In a recent Q&A with Public Power Current, Mark Kimbell, General Manager for the Gallatin Department of Electricity, described how fiscal responsibility and keeping rates as low as possible remains an ongoing focus of the Tennessee public power utility.
He noted that is “always a challenge. Number one is that we haven't borrowed any money in 37 years, which is very, very unusual. That started before me, so our former GM Bill Draper had the bonds of the original building paid off in 1987. And it has served Gallatin well. It has served the Gallatin Department of Electricity well, and only operating with our cash reserves for all these years, which is a challenge,” Kimbell said.
“It helps with rates if you are not borrowing, but the challenge is to maintain the electric system at a high level and not borrow,” he noted.
Gallatin is a fast growing community, “so maintaining the electric system and not borrowing for growth has been a challenge. You have to be creative with the way you spend the money, the way you use aid to construction and making sure that growth actually pays for itself so I would say the thing that has best made the rates low in Gallatin, [is] trying to maintain that not borrowing any money over that long period of time.”
Kimbell commented on this and other topics in a recent interview with APPA’s Public Power Now podcast.
Kimbell Offers Details on Substation Projects
Kimbell noted in the podcast interview that the utility is “in the process of preparing to build a new substation on the north side of town and revamp an older substation on the south side of town at the same time. Both substations need to be completed within about a two to three-year window to deal with the new loads in Gallatin.”
He said that if “you're anywhere around Middle Tennessee, around Nashville -- which we're just 25 miles north of Nashville -- you realize that growth is a big driver of anything we're doing right now.”
In addition, “We also are adding on to our existing building to accommodate additional personnel that will take care of our growing customer base.”
It's a challenge “to do all three at the same time, so two substations and a building project at the same time is not anything I would recommend to anybody, but it's made necessary by the growth of the city. We are being very deliberate with our timing of the three projects to be as fiscally responsible as we can.”
The last time GDE borrowed money was when it built the existing building in 1967 “and there hasn't been much done to the building since then, so it's time for a building project, but also the growth within the city dictates that we need the upgraded substation and the new substation on the north side of town. We will probably have to borrow some money to complete the building project over the next several years and then once we do that, we'll probably try to pay it off as soon as we can.”
Kimbell Places Emphasis on Education for Utility Employees
In the interview, Kimbell also described his responsibilities as general manager at the utility.
“With our governance of an independent board appointed by the Gallatin mayor and approved by the City Council, I'm the only employee of the Gallatin Power Board. And then I'm tasked with the day-to-day operations of the electric department,” he noted.
“So basically it's left up to me to run the department and of course we have monthly board meetings” where the board oversees “what I'm doing. I have six direct reports that keep the place running. A director of HR and Admin services, Chief Financial officer, VP of Engineering, office manager, General Line Foreman and substation meter and supervisor are the ones that really take care of all the day-to-day stuff. I mostly get out of the way unless I'm needed.”
He said that “the key to a successful department is to have great people leading and all these folks at GDE are great leaders, which makes my job easy. I do my best to provide good guidance and I also love to encourage education in all forms.”
The Tennessee Valley Public Power Association “does a great job of providing public power education in the Tennessee Valley, so we're blessed with TVPPA and APPA education programs here in the valley. I also like to encourage higher education and we have GDE assistance for that. We actually have 48 employees at Gallatin Department of Electricity and three of those 48 now have advanced degrees, mostly because of our GDE assistance. And I like to have a philosophy that if you're not learning and expanding your knowledge base, then you are not leading so I really placed a lot of emphasis on education.”
Kimbell recently received APPA’s Mark Crisson Leadership and Managerial Excellence Award, which recognizes managers at a utility, joint action agency, or state or regional association who steer their organizations to new levels of excellence, lead by example, and inspire staff to do better.
