Full Transcript for CU Leader Looks Back & Public Power Benefits

prep me for that. 00:01:49.469 --> 00:01:54.609 I did not. No, I did not. I'd like to. That's 00:01:54.609 --> 00:01:57.769 it, actually. So I feel like we need to take 00:01:57.769 --> 00:02:01.150 that sound effect just now because that's not 00:02:01.150 --> 00:02:03.980 for me. No, it's like a ghost from the past. 00:02:04.299 --> 00:02:07.120 That's right. Because that's featuring our guest 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.979 of this episode. Who is a ghost from the past. 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:13.219 Quite literally, yes. Someone who is kind of 00:02:13.219 --> 00:02:15.500 a big deal to play into Anchorman. He's kind 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:18.340 of a big deal around here. Yeah. So without further 00:02:18.340 --> 00:02:20.960 ado, let's introduce our guest for this episode. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:25.300 And that is Scott Miller, former CU general manager. 00:02:25.659 --> 00:02:28.250 Scott. Good morning. How's everybody? You're 00:02:28.250 --> 00:02:33.370 still here. Well, you know, ghosts come and go. 00:02:33.430 --> 00:02:35.490 That's right. That's right. You're still haunting 00:02:35.490 --> 00:02:38.330 CU as it were. Oh, yeah. Well, Halloween Hustle. 00:02:38.370 --> 00:02:41.949 Yes. What a cool event. And I've kicked it off 00:02:41.949 --> 00:02:46.069 several times. I've run in it. The dogs, some 00:02:46.069 --> 00:02:48.469 of the dog costumes that are there are just incredible. 00:02:48.710 --> 00:02:51.550 So to me, even if you're not a runner, come on 00:02:51.550 --> 00:02:54.349 out, participate. It's a cool event. Yeah, it 00:02:54.349 --> 00:02:56.909 is fun. And just like you can walk in and grab 00:02:56.909 --> 00:02:59.270 some candy and just come out and enjoy. You can 00:02:59.270 --> 00:03:01.210 even come out and cheer on the runners. You know, 00:03:01.330 --> 00:03:03.949 when you can go out there and walk and come out 00:03:03.949 --> 00:03:06.590 heavier on the backside than when you started, 00:03:06.729 --> 00:03:08.710 that's when you know it's a good one. That's 00:03:08.710 --> 00:03:11.150 right. You add some Reese's peanut butter cups, 00:03:11.289 --> 00:03:13.370 100 % on there. It's a good sign of success. 00:03:13.629 --> 00:03:16.370 Well, thanks for being here. So you started with 00:03:16.370 --> 00:03:19.689 City Utilities in 2002. You retired in 2019. 00:03:20.330 --> 00:03:24.770 When did you step into the big seat? 2011. Okay. 00:03:24.969 --> 00:03:28.009 So eight years and had enough. Yeah. Yeah. That's 00:03:28.009 --> 00:03:29.930 good. Well, thanks for coming back. What have 00:03:29.930 --> 00:03:32.009 you been doing since you retired? Just a little 00:03:32.009 --> 00:03:35.349 bit of everything. I committed to my wife, Kathy, 00:03:35.469 --> 00:03:37.569 that when we got done, I wasn't going to do a 00:03:37.569 --> 00:03:40.789 whole lot. So it's mostly just retirement things, 00:03:40.889 --> 00:03:44.889 fishing and gardening and some travel. Just got 00:03:44.889 --> 00:03:46.770 back from Durango where we were doing some hiking, 00:03:46.949 --> 00:03:50.210 which I really love to do. That's great. So you've 00:03:50.210 --> 00:03:51.849 successfully retired. Some people aren't really 00:03:51.849 --> 00:03:55.680 good at it. You know, you work so hard. You put 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.280 in so many hours through your whole career. A 00:03:58.280 --> 00:04:00.280 lot of times I think we get on the backside of 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:02.180 it and we don't even know what we like or what 00:04:02.180 --> 00:04:05.039 we're good at or what we want to do. And I think 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:07.840 a lot of people jump right into something. First, 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.879 they're uncomfortable. So what do you do? Say 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.879 yes to something and do something. And I think 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.039 you have to be uncomfortable for a while in retirement 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:17.199 and figure out what you like. And then if it's 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:19.019 still work, then fine. Do what you love. Yeah, 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:21.240 that's great. Well, talking about finding the 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:24.139 things that you love, can I ask how you ended 00:04:24.139 --> 00:04:27.040 up moving into the top seat at City Utilities? 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:30.579 What was that like for you and to make that journey? 00:04:31.019 --> 00:04:36.430 You know, I don't know. So I'd been here a little 00:04:36.430 --> 00:04:40.370 while. I loved being at City Utilities. And then 00:04:40.370 --> 00:04:44.930 John Twitty announced his retirement. And it 00:04:44.930 --> 00:04:48.149 was really kind of interesting. My cat and I 00:04:48.149 --> 00:04:50.970 were out walking. And she goes, so what are you 00:04:50.970 --> 00:04:53.089 going to do? Cat's your wife name. You weren't 00:04:53.089 --> 00:04:55.589 walking with your cat. She's Kathy. I'm sorry. 00:04:55.670 --> 00:04:57.769 I call her Cat. You said Cat and I were out walking. 