The City of Grand Island is spending the day celebrating National Lineman Appreciation Day, (City of Grand Island, Courtesy)
GRAND ISLAND — Thursday, April 18 is a time for all communities to express their utmost appreciation to the great men and women who work so hard to keep the lights on for us every day.
The City of Grand Island is spending the day celebrating the hard work, innovation and dedication of its crew members from both the underground and overhead teams within Grand Island Utilities. It’s all a part of National Lineman Appreciation Day.
“People don’t realize it until we have an outage,” said Jerrod Wood, an underground crew chief with Grand Island Utilities. “It’s something that we use daily – we use more than people think. Once it’s gone, that’s when people usually appreciate us.”
Crews also hope that appreciation comes in the form of patience, especially during severe weather events that may knock out parts of the grid.
“We do have family and kids at home that we try to rush home to, so we’re trying to get things done just as fast as they want power back on, too,” said Tyler Stelk, an overhead crew chief with Grand Island Utilities. “Speed’s not always the first thing that comes to mind, it’s safety. We all know what we signed up for, and we’re happy to do it.”
Grand Island continues to grow from both the business and residential perspective, which means the city’s grid is also expanding, and that fact is not lost with city leadership.
“We can’t say thank you enough to the men and women who serve our utilities department,” Grand Island Mayor Roger Steele said. “They choose to run toward the storm, not away from it. For that, we all should be grateful.”
