best safety practices are integral to success

Summer 2008

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Volume 43, Issue 3

FMPA Launches Safety Program 10 | Telecom: What Has Worked 16

Florida’s energy and electric utility magazine

Best Safety Practices Are Integral to Success(page 12)

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12

Summer 2008 | Volume 43 | Issue 3

COVER STORY

Best Safety Practices Are Integral to Success

Every year FMEA recognizes member utilities with

exemplary safety records. Utilities are placed into

categories according to their total staff-hours worked,

and recognized for their incident-free records. FMEA

asked these utilities what they do that makes their

safety record so exemplary.

FEATURES

FMPA Launches Safety Training Program

The Florida Municipal Power Agency is developing

a program to provide monthly safety

training to Florida’s municipal utilities.

Telecom: What Has Worked

Across Florida a handful of cities

have successfully launched their own

telecom projects, while some have gotten out

of the telecom business altogether.

We examine what has worked.

COLUMNS/DEPARTMENTS

Ohm Page – Teamwork Works

On The Move

Events Calendar

Advertisers Index

10

16

7

20

23

24

CONTENTSNTTENTSCONTENTS

FMPA Launches SafetyTraining Program

10

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12


16

6 RELAY | Summer 2008 | www.publicpower.com

Summer Volume 43, Issue 3

RELAYFLORIDA’S ENERGY AND ELECTRIC UTILITY MAGAZINE

www.publicpower.com/relay • [email protected]

FMEA Board of Directors

PresidentLynne Tejeda, Key West

President-ElectEdward J. Regan, Gainesville

Vice PresidentPaul Kalv, Leesburg

Secretary/TreasurerHoward McKinnon, Havana

Immediate Past PresidentKevin McCarthy, Clewiston

DirectorsDon Bowles, Green Cove Springs

R. Craig Brewer, Ft. PierceCal Byrd, Williston

Zoila Easterling, OrlandoGeorge D. Forbes,

Jacksonville BeachLee Garner, Chattahoochee

Richard Giroux, WauchulaGregg Griffi n, Green Cove Springs

Lou Hernandez, Key WestFred Hilliard, Ft. Meade

Allan J. Katz, TallahasseeKen Konkol, Homestead

James A. Lewis, AlachuaWendy Lobos, HomesteadTeala Milton, Jacksonville

Mike New, AlachuaHarry Ogletree, Moore Haven

Don Ouchley, Jacksonville Beach Bud Para, Jacksonville

Jim Pennington, LakelandJames Pittman, Clewiston

Bill Polk, LeesburgCharles F. Revell, Mount Dora

Thomas W. Richards, Fort PierceRobert Rodi, New Smyrna Beach

Vicente R. Ruano, BushnellR.B. Sloan, Vero Beach

James Stanfi eld, LakelandThomas B. Tart, OrlandoRicky Thompson, Starke

Mike Wade, QuincyJerry Warren, Winter Park

Kevin G. Wailes, TallahasseeJames C. Welsh, KissimmeeJames Woods, Blountstown

FMEA Executive DirectorBarry Moline, Tallahassee

Published AUGUST 2008/FLE-Q0308/6975Publication Mail Agreement 40787580

Relay is a publication of the Florida Municipal Electric Association, 417 East College Avenue, Tallahassee, FL 32301. For permission to reprint articles, contact FMEA. © 2008

Editor-in-ChiefNicole Carlson [email protected]

Associate Editor/Contributing DesignerGarnie [email protected]

DesignerJill Ihasz

Contributing WritersBarry Moline

CirculationBrenda Thompson

PublisherNaylor, LLC5950 NW 1st PlaceGainesville, FL 32607Phone: (800) 369-6220Fax: (352) 331-3525www.naylor.com

PublisherKathleen Gardner

Naylor EditorKatie Keim

Project ManagerRay Goodwin

Marketing & Research AssociateAlex Scovil

Publications DirectorJosh Alexander

Sales RepresentativesJason Dolder, Nils Leonard, Diane Markey, Rick McPhee,Christine Ricci, Jamie Williams, Jason Zawada

Advertising ArtChristina O’Connor

For advertising information, contact:Josh AlexanderPublications Director800-369-6220, ext. [email protected]

© 2008 Naylor, LLC. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

For Relay information contactRelayP. O. Box 10114Tallahassee, FL 32302-2114Phone: 850-224-3314, ext. 4E-mail: [email protected]

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Ohm Page

Teamwork WorksBy Barry Moline, FMEA Executive Director

C“Surrender the me for the we.”

