Wheat Belt Power opens new facility to community

Hundreds of members of Weat Belt Public Power District were on hand for the open house and customer appreciation day last Friday afternoon. Brilliant sunshine greeted the throng on hand to witness a ribbon cutting hosted by the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce that officially kicked off the new facility that will house office staff and the power company's equipment.

The entryway to the offices in the front of the enormous structure is welcoming with a grand counter area that sports wheat inlaid into clear acrylic that sets it off as being the home of Wheat Belt Publc Power District.

The $5.2 million structure was designed by Joseph R. Hewgley and Associates of North Platte and was constructed by Eric Reichert Insulation and Construction of Scottsbluff. The newly built facility is state-of-the-art in that it boasts light-emitting diode (LED) throughout the facility, geo-thermal heating and cooling and sits on 20 acres that is bordered by a wheat field that was golden the day of the open house. Wheat Belt installed 56 wells at a cost of $600,000 to provide the geo-thermal system with heating and cooling from the earth beneath the structure.

Wheat Belt's board of directors approved the construction of the 10,000 sq. ft. office portion of the building and the 16,000 sq. ft. warehouse back in April of 2015. Construction was complete in April.

Tim Lindahl is the general manager of Wheat Belt. Bernie Fehringer is president and a director of the South District that includes Sidney; Doug Smith is vice president and serves the South District including Chappell; Marcus Milanuk is secretary and is a director of the North District including Oshkosh; John Gortemaker is the treasurer and represents the North District that includes Oskosh; Brian Zimmerman is the assistant scretary and represents the South District that includes Big Springs; Stuart Morgan is a member of the board representing the South District and Dalton; and Mike Blomenkam is also a member from the North District that includes Broadwater.

A bit of Wheat Belt history dates back to a meeting of committee members on August 9, 1941, when Art Borcher reported that the Rural Electric Association of Pine Bluffs had voted to accept the Cheyenne County Rural Electrification Association as an extension to their company. He also reported that 358 farmers had signed applications and that 396 miles of line had been mapped out.

"It was shortly after this that the war (World War II) broke out and everything was stopped for the duration. After the war, when material was again available, it seemed to us that Pine Bluffs was doing all the work on the west end of their system and we on this end were standing by anxiously waiting, but nothing would happen. I also think that Pine Bluffs was sorry of the annexing. So, after various meetings, we voted to dissolve membership. So now we had to start all over again," according to the recollections of Mrs. Theodore Smith as recorded on Wheat Belt's web site.

Wheat Belt Electric Membership Association became a reality on August 28, 1946.

"So now we had a name, board members, no money and no members. So we first had to negotiate for aid, and hire a manager. Also a place of business had to be found. Abe Moore was chosen as manager and a little white house, one block south and half a block east of the main intersection was our first office at 938 Jackson Street, Sidney," Mrs. Smith said.

Wheat Belt Public Power District's new address11306 Road 32 is not a little white house, but a statement of growth and vision first cast by its founders in 1941.