1962-2022
In late 1957, Kentucky Utilities submitted a rate increase that would be effective on January 15th 1958. This rate increase brought forth a public discussion after community members had watched other towns across the Commonwealth of Kentucky break away from Kentucky Utilities and start their own municipally-owned electric utilities.
On January 6th, 1958, the City of Glasgow submitted ordinance 808, that would allow the city to acquire and operate its own Electric Plant Board. Glasgow Mayor Wm. H. Grissom presided over this ordinance. Appointed to the first board of directors were:
Irby Lee Redford, 4 years
Dr. W. H. Bryant, 3 years
J.B. Galloway, 2 years
Luther L Wells, Jr. 1 year
Dr. L.B. Mayfield, City Council Representative to the board until his term expires.
The very first Glasgow Electric Plant Board meeting was held on January 15th, 1958, 7:30pm at the offices of Wilson and Nunn on the North side of the square. Lee Redford was appointed to act as Chairman Pro Tem until officers were officially elected. First item of business was to elect officers. J.B. Galloway nominated Dr. William H. Bryant for Chairman. That motion was made by L.L. Wells Jr. and seconded by Dr. Lynn Mayfield. Dr. Bryant was unanimously elected chairman. Lee Redford then called for a nomination for Secretary-Treasurer. J.B. Galloway was nominated by Dr. Lynn Mayfield. A motion was made by L.L. Wells Jr. and seconded by Dr. Bryant. Everyone was in favor of the nominations.
Previously, on November 25th, 1957, attorney Cecil Wilson composed and sent a letter to Stanley Engineering, a consultant, in regard to assisting the GEPB with their Engineering questions or needs. At the February 6th, 1958, meeting, attorney Cecil Wilson suggested that the board should authorize Chairman Bryant to notify Kentucky Utilities of its desire to purchase KU’s Glasgow plant. A motion was made by L.L. Wells Jr. to do just that with a second by Lee Redford. The motion was carried unanimously. While innovative, the idea of a municipally-owned utility was not uncommon. It has been noted that the cities of Frankfort, Bardstown, Owensboro, and Madisonville also had their own municipally-owned electric utilities and Glasgow would be wise to consult with them for advice.
Local KU manager Addis Britt was also in attendance at the Feb. 6th meeting and spoke that his interests on this matter were with KU, the company he had worked for 31 years. Mr. Britt was assured by the Board that certainly there was no malice towards him or any of his employees. It is seen in the minutes that Mr. Britt was given plenty of assurance that this effort was only being done to save money for the citizens of Glasgow, the business and industrial interests of Glasgow, and to build a greater and better Glasgow. The Glasgow EPB would, in all probability, retain all or most of the present KU employees after the acquisition was complete. Soon after the meeting, a contract was signed between the EPB to retain Cecil Wilson for his legal services.
The March 6th, 1958, board meeting saw the approval of the contract with Stanley Engineering for their services. The board also read a correspondence between the EPB’s chairman William H. Bryant and Kentucky Utilities President Floyd I. Fairman. Mr. Fairman acknowledged the letter received from Chair Bryant and recommended the two parties meet regarding the EPB wanting to acquire the KU Glasgow plant. It was also illustrated that KU had little interest in selling the Glasgow plant but would be receptive of meeting EPB representatives.
A meeting was held on April 15th, 1958 at 1:30pm, at the Glasgow Municipal Building. All EPB members were present. KU president F.I. Fairman, Vice President W.H. Skinner, S.L Thurman, Lawrence Hughes, and Addis Brit were present at the meeting as well. KU held firm that they would be unwilling to sell their Glasgow plant and that it would be a useless effort to try and attempt negotiations. Still, the board marched on and appointed Mr. C.M. Stanley of Muscatine, Iowa as appraiser of the electric plant owned by KU in Glasgow. KRS 96.580 states in order to acquire an existing utility by eminent domain, both the prospect and current utility have to hire appraisers and agree upon a set price for the property.
The February 4th, 1960, meeting saw the response from KU president F.I. Fairman. Mr. Fairman referenced the April 14th meeting with EPB officials and confirmed KU’s position stood firm that they do not wish to sell. Once again, the EPB appointed Stanley Engineering as their appraiser. J.B. Galloway’s term as board member had ended and he had been replaced with former Mayor Leslie Moran. Lee Redford acted as Secretary for the meeting.
The long awaited 1960 election was held on November 8th. Norma Redford, wife of Lee Irby Redford recollected her time spent campaigning for the EPB. Time spent in chilly weather walking the streets until nightfall. Voters showed up to the polls in record numbers. Not only would citizens be casting their votes on the power issue, they would also be casting their vote for President between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. This would be one of the keys to getting more voters out to the polls and hopefully tilting the scales in favor of the EPB.
