TID General Manager Michelle Reimers

On Episode 1 of the TID Water & Power Podcast we sit down with TID General Manager Michelle Reimers to discuss the challenges of managing the District through 2020, current TID projects, and what’s next for your community-owned utility. 

Let’s get social!

Facebook: @TurlockID

Instagram: @TurlockID

Twitter: @TurlockID

LinkedIn: /company/turlockid

Find out more about TID at https://www.TID.org/podcast. 

Let’s get social!
 Facebook: @TurlockID
Instagram: @TurlockID
Twitter: @TurlockID
LinkedIn: /company/turlockid

Find out more about TID at https://www.TID.org/podcast. 

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

 00;00;06;06 - 00;00;24;04
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to the first episode of the TID Water and Power Podcast. I'm your host, Constance Anderson. And each episode I'm going to sit down with industry experts and TID employees to discuss fascinating facts and important issues that shape the operations of your community owned utility.

00;00;24;28 - 00;00;40;06
Speaker 1
Today, we are fortunate to have with us Michelle Reimers, general manager for Turlock Irrigation District. Michelle is already making her mark on TID history as she is both the youngest and the first female general manager at TID, and she brings with her a wealth of experience.

00;00;40;07 - 00;00;41;05
Speaker 1
Michelle, welcome.

00;00;41;26 - 00;00;43;17
Speaker 2
Great. Thank you. Happy to be here.

00;00;44;28 - 00;00;50;02
Speaker 1
Before we get started, I wanted to talk a little bit about your personal background and your background with the district.

00;00;51;01 - 00;01;14;09
Speaker 2
Okay. So I was born and raised in this community. I have many childhood memories here and most of them were on my grandparents farm. They planted an almond orchard back in the fifties. And like I said, those are the fondest memories I have of, you know, irrigating and harvesting and just working alongside my grandpa.

00;01;15;06 - 00;01;34;06
Speaker 2
And I really believe, you know, those memories are what shaped me to the person I am today. You know, it was hard work, you know, building those strong characteristics of a great leader. So like any teenager in the valley, I had to get out for college.

00;01;34;17 - 00;01;50;14
Speaker 2
And so I left for San Diego State, made it a whole semester, and decided that that was just too big for me. So I came back home and attended CSU Stanislaus and eventually graduated there. I met my husband in this town.

00;01;51;09 - 00;02;04;22
Speaker 2
Later we we started a family and I have two small boys, a 11 year old and an eight year old. And I'm happy to say that today we farm that same piece of property that my grandparents had planted in the 1950s.

00;02;05;02 - 00;02;24;06
Speaker 2
And I can't tell you how much that means to me to be able to take my boys out there and work that same orchard and have those same childhood memories that I had. Now, I really appreciate the opportunity to give a personal background because I, I want people to know how much I am invested in TID and

00;02;24;06 - 00;02;46;19
Speaker 2
also the community. As for my district background, I started as a communications specialist 15 years ago, moved up in the organization to become, you know, a division manager and then moved up to start overseeing in addition to communications, government relations, then also customer service.

00;02;47;15 - 00;03;03;14
Speaker 2
I've also at that time became a member of the management team and, you know, I brought something different to the management team than ever before it did. And that was, you know, I'm not an engineer, so my viewpoints are a little bit different.

00;03;04;16 - 00;03;15;22
Speaker 2
But, you know, I bring the two different perspectives of, you know, the customer, what this means to our customer viewpoints. And then also a political strategy.

00;03;16;23 - 00;03;24;27
Speaker 1
In your 15 years at the district, you've likely seen a lot of change take place. In what ways do you want to see the district continue to change under your tenure?

00;03;26;24 - 00;03;43;23
Speaker 2
Well, I do think that both the water and energy landscapes are both changing. And I do see the district, you know, I recognize the district has made some changes. And I do see us continuing to make changes to be able to adapt to, you know, the industry changing as a whole.

00;03;44;24 - 00;04;06;08
Speaker 2
You know, I see themes like, you know, investing in water conservation and new investments in technology and, you know, expecting to be able to produce or perform to our customers expectations. Looking at business model changes of, you know, renewables are coming online and, you know, how are we going to integrate those into our system?

