Turns out the local electric utility system didn’t have to look too far for a new assistant general manager, and it may have also found its next general manager in the process.
Officials with GEUS said Wednesday that General Manager David McCalla has announced he will be retiring in 2014 and that long-time employee Gary Singleton has been promoted to Assistant General Manager to succeed McCalla.
McCalla has been with GEUS since 1988 and has been in the position of General Manager since 2006.
GEUS officials also presented a report of the utility’s annual audit to the City Council Tuesday.
Singleton has been GEUS’ Power Supply Director since 2009. He was previously employed by GEUS as Power Plant Manager, and worked for Garland Power & Light as Generation Control Manager and QSE Manager.
Singleton, who received an Aeronautical Engineering Degree from Purdue University, served as an officer in the Navy for more than 20 years.
McCalla had served the utility as assistant general manager until moving up to replace the retiring Tom Darte in 2006.
In October 2012 the GEUS board considered a proposal from the firm of Mycoff, Fry & Prouse to conduct the search for 28 percent of the annual agreed upon salary of the assistant general manager, with a minimum fee of $39,000, plus expenses.
The fee would be payable with one-third of the estimated total in advance; one third when the firm submits a long list of candidates and the balance when the winning candidate begins employment.
As Power Supply Director Singleton was responsible for load forecasting, generation scheduling, fuel supply management and marketing excess power to other utilities.
Promoted to fill the position was Jeff Branch. Branch had worked with Singleton since 2006. Jason Minter was promoted to Cable & Internet Manager for the utility.
Minter has 17 years of experience, including three years as GEUS’ Outside Plant Supervisor.
“We are very fortunate to have had highly qualified individuals within the GEUS organization to fill these key positions and also the positions in which they left”, McCalla said.
McCalla appeared before the Council Tuesday, to present the GEUS annual audit report, turning the presentation over to Michelle Lee Baker, the utility’s controller.
“The bottom line is net assets increased by about five percent,” Baker said.
While GEUS saw its sales decrease in 2012, when compared to the sales posted during the record heat wave in 2011, Baker said the utility also posted corresponding decreases in expenditures tied to power generation and purchased power.
“We have no major capital expenditures planned for the next five years,” Baker said.