00:04:57.769 --> 00:05:00.769 Yeah, I was out walking my cat. With the sunglasses 00:05:00.769 --> 00:05:07.199 on and the baby carrier. And so she just asked 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:11.199 me, what are you going to do? And I said, you 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:15.540 know, it's a big job, and there's a lot of pressure 00:05:15.540 --> 00:05:20.240 on it. And she goes, you know, you aren't going 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:26.480 to be happy if you don't try. And there were 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:29.439 some really good candidates, but I got lucky 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:34.100 and got it, and I'm really glad I did. This is 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:37.579 great. company and a lot of good employees. And 00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:40.920 so it really was an honor, actually, to get that 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:43.560 job. That's great. What was your biggest accomplishment 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:49.660 or proudest accomplishment? So this will be a 00:05:49.660 --> 00:05:51.860 little bit

of a long story, but it was just before 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:56.000 I got the job. I came in and we were trying to 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.060 build a power plant. And we did not pass the 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:02.360 first election, but passed the second one in 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:07.000 2008. And in that time frame, what would have 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:11.360 cost $450 million costs $600 million. So the 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.439 delay was – and then right off the bat, as soon 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:19.240 as we passed the election, there was a company 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:21.560 called Texas Utilities, and they bought up just 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:24.000 about all the boiler equipment in the United 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.699 States capacity. And then a couple other companies 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:29.740 bought up all the general electric gas turbines 00:06:29.740 --> 00:06:32.019 and Westinghouse gas – not gas turbines, but 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:35.529 turbines. And so there we were at the very beginning 00:06:35.529 --> 00:06:38.430 of the project where we lost a lot of U .S. manufacturing. 00:06:39.589 --> 00:06:43.449 And we went out for bids and we came back and 00:06:43.449 --> 00:06:50.550 we were at the max of our budget with contingency 00:06:50.550 --> 00:06:55.600 before we even started. Wow. And so we selected 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:58.699 Stanley Engineering and we had an internal. project 00:06:58.699 --> 00:07:01.660 team that was fantastic. And so I think the thing 00:07:01.660 --> 00:07:04.720 I'm most proud of is we came out on the backside 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:08.620 three years later. We started the unit on time. 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:11.579 Our internal team was fantastic. So I'm most 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:13.560 proud of them. I think they did a fantastic job. 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:18.519 And in the end, we came in on budget, on time, 00:07:18.579 --> 00:07:22.339 and there were four other... projects that went 00:07:22.339 --> 00:07:25.160 on at the same time. And every one of them, but 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:27.920 one was late coming on, and they were all at 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.540 least 20 % over. That's great. And so being able 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:34.579 to bring John Twitty unit number two online on 00:07:34.579 --> 00:07:38.319 time and in budget was huge. And for people who 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:40.579 maybe don't realize the impact of that, it provides 00:07:40.579 --> 00:07:42.839 a substantial amount of power to our community. 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:46.699 Do you remember the numbers at all? Well, I don't 00:07:46.699 --> 00:07:50.180 know what the new numbers are, but our peak electric 00:07:50.180 --> 00:07:54.000 use on the hottest day is right around, I'm just 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.860 going to say 700 some megawatts. And John Twitty 00:07:58.860 --> 00:08:00.779 unit number two is about 300 megawatts. Okay. 00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:04.560 Yeah. So it's huge. And I will say one other, 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:06.379 there's one other thing I'm really proud of. 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.259 One day I'm walking in a hallway and I think 00:08:09.259 --> 00:08:12.459 you guys know Jeff Bertholdy, but he was in IT 00:08:12.459 --> 00:08:14.720 and he said, hey, do you have a minute? I want 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:17.500 to talk to you about something. And that little 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:20.720 conversation in the hallway, is now the fiber 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.259 in our community. No way. Oh, interesting. And 00:08:23.259 --> 00:08:25.000 he goes, I'm thinking about this. I think we 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.120 ought to do this. And we just sat there for about 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:30.740 five minutes. And it was two things. One was 00:08:30.740 --> 00:08:34.159 I felt proud that, you know, he... felt comfortable 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:35.740 just grabbing me and say, Hey, let's talk about 00:08:35.740 --> 00:08:38.019 this for a few minutes. And I said, put something 00:08:38.019 --> 00:08:39.879 together, bring it to the executive committee. