Currents-December 2021

DECEMBER 2021

Suwannee Valley

CURRENTS

INSIDE:

MORE THAN POWER LINES How SVEC’s communication and data systems keep the co-op running EXPLORE THE OUTDOOR ART OF ST. PETERSBURG MURALS St. Pete’s murals have multiplied across the city AROUND THE COMMUNITY Kids get up close at second Touch-A-Truck event and thank you to those who serve

CEO’S MESSAGE

Suwannee Valley

CURRENTS December 2021

Michael S. McWaters Executive V.P./CEO

Suwannee Valley Currents is a monthly newsletter published by Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, © 2021. It is distributed without charge to all consumermembers of the cooperative.

What supports you?

As we reach the end of another year, many of us are taking stock. What have we accomplished, and what do we want to do in the year ahead? What are our personal goals, and what benchmarks do we want to reach in our professional lives?

While we often put an emphasis on self-improvement, the truth is that none of us can get very far on our own. Whether it’s family, friends, a mentor or a supportive spouse, we all rely on those around us to help us reach the goals we set.

As the CEO of a cooperative, I’m reminded of this all the time. After all, Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative would never have gotten off the ground if not for the hard work and support of its founding members.

Today, we continue to rely on each and every one of you. It’s the buy-in of our consumer-members that keeps SVEC running, your voice that guides our decisions and your generosity that allows us to give so much back to our community.

Just as SVEC relies on its consumer-members, our electric system itself can’t stand on its own. We spend a lot of time sharing stories of how hard our crews work to improve our lines and about the latest equipment upgrades that allow us to restore power to our consumer-members faster than ever before. And for good reason. Our primary goal has always been to provide you with reliable electricity at an affordable price.

But none of that would be possible without the supporting operation of our data and communications networks. In this month’s newsletter, you can learn more about how important these networks are for providing the quality electric service you deserve, as well as what we do to make sure they are always available.

You can also find more information about how to plant something fresh of your own as the new year approaches. SVEC will be giving out trees again in celebration of Arbor Day. Remember, trees don’t just add to the look of your home, they can also reduce your electric bill by providing shade in the summer.

As this year comes to a close, I hope all of you will not only look ahead to the exciting potential of a new start, but also take time to reflect on all the people who have helped us get here. I know that all of us at SVEC will continue to be grateful for the support we get from this wonderful community. I hope all of our consumer-members have a merry Christmas and happy New Year. 

WE BELONG TO THOSE WE SERVE Business Office: 800-447-4509 11340 100th St. Live Oak, FL 32060 Lobby Hours: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday Drive-thru Kiosk Open 24 Hours 24/7 Power Outage Reporting 800-752-0025 svec-coop.com facebook.com/sveccoop @SVEC_COOP_FL Instagram.com/sveccoop SVEC is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

On the cover: A contractor replaces lights on the 500-foot communications tower at SVEC’s headquarters in Live Oak. See story, Page 4.

2 | December 2021

Suwannee Valley Currents

HAPPY

MERRY CHRISTMAS

&

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Consider power lines when planting trees

TREE GIVEAWAY In celebration of Florida’s Arbor Day, SVEC will host a tree giveaway for our consumer-members. Come by the co-op’s Live Oak office starting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22, to pick up your free tree.

This year, SVEC is giving away 150 native green ash trees on a first-come, first-served basis. There is a limit of one tree per member. You must provide proof of membership, such as an SVEC bill, to pick up a tree.

Join us and plant something new for the new year!

Suwannee Valley Currents

SVEC works to clear all its rights-of-way every three to four years.

To ensure your new tree will not one day need a trim, remember to plant the right tree in the right place.

Always leave a 15-foot clear zone on either side of power lines.

SMALL TREES: mature height of 20 feet or less. Leave 20 feet of clearance between a small tree and the clear zone. These plants include juniper, Sargent crabapple, crape myrtle, azalea, viburnum and fruit trees.

MEDIUM TREES: mature height of 20 to 30 feet. Leave 30 feet of clearance between a medium-size tree and the clear zone. Tree options include little gem and star magnolias, dogwood and ligustrum.

TALL TREES: mature height of 30 to 60 feet.

Leave 60 feet of clearance between tall trees and the clear zone. Tall trees include oak, pine and pecan.

December 2021 | 3

© Elena Iakovlev, Anna Putina, /iStock

SVEC’s office will be closed for the Christmas holiday Thursday, Dec. 23 through Friday, Dec. 24, and on New Year’s Eve, Friday, Dec. 31. Our 24-hour outage reporting system is always available, as is our drive-thru payment kiosk.

