| Past Issues/Subscribe | Employment | neppa.org | Legislative Update | Advertise | March 2014 |
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When describing what NEPPA does to non-members, I often describe the four pillars of our organization:
This past year, Courtney Crouse in our offices focused on recreating our website. We are proud of the new design, which is user-friendly and incorporates modern features like video and online purchasing. Our main goal is to be more interactive and dynamic for you.
Education is the first thing that most members think of when they think of NEPPA. We have been known for crew training. The development and retooling we have done over the past two years has solidified NEPPA’s crew training as the best around. The Public Utility Management Program’s formalization of curriculum has created an outstanding continuing education for managers and strong orientation for commissioners.
This year we will focus on creating and filling in the gaps in our program to ensure that all utility employees can obtain their needed education and training through NEPPA.
Our internal Mutual Aid program is a model for the rest of the nation. Our members are so preventative and prepared for outages that storms that level other parts of the country rarely call for the activation of the program. When the program does go live, our Chair and Regional Coordinators do an outstanding job of coordinating responses. The addition of the new communications system enhances the response time. If you are unaware of the new system or need information, please reach out to your regional coordinators.
Leadership and staff are proud of these NEPPA core functions. But, this is March, and March is the month that we focus on our Government Relations program. While we are active year-round, this month is the time that we strongly encourage everyone who is capable to participate in our unified voice.
March 10-12 we will be in Washington, D.C., meeting with Federal legislators and staffers to discuss the most important issues related to public power in New England. We receive strong participation from our leaders and joint action agencies. However, I would like to remind all of you that this effort is open to all members.
The NEPPA Legislative Committee begins the process in January by agreeing on the five or six most critical issues. Then, working with Morgan Meguire, the committee refines our talking points and creates a leave behind for the offices we will visit. While this is going on, we reach out to the hill offices and ensure that we meet with every state’s hill offices.
  On March 4 we will walk through background documents on the issues we will be addressing the talking points for each issue. The hill visit schedule will also be covered and distributed. On the 11th of March, the committee will host a briefing call and breakfast as well. We have an outstanding core group of members and commissioners that attend annually, which makes it easy for new attendees. With five to 10 people in each meeting, a new person can speak up if they are comfortable, or just acclimate to the experience. Every meeting is facilitated by a committee member or Morgan Meguire, staffer.
I strongly encourage you to attend if possible. We need new participants as every year one or two of our regular volunteers retires or leaves the industry. Only by new leaders stepping up can we maintain the high level of interaction and success that we have had. As a first time attendee, you are guided by the experienced participants and not pressured to step out of your comfort zone. If you are interested in participating, please contact me at lbrownell@neppa.org so that I can send you the materials and call in information for our briefings. This activity is open to managers and commissioners.
Thank you for the outstanding efforts of our committee, Chair (Sharon Staz) and Vice Chair (Mike Kirkwood). We are well-prepared for this year’s visit.
Committee Members:
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