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:41.879 We'll, we'll see what you think. Cause I liked 00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:45.360 it. And, and I mean, I wish we could have done 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:47.799 it two years earlier. So during COVID, you know, 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:50.659 we would have been in better shape, but that 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:55.090 was I, I, I just. felt comfortable looking back 00:08:55.090 --> 00:08:58.009 on that saying, you know, the openness and allowing 00:08:58.009 --> 00:09:00.110 people to really be creative and think about 00:09:00.110 --> 00:09:02.769 what they want to do for the community. And that's 00:09:02.769 --> 00:09:04.809 what he was doing. It wasn't about him. It was 00:09:04.809 --> 00:09:06.990 about what can we do for our customers. Jeff 00:09:06.990 --> 00:09:08.929 Protholdy, who's the director of SpringNet, we 00:09:08.929 --> 00:09:10.769 talked about, I don't remember which episode, 00:09:10.870 --> 00:09:12.649 but he talked to us about that fiber project. 00:09:12.710 --> 00:09:17.429 And it ended up being a major boon for city utilities 00:09:17.429 --> 00:09:19.669 and for our community. Hey, Scott, you got a 00:09:19.669 --> 00:09:21.470 couple minutes. Let's talk. That's incredible. 00:09:22.190 --> 00:09:24.049 That's awesome. That was awesome that he was 00:09:24.049 --> 00:09:26.590 able to do that, and now it's the birth of, was 00:09:26.590 --> 00:09:28.970 the birth of SpringNet. Yeah. Now, so, Scott, 00:09:29.049 --> 00:09:31.350 there are two questions I've got. When you say 00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:34.629 John Twitty Unit 2, Number 2, what do you mean 00:09:34.629 --> 00:09:38.250 exactly by that? Oh, I'm sorry. We have a power 00:09:38.250 --> 00:09:40.970 plant located on the southwest side of town, 00:09:41.009 --> 00:09:44.529 so it had an incredible name, Southwest Power 00:09:44.529 --> 00:09:46.610 Station. I mean, how

does it get any better than 00:09:46.610 --> 00:09:52.980 that? And so really John was a big thrust in 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:56.460 getting that project approved and moving forward. 00:09:56.580 --> 00:09:59.639 He was the general manager at the time. And so 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:03.519 the board decided after that unit came online 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:06.120 that they were going to change the name of the 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:08.779 power plant to John Twitty Energy Center. And 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:12.379 so there are two units out there. Okay. So the 00:10:12.379 --> 00:10:14.679 other thing is, based on that story that you 00:10:14.679 --> 00:10:17.409 were describing, it sounds like... That was one 00:10:17.409 --> 00:10:19.649 of your most challenging moments as well while 00:10:19.649 --> 00:10:21.750 being here at CU? Yeah, it sounded like it was 00:10:21.750 --> 00:10:23.490 both an accomplishment and a challenge. Right, 00:10:23.490 --> 00:10:30.990 yeah. Yeah, it was. I just think I've been fortunate 00:10:30.990 --> 00:10:32.750 that I've worked with some really great people 00:10:32.750 --> 00:10:36.730 in that team that we put together. I remember 00:10:36.730 --> 00:10:41.620 having a meeting with our engineer and the team, 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:45.559 and I walked in, I knew it was different. It 00:10:45.559 --> 00:10:50.159 was early on. And basically they said, we're 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:51.580 not going to be able to complete this project 00:10:51.580 --> 00:10:56.379 on budget. It was early. And so I said, well, 00:10:56.419 --> 00:11:00.980 tell me more about it. And to their dismay, I 00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:03.779 said, no, we're not going to do it. We're going 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:06.299 to make it. We're going to do it on this. And 00:11:06.299 --> 00:11:08.879 so I asked everybody what their schedules were. 00:11:09.059 --> 00:11:11.159 And so we cleared our schedule for the next day 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:13.360 and a half. And we just sat in there and we said, 00:11:13.419 --> 00:11:14.980 okay, what are we cutting? What are we doing? 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:17.980 What can make it work? And we got to the end 00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:19.879 of the day, and I just went around the table 00:11:19.879 --> 00:11:22.019 and said, okay, who doesn't think that we can 00:11:22.019 --> 00:11:25.480 make this on budget? And everybody, I made everybody 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:28.539 commit in that room that day, we are going to 00:11:28.539 --> 00:11:31.600 make this on budget. And we did. It's like that 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:34.259 scene from Dave. It's one of my favorite movies 00:11:34.259 --> 00:11:37.100 where he's sitting there with a red pen, and 00:11:37.100 --> 00:11:39.480 he's like, okay, do we need 10 number two pencils, 00:11:39.580 --> 00:11:41.860 or do we only need two number two pencils? And 00:11:41.860 --> 00:11:43.299 you just kind of nickel and dime it to where 00:11:43.299 --> 00:11:47.299 it works. We