We will have standby crews ready to restore power if needed.

MORE TH How SVEC’s communication and data

For more than 80 years, Suwannee to day, but they also help crews work generally limited to what is within an Valley Electric Cooperative’s system efficiently and respond quickly to any operator’s line of sight, the cooperahas provided affordable, reliable elec- problems members may have. tive also has three repeaters stratetricity to our members. Over time, that gically located across its service area electric system has grown to encom- COMMUNICATION IS KEY to boost the signal so crews are never pass more than 4,000 miles of distriThe pillars of SVEC’s communi- out of reach. While most day-to-day bution lines, about 80,000 poles and cations system are 15 towers, one operations are handled over radio, 14 substations serving over 27,000 at the main office and 14 at sub- crews also have mobile phones as a consumers. stations across the cooperative’s backup.

What members may not realize is 2,100-square-mile service area.

Each cooperative employee also that the cooperative also maintains These towers allow our control center, carries an iPad for quick access to two other networks crucial to the substations, and devices in the field important information. With the taboperation of our electric grid. SVEC’s to communicate with each other via let, crews can receive and close communications and data operations microwaves. service tickets on the go, check sysare just as robust as the electric infraThe towers also keep SVEC crews tem maps for any special instrucstructure they support. They not only in touch through two-way radio com- tions about a member’s property and keep our electric system running day munication. Since radio signals are access important files on SVEC’s

Dispatcher Leslie Grinnell communicates via radio with a lineworker in the field.

4 | December 2021

Suwannee Valley Currents

POWER LINES networks keep the co-op running

intranet. These devices also allow crews to check and update work history at a particular location, keeping other crews and office staff up to date when working with the same consumer-members.

All of these tools add up to more efficient service for you. When crews can receive their next work assignment without driving 30 minutes back to the office, it means faster response times and lower costs for the co-op.

INFORMATION MEANS POWER

The most important element of SVEC’s data network is one consumer-members can find right at home: their electric meter. The cooperative can automatically read each one remotely, rather than having to send someone to do it visually.

Operators at SVEC’s headquarters can even send a signal to a meter to

Suwannee Valley Currents

with automatic vehicle tracking. Using GPS data, dispatchers always know which crews are closest to an outage, so they can deploy them for the fastest possible repairs. Vehicle tracking is also useful after a major storm, allowing SVEC to keep accurate records of how much time crews worked in specific counties. This information helps local counties when applying for reimbursements from FEMA. Just like SVEC’s radio communications are backed up by cellular service, the cooperative’s internet service has multiple redundancies built in to make sure its network never goes down. The cooperative subscribes to internet service from Windstream and Comcast, as well as cellular and satellite networks, so that if one service provider goes down, others are there to pick up the slack. check if the power is on. Additionally, The computer network at SVEC’s the cooperative is currently testing headquarters is even served from the use of the next generation of elec- two directions by a fiber optic ring, so tric meters, which will be able to notify that if one side is damaged the coopoperators of an outage automatically. erative can continue to function. Two In time, that means SVEC may be years ago, key servers were also able to dispatch repair crews before moved to a storm-hardened buildconsumer-members can even call to ing graded for up to 150 mph winds, report an outage. ensuring that SVEC’s network can Automated switching can also remain intact even during a hurricane. shorten many outages drastically Each of these measures is the without having to wait for crews to result of years of experience with make repairs. This technology can storms. SVEC does not let a lesson detect faults on the grid, isolate them pass without acting on it, whether the and back-feed electricity to bypass knowledge was learned firsthand in the source of the fault until repairs our service area or picked up while are made. As a result, power is often helping repair the systems of other restored for many consumer-mem- co-ops. Together, they contribute to bers much more quickly. the reliability, affordability and efficiency that SVEC consumer-memSERVICE WHEN IT bers have come to expect. 

COUNTS

SVEC can also keep track of the location of each crew in real time December 2021 | 5

social media

SPOTLIGHT Follow SVEC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest on outages, cooperative programs, community events and more. Here are some highlights from the last month.

Roasted parmesan

sweet potatoes

© ra2 studio, Brent Hofacker/d A obe Stock

2 1/2 pounds (about 3 medium) sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes 3 tablespoons olive oil 3-4 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves 1/2 cup melted butter 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place diced sweet potatoes on a baking sheet. In a small mixing bowl, stir together olive oil, garlic and thyme. Then pour the mixture over the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and toss to evenly coat.

Spread into an even layer.

Roast in the oven until tender, tossing once halfway through, about 30 minutes total. You may want to broil the potatoes during the last 1-2 minutes for more golden-brown, crispier potatoes.