Phil Jackson, coach of the NBA Champions Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls.

Coach Phil Jackson has gotten his highly talented teams to reach amazing accomplishments by con-vincing superstars with super egos like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to focus less on personal statistics – how much can I score – and more on how well our team can play together, regardless of the outcome. The re-sult has been outstanding: six NBA championships with the Bulls and three with the Lakers in 19 years of coaching.

Here are a few of Jackson’s ex-pressions pertaining to his theory:

“Selfl essness is the soul of teamwork.”

“When you become the focus, our system of teamwork breaks down.”

“Plug into the power of one-ness instead of the power of one man.”

“It doesn’t matter how good one individual is – they can’t com-pete with a team that is awake and aware and trusts each other.”

“Embrace a vision in which the group imperative takes precedence over personal glory.”

During the 1993 NBA fi nals, Michael Jordan was dominating as

he usually did. But it was clear that he was able to do so during this particular playoff not because the focus was only on him, but rather because the Bulls had other good players that could score when Jor-dan passed the ball to them.

And that’s exactly how the Bulls won the championship game that year. In Game Six of those Finals in Phoenix, with the Bulls down by two and only three seconds left on the clock, Jordan passed to John Paxson who sank a three-point shot, giving the Bulls a 99-98 win and their third consecutive NBA title. Jordan may have been the best player on the fl oor, but by not try-ing to win the game all by himself, the outcome was better – his team won the championship.

As a spectator at the Florida Lineman Competition in March, you pretty much walk the fi eld watching teams compete. I wan-der around taking a lot of photos, so I watch most of the teams dur-ing the day. I see many supportive family members, including cheer-ing wives or girlfriends, moms and dads, bosses and managers, and the occasional dog. Teams sporadically interact during the day-long com-

“”

It doesn’t matter how good one individual is – they can’t compete with a team that is awake and aware and trusts each other.


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petition, but they mostly keep their distance until everyone fi nishes their events.

That’s what made one par-ticular incident so unusual. In the middle of the fi eld three guys from Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) were chatting with the team from Lafayette, Louisiana. Noth-ing strange there – everyone likes the guys from Lafayette. But what GRU was saying shocked me.

The GRU team was coaching the Lafayette team on how to com-plete the Cross Arm Change Out, and they were telling the Cajuns how to avoid time delays and other pitfalls that the GRU guys had con-fronted when they did the event. You can guess who won. Although the event is a competition between utilities, GRU embraced the idea that the overall goal of the event was to come together as linework-ers to practice safety and learn from

each other. We had a similar experience

during the 2008 legislative session. Public power utilities came under attack several times near the end of session, with a variety of negative amendments. Not only did we re-spond, but our voices were so loud that we won the debate, an incred-ible feat considering the level of the attack.

How did we do it? Teamwork. We knew that the legislative pro-posal was primarily aimed at one utility, but rather than cut a deal that would have subjected them only to a negative study, everyone eagerly jumped in to fi ght.

FMEA doesn’t have the most lobbyists of any organization in the utility sector by far, but our modest and effective crew expanded ten-fold overnight with all members, large and small, working together.

Teamwork works.

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FMPA Launches Safety Training Program

TFrom FMEA Staff Reports

The Florida Municipal Power Agency has launched a program to provide monthly safety and train-ing meetings to Florida’s municipal utilities. FMPA requires a three-year commitment for the program, which includes more than 25 train-ing topics and 10 safety topics ad-dressed in monthly meetings. Sev-eral FMEA members have already signed up for the program includ-ing the cities of Alachua, Chatta-hoochee, Clewiston, Havana, Lake Worth, and Mount Dora as well as Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, Homestead Energy, Beaches Ener-gy, Keys Energy Services, and Kis-simmee Utility Authority.

Mike McCleary, former line crew foreman for the city of Ocala, is presenting the safety training. Mike has worked in utility services for more than 20 years. He joined OEU as a store keeper in 1982 and then served as groundman, appren-tice, lineman, service worker and line-crew foreman.

“Safety meeting are basically little wake up calls,” says McCleary. “Linemen have so many things go-ing on in their world and so many things can happen.”

In addition to more than 35 safety and training topics, FMPA offers accident investigations that include a trained team of people responding to accidents and con-ducting a complete investigation of the circumstances surrounding the incident. A comprehensive report will be provided.