did. We did. And I think every one 00:11:47.299 --> 00:11:48.700 of those people would tell you right now they 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:50.039 didn't think we were going to make it. But I 00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:51.940 made them commit to it. And we got there. Yeah, 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:53.840 that's great. I mean, there were things that 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:56.299 we had to cut that we didn't want to cut. So, 00:11:56.379 --> 00:11:58.100 you know, I think one of the things that community 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:01.679 maybe doesn't quite know or appreciate enough 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:04.940 is the impact of local generation, which is kind 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:06.960 of a good transition into what we want to talk 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:08.299 to you a little bit more about, which is public 00:12:08.299 --> 00:12:11.580 power. So as we transition into that, like, why 00:12:11.580 --> 00:12:14.179 is it important? to have local generation or 00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:16.179 why is there a benefit to local generation instead 00:12:16.179 --> 00:12:20.720 of just, you know, buying it? Right. Wow. You 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:25.639 want to control your own destiny. When you have 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:29.080 your own generation, you have the ability, you 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:31.879 know you have the backup. If something goes wrong 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:34.299 out there, if the transmission system, for whatever 00:12:34.299 --> 00:12:39.039 reason, has troubles during the hottest time 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:42.320 of the year, you have the ability to, deliver 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:47.220 power to all of your customers. And just think 00:12:47.220 --> 00:12:49.279 about that. That's just people getting through 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.100 their daily lives. That's manufacturing. That's 00:12:52.100 --> 00:12:55.220 education. That's everything. And when you think 00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:57.919 about our business, I don't know of any other 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:00.080 business out there that impacts every one of 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.820 our customers every second of every day. And 00:13:02.820 --> 00:13:08.000 so to have that, and if you'll give me two or 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.899 three minutes. In the early 1950s, you got to 00:13:11.899 --> 00:13:14.299 go back to some great leadership in the city 00:13:14.299 --> 00:13:18.080 of Springfield. We had an electric supply that 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:21.980 wasn't here. It was being supplied from an investor 00:13:21.980 --> 00:13:25.580 -owned utility. They weren't reliable. The service 00:13:25.580 --> 00:13:29.320 wasn't good. And we were also in the middle of 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.620 that huge drought in the 50s. And so we were 00:13:32.620 --> 00:13:35.000 struggling. We were struggling with water. We 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:38.289 were struggling with generation. And the city 00:13:38.289 --> 00:13:41.830 put together a group of leaders that went out 00:13:41.830 --> 00:13:44.929 and they scoured what would be the best model 00:13:44.929 --> 00:13:47.129 if we're going to set up a utility. And they 00:13:47.129 --> 00:13:50.710 cherry picked and put together what is city utilities 00:13:50.710 --> 00:13:53.610 today, which I think the model is incredible. 00:13:54.129 --> 00:13:59.029 And they sold it. The leadership of the city 00:13:59.029 --> 00:14:01.769 bought it. And the other thing they did that 00:14:01.769 --> 00:14:04.669 was really neat about it. was there are some 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:07.970 public power out there, utilities that are actually 00:14:07.970 --> 00:14:11.210 within the city, a department of the city. And 00:14:11.210 --> 00:14:14.590 they said for this to work, this utility has 00:14:14.590 --> 00:14:17.970 to run like a business. It has to be efficient 00:14:17.970 --> 00:14:20.889 and run like a business. And so they set it up 00:14:20.889 --> 00:14:24.029 in such a way that the community owns us. They 00:14:24.029 --> 00:14:26.009 still have, there are things we still have to 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:29.210 go to the city for approval for. But after that, 00:14:29.330 --> 00:14:31.769 we have the Board of Public Utilities and the 00:14:31.769 --> 00:14:37.159 utility. that our whole job is to manage this 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:40.480 company to the best we can for our customers, 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:43.240 for our community, for the citizens of Springfield. 