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February 2008

FKEC Breaks Ground on New Tavernier Operations Center

The below text is adapted from the address presented by CEO Scott Newberry during the Groundbreaking Ceremony on December 11, 2007:

Our overarching goal in planning the Tavernier Operations Center was to find a way serve our community to the best of our ability, in a limited space, with a limited budget. To do this we first had to define what our community wanted from us in terms of service, and we decided the answer is fairly simple: keep the lights on. To do this, we need to have the ability to maintain a reliable system on a daily basis AND we need to be ready to restore power quickly if a storm strikes.

After Florida was hit relentlessly by hurricanes and tropical storms two years in a row in 2004 and 2005, our cooperative team members earned an invaluable education in what it takes to be truly ready. We sent crews across the state to help our fellow cooperatives restore battered electric systems, and we all learned a lot about what we needed to do to be prepared.

We started by initiating a program to storm harden our physical system – the poles, transformers, insulators, jumpers, connectors, wires – every little necessary piece that keeps the power flowing smoothly from us to you. We also doubled our efforts to trim trees and keep our lines clear from the hazards of falling branches.

Next we started looking at our buildings and forced ourselves to recognize that we are not as prepared as we should be. As David pointed out, our warehouse and many of our existing buildings are not storm rated and are unable to protect our vehicle fleet.

So we planned this new facility to combine hurricane resistant and post-storm restoration features so FKEC will be intact and better prepared to restore your power quickly and efficiently.

First, the complex will be elevated above flood levels and built of poured concrete, including the roof. The new warehouse that will store the materials and supplies for restoration will also be a much stronger structure. The warehouse was also designed to store FKEC's bucket trucks inside during storms to protect them from water and wind damage.

In addition, the new facility will contain adequate generation, fuel storage, water storage, food storage and food preparation facilities to allow us to operate in a stand-alone mode for 72 hours. We will also have a large reinforced cafeteria/multipurpose room with moveable partitions and an attached commercial kitchen. This is one of the most valuable lessons we learned from our crews visiting other areas during restoration efforts. We learned that we needed to be able to house and feed not just our own employees but also any outside crews called in to assist us.

We have talked a lot about storm readiness, but that is not the only benefit of this new facility. An additional benefit will be greater operational efficiency. FKEC's present administrative offices are across the street as you can see. This means employees and consumers must cross U.S. 1 every day to access the company's services and departments. The new facility will combine these functions for operational efficiency, better member service and increased safety of our consumers and our employees.

In addition, the facility will provide "green building" benefits. FKEC used LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines to help plan a "greener" building. Some of the green features include high efficiency chillers in lieu of standard central air; a louvered "eyebrow" around the top of the building to direct natural light in while keeping heat out; solar-assist water heating; a cistern to collect rain water from the roof; recycled building materials where possible; and an efficient cross-ventilation system in the new warehouse.

FKEC is proud to be a founding member of the Green Living and Energy Education group here in town and we certainly did our best to incorporate affordable green building solutions wherever possible.

Scott is an active member of the Upper Keys community and is a past president, current director and president-elect of the Rotary Club of Key Largo, is a director for the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce and is co-founder and president of the Upper Keys Golf Association.

In 1994, Scott completed the three-year national electrical course for apprentice linemen to further his education in cooperative operations. He is a graduate of Leadership Monroe County Class XI and completed the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's Management Internship Program in 2005.

Scott graduated from Arkansas State University with a degree in Agriculture Business and Economics in 1986. In 1988, he began his career in the electricity industry when he joined the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in Washington, D.C. With the REA, he worked first as a Commercial Loan Specialist and was later promoted to Power Requirements Officer before moving to the Florida Keys to join FKEC in 1990.