FMPA also offers Productive Employee Training (PET) projects, a special hands-on, project train-ing opportunity for employees and trainees from other municipal sys-tems. Participants complete a real

Mike McCleary, FMPA training and safety specialist reviews safety issues with Beaches Energy lineworkers.

project while learning proper tech-niques, safety considerations and building knowledge and skills.

APPA Safety Manuals are provided to all subscribed par-ticipants for employees including regular updates and new editions. FMPA keeps records of employees attending courses and specifi ed safety classes. These reports are available to utility management.

FMPA Training Topics • Ground worker school introduction and advanced underground distribution

• Transformer connections and banking

• Proper underground procedures and operations

• Florida D.O.T. fl agging certifi cation

• CPR and First Aid (includes training on automated electronic defi brillator

• Chain saw use and safety

• Confi ned spaces

• OSHA competent person (excavations trenching and shoring)

• Customer care for municipal utility systems

• Accident investigation school

• Storm coordination and response 24/7 (including administration of mutual-aid agreement)

• Line-worker competition coaching and consultation

• Crew observation and evaluation

• Meter-base safety

• Transformer connections and banking

• Electrical safety programs for schools

• Pole-top rescue

• Bucket rescue

• Knots and rigging school

• Driver awareness program

• Expert technical troubleshoot- ing consultation

• Safety audit

• Excavation safety

• Personal protective grounds testing

• Distribution switching

• Available annual foreman/ supervisors conference

• Special customized safety and training programs

Possible FMPA Monthly Safety Meeting Topics

• Attitudes toward safety

• Proper cover-up and rubber goods use

• Work-site setup

• Proper use of personal protective equipment

• “Superbowl” – a sideline discussion of teamwork

• Effective grounding procedures

• “I am Your Worst Enemy” – Leading Causes of Accidents

• “The Rookie” – the role of inexperience in accidents

• Hazards and safety requirements for working secondary voltage

• Dealing with hazardous materials


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By Nicole Carlson Easley, Editor in Chief

EEvery year FMEA recognizes member utilities with ex-emplary safety records. Utilities are placed into categories according to their total staff-hours worked, and recog-nized for their incident-free records. The incidence rate used to judge utilities is based on the number of work-re-lated reportable injuries or illnesses compared to the total number of worker-hours during the year, as defi ned by the Occupational Safety and Health Administra-tion (OSHA).

Several utilities con-sistently claim these awards every year. FMEA asked these members what they do that makes their safety records so exemplary. Although successful safety training and communications vary greatly depending on the size of the utility and its infrastructure, several key ideas seemed to per-meate large, medium and small utilities: a good safety manual, whether it be the APPA Safety Manual or one they cre-ated in-house, and regu-lar training, whether it be from senior employees and managed in-house or through a contract with the Florida Municipal Power Agency or a local community college.

Smaller utilities, with 49,999 or fewer staff-hours worked per year, reported that creating and maintaining a safety culture was an important part of their day-to-day operations and that having long-term leadership was an important element in the consistency of the message. Many credited “tailgate” training, or short meetings be-fore each job to discuss what needs to be done, as a major contributor to their success.

The City of Havana contracts with FMPA to provide safety training on a monthly basis.

“We put a high emphasis on safety,” says Howard Ki-nonn, town manager, City of Havana. “It’s a combination of lead by example and follow the book.”

The City of Mount Dora lists keeping safety proce-dures at the forefront and as “just a part of doing busi-ness” as a great contributor to its safety record. The city also contracts with FMPA for training on a monthly ba-

sis. Offi cials say when an accident occurs they take it as an opportunity to in-vestigate what went wrong and how future accidents might be avoided.

“We require everybody to follow safety proce-dures,” says Electric Utility Manager Charles Revell. “That includes everybody from the bottom to the top. The safety manual ap-plies to everybody. It’s not just some book we have in the bottom of a truck somewhere. I expect it to be carried out every day by everybody.”

Concerning training, Revell says, “I think you need to have a really ag-gressive safety and train-ing program. It’s hard to do it internally especially for a small utility. Some-times it’s better to rely on someone else’s proven pro-

gram than to try to re-invent your own.”The City of Starke welcomes new employees with a

full-day safety meeting and training video. New employ-ees must sign off that they have read and agree to the terms of the safety manual before they are issued their equipment. The utility holds tailgate meetings before ev-ery job to discuss what needs to be done that day and review safety issues related to that job.