00;04;06;08 - 00;04;27;24
Speaker 2
And perhaps do we need to look at, you know, like I said, business model changes. Employee engagement, I think is huge for us and it's changing. And it's you know, we have both sides of the house. We have water and power, and we're doing our best now to find that water energy nexus and have more collaborative meetings

00;04;27;24 - 00;04;49;12
Speaker 2
and integrate different people from different backgrounds to be a part of larger conversations and solutions and hoping that that has a more of an engaged workforce from the top all the way down to the bottom. I also see us building more relationships with our community and partnering with our customers and truly being a trusted partner rather than

00;04;49;12 - 00;04;50;11
Speaker 2
just a utility.

00;04;52;15 - 00;04;54;21
Speaker 1
So you don't have much on your to do list, then?

00;04;55;18 - 00;04;56;04
Speaker 2
Not at all.

00;04;57;09 - 00;05;13;15
Speaker 1
So you actually took over as general manager in January of 2020? No doubt came in with goals and aspirations for the district and roughly 75 days and your your position. COVID happens. Tell us about the district's response.

00;05;15;02 - 00;05;34;10
Speaker 2
Well, first, I'd like to start off by saying how proud I am of the district and the employees for our response through COVID. I think early on I remember it being so impactful to me and we were sitting around the management team table and somebody said, Well, you know, we're we're the top of the pyramid.

00;05;34;25 - 00;05;50;27
Speaker 2
And I said, Well, what do you mean? And he said, Well, you know, because we're first we're thinking of first responders and, you know, the hospitals. And he says, well, without us, they can't operate and they can't do their jobs.

00;05;51;11 - 00;06;08;11
Speaker 2
And it was that moment where it hit me and, you know, it became very real. Like we we have to continue to provide the critical service in order for everyone else to do their jobs. And then it was such a scary time.

00;06;08;11 - 00;06;27;09
Speaker 2
I remember it, you know, everybody not really knowing what was happening and, you know, the importance of having reliable power and water at that point in time was, you know, literally the foundation of society. And so I we adapted as quickly as we could.

00;06;28;02 - 00;06;44;27
Speaker 2
And like I said, I was very proud of the employees and how we come together. I will say, through all the experience I have at the district with, you know, any sort of crises. Employees always stood up, performed and work together in a very collaborative way.

00;06;44;27 - 00;07;05;21
Speaker 2
And and so, you know, we we we operated seamlessly on the outside, but on the inside, we made a ton of changes. We had to implement wellness screenings. We had to decentralize certain staff. And, you know, we we did offer a telecommute for four employees who could do that.

00;07;05;21 - 00;07;18;11
Speaker 2
And so a very structured way in the midst of all this chaos. And a lot of that is due to our emergency management plans that we have here at the District. So that really helped.

00;07;19;17 - 00;07;34;00
Speaker 1
You know, you make a good point because throughout COVID, there was a lot of talk and a lot of concern about businesses that were closing on account of the pandemic. And you never heard anyone question whether it would continue to provide power.

00;07;34;01 - 00;07;49;10
Speaker 1
So I think I think that says a lot about about you and your team. Obviously, along those lines, a number of people in a number of businesses, a number of customers have been impacted by the fiscal ramifications of the pandemic.

00;07;49;19 - 00;07;53;04
Speaker 1
What is it doing to help customers get through this time?

00;07;55;07 - 00;08;17;04
Speaker 2
Sure. That's a great question. Early on last year, like many other utilities, with the uncertainty of of the pandemic, we did discontinue the disconnection process for customers. And, you know, that was important and we postponed any late fees that were being charged.

00;08;17;24 - 00;08;35;06
Speaker 2
In addition, we worked with community leaders and and other organizations to see what programs or offerings they had for our community and really partnered with them to try to get information and to, you know, just at least a one sheet flier that we could get to our customers.

00;08;36;13 - 00;08;52;13
Speaker 2
You know, we serve over 100,000 electric customers. And we offered room in that newsletter to, like I said, other organizations and programs to try to get the word out of their what there was people trying to help and make offerings.

00;08;52;13 - 00;09;13;26
Speaker 2
And so we to have, you know, customer programs and, you know, percent discounts on our utility bills for for low income customers. And I would also say that our customer service team is outstanding and they have made personal contact with each person who has been behind on their bill.

00;09;14;10 - 00;09;31;09
Speaker 2
And, you know, and it's not a demand for payment. It's how can we help? How can we get you on a payment plan? And any other offerings that they could help this this customer with. There's a there's a lot like like I said, there's a lot of offerings.

