By Tara Miller, Manager of Communications
After working a combined 84 years in the field, two of Central Electric Cooperative’s most experienced team members plan to retire. Howard area lineworkers Tim Neises and Al Spader will soon hang up their hard hats, rubber gloves and climbing hooks to enjoy the retired life.
Tim Neises
When asked why he decided to become a lineman, Tim said, “My dad thought it was the thing to do.”
Tim’s parents, Jerry and Bonnie, farmed outside of Howard. The local farming economy in the late 1970s was not what it is today. So, following his father’s wisdom, Tim enrolled at Mitchell Technical College. After graduating in 1979, he worked for the City of Flandreau for about five months before landing a position at Intercounty Electric, which enabled him to move back home to the Howard area. Intercounty Electric merged with Tri-County Electric in 2000 to form Central Electric Cooperative.
Tim was eventually promoted to Howard Area Foreman. His extensive knowledge of electric distribution has made him an incredible asset to the cooperative and its members. Over the years, Tim has weathered numerous storms, ensured the lights were on in difficult times and helped train the next generation of lineworkers.
With an impressive 45 years of service, Tim is currently Central Electric’s most tenured employee. The only cooperative employees in recent history with comparable records are retired customer service representative Marge Schryvers with 46 years, and retired lineworker and Plankinton foreman Curt Guindon with 45 years, not counting his first year when he was not yet considered a full-time employee.
In January, Tim’s wife, Karla, plans to retire from her position as the Miner County Register of Deeds after 41 years of service. She has worked in the office since 1983 and served as the Register of Deeds since 1986.
With this newfound time, Tim and Karla hope to enjoy the outdoors, travel and spend time with family and friends.
Tim said, “My kids and grandkids all live fairly close, so we look forward to spending more time with them.”
Tim’s kids are Chris, Steve and Ashley. Chris works as an electrician at Patriot Electric (formerly Bob’s Electric) in Flandreau, Steve was a lineworker and is now a staking engineer at Sioux Valley Energy (Central Electric’s neighboring cooperative in Colman) and Ashley works as a nurse in Madison.
Al Spader
Al’s first career after high school was working as a welder at Apple Lines in Madison.
“I knew I didn’t want to weld the rest of my life,” he said. Al was friends with Tim and others who went to school for powerline construction and maintenance, so he thought he’d give it a try.
After graduating from Mitchell Technical College in 1985, Al started his career as a lineworker in the Minneapolis area at Northern States Power Company, now known as Xcel Energy. He ended up moving back home to work for Intercounty Electric in 1987.
With 39 years in the field and 37 of those years at your cooperative, Al has been a cornerstone of the Howard outpost. Known for his hard work and reliability, Al’s dedication to providing and restoring electricity in all weather conditions helped the cooperative maintain a high standard of service for its members.
Al’s wife, Audrey, recently retired after working 38 years as a school speech clinician. She spent two years in Nebraska, nine years with the Cornbelt Conference and 27 years in Howard. She continues to fill in for the Howard School District as a substitute teacher.
Once Al is officially retired, they plan to spend more time enjoying their cabin in the Black Hills near Custer.
Their son, Colton, is an electrician at Sioux Valley Energy. Al is happy with Colton’s career choice.
“I told him not to be a lineman, so he doesn’t have to be on-call all the time,” he said. “Being an electrician gives him normal work hours, and he doesn’t have to worry about outages.”
Weathering Storms
Tim and Al have worked to restore power through several blizzards, ice storms, wind storms, thunderstorms and floods. They both recalled a winter storm in 2005 that caused the power to go out for 16 days in some areas.
“Sanborn County really got beat up in 2005,” Al recalled. “It was all ice and the lines were buried.”
Tim said, “We had farmers with tractors helping us dig holes, and we had to break the crust to pull the lines out of the snow.”
Affected members were thankful for the selfless efforts to restore power in the freezing cold. That was just one of countless storms Tim and Al weathered over the decades.
Evolution in the Field
Both Tim and Al will tell you that a lot has changed since they started out as apprentices. In the 1980s and 1990s, crews spent a great deal of time disconnecting well services in the fall and reconnecting them in spring. Nowadays, well services must be hooked up all year to continue receiving power.
Since 2000, there’s also been renewed focus on replacing aging infrastructure and improving system reliability. The Howard crew has been instrumental in burying more than 150 miles of line, greatly improving electric reliability.
Equipment and technological advancements have also made linework less taxing on the body.
“We didn’t have skid steers, plows and jet-vacs like they use now. Most of the work was done by hand with a shovel,” Al said. “And we shared a bucket truck with another outpost, so we only had it two weeks out of the month.”
Metering and billing technology has also come a long way.
“I don’t miss doing collections,” Tim shared. In the past, line crews had to go out and physically disconnect meters on unpaid accounts, but with new metering technology, that can all be done from the office.
A Grateful Farewell
It would be impossible to list all of Tim and Al’s accomplishments, but in recent years they have been instrumental in boosting reliability by overseeing several miles of underground installation in Miner County and the surrounding area. They have had their gloves on several hundred miles of overhead and underground lines that power the lives of their friends and neighbors.
When talking about the future, one thing is clear – Tim and Al are glad they will no longer be on-call.
“I can do anything I want, and I won’t have to worry about power outages,” Al said. “I can just relax.”
They each have some CRP acres and food plots to keep them busy when they are no longer working five days a week.
As Tim and Al embark on retired life, the cooperative wants to thank them for their countless contributions over the years. Their expertise, work ethic and commitment to the cooperative’s mission have been instrumental in shaping our success.
“I’m going to miss the people,” Tim said. “Whether it’s coworkers or members, that’s what I will miss the most.”
Al’s last day of work is Dec. 31, 2024. Tim’s last day will be Jan. 15, 2025. Please join us in wishing them all the best in retirement.