“We go over the job, required safety equipment, and everybody’s assigned task. It takes just a few moments. But it makes us more productive to discuss the job and


what it takes to do it safely,” says Ricky Thompson, op-erations manager.

The City provides safety training through in-house programs as well as through programs offered by Gaines-ville Regional Utilities and FMPA. Thompson says one of the key elements to maintaining their safety record is keeping safety consciousness in the forefront by making sure everyone has the latest safety equipment, discuss-ing safety every day before every job and displaying safety posters from APPA and FMPA throughout their building. The utility also rewards safe workers with an extra day’s pay in the fi rst paycheck in April.

“You have to keep them from getting complacent and thinking it’s just another day,” says Thompson. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve done something a million times. Stop and think about it. There may be something that’s just a little different. Don’t rush them. Make sure they know you are thinking about their safety.”

The City of Chattahoochee also holds tailgate meet-ings before each job. Lineworkers don’t work in the hot-test hours of the day. The utility uses the FMPA for its safety training.

“We found that there were minor accidents occur-ring from over exertion from the summer heat,” says Jimmy Kane, foreman of distribution. We work in the early morning hours.

“We are a small crew so leading by example is very important for us. It’s easy to get lax when you are not reminded of what can happen when you don’t take ev-ery precaution.”

Medium sized utilities with 50,000 to 174,999 staff-hours worked reported stressing an environment where everyone from the newest employee to the most seasoned journeyman can stop a job for safety concerns, stating that “seniority has no place in safety.” They also list the importance of directors and executive manage-ment making it clear that they place safety above all else by attending safety and accident review meetings.

Beaches Energy contracts with FMPA for monthly training but also taps senior lineworkers for apprentice training. The utility uses a training yard for practice drills and sends apprentices to work with linemen for

two hours of hands-on training a month. They practice climbing skills in the yard as much as three times a week. Tad Bridier, safety and training coordinator, says Beach-es Energy works hard to create a culture of brotherhood among linemen stressing that part of their job is to look out for each other.

“We are in constant training here,” says Bridier. “You can’t go out there thinking you know it all. The key to safety is to work as a team and to know you are your brother’s keeper.”

Beaches stresses keeping the lines of information open as an important part of safety measures. The util-ity holds tailgate training before every job with the goal of ensuring that everyone working on that job from the youngest apprentice to the most seasoned lineman un-derstands what is going on and that they feel comfort-able talking to each other when they perceive that a dangerous situation is arising.

“We have great supervisor relationships here,” says Bridier. “Anybody can stop a job from the youngest to the oldest. If a young guy sees something going on that he’s not sure about, he can say, ‘hold on a sec. His shoulder is getting too close to that phase.’ Even if he is wrong, that’s supported because he could save a guy’s life.”Beaches Energy not only believes in documenting and tracking accidents, The utility goes a step further docu-menting close calls as well. Beaches addresses any inci-

FConnect Through the FMEA Safety and Training Committee

FMEA encourages utility members to join the FMEA Safety and Training Committee. The Committee meets quar-terly to discuss safety and training issues and share information and experiences. The Committee also assists in plan-ning the Florida Lineman Competition and oversees the Lineman Assistance Fund.

“After encouraging a new safety and training coordinator at a member utility to attend and join the Safety and Training Committee, I have seen them ask one question, get a wealth of information, and be very glad they came,” says Cheryl Anderson, FMEA director of training and member services.“Without exception, the roundtable is the value-added of the committee meetings,” says Anderson. Safety and train-ing topics are discussed with such passion and all members are engaged in the discussion. Why recreate the wheel on issues or projects, when more than likely another utility has already experienced the same situation. Committee members are willing to share their expertise with each other. It is because of this relationship that our members enjoy the benefi ts and value of the Safety and Training Committee.

For more information, contact FMEA Director of Training and Member Services Cheryl Anderson at (786) 242-6311 or [email protected].


dent or close call at the next safety meeting or the next day if there was a severe injury.

“We do a thorough investiga-tion and go step-by-step to fi nd out what happened. If it’s severe, we will go over it the next day with the whole group.”

Bridier also credits the fact that he consistently gets approval from directors and city managers to pur-chase any needed safety-related equipment.