00;09;31;09 - 00;09;36;27
Speaker 2
It's just TID was really trying to be the liaison to connect them to to the help that's out there.

00;09;38;04 - 00;09;54;27
Speaker 1
Very good. So 2020 will obviously be remembered for the COVID pandemic. That was kind of at the forefront of everyone's mind, but that certainly wasn't the only challenge that Turlock Irrigation District faced last year. Can you tell us about some of the other challenges that you've overcome?

00;09;55;22 - 00;10;11;26
Speaker 2
Sure. 2020 was the year of crises. We we actually first started out our first event was recognition that we were in a dry year. Any time we have a dry year, we start looking for the signs of could this be a potential drought?

00;10;12;18 - 00;10;32;00
Speaker 2
Unfortunately, that's what that's looking like. But that's what we were doing early on in January and February of 2020. Like you said, COVID hit. And then throughout the year, there were some other things that came online that the SCU complex fire, that was the fourth largest wildfire in California.

00;10;32;01 - 00;10;50;18
Speaker 2
And that fire unfortunately damaged parts of our system on the west side. And crews were amazing and, you know, minimizing damage as much they could, of course, without risking their safety. But had customers returned online, you know, back in service when it was when it was safe.

00;10;50;29 - 00;11;21;07
Speaker 2
And very quickly. In addition, August, the state of California saw a the August heat wave is what it's called. And so the state was was actually having customers conserve energy and actually had to do rolling blackouts. And fortunately for our customers, the city was well positioned to be able to keep the lights on throughout that heat wave

00;11;21;08 - 00;11;41;11
Speaker 2
. And and that wasn't an easy task. Staff did what they could quickly to make adjustments to where we were. Like I said, very well positioned to be able to to handle the load. In addition, we were even able to help out the California ISO by some of the decisions that we made.

00;11;41;11 - 00;11;53;24
Speaker 2
And now that's really the benefit of being locally owned, being our own balancing authority, which is similar to a mini version of the California Independent System operator.

00;11;55;27 - 00;12;12;28
Speaker 1
Wow. That was that was quite a year. And again, this is all in your first year as general manager. Yes. Okay. Let's let's kind of turn it turn it up to a positive note. Tell us about some of the milestones that the district met or some some wins for the district in 2020.

00;12;13;04 - 00;12;30;04
Speaker 2
Sure. Yes. It wasn't all negative. There were some positives in 2020. You know, one of my major goals when I became the general manager was to reestablish and renew our strategic plan. We did have a strategic plan prior, and it needed to be renewed for 2020.

00;12;30;05 - 00;12;51;16
Speaker 2
And fortunately, I had the opportunity to be a part of the strategic planning process in the past, and I had the opportunity to know what we did very well at and what we probably could have improved upon. And and what I learned was that the management level, obviously, including the board and developed the strategic plan and what

00;12;51;16 - 00;13;06;20
Speaker 2
was missing was the voices at all throughout the utility. So this time we decided to start with, you know, small group seats, departments and start asking about where do you think the district should be? What do you think the challenges are?

00;13;06;21 - 00;13;25;09
Speaker 2
You know, a whole SWOT analysis through through the entire organization and that sort of. You identified some of the issues and brought them up. And then, you know, we went through the full strategic planning process. And so I'm really proud of, you know, that it was really a collaborative effort and team effort to to build the strategic

00;13;25;09 - 00;13;38;18
Speaker 2
plan. I'm also really excited that it's not something that's going to sit on the shelf. That was the other thing that we probably could have improved upon last time. And then so this time it's a little more detailed than most strategic plans.

00;13;38;18 - 00;13;55;10
Speaker 2
We do have goals, we have actions, and we also have action tasks. And that really helps us to make sure that we're on track to meet our goals and, you know, really highlights accountability. And then it also gives us an opportunity to highlight all of the great things that our employees do here at.

00;13;58;00 - 00;14;17;14
Speaker 2
We've also had I just want to note, I mean, I know we're we're not fully in 2021, but kind of. So we've we've already had some major milestones. In 2021, we entered into the energy imbalance market. And I guess I should back up and say for people that aren't too familiar with that, that we do buy and

00;14;17;14 - 00;14;38;02
Speaker 2
sell energy on the open market. And and that's where we now recently entered into the energy imbalance market, which gives us the opportunity to make these trades every 5 minutes. So that's that's really positioning today, both economically, you know, be able to economically balance supply and demand real time.