As soon as you remove the potatoes from the oven, drizzle and toss them with the melted butter, sprinkle them with parmesan and parsley, and serve.

Makes 4 servings. 

facebook.com/sveccoop instagram.com/sveccoop twitter.com/SVEC_COOP 6 | December 2021

Do you have a great recipe?

Email a copy of a recipe you’d like to share to communications@svec-coop.com.

Suwannee Valley Currents

Explore the outdoor art of

St. Petersburg murals

By Bill Andelman

As St. Pete’s murals have multiplied across the city, it seems everyone has a favorite.

Science fiction fan? Get a picture of you and your friends running from the city’s former landmark — an inverted pier — giving chase on spider legs and shooting deadly lasers at tourists.

Reminiscent of “War of the Worlds,” the design, painted over an antique Coca-Cola sign, is by the Vitale Brothers. It’s located on the corner of Baum Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street North.

Science fan without the fiction?

Pose beside Carrie Jadus’ portrait of Nikola Tesla, whose inventions often rivaled those of Thomas Edison himself. You can find the mural at 2232 5th Ave. S. Admirer of Mexican painter Frieda Kahlo? There’s a popular Jennifer Kosharek mural of Frieda’s face in Mural Alley, located downtown behind the stores on the 600 North block of Central Avenue.

The owners of China Finders, located at 2823 Central, hired artist

Sarah Sheppard to combine images of the plates and cups found in their store with Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter and other characters from the 2010 movie “Alice in Wonderland.”

And Big John’s Brake and Alignment auto repair shop, 1210 1st Ave. N., commissioned the Vitale Brothers to paint a caricature of Big John on its metal entry doors. The mural, named “Service with a Smile,” is more overtly commercial than most, but it’s guaranteed to bring a grin.

The growth of the central business district murals dates back to 2010, when major redevelopment plans for the entire 600 block of Central collapsed. Instead, the block became an artists’ colony of sorts, packed with independent galleries, boutiques and restaurants brought in at deeply discounted rents. In the alley behind the stores, the murals started appearing, each one more colorful, clever and sometimes funnier than the last.

“All of sudden,” says Diane Shelly, former director of the Florida Craft Art

Gallery, “that back alley was such a cool place.”

And in a city of great pop art museums, including The Dali and Chihuly, many refer to the St. Petersburg street art as the city’s outdoor museum.

Every great museum needs a docent, and the Florida Craft Art Gallery, located at 501 Central, offers multiblock walking tours every Saturday morning for $10 per person.

“Everybody does the ‘I’m being eaten by a shark!’ pose behind the State Theater,” Shelly says. “Any evening that you go in the alley, you’ll see people taking pictures, doing wedding shoots, engagement shoots, fashion shoots. It’s pretty amazing what’s happened.”

To see the broadest swath of the city’s outdoor art, you can also hoof it up and down Central Avenue North, starting at the 500 block and continuing west to 28th Street, a stretch of about 3 miles. But be aware that not all St. Pete murals are easy to spot from the street. In fact, part of the fun is finding those tucked away in unlikely spaces and walls.  Photo courtesy of Bill Serne

Suwannee Valley Currents

December 2021 | 7

Kids get up close at second Touch-A-Truck event

Thank you to the hundreds of kids, parents and grandparents who came out to enjoy our second ever Touch-A-Truck event. It was an awesome day, and we loved seeing so many happy faces!

We want to offer a huge thank you to our community partners for helping make the day special: Live Oak Police Department, Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office, Suwannee County Fire Rescue, Live Oak Fire Department, Suwannee County Department of Corrections, Live Oak Public Works Department, Suwannee County Schools, Pregnancy Care Center of Live Oak, Wings Over Suwannee/Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 797, LifeSouth, SRM Concrete and Bryant Tree Service.

Special thanks to Emily Jane Curtis and art students from Suwannee High School for thrilling the kids with their balloon creations and face painting.

Thank you to those who serve

SVEC’s Mike Cameron enjoyed waving to the crowd from the bucket truck he drove in the Live Oak Veterans Day parade. While in the Army, Mike saw active duty during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

We also honor our other employees who have served their country in the military: Craig Ragan, Marines; John Robinson, Navy; Anthony Thompkins, Army; and Evan Fuller, Army.

Mike McWaters, Jon Little and Kristy McWaters hosted SVEC’s laboratory.

A scary good time Mike Cameron 8 | December 2021

We had a blast seeing all the costumes and boiling up fun at the Suwannee County Candy Carnival the night before Halloween. Dr. Frankenstein, his monster and his monster’s bride passed out candy to all who ventured into our laboratory.

Suwannee Valley Currents