A big “thank you” to our team

Powerful people … Here’s an image we captured at the GRDA Coal Fired Complex (now the Grand River Energy Center) 16 years ago, in September 2000. This group of men was in the midst of completing a scheduled maintenance outage on one coal fired units at the time. The dedication and experience they brought to that task – and the dedication and experience other employees still deliver on a daily basis – is the real fuel that drives GRDA’s successes. As we approach Labor Day 2016, we wanted to acknowledge the efforts of all Team GRDA members.

Like many other organizations, the Grand River Dam Authority recognizes the important achievements of its workforce. Each month, milestone service anniversaries are highlighted in the internal informational flyer and employees reaching these milestones are also given pins to commemorate their years of service.

However, while employees receive the recognition, GRDA and its customers continue to receive the real benefits. To operate an organization like GRDA, where hundreds of daily tasks are rolled into the key priorities of electricity production, environmental stewardship and economic development, takes an efficient team of experienced employees.

This was illustrated just last week in the employee flyer when eight employees – all with at least 30 years of service to GRDA – were featured. It’s significant because the combined service of those eight employees equaled 250 years; that is a lot of GRDA knowledge contained within just over one percent of the total workforce. And that kind of knowledge and dedication has allowed GRDA to overcome many challenges and realize many successes throughout its history.

At the same time, new employees, with innovative ideas, skills and knowledge of their own are helping prepare GRDA for the future. Their efforts are adding to GRDA’s confidence and preparations to meet the needs of our stakeholder and serve the state of Oklahoma for many years to come.

So, as we head towards Labor Day 2016, it is an appropriate time to say “thank you” to our GRDA coworkers, as well as to the rest of you who are on the job every day, helping to make Oklahoma a great place to live, work and play.

Headquartered in Vinita, GRDA is Oklahoma’s state-owned electric utility; fully funded by revenues from electric and water sales instead of taxes. Each day, GRDA strives to be an “Oklahoma agency of excellence” by focusing on the 5 E’s: electricity, economic development, environmental stewardship, employees and efficiency. 

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