00;14;38;02 - 00;14;52;22
Speaker 2
And so that's exciting. And we successfully launched that in March. In addition, on the water side, we rolled out our new online water ordering and forecasting tools to our customers, and they can go in there and of course, order their water.

00;14;52;22 - 00;15;07;07
Speaker 2
And the other cool thing is they can see their historic usage. They can forecast based off of the water availability this year how many irrigations they need to plan for. And, we're hearing really good feedback from that.

00;15;07;07 - 00;15;08;03
Speaker 2
So that's exciting.

00;15;08;23 - 00;15;19;29
Speaker 1
Great. So it sounds like 2021 is off to a good start. Sure. And and while we're on that note, why don't you tell us about some of the other hot button topics that are currently going on at the district?

00;15;19;29 - 00;15;21;19
Speaker 1
Maybe start on the water side.

00;15;22;29 - 00;15;39;22
Speaker 2
Yeah. You know, so like I alluded to before, we are in a drought and no one wants to say that word. But this is the, you know, the second consecutive dry year. And it's really is illustrating that climate change is real.

00;15;40;12 - 00;15;58;16
Speaker 2
I was a skeptic early on, too, but I can tell you it's a fact. Driers are getting drier and they're getting in longer durations and what years are getting wetter? And so, you know, that's a challenge as a water manager when you're relying on Mother Nature year in and year out and, you know, in wet years, you

00;15;58;16 - 00;16;14;19
Speaker 2
want to be able to, you know, use that in terms of recharge and then a dry year. You want to save every drop you can. One thing I want to mention that TID has been working with is actually NASA.

00;16;14;22 - 00;16;32;19
Speaker 2
It's exciting. It's people aren't you know, they're usually shocked when they hear that he's partnering with NASA. It's kind of sort of. But they worked with the Airborne Snow Observatory to develop a program in which they use lidar to measure snowpack in the watershed.

00;16;33;04 - 00;16;45;25
Speaker 2
If you're not familiar that the old way and a lot of the ways the state still continues to do it, you know, for the rest of the watersheds, is they go out and basically stick a pole in the snow and do the measurement.

00;16;45;25 - 00;17;04;22
Speaker 2 
And, you know, I don't know, it's a couple of miles apart. And and with with this new technology, we can actually use lidar and yet almost exact measurements of what is actually in the snowpack. And that is gold to a water manager to know exactly what's up in the watershed.

00;17;05;25 - 00;17;27;15
Speaker 2
As you know, our directors have to make water availability to farmers. And so knowing what's up there is, like I said, gold or priceless. And in addition, we're working with the Scripps Institute to analyze atmospheric rivers. So if you know what's up in the watershed and you know what's coming in terms of an atmospheric river, you

00;17;27;15 - 00;17;51;29
Speaker 2
definitely can manage that reservoir better than we ever have. So excited about that to try to help with dealing with the volatility of climate change. And then of course, we are continuing with our Don Pedro relicensing. I think we're over ten years now at this process and it's really dovetailed in to what people might hear of

00;17;51;29 - 00;18;16;05
Speaker 2
as voluntary agreements, which was, you know, came about because of the SED said the most people call it the water grab where the state water board was requiring 40% of unrepaired flow from the Tuolumne. That process is, you know, we're trying to negotiate with the state to be able to come up with a solution rather than head

00;18;16;05 - 00;18;35;28
Speaker 2
for litigation. But that's a long process we're hoping to see. Some movement on the voluntary agreements and hopefully in the right direction within the next month or so. And once that agreement is in place, then we can move forward on our licensing of Don Pedro.

00;18;35;28 - 00;18;37;22
Speaker 2
So hopeful that that happens.

00;18;38;04 - 00;18;45;15
Speaker 1
And just for our listeners who might not know, why is the voluntary agreements the right track to to get to our our license?

00;18;46;13 - 00;19;09;00
Speaker 2
Sure. Well, I should say that we are we we do have a litigation route if necessary. That's not something that we want to pursue first, because litigation is long and it's expensive and it doesn't offer us any certainty versus, you know, coming up with a voluntary agreement.

00;19;09;01 - 00;19;24;03
Speaker 2
And I should say our proposal in the voluntary agreement is from our application for our license for Don Pedro. We spent along with Modesto Irrigation District, as well as city and county of San Francisco. We spent a lot of money on science.

