United Power hosted an open house at their Coal Creek Canyon office on September 21 to introduce their new Mountain Area manager to residents. The open house took place from 9 to 11 a.m. at the office at 5 Gross Dam Road.
For the event, United Power set up a tent outside the office with tables, information about United Power, and free blankets. New Mountain Area Manager Travis Rodlin stood behind the tables, saying that this was primarily a meet and greet to get to know him.
Also attending were Director Steve Whiteside, a director for three years, who lives off Gross Dam Road; Tamara Waltemath, director for eight years; Stephen Douglas, who also is mayor of Commerce City; and Jen Kulmeann, Chief Operating Officer. Douglas pointed out that it is important for United Power to put on events where the people are.
While Rodlin has been with United Power for 18 years, he has now been at the Coal Creek Office for four months.
He went to Brighton High School and started working for United Power in high school doing meter readings. He then became a lineman and journeyed out in 2016. In 2022, he became an operations assistant and in June of 2024 came to Coal Creek.
Rodlin said that United Power has a total of 200 employees and covers 6,923 square miles. He has seven employees in the Coal Creek Office, with one four-man crew. No one is in the office full-time, but he has a part-time project coordinator, Heidi Story, who is the Communications Director. He likes to get communities involved in their efforts to keep the power flowing.
United Power is also trying to inform members about the innovative fire mitigation strategy the cooperative has been implementing over the past several years, and the latest improvements to the plan. They try to keep members and their property safe from potential fire hazards. “The peak up here is in the winter, when people are running their heaters,” Rodlin noted.
He continued, “Our trimming is never done. We don’t have the resources.” United Power will trim 10 feet to each side of a power line. They just finished a project in Lincoln Hills replacing old conductors with plastic ones. This should keep lines from starting fires if trees fall on them.
United Power recently celebrated its 85th anniversary. The Union Rural Electric Association first started in 1936. In 1946 and 1947, the first distribution lines were set up in Coal Creek Canyon. The Crescent Village office opened in 1973 in the former post office and store.
For more information about United Power, go to www.unitedpower.com.