The Glasgow EPB came out victorious this time, receiving 1,890 YES votes to 1,812 NO. Davie Greer, KU employee, said that several folks in the city were disgruntled with the results. They believed that KU supplied a fine service to Glasgow. She also mentioned that many opposers who voted NO did so because they believed the government shouldn’t have a role in the electric utility business, and that a smaller government without overreach was better.
The December 7th, 1961 board meeting would be one of the most important since the idea of a municipal owned electric utility arrived in Glasgow. It was announced that an agreement with KU had been met. The EPB would pay the sum of $1,250,000 for and there was a stipulation that the EPB would buy its power from KU for one year. The property would be transferred, and the board would begin operations on or around January 1st, 1962. The next item discussed the employment of a superintendent to manage the EPB. A motion was made and passed to hire Mr. James Sherfey at a salary of $10,000 a year. Mr. Sherfey, being present at the meeting, accepted the position and began his employment on December 8th, 1961. In other business, Citizens National Bank was also selected as the depository for any reserve funds belonging to the EPB.
A special called board meeting on December 26th, 1961, saw a loan agreement between the EPB and First American National Bank for the total of $1,550,000. The EPB would be funded. The EPB board voted to adjourn for the evening and meet again on December 29th, 1961, at 8:45am. EPB attorney Cecil Wilson announced that a contract had been signed the night before to formally settle all condemnation proceedings. It had been signed by the president of Kentucky Utilities and the acting chairman for the EPB, Leslie Moran. Dr. William H. Bryant was on vacation in Florida, and the board had voted to give all power of the chairman to Mr. Moran until Dr. Bryant returned. Mr. Finis Nelson of the law firm Grafton, Ferguson, and Fliescher called in preparing to make the transaction official pending the Boards approval. Mr. Wilson advised him to go ahead. The board adjourned for a half hour and reassembled at 10:30am. Superintendent James Sherfey announced that the EPB would officially assume operation at Noon on that same day. Sherfey also recommended that general liability insurance be obtained at the sums of $200,000 and $500,000 for bodily injury and $100,000 for property damage. He also stated it would be necessary to carry workers' compensation insurance as well. Workers' Compensation insurance was awarded to Pedigo-Rogers Insurance in Glasgow. Several different insurance policies were discussed and approved. Items such as sick and vacation time for employees were brought up. A roster of employees was also given to the board from Mr. Sherfey. The first EPB cast of characters were:
Office Manager – Loren Chapman
Power Sales Rep – Billy Huffman
Line Foreman – Hugh Hamilton
Serviceman – Paul White
Meter Reader – Earl Broady
Lineman 2nd Class – Goree Spradlin
Groundman – Bobby Norman
Secretary – Martha Johnson
Cashier – Sue Hardison
Custodian – James Bransford
Although jobs were offered to exiting KU employees, only Earl Broady, Bobby Norman, and James Bransford decided to stay in Glasgow and work for the Electric Plant Board. A motion was also approved to move future board meetings from city hall to the EPB office at 202 South Green Street. After over two years of persistence and hard work, the Glasgow EPB was officially established and in operation.
On January 1, 1962, official operations and possession of Glasgow's electric utility switched from Kentucky Utilities to the Glasgow Electric Plant Board. Superintendent James Sherfey and essential staff were present for the switch.
Throughout 1962, the Glasgow EPB would continue to be serviced power through Kentucky Utilities as part of their agreed terms during the sale.
In December of 1962, the Glasgow EPB finalized an agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority for the public energy company to become the power provider for the Glasgow EPB. This partnership between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Glasgow EPB has been in place now for 60 years.
Beginning with the design and bid process in early 1963 and construction finishing in 1964, the Glasgow EPB's headquarters located at 100 Mallory Drive were completed. While the office has been expanded several times as the staff and operations of the GEPB has grown, this location is still the home of the Glasgow EPB.
April 1967: Glasgow EPB Superintendent James Sherfey leaves the Glasgow EPB to manage another electric utility.
May 1967: Charles Barnett replaces Sherfey as Superintendent. Barnett would serve as Superintendent for less than two years before leaving in March 1969.
April 1969: After a short tenure as Superintendent from Barnett, the position of Superintendent was once again open. It was then that Paul White, the Glasgow EPB's first employee hired under original Superintendent James Sherfey in 1961, was named as the utility's third Superintendent effective April 1st, 1969.
February 1977: Founding Glasgow EPB board member, Irby Lee Redford, passes away. His seat is then filled by his wife Norma Redford.
July 1977: Long-time board member Leslie Moran is replaced by Robert A. Lessenberry.
December 1982: Founding board member, Luther L. Wells, Jr., is replaced on the board by Don Doty.
While originally hired on November 1st, 1983 to understudy outgoing Superintendent Paul White prior to his retirement, William J. Ray became the Glasgow EPB's fourth superintendent effective January 1st, 1984. Ray, a Glasgow native, was a 1972 graduate from Glasgow High School. He came to the Glasgow EPB from Bowling Green Municipal Utilities (BGMU), having eight years of experience serving as their Chief Engineer.
