East River Electric celebrates employees years of service

MADISON — East River Electric Power Cooperative recently presented service awards to 19 employees with years of service ranging from five to 45 years.

“I’d like to congratulate this years’ service award recipients and thank them for their dedication to East River Electric. We are especially proud of everyone for continuing to work hard and provide our essential service during challenging times such as we are facing this year,” said East River General Manager Tom Boyko.

Brandon area maintenance foreman Jeff DeLay, one of this year’s service award recipients, began working at East River 45 years ago. 

“I was hired as a groundman and held various lineman positions over the years, working my way up to my current foreman position. I have enjoyed the variety of duties and working with new equipment and technology throughout my career. I appreciate working for an electric cooperative and knowing that we are all working together towards a common goal,” said DeLay.

Dean Feistner, facilities coordinator, celebrated his 40-year work anniversary.

“I have been greatly blessed through the 40 years that I have been at East River Electric,”  Feistner said. “Having the opportunity to work with a professional group of people where you can see the difference that you make in both our community and in the entire system footprint has been rewarding. I have witnessed many changes to the industry over the years. I started out using manual drafting tools then moved to computerized drafting over 30 years ago. There have always been opportunities for problem solving and for being innovative.”

A listing of the awards is as follows:

Five years: Brian Byrd, Shayla Ebsen, Ryan Himley, David Schaefer, Elliott Shoup-Owens 

Ten years: Bob Donelan, Cathy Olinger, Casey Sichmeller 

Fifteen years: Maria Anderson, Chad Gerdes, Deb O’Neal, Bob Sahr, Terry Zingmark

Twenty years: Brenda Fods

Thirty years: Ron Golden, Barb Strom

Thirty-Five years: Roger Kranz

Forty years: Dean Feistner

Forty-Five years: Jeff DeLay