Access Energy Cooperative Acquires Land For Future Needs
The Access Energy Cooperative Board of Directors has been evaluating future needs of the cooperative, and in looking ahead realizes that our existing facilities built in 1949 may not be adequate for meeting our needs. With anticipated growth from highway improvements and the realization that affordable locations may not be readily available in the near future, the cooperative has recently taken the initiative to purchase property for future expansion needs.
Our headquarters facility is located on the corner of old highway 218 and 34 in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. The location is good, but we are landlocked in the present position and are unable to expand in any direction on the existing property. We have simply outgrown our existing building. Remodeling options have been evaluated, but associated costs are not easily justified. The Board has determined the most cost effective, efficient option for having a safe, workable facility would be a new facility.
Security and efficiency of our facilities are also a concern the Board addressed, with our pole yard being located on the east edge of town a couple miles from the rest of our facilities. With the turmoil our country is in, security will be an important issue now and in the future, especially for energy companies. Power plays a very important part in our every day lives and could be a primary target for attack. Having all of our facilities located on one property would provide a far more secure option. Having the pole yard located a distance away also creates production inefficiencies. As we are short on garage space to house all of our vehicles, we are forced to store some of them at the pole yard, creating extra trips and extra time required in cases of emergency calls and storms.
All of the avenues explored by the Board of Directors lead to the same conclusion. Realizing the concerns of a major investment such as this, they still feel it is in the best interest of our cooperative to provide a safe, secure and efficient facility, which will continue to provide reliable electric service to our members in the future.