Despite the eagerness of the Glasgow EPB board members and staff about the idea of creating a hydroelectric facility to power the community, the GEPB faced two large federal roadbumps. The first being TVA, who seemed reluctant to partner on such a project and would rather Glasgow continue to purchase energy through their larger supplying facilities than to create its own. The second being the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who opposed the idea of such large changes to the Barren River dams. This opposition led to the hydroelectric project stalling before ultimately being abandoned. However, the ideas and planning for the hydroelectric project helped the board and staff discover what would become the GEPB's biggest initiative over the following 40 years.
During the planning for the hydroelectric project, a serious need arose. This was the need to be able to communicate, check reports, and do basic operations at the hydroelectric facility remotely. The answer for how this could be made possible would be via a broadband network.
After the hydroelectric project stalled, the idea of the broadband system remained. Mainly conceptualized for making the electric grid more efficient, a central question asked at a GEPB board meeting would be the catalyst for what would become the GEPB's biggest endeavor since its creation. That question, can this broadband system offer Cable TV services?
The answer to that question was yes. After several months with a consultant designing both technical and financial projections for such a project, the answer was solidified that the Glasgow EPB could build its own broadband network that would not only allow for computerized meter reading, telemetry, and LAN/WAN networks, but for cable television that could directly compete with large providers at the time such as Telescripps. It was then that the board for the GEPB voted to begin the construction of the first munically-owned broadband network in the United States.
After permission was given by both the board and the Glasgow City Council for the GEPB to begin constructing a broadband network, the competition began immediate retaliation. Telescripps, the cable TV provider in Glasgow at the time, filed two different lawsuits in an effort to halt the construction of the broadband network. Both were ultimately thrown out, with Telescripps being told that Glasgow EPB was entitled to compete in the broadband market with them.
It was in late 1988 that the newest addition to the Glasgow EPB office, the Cable TV headquarters, was completed and shortly thereafter the first Glasgow EPB Cable TV customers were connected to the new broadband system. While the system was still being built in certain portions of town, those that now had the option between Telescripps and Glasgow EPB cable were in-between the lines of a marketplace battle. Telescripps began dropping pricing to as low as $5.95 a month to those who lived in areas that were now being serviced by Glasgow EPB cable. However, those on the other side of town where Glasgow EPB Cable had not been built yet were still paying full price. Word of this practice quickly spread and the unfair pricing method turned into a thorn in Telescripps side. This further enticed customers to switch to the local cable TV provider.
Ultimately, through efforts such as providing superior customer service, offering highly-customizable cable installations for homes with multiple TVs, and putting an emphasis on capturing and showing local-origination content, Glasgow EPB cable TV prevailed in the marketplace battle it waged against Telescripps. Throughout the rest of the 1980s and 1990s, more and more customers in Glasgow would make the switch to GEPB cable.
During the more than decade long fierce competition to grow the GEPB Cable TV subscriber count, the team at the Glasgow EPB began to use their broadband system for some of its originally imagined purposes.
Networked connections to all Glasgow EPB Electricity Substations were made, allowing for remote monitoring and operation of the equipment located at the substations. A project allowing for an encyclopedia loaded onto a computer at an area High School to be read from someone's home was completed to help show the capabilities of a Local Area Network.
The answer to the Glasgow EPB leadership's question in 1995 was loudly answered with an overwhelming yes. The emergence of internet speeds 40 times faster than the national average at the time made the Glasgow EPB yet again a point of interest within the broadband industry. The Glasgow EPB began selling access to their high-speed internet service in 1995, with the service becoming so much bigger and valued by customers than ever was imagined.
A 1999 CNBC special report about the Glasgow EPB's internet service captures how revolutionary the service was, watch here.
At the dawn of the new century, Glasgow EPB was on top of the broadband mountain. Once only a municipally-owned power provider, the GEPB now had become the first of its kind. A power, cable TV, and internet service provider all while being completely owned by the community it serves.
During the year 2000, Comcast (Formerly Telescripps) offered a deal to the Glasgow EPB board to buy out its remaining customers and broadband system. This deal was agreed upon, and symbolized a giant victory for the municipality when finalized in early 2001.
Beginning in 2004 and being expanded on all throughout the remaining 2000s, HD cable service was yet another opportunity for the Glasgow EPB to continue to push for further innovation of broadband services.
Jama Young, the first Technical Development Manager for the Glasgow EPB, passed away unexpectedly in August of 2006. Jama had a lasting legacy on the Glasgow EPB. Jama's expertise and curiosity was focused on the further technological innovations possible for the Glasgow EPB. Jama is remembered as a joy to work alongside by those who had the opportunity to know her.
