Caney Fork moves

back home

It's satisfying to me as the Southern Standard's business reporter to watch a major project go from the initial planning stage to completion. I imagine it's infinitely more satisfying to oversee a project and then enjoy the fruits of that labor.

In the April 23, 2023 edition of Business Pulse, I reported Caney Fork Electric Cooperative (CFEC) at 920  Smithville Hwy. would be demolishing the building it had occupied since 1963 and constructing a new facility on the same site. 

During the construction, CFEC relocated to the former Century and McMinnville Police Department building at 204 Red Rd. Last week, the CFEC staff made the move into the new building with plans of opening Monday.

CFEC had been leasing its temporary space at Red Road and its lease expires at the end of January. The cooperative plans to be completely out of the space by that time.

On Thursday, CFEC General Manager Jason Cloyd was kind enough to welcome me for a tour of the new facility which solves many problems presented by the previous aging building and sets the cooperative up to better serve its members both now and in the future.

"Everything started in 2023 and demo of the old building began," Jason said. "We left the warehouse and tore down the old offices in the front."

Demolition of the previous building was preferable as it provided a blank canvas to be able to build a state-of-the-art facility from scratch as opposed to continuing with costly patches to a building with old lighting, plumbing, waste and water lines and inefficient equipment.

"We have more square footage than we used to and we have more office space," Jason said. "We were really tight in the old building. Construction went quicker than we thought, but it's been a long time coming. We were able to use some local people and we tried to keep it as local as we could."

A new lobby area provides a spacious place for members to enter with an attractive front counter and a picture of the Caney Fork River spanning across three customer service windows. An additional feature which the old building didn't offer is a member engagement room which provides a private space for members wishing to discuss their bill or set up a new service with an employee.

For those looking to conduct their business without coming inside, the drive-thru option is a big improvement from the old building. Two drive-thru windows are available in a much more convenient location at the building's side. 

"If you remember, the drive-thru was on the front of the building and members coming inside had to walk in front of the traffic," Jason said. "Now we have this option that is safer."

Another great bonus to the brand new building is an increased level of security which is increasingly important for any utility in this day and age. 

"Everything requires a badge to get through the interior doors for the security of employees and membership," Jason said.

Throughout the building in areas not accessible to the public, improvements have been made to give employees a better work environment and to make their work flow more efficient. In the accounting department, for instance, cubicles have been replaced by offices. Break rooms provide a place for employees to relax.

An auditorium is available in the front of the building for use by membership featuring ample seating, big-screen TVs and a large photo wall depicting a farm scene and containing information about the cooperative.

"We have 80 employees and we can now have everybody in here and have meetings with the whole company or small events or whatever we need to have," Jason said. "Our old auditorium wouldn't hold that many. "

Throughout the building are reminders of the rich history of CFEC, including photographs of past board members and community events.

Operationally, the new building will aid in situations like this weekend's winter storm when restoring power becomes a matter of paramount importance.

"It is going to better allow us to be in one place to deal with outages. In the future, we're working on having an outage management system   map to let members know about outages," Jason said. 

A "war room" is set up to monitor and deal with those outages. 

"Danny Sutton is over operations and is head of dealing with outages," Jason said. "In our war room he will have meetings with his foremen and set up for outages. We will have a TV where he can actually monitor where the trucks are and see where the closest one is so he can send them to where the outages are."

For the linemen out in the cold and storms dealing with those outages, the building offers new a new locker room and shower area.

"Before, they had to share restrooms with everybody  else," Jason said. "Now they have their own locker room which has a washer and dryer and shower if they're here for a few days and need that."

At the rear of the building, the old warehouse remains with a few upgrades and restructuring and the truck bays have been extended and closed in.

In addition to the new building, CFEC has rolled out a revamped website with multi-language options and other new features at caneyforkec.com.

I'd like to thank Jason Cloyd and the whole staff at CFEC for the warm welcome and the tour of the facility which they are rightly proud of. I'd also like to give a shout out to another Jason at CFEC, Jason Riley, who upon seeing me walk in exclaimed, "Oh, we're gonna get in the business section! It's my favorite!" So thanks, Jason, for reading Business Pulse.

Until next week,

same biz day,

same biz page

Thanks for taking some time out from playing in the snow to read this week's Business Pulse, and thanks to Ben Lomand Connect for sponsoring the page. See you back here next week for another dose of business news.