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:46.580 And so to me, that kind of all ties back together. 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:48.820 So they made the decision back in the 50s that 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:51.759 we were going to own local generation. They built 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:54.259 units number one and two at James River in 1957. 00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:58.299 And the rest is really history. It has proven 00:14:58.299 --> 00:15:00.559 out over and over again that local generation 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:03.659 is really... a good thing for this community. 00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:07.220 That is so fascinating to hear because you say 00:15:07.220 --> 00:15:10.759 run it like a business. So obviously coming from 00:15:10.759 --> 00:15:14.960 an investor -based utility company from Dayton, 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:17.620 Ohio, because you were there before joining City 00:15:17.620 --> 00:15:21.039 Utilities. And that's obviously managed very 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:23.659 different, I would assume. Can you explain a 00:15:23.659 --> 00:15:26.019 little bit about those differences in terms of, 00:15:26.019 --> 00:15:28.019 as a customer, what are some of those biggest 00:15:28.019 --> 00:15:30.399 differences between investor -owned versus public 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:33.879 companies such as City Utilities? You know, I 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:35.899 worked with a lot of really good people at Dayton 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:39.600 Power & Light. And so I think hiring good people... 00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:41.500 It doesn't matter whether you're investor -owned,

00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:45.679 co -op, or otherwise. You've got to hire the 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.379 best, and I think we do a great job here at Citi 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:54.600 Utilities. One of the main differences is that 00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:59.220 our neighbors, our friends, they're our owners. 00:15:59.899 --> 00:16:03.159 Every day you come in and you're working for 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:08.759 your friends, the owners of the company. And 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:11.519 so, to me, that's different than somebody that's 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.440 working for a corporation. I'll give you an example. 00:16:13.539 --> 00:16:15.399 I was running a power plant for Dayton Power 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:19.639 & Light, and it was the end of January, and we 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:21.480 got the edict. Everybody across the company, 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:26.759 we aren't making quarterly earnings, no spending, 00:16:26.980 --> 00:16:30.240 unless it's an absolute emergency. No duct tape, 00:16:30.340 --> 00:16:32.419 no checking out of parts out of the equipment, 00:16:32.539 --> 00:16:34.980 no anything. No number two pencils. No number 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:36.840 two pencils, exactly. Mark them off the list. 00:16:37.710 --> 00:16:42.980 And we made quarterly earnings. But the spending 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:46.799 that we did afterwards was more than what it 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:48.500 would have been if we would have just done it 00:16:48.500 --> 00:16:52.620 at the time. And so it is, what is your driver? 00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:55.460 Are you being driven to make earnings for somebody 00:16:55.460 --> 00:16:57.720 who's invested from somewhere else in the country? 00:16:58.019 --> 00:17:00.940 Or are you coming in today for your neighbors 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:03.200 and your friends and the people who own the company? 00:17:03.629 --> 00:17:06.349 And to me, that's the bottom line. We come in 00:17:06.349 --> 00:17:12.150 every day. And in the restroom today. Silence 00:17:12.150 --> 00:17:14.289 while he decides whether or not this is an appropriate 00:17:14.289 --> 00:17:17.130 story for the pod. I'm sorry. I love your brain. 00:17:17.210 --> 00:17:19.170 I could see your brain going, can I say this? 00:17:19.289 --> 00:17:21.450 I don't know. I can't wait. I love a story that 00:17:21.450 --> 00:17:23.190 starts with while I was in the bathroom today. 00:17:23.190 --> 00:17:30.279 In the restroom today, on the wall was a document 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:32.480 which basically said, here are the events coming 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:36.009 up. public events, community events, here are 00:17:36.009 --> 00:17:39.670 some principles of what it means to be a public 00:17:39.670 --> 00:17:44.950 power utility. I thought they were great. It 00:17:44.950 --> 00:17:50.650 is that reminder that at a time that you're maybe 00:17:50.650 --> 00:17:55.640 distracted, that this is who we are. And it becomes 00:17:55.640 --> 00:17:59.079 part of