During the fall of 2006, a new data and equipment storage facility that doubled as a weather proof shelter was added to the Glasgow EPB office. This facility was posthumously named The Jama M. Young Technology Center. The JMYTC is a certified weather-proof facility used as the central headquarters for the Glasgow EPB's broadband operations. The facility is used continuously to both maintain and upgrade the Glasgow EPB's broadband operations to this day, further honoring the vision and ambitions of Jama Young.
By March 2010, Norlight Inc., formerly known as Cinergy Communications, had decided to end their telephony service offerings in Glasgow via the GEPB broadband network. By the end of 2010, GEPB phone service was no longer in existence.
While originally started as a service to help fulfill both residential and commercial customer needs, many issues plagued the phone service. Logistical hurdles caused service issues for customers and the partnership with Norlight became increasingly more tasking for GEPB staff. However, the end of phone service allowed for more bandwidth to open up on the GEPB broadband network, allowing for increasingly faster internet speeds and further growth of High-Definition channel offerings.
After close to three years of data collection, including the creation of a program to encourage customers voluntarily practicing energy conservation during peak demand times, the newly-designed electric rate structure was implemented for all GEPB power customers.
The immediate results on paper were fantastic. The rate achieved exactly what it was designed for, which was for all customers from the residential to large business sectors to pay a much more accurate amount compared to their energy usage and the costs incurred by the GEPB to serve them. Billing data showed a number of customers in all sectors saving significantly on their energy bills.
What would follow the initial good start to the new rate structure can be described as many things, all of which would be negative. The customer base of the GEPB was divided over the rate structure issue. Those who had previously used more than the average amount of energy during peak demand times were outraged at the new high-cost demand hour. Those who had not previously paid attention to their energy usage patterns were now being asked to make a conscious effort to conserve energy during peak demand times. Many customers simply did not understand the full details of the new rate structure and believed the GEPB was demanding them to curtail all usage during on-peak hours. Misinformation and misunderstandings of the new structure became major talking points across the community.
Many attempts were made by GEPB leadership to offer educational resources and open discussion sessions to clarify the details of the new rate, but by this time many sources of misinformation about the rate structure had been either published by local media or shared on social media by concerned citizens.
In the five years that had passed since the implementation of the coincidental peak rate structure, the Glasgow EPB had become embroiled in turmoil and controversy. What started as misinformation campaigns about the electric rate structure turned into some in the community questioning the basis of the GEPB and its leadership.
Multiple lawsuits followed, aimed at Ray, the GEPB, and TVA. These issues were all resolved after court-ordered mediation efforts between board members and Ray were voted on in a special-called GEPB Board Meeting on February 11th, 2021. The terms of the mediation passed unanimously, with the key item being that Ray would retire on March 1, 2021, and would then serve as administrative consultant at the GEPB over the next six months during the search for the utility's next Superintendent. Melanie Reed, Chief Financial Officer for the GEPB at the time, was named Interim Superintendent during this period.
In early April 2021, board members for the GEPB submitted a revised electric rate structure to TVA for approval. This rate would revert back to the traditional flat fee per kWh model that is still standard across the energy industry. This rate however would still keep the peak demand rate structure in place for large business and industry customers, a sector that was very pleased with the rate structure as it had allowed them to see continued energy cost savings month after month for over five years.
By May 2021, TVA had accepted the revised electric rate structure and it was made public that the new rate would go into effect on June 1, 2021. This move signaled an end to more than five years of controversy, allowing the Glasgow EPB staff and board to move its focus back to improving the services offered to the community it serves.
On Friday, July 16th, 2021, board members for the GEPB met in a special-called session to select a candidate for the position of Superintendent. After discussion in closed session, the board returned and voted 3-1 to allow chairperson D.T. Froedge to negotiate contractual terms with David Puskala for the position of Superintendent at the Glasgow EPB.
On Wednesday, August 11th, the board reconvened in another special-called meeting to approve the terms of Puskala's contract, effectively naming him as the next Superintendent for the Glasgow EPB with his starting date being September 13th, 2021.
Puskala is a native of Iron River, Michigan, and came to the Glasgow EPB after working for the Upper Peninsula Power Company in Northern Michigan as well as serving a term on the public electricity board in Marquette, Michigan.
January 1st, 2022, marked the beginning of the Glasgow EPB's 60th year of operation. What began with a passionate group of community members who advocated for their town to be able to independently operate its own electric grid for the lowest rate possible has become an essential multi-service utility that strives to operate on that original purpose of serving the community to the best of their abilities. The core founding principle of offering the services that the GEPB provides at the most affordable rates possible to sustain operations is still at the center of all decisions made by the Glasgow EPB to this day.
From the entire Glasgow EPB staff and board, thank you to the citizens of Glasgow for allowing us to continue to serve your electricity and broadband needs.
