Columbia-based Boone Electric Cooperative was Missouri’s first electric coop. It was formed in 1936 as part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Administration. Boone Electric today has more than 28,000 individual accounts that serve about 36,000 meters. While most of its members are in Boone County, they also have members in Audrain, Callaway, Howard, Monroe and Randolph counties. Boone Electric general manager and chief executive officer Todd Culley joined 939 the Eagle host Fred Parry in-studio for the hour on Saturday morning’s “CEO Roundtable.” Mr. Culley outlined the importance of their new $29-million corporate headquarters on Columbia’s Rangeline and they also discussed Columbia’s power plant on the Business Loop, which Mr. Culley says is no longer burning coal. Mr. Culley also says no new power plants are being built on the system, and he warns about potential large rolling blackouts across parts of the country in the next few years:
(AUDIO): Boone Electric Cooperative encourages other businesses to invest on Columbia’s Business Loop
Missouri’s first rural electric cooperative says they’re committed to staying at Columbia’s Rangeline and Business Loop intersection.
Boone Electric Cooperative recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new $29-million headquarters facility. It’s located just south of I-70.
“We’re committed long term. The board (of directors) made that clear several years ago when they made this decision that we are committed to this community, and what a better way to show it as to put this investment right in the middle of it,” Boone Electric general manager Todd Culley tells 939 the Eagle.
He hopes other companies will invest in the area around the Business Loop.
“So we are part of the beautification and improvement efforts that are going to continue around the Business Loop and I-70 area here for the next decade or so. And we hope that others look at the example that we have provided and follow suit,” Culley says.
Mr. Culley says the new cooperative campus will serve the area for decades to come. The new campus has three community rooms for the public to use. Culley encourages anyone who wants to reserve the rooms to call (573) 449-4181 or to check their website. Boone Electric has more than 30,000 members in a six county area: Boone, Audrain, Callaway, Howard, Monroe and Randolph.
(AUDIO): Boone Electric’s leader praises mid-Missouri contractors and workers for $29-million headquarters project
The chief executive officer of Boone Electric Cooperative publicly thanked his employees during this week’s ribbon-cutting for the Co-op’s $29-million new headquarters building. It’s on Columbia’s Rangeline, just south of I-70.
“Running a utility is a 24-7-365 operation. And then in addition to that, we had to disperse our employees in a different location while we built the project. And then in addition to that, we had the pandemic that happened,” Boone Electric general manager Todd Culley says.
Mr. Culley tells 939 the Eagle that the new cooperative campus will serve the area for decades to come. Boone Electric has more than 30,000 members in a six county area: Boone, Audrain, Callaway, Howard, Monroe and Randolph.
The new headquarters has three community rooms for the public to use. Offering those rooms is important to Boone Electric general manager Todd Culley.
“There are conditions for that use, but it’s made to serve the community for decades to come and we encourage people to come check it out,” Culley says.
Mr. Culley encourages anyone who wants to reserve the rooms to call (573) 449-4181 or check their website, which is booneelectric.coop.
He’s praising the work of Columbia-based Coil Construction in overseeing the project. Mr. Culley says Coil executives did a fabulous job during and after the pandemic.
“And from the very beginning, I told Randy (Coil) that I know I can trust you. I’ve seen the work that you’ve done in the community and central Missouri for years. And he just proved himself again,” says Culley.
Mr. Culley tells 939 the Eagle that there were more than 400 employees on the project, along with 57 contractors. He says about 90 percent of the contractors were from mid-Missouri.
Boone Electric crews are working to restore power in snow-impacted southeast Missouri
Linemen from at least three mid-Missouri rural electric cooperatives are in southern Missouri this (Thursday) morning, helping to restore power in areas that saw about ten inches of snow.
Heavy, wet snow across south Missouri caused trees to fall into lines, knocking power out to thousands of people.
Columbia-based Boone Electric Cooperative has eight linemen and four trucks in hard-hit Fredericktown, which is south of Farmington. They’re assisting the Black River Electric Cooperative, which still has about 8,700 members members without power. Linn-based Three Rivers Electric Cooperative and Tipton-based Co-Mo Connect Electric Cooperative also have crews in southern Missouri.
The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives’ outage map indicates there are still eight southern Missouri counties that have at least 1,000 power outages of rural cooperative members. That doesn’t included residents on utilities like Ameren Missouri.
Columbia’s mayor pleased with progress on Business Loop
Columbia’s mayor is a huge fan of the Business Loop, which continues to see more investment like MACC’s state-of-the-art lab at Parkade Center. The road itself will receive a complete overhaul in 2023. “I think it has the potential to be a second downtown, certainly a commercial strip of innovators and makers and manufacturers,” Mayor …