the culture. And then if everybody just 00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:02.579 feels that, lives that, then that makes a difference 00:18:02.579 --> 00:18:04.079 in how they take care of the customers every 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:07.240 day. And when I was hired, I came in like I was 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:10.720 this morning waiting in the lobby. And that almost 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:15.299 sold me before I even interviewed. I came in 00:18:15.299 --> 00:18:18.359 and I sat in that lobby and the customer service 00:18:18.359 --> 00:18:21.740 reps. that took care of our customers. They came 00:18:21.740 --> 00:18:27.619 in, whatever their issue was, respectful. They 00:18:27.619 --> 00:18:31.619 were taking care of their owner. And so I had, 00:18:31.700 --> 00:18:34.259 before I even had my interview, I had such a 00:18:34.259 --> 00:18:37.559 positive feeling about the company. That got 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:40.460 away from your question. No, no, you answered 00:18:40.460 --> 00:18:43.980 it. I mean, do you think that... our customers, 00:18:44.099 --> 00:18:46.400 particularly those that maybe haven't lived somewhere 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:48.619 else, do you think they really get it? Are we 00:18:48.619 --> 00:18:50.579 doing a good enough job of telling the story 00:18:50.579 --> 00:18:54.619 of why city utilities as a public power entity 00:18:54.619 --> 00:18:58.640 is good for our customers, is a benefit for them? 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:00.960 I'm going to pause two seconds. Yeah, please. 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:04.240 He's got to think about it. No. No, okay. How 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:09.140 can we be better? Well, so I don't think, I just 00:19:09.140 --> 00:19:13.289 think that you stay after it every day. It would 00:19:13.289 --> 00:19:15.809 be interesting, I was thinking on the drive here 00:19:15.809 --> 00:19:18.269 today, wouldn't it be interesting if you could 00:19:18.269 --> 00:19:22.160 ask every one of our customers if we were an 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:24.599 investor -owned utility, a public power utility, 00:19:24.859 --> 00:19:27.859 or an electric cooperative, and see what the 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:33.720 answer is? And first of all, I think most of 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:37.809 them would say, what's the difference? Because 00:19:37.809 --> 00:19:41.490 I think most utility customers, they just want 00:19:41.490 --> 00:19:43.880 the electric. and water and gas to be there they 00:19:43.880 --> 00:19:46.619 want the bus to be there on time and they they 00:19:46.619 --> 00:19:49.200 want their their internet to work the fiber to 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:52.500 work the backbone and so uh because it makes 00:19:52.500 --> 00:19:56.220 their lives easier yeah and so um i think most 00:19:56.220 --> 00:19:58.859 people don't care i'm sorry but that's just kind 00:19:58.859 --> 00:20:03.059 of how i feel about it yeah and so so to me the 00:20:03.059 --> 00:20:07.289 best thing that city utilities can do is just 00:20:07.289 --> 00:20:12.880 make public power A key part of your communication 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:16.940 message, no matter what. There for a while, the 00:20:16.940 --> 00:20:19.079 chamber, we were, as part of the chamber, we 00:20:19.079 --> 00:20:21.759 were saying, Ozarks, what a great place to live. 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:26.539 Okay, so city utilities, somehow you have to, 00:20:26.579 --> 00:20:29.220 people have to understand when you're giving 00:20:29.220 --> 00:20:32.019 a presentation or this or that, somehow be reminded 00:20:32.019 --> 00:20:34.039 this is public power and why it makes a difference. 00:20:34.299 --> 00:20:36.759 So help us draw that line then. Why does it make 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:43.170 a difference? Because you're mine. because you're 00:20:43.170 --> 00:20:49.730 one of me. You're not that outside entity that 00:20:49.730 --> 00:20:55.009 you don't know who they are. A few years back, 00:20:55.130 --> 00:20:58.150 it was during COVID, I was at home with my family, 00:20:58.190 --> 00:21:02.809 and I was listening to my brother and sister 00:21:02.809 --> 00:21:05.690 and cousins and nephews, and they were talking 00:21:05.690 --> 00:21:11.549 about it. I think it wasn't COVID. It might have 00:21:11.549 --> 00:21:15.529 been even back in 2008 and 2009 during the crash. 00:21:15.890 --> 00:21:20.589 And it was about those people, those corporate 00:21:20.589 --> 00:21:24.630 people. They are this, they are that. They didn't 00:21:24.630 --> 00:21:26.230 know who they were talking about, but they were 00:21:26.230 --> 00:21:28.750 pretty sure they were bad. They were pretty sure 00:21:28.750 --> 00:21:33.509 they were ready to label them. And so to me, 00:21:33.529 --> 00:21:36.430 I think we have to help the people label who 00:21:36.430 --> 00:21:41.900 we are. And we are one of them. We are owned 00:21:41.900 --> 00:21:45.920 by them. They are the owners of the utility. 