The City of Leesburg holds a 45-minute safety meeting every Monday morning, pulling topics from the APPA Safety Manual. The utility provides safety train-ing through the Lake-Sumter Com-munity College. Once a month, instructors from the college visit the utility and present a safety program. The utility also takes ad-vantage of the college’s utility line-man training program to provide a training base for apprentices. Lees-burg apprentices take two or three classes at the college a semester and complete 8,000 hours of on-the-job training.

“Safety is our number one pri-ority,” Says Bob Bruck, electric su-perintendent, “and we remind our workers of it constantly.”

Larger utilities, with 175,000 to 349,999 staff-hours worked, list incentive programs that include extra pay or time off as a reward for working safely as a great way to keep safety alive in the culture of workers.

Fort Pierce Utilities Author-ity (FPUA) includes safety train-

2007 FMEA Safety Award Winners

BartowBeaches Energy ServicesBushnellChattahoocheeClewistonFort Pierce Utilities AuthorityGainesville Regional UtilitiesGreen Cove SpringsHavanaJEALakeland ElectricLeesburgMount DoraUtilities Commission of New Smyrna BeachOcala Electric UtilityOrlando Utilities CommissionStarkeTallahasseeVero Beach

ing as part of their new employee orientation. As with many utilities, employees must read the safety manual and sign it as part of their orientation. Safety and Environ-mental Offi cer Rubin Johnson says FPUA employees know their re-sponsibility toward safety.

Each department at FPUA is required to provide safety training to employees every month. Train-ing consists of bringing in out-side speakers, experienced FPUA employees, videos, and Internet programs. When an incident oc-curs the utility conducts an onsite investigation. Then the incident is reviewed by the utility’s safety committee, which is comprised of the employees involved in the in-cident, and their supervisors and directors. The committee analyzes

what happened to determine what could have been done differently. If it is found that the employee is at fault, he or she may lose their extra day off for not working safely.

“Safety consciousness is peer pressure,” says Johnson. “FPUA employees know that even if a supervisor tells them to do some-thing they don’t think is safe, they can say no. A big part of training, says Johnson is making employees aware of the consequences of get-ting hurt on family coworkers and everybody.

“We watch out for each other so your co-worker doesn’t get hurt or hurt you. New people coming in fi nd out right away that we are very serious about it.”

Johnson also says FPUA em-ployees get the best safety equip-ment available including equipment to cool them off in the summer months. “I fi ght for whatever they ask for,” he says. “FPUA employees know the utility cares about their safety because executive manage-ment takes the time to be involved in safety issues. If somebody cuts a fi nger, someone from executive management is going to ask them about it. And, when something needs to get done, it gets done.”

The Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach believes there is no such thing as an accident. The utility provides an extensive safety training program that includes in-house safety meetings and Lake-Sumter Community College pre-sentations. George Markos, risk manager and safety offi cer, creates

TFMEA Lineman Assistance Fund

The FMEA Lineman Assistance Fund provides member utilities’ lineworkers with emergency fi nancial assistance for medical conditions. The Fund assists lineworkers and their families when an on-the-job injury creates a special need.

FMEA member electric utility lineworkers, groundmen, apprentices and equipment operators injured on the job are eligible for fi nancial assistance. The Fund assists individuals who have sustained serious injuries involving hospi-talization, catastrophic illness, loss of limbs, burns and debilitating injuries.

For more information or to make a donation, contact FMEA Executive Director Barry Moline at 850-224-3314, Ext. 1 or [email protected].

Lineman Assistance Fund information and guidelines are available at www.publicpower.com/pdf/lineman_as-sistance%20_fund.pdf.


the in-house presentations and includes photos of the utility’s equipment and employees in the PowerPoint presentations.

“The pictures make the topics seem more relevant,” says Markos, “and the guys look for themselves in the pictures.”

The City extensively documents any accident or near miss and saves the information in Excel fi les so it can be measured over time. Any incident is reported several ways including the workers involved writing a description of what happened in their own words.

“We need to learn from other peoples’ mis-takes, because we’ll never live long enough to make them all ourselves,” says Markos.Markos says the culture of New Smyrna Beach plays a huge role in the utility’s safety record. “At New Smyrna, you check your attitudes at the dock when you go out to work.

“Our linemen know, if a junior guy looks up and says, ‘hey, you need your gloves, that switch is hot,’ you don’t launch into telling him how much experience you have. You say, ‘thanks kid,’ I forgot.

