by Brad Dolinski, CEO
Good morning NIECI!
I got to visit with my buddy Dan last night. He’s one of those lifelong friends you are fortunate enough to meet. Dan was the guy that introduced me to the area. We used to go to his parents’ cabin back in the day to hunt, fish, and cruise around on snowmobiles or wheelers. Little did I know years later, I would move to the area we used to have so much fun at!
Unfortunately, I think I spent more time fishing and enjoying the fun side of the area when I was a guest. That’s what happens when life gets busy, great memories still.
April 11th is National Lineman Appreciation Day. We all appreciate our linemen every day, April 11th is set aside for this hard-working crew. Bruce, Chuck, John, Cody, Cole, Josh, Jake, and Trevor make up our crew at North Itasca Electric.
These guys are out on the system rain or shine to get our lights back on. This group will miss holidays, family events and cancel plans at moment’s notice to serve
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the Member-Owners of North Itasca Electric. I want to personally thank you all for your dedication to the membership and the hard work you provide for all of us!
My wife Cathy called me last night. “Did you know our trees were getting cut?!” Whoops, I might have forgotten to tell her that. We had three beautiful pines that were just too close to the power line. The crew did a very nice job cleaning up, I’ll have some great campfire wood for next year after it dries out a bit. I told Cathy I will get the stumps ground down and it will look nice when it’s done. Should be a lot easier to mow that part of the yard now.
I know the right-of-way clearing can cause hard feelings when these trees get cut. It is so necessary for safety and reliability.
With the dry conditions we have this spring, I’m so happy we have been responsibly clearing our right-of-way. This will help to prevent fires from starting due to powerlines.
I watched a great video from our insurance company Federated yesterday. This video talks about electrical powerline safety. It does a great job to explain the dangers of trees on the lines and when power lines fall to the ground. You can’t see, smell, or hear if a line is de-energized. We must respect the dangers of this system and stay away! We are posting that video on our website and Facebook account. I encourage you to watch the video, if you have kids around, please encourage them to watch the video also.
It’s going to be a short weekend. I’m heading to Maple Grove on Sunday to meet with fellow CEOs from Great River Energy’s system. We will meet on Monday morning to go over our monthly Member Manager Group agenda. Right after that I head down to St. Paul for three days of action. I have a meeting with Minnesota Rural Electric Association in the afternoon then I’m going to meet with our Board of Directors.
Monday night we team up with Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, North Star Electric, Cooperative Light and Power, and Lake Country Power. We invite all our legislators to supper to meet and greet and get to know one another a little better. We talk about the issues facing our cooperatives and communities. Tuesday we all head to the Capitol, we visit with our legislators and have the necessary conversations about the impacts of the bills proposed.
I enjoy these trips to the Capitol. We are a very diverse group with expertise in many different areas. We use this passion to connect with all our legislators. We need relationships with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. We listen to the concerns of the legislators; we have open and honest conversations about our concerns and the potential impacts of proposed legislation.
These meetings are respectful and full of good information, I always learn a lot from our time at the Capitol. I have respect for our legislators, I couldn’t imagine being pulled in so many directions at once.
They have a difficult job; we strive to be a trusted source of information to support their difficult decisions. I take a lot of pride in the relationships we have built with all our legislators.
I’m heading over to the great St. Urho celebration this weekend. The community and Leino family have always put on quite a show. For those of you not familiar, St. Urho ran the grasshoppers out of Finland saving the grape crop. Without grapes, it’s pretty tough to make wine. People grab their purple and green and head to Leino’s Pub; they aren’t disappointed.
By your side! Miigwech
Brad