00:21:46.119 --> 00:21:51.119 This is their utility. And I think when people 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:53.779 feel more comfortable about being a neighbor 00:21:53.970 --> 00:21:58.849 instead of one of them, then I think it makes 00:21:58.849 --> 00:22:03.119 a difference. So I actually think we do a really 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:04.779 good job. I think the fact that you're putting 00:22:04.779 --> 00:22:07.819 the issues out in front of the employees for 00:22:07.819 --> 00:22:11.500 them to remember, but we need to just make sure 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:14.069 it's just part of the messaging. Well, Scott, 00:22:14.230 --> 00:22:15.710 thank you. This has been a great conversation. 00:22:15.829 --> 00:22:18.210 It has been. Yeah. I feel like I could talk to 00:22:18.210 --> 00:22:20.150 you for a very long time just getting a lot of 00:22:20.150 --> 00:22:22.390 that insight, which I find to be very fascinating. 00:22:22.789 --> 00:22:25.450 And there's one other thing that's very fascinating 00:22:25.450 --> 00:22:27.730 that I learned about you just

before we started 00:22:27.730 --> 00:22:29.269 recording today. Yeah, we were doing some reconnaissance 00:22:29.269 --> 00:22:31.250 because neither one of us were fortunate enough 00:22:31.250 --> 00:22:34.829 to work directly with you. And so we said, we 00:22:34.829 --> 00:22:37.650 want to poke the bear a little bit. What does 00:22:37.650 --> 00:22:41.740 Scott like or perhaps dislike? and we learned 00:22:41.740 --> 00:22:46.759 oh wow we learned um you have an issue with acronyms 00:22:46.759 --> 00:22:50.500 which um i is near and dear to my heart because 00:22:50.500 --> 00:22:54.720 i also dislike acronyms um and so we have you 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:57.339 may as he listens to us uh in the past you may 00:22:57.339 --> 00:23:00.240 realize we usually try to do a little game okay 00:23:04.049 --> 00:23:06.069 so we're gonna do a quick game and again poke 00:23:06.069 --> 00:23:09.849 that bear um to see if if you hate acronyms so 00:23:09.849 --> 00:23:13.069 much can you define them And if you remember 00:23:13.069 --> 00:23:15.769 these as well. That's right. The first one I 00:23:15.769 --> 00:23:17.210 feel like is the easiest. The first one kind 00:23:17.210 --> 00:23:19.910 of comes with a question. Hang on. I'm going 00:23:19.910 --> 00:23:23.109 to be 68 in a couple of weeks, so the gray matter 00:23:23.109 --> 00:23:27.769 is just not working like it used to. So if you 00:23:27.769 --> 00:23:30.950 hear dead silence on this end, then okay. Well, 00:23:30.990 --> 00:23:32.789 I was expecting that you'd have another bathroom 00:23:32.789 --> 00:23:34.710 answer if you just go silent. Well, now that 00:23:34.710 --> 00:23:38.789 I'm 68, can I take a break here? Can I phone 00:23:38.789 --> 00:23:41.170 a friend? Yes. Well, okay, so the first one you'll 00:23:41.170 --> 00:23:43.529 get, but I also am curious about this one. So 00:23:43.529 --> 00:23:46.329 it's T and D. Transmission and distribution. 00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:49.910 So I guess I wonder, like, How did that not drive 00:23:49.910 --> 00:23:52.829 you crazy for the number of years that you were 00:23:52.829 --> 00:23:56.690 here? Because it's regularly called T &D. In 00:23:56.690 --> 00:23:58.690 fact, I think the official name of the electric 00:23:58.690 --> 00:24:02.170 T &D department is electric T &D. So did you 00:24:02.170 --> 00:24:04.190 call it transmission distribution consistently? 00:24:04.910 --> 00:24:10.269 Probably not. I probably used it a lot. Yeah. 00:24:10.650 --> 00:24:15.670 So the acronym thing is we get so caught up in 00:24:15.670 --> 00:24:21.079 our business that. That we leave people out of 00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:24.680 the conversation sometimes just by using, anyway. 00:24:25.099 --> 00:24:27.140 No, you're right. And as someone who just, you 00:24:27.140 --> 00:24:29.259 know, both of us started relatively recently 00:24:29.259 --> 00:24:33.039 and I agree with you. So these, I don't know 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:35.019 what most of these two. So next one. All right. 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:39.990 So number two, SPP. Southwest Power Pool. What 00:24:39.990 --> 00:24:46.980 is it? It's a, yeah. It's a collection of all 00:24:46.980 --> 00:24:50.900 the transmission lines within a region. So it 00:24:50.900 --> 00:24:55.920 would be part of Kansas and Missouri, Arkansas, 00:24:56.380 --> 00:25:01.039 Oklahoma, I think some of Louisiana. And they're 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:05.299 managed out of Little Rock. And the whole thought 00:25:05.299 --> 00:25:07.880 process is that if we collect it all together. 00:25:09.619 --> 00:25:11.700 economies of scale and some of the other things, 00:25:11.779 --> 00:25:16.039 but also that we can manage it better for everybody. 00:25:16.140 --> 00:25:18.119 Everybody will have better access. Yeah, that's 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:20.900 great. Okay. Oh, Lord. I'm going to skip that 00:25:20.900 --> 00:25:23.299 one because we want him to explain it and it'll 00:25:23.299 --> 00:25:26.500 take a whole other... I'm using a lot more words 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:28.039 than you are. No, it's not you. It's not you. 