“When somebody gets hurt, there is a defi ciency in the system,” says Markos. “We know where the dan-ger is, it’s the electricity. We also know how to protect workers. Protection is in the process of the work. Safety equipment is the last line of defense.”

The largest municipal utilities with between 350,000 and 749,999 and more than one million staff hours, cred-it comprehensive and department specifi c safety training as the key to their good safety records and having a great safety manual as a base for all safety training.

The City of Ocala Electric Utility conducts most of its safety training in house. Training includes classroom presentations and fi eld operations every month. Ocala taps senior linemen to train apprentices. According to Gary Wilson, safety and training coordinator, using senior staff to train apprentices adds greatly to Ocala’s safety culture. “The guys have really bought into it. They understand it and believe in it.”

JEA offers employees a program called “Passport to Safety” that features a combination of instructor led and online training. Employees gain paid-time-off hours by participating in safety training programs within their department.

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) conducts a fi ve-year apprenticeship program as well as specialized lineman training in-house that it offers to other utili-ties. In conjunction with Gary McKenzie electric safety training coordinator, staff from the apprentice program conduct safety training. For GRU lineworkers in-depth safety review training is conducted quarterly and safety training for lineworkers is conducted once a week.

“Training is the biggest thing,” says McKenzie. “People need to understand what they are dealing with and how to use the technology that makes it safer.”

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By Garnie Holmes, Jr., Associate Editor


Many United States cities, large and small, are spending millions of dollars on citywide networks aimed at providing fast, low-cost Web access. In the fi rst quarter of 2008 alone, the number of municipal telecom projects sky-rocketed by 50 percent, to more than 300 broadband and WiFi projects nationwide.

Across Florida a handful of municipal utilities have suc-cessfully launched their own telecom projects. Some munici-palities have gotten out of the telecom business altogether, leaving it to the private sec-tor to provide telecom services to area residents. The utilities that have made it work seem to have a common thread–they understand that the investment is long-term and balance sheets take time to show black ink.

According to Jef Gray, vice president of information technol-ogy for Kissimmee Utility Au-thority (KUA), “The key to a suc-cessful program is ensuring that the public has clear expectations of what the program can offer them in the short-term and what it will offer them over time.”

Ten years ago the residents of Kissimmee had only one choice when it came to Internet service providers and they paid 25 cents for every dial-up call. The public wanted a solution and KUA wanted to provide it. The utility began offering local dial-up service and, basic com-puting, Internet and e-mail use training. The municipal invest-ment provided the capital to build the infrastructure. Over

time, vendor partnerships began to maintain and upgrade the sys-tem and the costs were regained.

KUA is currently working with Cisco Systems and Hewlett Packard to develop a two-square mile downtown WiFi canopy. The program is similar to many across the country, offering residents free wireless high-speed Internet access.

The City of St. Cloud rolled out its City-wide WiFi canopy about four years ago. One of the most suc-cessful telecom projects in Florida, the project began oddly enough with the City purchasing 800 acres of land for the purpose of building a housing development.

“The city limits were growing in a way that there was a doughnut-hole effect. The housing develop-ment brought the land into the city limits and enhanced city growth,” said Howard DeYoung, director of information technology.

Soon after the housing project was underway, St. Cloud decided to tap available economic develop-ment funds to launch a pilot proj-ect to build a WiFi canopy over its downtown area. Planners then turned their attention back to the new housing development build-ing a WiFi canopy over 500 of its 800 acres. With two successes under its belt, the City moved on expanding the canopy to its lake-front area and business district. By March of 2006, St. Cloud’s WiFi canopy had been deployed city-wide and included a fi ne-tuned collection of technology provid-ers including Motorola, CISCO, Hewlett Packard and Tropos Net-works.

“There were some hardware issues in the fi rst year,” says DeY-oung. “But we made adjustments as we went and after a year, every-thing was running very smoothly.”

Although the Orlando Utilities Commission operates the City’s electric utility, St. Cloud is in the process of launching a computer-ized maintenance management and work order solution for its wa-ter and sewer utilities that uses the WiFi canopy. The Fire and Police Departments also are tapping into the technology through radios and laptops in vehicles.

The City of Leesburg also had a positive experience provid-ing high-speed Internet access to its customers. With strong public support the city commission sup-ported funding the project. The City was able to offset the initial infrastructure installation costs by using its existing substation monitoring system. In addition to providing Internet access to its customers, the City uses the in-frastructure to link various city agencies to the City’s main data center and various substations to the electric department.

