SB 66 and the summer study takeaways and thoughts going forward. Casey Crabtree from Heartland Consumers Power District and Deb Birgen from Missouri River Energy Services did a great job of giving us the update. Next, I gave a brief update on what I have been doing for the SDMEA this year and what is on the schedule 46
for the remaining months of 2019. There is still a lot that needs to be done. As I am writing this article, I just sent out the 2018 (yes, 2018) Comparison of Operations Survey. I will also be sending out a wage/benefit survey soon, so be checking your emails! Finally, I also intend to get some printed materials for handout in your finance offices that explain the benefit of municipal electrics and what it means for your community.
The SDMEA meeting finished up with Lori Frisk from Western Area Power Administration giving her WAPA update and Jeffery Armour from Verizon presenting on small cell infrastructure. When all of the presentations were completed we finished with our SDMEA business meeting.
This year Sara (SDML Director of Marketing and Communications) decided to have horse races and games of chance for our Wednesday night entertainment. It was a lot of work and there were a lot of moving parts. Despite some hiccups with the audio, the night was a huge success and a lot of fun. It was great to see so many people involved in the theme “a night at the races” and dress up in their derby clothing. Your participation is what makes it more enjoyable for all of us. The impending weather may have had some people on the SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