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:29.640 I just know this next one, it would take him 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:31.299 a whole episode to explain, but here's a good 00:25:31.299 --> 00:25:32.099 one. And you haven't been blah, blah, blahed 00:25:32.099 --> 00:25:33.940 yet with our nerdometer. That's right. You're 00:25:33.940 --> 00:25:35.500 doing a good job. Can I hear that? Yeah, here 00:25:35.500 --> 00:25:38.420 we go. Oh, I'm sorry. Well... We ran out of batteries 00:25:38.420 --> 00:25:41.160 because we had to take this to T &D. All right, 00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:47.259 now. There we go. That's it. All right. I don't 00:25:47.259 --> 00:25:48.339 know if this was a thing when you were here, 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:50.779 but I'm going to ask you anyway. PFAS. I think 00:25:50.779 --> 00:25:55.160 that's what I did before I came here. I knew 00:25:55.160 --> 00:25:57.400 it. I was waiting for the next time. No, I don't 00:25:57.400 --> 00:25:59.680 know what that is. Okay. Well, I don't know what 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:02.059 it is either, except that it's a forever chemical 00:26:02.059 --> 00:26:06.160 that can be found in water. In water. Yep. And 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.940 City Utilities blends our water in order to reduce 00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:10.859 the levels. But in terms of what it stands for, 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:12.019 like, I don't know. I'm going to get this wrong. 00:26:12.059 --> 00:26:18.789 But it's perpolyfluoracal. polyfloracal substances 00:26:18.789 --> 00:26:22.230 okay yeah so well and have no idea and to know 00:26:22.230 --> 00:26:23.890 that's right and to know you can actually listen 00:26:23.890 --> 00:26:26.329 to our last episode before this one which was 00:26:26.329 --> 00:26:28.890 explained by carrie wolkin with the water lab 00:26:28.890 --> 00:26:31.509 at blackburn water treatment plant so you can

00:26:31.509 --> 00:26:34.309 know more about it learn all about it so a blast 00:26:34.309 --> 00:26:36.309 from the past roddy rogers who used to run the 00:26:36.309 --> 00:26:41.230 water area he he would always say it's the only 00:26:41.230 --> 00:26:43.190 product that we have here at City Utilities that 00:26:43.190 --> 00:26:46.690 people take into their body. They still use that. 00:26:46.750 --> 00:26:48.150 I didn't know that came from him because they 00:26:48.150 --> 00:26:49.789 say it all the time. And it may have been even 00:26:49.789 --> 00:26:52.089 before then, but when you start thinking about 00:26:52.089 --> 00:26:56.710 it that way, it's really critical that the people 00:26:56.710 --> 00:26:59.430 we have in our water department, they really 00:26:59.430 --> 00:27:02.809 understand what they're doing, and I think they 00:27:02.809 --> 00:27:05.970 do a fantastic job. But I think we take water 00:27:05.970 --> 00:27:09.490 for granted. Oh, I agree. I agree. Maybe one 00:27:09.490 --> 00:27:12.069 more? Yeah, this next one reminds me of Nerf, 00:27:12.089 --> 00:27:15.589 like a Nerf gun, and it's FERC. Yeah, Federal 00:27:15.589 --> 00:27:18.829 Energy Regulatory Commission. They were the ones 00:27:18.829 --> 00:27:22.349 that disrupted our lives in the 90s with deregulation, 00:27:22.430 --> 00:27:27.589 and they're constantly trying to tweak the electric 00:27:27.589 --> 00:27:32.529 system to, in their words, I'm pretty sure, is 00:27:32.529 --> 00:27:35.210 to make it more efficient and make it more... 00:27:35.690 --> 00:27:37.490 reliable as well as a little cost for everybody 00:27:37.490 --> 00:27:40.710 but it's uh but man oh man did you call it ferg 00:27:40.710 --> 00:27:44.750 yeah you're like a do what i say not what i do 00:27:44.750 --> 00:27:55.779 kind of guy huh I'm sorry, I'm sending out the 00:27:55.779 --> 00:27:58.220 wrong message. It's so good. Thank you so much 00:27:58.220 --> 00:28:00.440 for being here. It's been enlightening. It's 00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:02.539 been a pleasure, Scott, especially being able 00:28:02.539 --> 00:28:04.660 to talk to you about your career and finding 00:28:04.660 --> 00:28:07.019 out more about public power. And I hope I didn't 00:28:07.019 --> 00:28:09.460 embarrass you too much. I know, I love it. I'm 00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:12.440 here for it. Yeah, 100%. Well, also, we want 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:15.039 to thank all the listeners for tuning in and 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:17.279 downloading this episode. and listening to us. 00:28:17.339 --> 00:28:19.440 We hope to see you out at the Halloween Hustle 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.539 because Scott will be joining us dressed up as 00:28:21.539 --> 00:28:23.440 Scooby -Doo. I just volunteered you for that, 00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:27.420 Scott. There we go. So join us on Halloween Day 00:28:27.420 --> 00:28:30.779 here at City Utilities. And you can also listen 00:28:30.779 --> 00:28:33.720 to new episodes of That Shocking Podcast every 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:36.789 first and third Wednesday of the month. You can 00:28:36.789 --> 00:28:39.410 find us on all the socials, Facebook, Instagram, 00:28:40.190 --> 00:28:42.670 TikTok, at City Utilities, as well as TikTok's 00:28:42.670 --> 00:28:45.349 page for the That's Shocking pod. We've got to 00:28:45.349 --> 00:28:47.009 go off the grid for now, but thanks for plugging 00:28:47.009 --> 00:28:49.390 in and allowing us to brighten up your day. Stay 00:28:49.390 --> 00:28:50.470 energized, Springfield.