After many years of negative fi nancial returns because of signif-icant start-up and expansion costs, the utility began to see a return on its investment and the project is now self-sustaining and provides a seven percent return.

“Advantages to the utility have included the ability to link various agencies to the City’s main data center and various substations to the electric department. This al-lowed the telecommunications utility to have a customer base that

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generated some revenue from the outset,” said Kevin Cochrane, tele-communications manager for the City of Leesburg.

Today the City offers high-speed Internet service in area healthcare facilities, schools and businesses. It has been a great sell-ing point to new comers as rural Lake County expands its popula-tion and services.

Until recently, the City of Newberry was using a cable net-work for utility communications

that was built and installed in 1975. The utility was in need of an upgrade, but did not have intentions of branching out into offering connectivity services to the public. When Cox Cable of-fered to buy them out of their sys-tem, they agreed. The cable com-pany now offers area residents high-speed Internet and phone service.

The City of Monticello was in a similar situation, but did not have the luxury of a cable com-

pany willing to provide high-speed Internet to their custom-ers. “We had two issues,” says Emily Anderson, city clerk and treasurer. “One was that so many people in and around Monticello had no access to high-speed Internet. It was becoming an economic-devel-opment issue. Two, new home-land security requirements for checking waste and sewer mechanisms were becoming a workforce issue.”

The City decided that building a WiFi canopy might solve both of their problems. “We had a concept of installing wireless Internet that would feed constant information to various points both at city hall and to people on-call. Anyone who knew the codes and had access to a computer would be able check the condition of all of our facilities.”

Theoretically, building a WiFi canopy was cheaper than hard wiring an automatic dial-ing system. Planners believed they might be able to recover their costs by selling high-speed Internet access to their customers. In 2005, The City lobbied successfully for exemp-tion from the SB1322, which places some restrictions on mu-nicipal utilities providing con-nectivity services to its custom-ers. They calculated that they needed about 300 high-speed Internet customers to pay for their investment.

The City worked with a telecommunications equipment company to set up antennae on their water towers and began providing Internet access to customers within the city lim-its and some farther into the countryside. But soon after the system was in place, the City began experiencing problems with customer connectivity, fi -nances and equipment failure.

“We started on a bigger scale than we should have,” says


Anderson. “We were trying so hard to do great things.”

The City found that install-ing the antennae on customers’ homes was expensive and time consuming as was providing good customer service and technical support. There were areas plan-ners expected to be covered by the WiFi canopy that were not. Addi-tionally, many of the customers who needed the service the most, those who lived far from the town center, did not have a strong con-nection. Others were experienc-ing interference. The City found that common equipment failures were diffi cult to keep up with with a small staff.

“We were spread pretty thin and we were spending a lot of money,” says Anderson.

“The technology is great, but the servers and the Ethernet op-eration and bandwidth manage-ment have to be a constant. It grew way too big for us to man-age. It was a quicksand effect. We were sinking with all of the maintenance.”

Anderson says their biggest mistake was not making the WiFi canopy solid enough. But the only way at the time to do that would have been to rent space on a larger antenna and that would have put them out of the market to provide the service. “It was like trying to drive a car with a fl ashlight. You can move forward a little, but you really don’t have what you need to keep going,” she said.

The City has stopped offer-ing use of the WiFi canopy to customers and put the project on hold. Embarq has moved into the area and is providing high-speed Internet to a few residents. Satel-lite Internet providers are actively marketing in the area and many of the City’s former Internet-ser-vice customers have turned to cell phone companies for connectivity. But, residents still complain that the service is not fast enough and that it is unreliable.

Keys Energy also considered a WiFi canopy pilot program. The utility planned to work with a pri-vate company who promised to provide all of the hardware. Keys would provide the infrastructure and the labor associated with mounting the hardware. But they soon discovered that the private company was unable to deliver on its promises. The utility has put the project on hold and is monitor-ing other cities’ WiFi projects.

Unfortunately, says Lynne Tejeda, Keys general manager and CEO, “With so many failures be-ing reported in the news, fewer and fewer private companies are interested in partnering with Keys in the model we currently wish to use.”

In 2005, the Florida Legis-lature passed a law that changed the way government could offer communications services in their communities.

“The gist of the change was not to keep local governments from offering these important services,” says FMEA Executive Director Barry Moline. Rather it established a process whereby the city can make its needs known publicly and seek communications services from any provider in an open, competitive environment.

