It seems the older I get, the quicker the time goes. I guess part of that speed could be related to everything we have going on here at Decatur County REMC.

We had several events happening in April. We “celebrated the power behind your power” on Lineman Appreciation Day and Administrative Professionals Day. The group of employees we have here are some of the best. I appreciate their hard work and dedication to our members, the co-op and our communities. One day is not enough to celebrate them, but it is a day for extra celebration! 

We also hosted a First Responders Live Line event for the first time. Like our linemen at times, these individuals are first on the scene, and with safety being a top priority here at DCREMC, we want to make sure we do it right. Be sure to catch our June issue for more information about this event.

Time is not slowing down regarding events, either. We have our first “Wings & Watts Up” scheduled for Tuesday, May 9, at 6 p.m. here at DCREMC. Then it will be time for our main event — your Annual Meeting, back in person and scheduled for Friday, June 16! Lots of information is included in this month’s issue, so do not hesitate to call with any questions.

Aside from the member events happening, one item I have not shared yet is an organizational shift we had at the end of last year that is still progressing. This shift affected two areas, Operations and Member Services.

• Operations — for safety, outage response efficiency and contractor cost controls, we shifted an employee’s roles and responsibilities to assist Operations, along with adding two linemen to our organizational chart.
• Member Services — to spread the work more efficiently, the marketing and communication responsibilities were shifted to our Member Services Department.
• Project Management — to focus more on business planning, we shifted an employee’s roles and responsibilities to concentrate on project management.

The goal of these shifts is to leverage opportunities to align employee skill sets and to organize as efficiently and effectively as possible. As you can see, we have a lot of changes happening right now, and changes affecting our whole company.

As Robert Orben said, “Time flies. It’s up to you to be the navigator.” I am hopeful that I am navigating DCREMC in the right direction, but remember, this is your co-op! If you have any thoughts or suggestions on where we should steer, please call me so we can discuss them.