00;19;24;07 - 00;19;36;29
Speaker 2
We believed that that was something that we needed to invest in and we didn't need to do a lot of studies to do. Tell us. How much water should we be putting down the river for our fishery? How much should we be investing in habitat?

00;19;38;14 - 00;20;00;06
Speaker 2
And so so that plan was developed, like I said, through science. And we feel very strongly that that is the right way to manage the river. And that's what we're offering in our voluntary agreement proposal. And so, you know, if the state agrees and we can move forward, it's paid for by the districts, including San Francisco

00;20;00;14 - 00;20;07;11
Speaker 2
, and it can be implemented tomorrow. And that's really what's best for the environment and then also provides certainty for our growers.

00;20;08;14 - 00;20;09;14
Speaker 1
Great. Thank you for that.

00;20;09;29 - 00;20;28;17
Speaker 2
Sure. One other thing I wanted to to hit on for for water is, you know, I have a lot of people asking me about groundwater sustainability. You know, the law was passed a while ago for a Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, and it created agencies.

00;20;28;18 - 00;20;50;23
Speaker 2
And so today is part of the West Turlock Basin. And we also have the East Turlock Sub Basin. And together we are going to submit one groundwater sustainability plan to the state because we both have portions within the Turlock Sub Basin and so that plan is to be submitted next year.

00;20;50;24 - 00;20;59;28
Speaker 2
And so we're we're on track for that and and hopeful that, again, some certainty in terms of, you know, what is our plan for the future for groundwater sustainability.

00;21;01;15 - 00;21;08;08
Speaker 1
Right. Okay. So let's let's shift over to the power side. What are some of the issues facing the electric industry?

00;21;09;27 - 00;21;31;05
Speaker 2
Sure. Well, TID is well on our way to meet the state's climate goals of 60% renewables by 2030 and zero carbon by 2045. However, I have to say that it is challenging. Trying to balance the transition to renewables while also keeping rates affordable has been challenging.

00;21;32;12 - 00;21;50;22
Speaker 2
There's yet kind of the second point, but it dovetails all into the two. The first is just grid reliability, how making sure that these transitions with integrating renewables is still allowing us to provide the reliability that our customers need and want.

00;21;51;14 - 00;22;08;14
Speaker 2
And the August heat wave was a it was a really good. Example of the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow in August specifically. Unfortunately, there was a lot of wildfires that were happening in the state and it created an overcast and so solar.

00;22;09;15 - 00;22;26;08
Speaker 2
Really couldn't produce. And that's where you saw the need for a lot of the natural gas fired power plants and others to come online and to be able to provide that grid reliability. So, you know, we're well on our way to meet those goals, but it definitely is challenging.

00;22;26;08 - 00;22;39;29
Speaker 2
And those are the things that are kind of rising up on the energy side as well as, you know, kind of what I alluded to early, earlier, which is, you know, there's a lot of emerging technology with the energy side.

00;22;39;29 - 00;22;57;02
Speaker 2
And so it's making sure that we're we're involved in that research and know how it integrates with our system and what our customers want and need. And so trying to stay ahead and that kind of in that sort of emerging technology field is is something that that we're doing as well.

00;22;58;01 - 00;23;12;20
Speaker 1
It's very interesting. You know, there are so many facets to today that I don't think a lot of people realize and you can take them apart from each other. But there's also so much overlap between what's happening on the power side and what's happening on the water side.

00;23;13;15 - 00;23;24;19
Speaker 1
I really appreciate you kind of giving us the breakdown on some of those key topics. Thank you for that. What other projects are going on right now that you'd like to share?

00;23;25;22 - 00;23;40;24
Speaker 2
Well, we're working on a lot of different things, but some things I wanted to point out today. We did purchase property last year to build what's called another regulating reservoir. So we recently constructed one in the Hilmar area.

00;23;40;24 - 00;24;01;21
Speaker 2
And I guess I should back up and say our system is over 250 miles of gravity fed canal system. So that's amazing. Rate built in the 1900s still works today. I love the fact that it doesn't use energy to move through our system, but what that means is the system is meant to spill.

00;24;02;15 - 00;24;15;10
Speaker 2
And then the water landscape that we're in today, water conservation is on everyone's mind. And so we're looking at trying to make an improvement in a system that's well over 100 years old and trying to reinvent it.

00;24;15;15 - 00;24;27;11
Speaker 2
And and a regulated is as a really good tool to do that. It essentially captures the water in the lower end of the system and acts almost like a, you know, a Turlock Lake or a Don Pedro. Right.