Florida Telecom Regulations

Communities not current-ly offering telecom services to their customers may obtain it from a public entity by comply-ing with these requirements: • Identify the service the city seeks to offer• Notify providers of communica-tions services registered with the Department of Revenue of the city’s desire to receive services and the city’s intent to hold at least two public hearings• Complete a business plan for the service the city wishes to provide or receive, specifying the type of

service, quality standards, imple-mentation schedule, customer base, pricing, and a plan for hav-ing income exceed operating rev-enues and debt in four years• Hold public hearings where the governing body hears offers from other providers• Make a fi nding based on evidence presented at the hearings whether it will accept the services provided by private providers or authorize the city to offer the service • Hold at least two public hear-ings and present a business plan that projects the number of sub-scribers, geographic area, project-ed revenues and costs• Conduct an annual public hear-ing of the business plan goals and objectives of the services• After four years of providing a telecom service, conduct a review of the city’s communications ser-vices to determine if the revenues of those services cover operating expenses and debt payments

Financial Issues • A city cannot issue bonds to pro-vide service outside of its county or area in which it provides electric service pursuant to an approved territorial rights agreement• A city may issues bonds to pro-vide services if the proposed ser-vice is within its corporate limits or in an area where a governmental entity provides water, wastewater, electric, or natural gas service, or within an urban-service area des-ignated in a comprehensive plan, whichever is larger.• Revenue bonds for a communi-cations service that mature beyond 15 years must be approved by a voter referendum.• A city must keep separate books and records for communications services• A city must establish a separate enterprise fund for communica-tions services• A city must establish separate operating and capital budgets for its communications services


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• A city cannot use the power of eminent domain solely or primar-ily for the purpose of providing a communications service• A city must comply with fed-eral and state laws that regulate cable, telecommunications and advanced service providers• A city cannot use its power or authority in any area, including zoning or land use regulation to require any person to use or sub-scribe to any of the entity's com-munications services.• A city cannot discriminate against private providers in the application of its rules, ordinanc-es, or policies that relate to rights-of-way and pole attachments.• Local governments are exempt from state antitrust laws. Florida Statutes ch. 542.235 no longer applies to the provision of com-munications services. Antitrust law includes substantial civil and criminal liability, and public em-ployees are now subject to per-sonal liability for violations.

Existing Telecom Providers

Governmental entities that were already providing any ad-vanced, cable or telecommunica-tions service by April 1, 2005, are exempted from the following requirements: • Holding public hearings to expand • Holding public reviews of its business plan• Holding an annual review of business plan goals and objec-tives• Obtaining consent from neigh-boring governmental entities prior to issuing debt to provide service in the geographic area of those entities

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FMEA Members Win National Public Power Awards

APPA recognized several FMEA members recently at its national conference in New Orleans. Roger Fon-tes, general manager and CEO of the Florida Munici-pal Power Agency (FMPA) received the Association’s Harold Kramer-John Preston Personal Service Award. Fontes has worked in the utility industry for 37 years. He has been general manager and CEO of FMPA Since March 2001. The Personal Service Award recognizes service to APPA through substantial contributions to-ward association goals.

Elmon Lee Garner, city manager of Chattahoochee, received the Association’s Larry Hobart Seven Hats Award. Garner was hired in 1997 as Chattahoochee’s fi rst city manager. At the time, the city had moved from a council form of government to one of administrative oversight. Garner was responsible for designing and implementing systems to assure a quality of operation that conformed to administrative rules and procedures. Since 1997, he has developed a community recycling program, worked to mitigate drought issues, and rep-resented the utility in the community. The Seven Hats Award is given for outstanding management of a small public power system.

The Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA) was award-ed the Community Service Award. The award recog-nizes “good neighbor” activities that demonstrate the commitment of the utility and its employees to the com-munity. In the past year, KUA has fi nancially supported more than 250 community projects and activities. No-table projects include the “Flee to be Free” child abduc-tion awareness program, voter registration drives, child immunization programs, holiday gift drives, and free swimming lessons for families unable to afford them.

Arthur J. “Grant” Lacerte, Jr., KUA vice president and general counsel, received the APPA’s Robert E. Roundtree Rising Star Award. Lacerte has more than 16 years of public power experience. He joined KUA in 2002. The Rising Star Award recognizes future leaders of public power systems and includes a $2,000 scholar-ship to attend any APPA-sponsored program.

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