Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, Courtesy
HOLDREGE — The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District’s board of directors elected new officers and seated four new board members at their first monthly meeting of 2025 on Thursday.
Kyle Shepherd of North Platte was elected to his first two-year term as board president. Shepherd has represented Lincoln County on Central’s board since 2021 and served as vice president the past two years. Other directors elected as officers by their fellow board members were Brent Soneson of Holdrege, vice president; Tim Boyle of Elwood, secretary; and Dudley Nelson of Axtell, treasurer.
Four new board members elected in November are Tom Jasnoch of Ogallala, representing Keith County; Bryant Knoerzer of Elwood, representing Gosper County; Gary Robison of Bertrand, representing Phelps County and Matt Wells of Axtell, representing Kearney County.
Also at Thursday’s board meeting:
- The board approved a real estate agreement to purchase approximately 60 acres of land in Gosper County near Jeffrey Island. They also approved an agricultural lease for 137.29 acres of irrigated crop land in Gosper County.
- Hydraulic Project Operations Manager Cory Steinke told the board that work being done near Medo’s at Johnson Lake is currently projected to be completed by the end of January. The recent cold weather has slowed project progress.
- Steinke reported on changes to the District’s hydropower generation scheduling to maximize revenue and as part of the requirements of Central’s new wholesale energy contracts. This will result in additional or different water level fluctuations at both Jeffrey Reservoir and Johnson Lake as Central works to best meet the power demands of our wholesale customers. As a result, lake elevation changes could be more exaggerated and frequent during the day.
- Eric Hixson, Electrical Project Operations Manager, reported that during the recent winter cold weather event ice accumulated on the communication towers near Jeffrey Reservoir. Workers were able to chip away the 1-inch-thick ice that was on the antennas causing communication outages.
- Tyler Thulin reported that Lake McConaughy’s elevation currently is 3,236.1 feet, or 57.5% of maximum volume. Current inflows are around 1,300 cubic feet per second (cfs) and outflows are 725 cfs. Snowpack in the North Platte basin is at 93% of median average, it is 84% of median lower North Platte basin and 103% median in the South Platte basin