00;24;27;11 - 00;24;42;27
Speaker 2
It captures the water. And then when it's when it's ordered or throughout the system, we're able to rerelease it. And there's three positive things out of a regulated reservoir. Obviously, there's water conservation. So you're minimizing spills, you're improving customer service.

00;24;43;01 - 00;24;56;21
Speaker 2
So a lot of people at the end of the line, unfortunately, in dry years, you know, we're trying to run is as tight as we can with every drop that they might get shorted a little bit. And so improving customer service in that areas is an improvement.

00;24;56;21 - 00;25;08;29
Speaker 2
And then the third is also water quality. There's a lot of water quality benefits out of a regular reservoir when you recapture an in blend and then and then send back down the system. So we're excited about that.

00;25;08;29 - 00;25;28;25
Speaker 2
We are in the design phase and we hope to be shovel ready by the middle of this year. We are hearing about a lot of grants opportunities both at the state and federal level. And TID is going to make every effort to try to see if that project would qualify for some grant funding.

00;25;30;16 - 00;25;48;05
Speaker 2
Other things that we're looking at, you know, we've been looking at and analyzing solar within our service territory for quite some time. This is kind of bittersweet because the land in our territory is very valuable and that's because of the water side.

00;25;48;05 - 00;25;50;26
Speaker 2
And so, you know, we're very proud of that. But it makes.

00;25;50;26 - 00;25;52;13
Speaker 1
Again, that overlap between power.

00;25;52;13 - 00;26;14;12
Speaker 2
And water. Right. So we so, you know, it's just challenging to find, you know, some acreage here that that we would purchase and that's, you know, relatively affordable. And then also, you know, with the mindset of, you know, we are an agricultural community and, you know, that the balance of ag land versus versus non and so

00;26;15;07 - 00;26;34;25
Speaker 2
and just to put it in perspective, about five acres equals about one megawatt. So, you know, Don Pedro is 203 megawatts. And, you know, our natural gas fired power plants are one is 250 megawatts. Just to put in perspective of the the amount of acres we would need and the megawatts we would need to actually make it

00;26;36;07 - 00;26;53;16
Speaker 2
more like a utility scale is quite a lot on both sides. So that's forced us to look at, you know, what properties do we own, what properties are not being utilized by the agriculture industry. And then, you know, really points to, hey, we have this canal system.

00;26;53;26 - 00;27;14;12
Speaker 2
And I think a lot of people have seen recently there was a study out of the country on that. They illustrated that they could put solar on canal systems. And that's something we are actually evaluating today. You know, we do own the canals and most of our electric system is, you know, sharing that same canal bank

00;27;14;17 - 00;27;40;11
Speaker 2
. And so is there an opportunity for us to capitalize on the infrastructure that's already being used today. So analyzing that, we are installing customer kiosks at both our series and Turlock customer service locations. And that gives the customers ability to, you know, make payments or check their balances 24 hours a day.

00;27;41;06 - 00;28;01;12
Speaker 2
So we're excited about that. We're well on our way implementing some tech technology to be able to add an outage management system. We do currently have one, but this is an upgraded version and it would really allow customers to be notified almost instantaneously, that their power is out.

00;28;01;13 - 00;28;15;16
Speaker 2
And so that's a fun feature that we think a lot of employer or excuse me. Well, employees, I guess I'd say to you, but a lot of customers would really like I know everybody wants to know when their power's out and more importantly, when their power is going to come back on.

00;28;17;17 - 00;28;38;02
Speaker 2
The other thing that we're working on is Don Pedro. We referenced it before, and it really is the the jewel of the district. And, you know, as much as it's, you know, a valuable tool in our resource mix and it really is symbolic as well for the for the foundation of the district.

00;28;38;02 - 00;28;51;10
Speaker 2
And Don Pedro has served us well, but we are truly at the end of life for the for the system there. And so we do want to replace it. And so we're going to be, you know, starting that process.

00;28;51;10 - 00;29;00;23
Speaker 2
Well, we already sort of have and we'll be continuing that. It's a multiyear process to extend the what we call extending the life of Don Pedro.

00;29;01;24 - 00;29;05;14
Speaker 1
And Don Pedro is celebrating a milestone anniversary this year. Is that right?

00;29;05;17 - 00;29;14;24
Speaker 2
Yes, it is very exciting. And I think they have a lot of events planned for the recreation agency. And so we're happy to be a part of that.

00;29;15;16 - 00;29;22;27
Speaker 1
Right. And then with the Life Extension Project, hopefully in 50 years from now, we'll be celebrating 100th anniversary. One can Hope.

00;29;22;27 - 00;29;23;17
Speaker 2
Yep.

00;29;24;24 - 00;29;36;25
Speaker 1
Great. Well, thanks for that. So we're we're nearing the end of our time together, so I just want to make sure. Is there anything else that we haven't yet touched on that you wanted to wanted our listeners to know or wanted to make mention of.

00;29;38;07 - 00;29;57;19
Speaker 2
Yeah. I, you know, I mentioned before that I truly want to try to become a trusted community partner. And that's been one of my tenants and and part of our strategic plan process. But I really think it's important for people to remember that we are community owned, that we're not for profit, that we work for them.

00;29;58;02 - 00;30;16;28
Speaker 2
And I think a lot of people forget that. And so it's it's very important. You know, they have five board members that are locally elected and their voice truly matters. And there's there's a lot of benefits of locally owned, community owned public power, you know, benefits.

00;30;16;28 - 00;30;31;15
Speaker 2
And so I know I just want to flag that that that there's going to be a new theme that you'll start hearing from today. We've increased our social presence and here we are doing a podcast and we really want to connect with our customers and again, be that trusted community partner.

00;30;32;14 - 00;30;44;18
Speaker 1
That's awesome. Thank you for that. One last question for you. You mentioned during your introduction that you and your husband have two young boys. What are your boys understand of it? And do they get it that their mom is the boss?

00;30;44;20 - 00;31;01;07
Speaker 2
Mm hmm. Yeah, that's that's a good question. So early on. No, I mean, yeah, I kind of we'd Crossover Canal and I'd say, oh, you know, Mommy's a part of that. Or, you know, I try to explain to them, you know, transmission and distribution and, you know, power plants.

00;31;01;07 - 00;31;18;10
Speaker 2
And they we're a little too young for that. But I think as they've grown, like I said, they're eleven and eight, they're really starting to get the concept. And of course, when I was selected to be the general manager, that that did make them stop and reflect like, oh, you, you run that now.

00;31;18;16 - 00;31;38;09
Speaker 2
And so, so that's been fun. But, you know, as a as a mother, it's been challenging sometimes to, you know, be fully dedicated to your career while also, you know, spending time with your family. And I had a mentor that asked me a question and I told her my struggles of like, oh, you know, work life balance

00;31;38;09 - 00;31;49;22
Speaker 2
. And a lot of women face that. And men, too. She said, what you know, what's your legacy going to be and what are you going to tell it? Like, what are your children going to say about, you know?

00;31;49;28 - 00;32;04;17
Speaker 2
And so that's kind of always resonated with me. And and she also said, you know, give me the advice of when you are gone for a work trip. You know, what do you tell your your children and tell them what the work you're doing and the importance of it?

00;32;04;17 - 00;32;16;11
Speaker 2
And so I started doing that. And you can really see that it was starting to trigger of like, you know, moms going to go fight for our water. I'm going to go tell them how important it is to keep rates affordable.

00;32;16;11 - 00;32;30;24
Speaker 2
And and so I think that that really helped. I think it maybe helped me more than to help them. But I hope they're proud and I hope that they understand that the work that I do and the people that I work with are are important and that, you know.

00;32;31;21 - 00;32;35;20
Speaker 2
We are truly the foundation of the community.

00;32;36;04 - 00;32;52;05
Speaker 1
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Michelle, thank you so much for joining us today. I know we covered a lot of information and I appreciate you sharing so much with us. I can't think of a better way to kick off the TID Water and Power podcast than with such an incredible inside look that you provided for us.

00;32;52;05 - 00;32;53;06
Speaker 1
So thank you for that.

00;32;54;15 - 00;32;59;04
Speaker 2
Very happy to be here and very happy to be there. The first interview.

00;32;59;22 - 00;33;20;08
Speaker 1
I couldn't be better. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to the TID Water and Power podcast. You can find TID on Facebook at Facebook.com, backslash, TurlockID on Twitter at TurlockID on Instagram at TurlockID or on LinkedIn as the Turlock Irrigation District.

00;33;20;20 - 00;33;23;18
Speaker 1
I'm your host, Constance Anderson. I'll see you again next time.