{"id":33622,"date":"2016-08-19T13:55:03","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T17:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/?p=33622"},"modified":"2016-08-19T13:56:50","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T17:56:50","slug":"seminole-touts-plans-for-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/seminole-touts-plans-for-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminole Touts Plans for Future"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Electric coop says it\u2019s focused on Palatka<\/h1>\n
<\/div>\n
Thursday, 8\/18\/2016<\/div>\n
BY: Brandon Oliver<\/div>\n
boliver@palatkadailynews.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

Seminole Electric Cooperative officials on Thursday announced there is a chance the company could build another power plant in Putnam County.<\/p>\n

The power plant hosted an after-hours Putnam County Chamber of Commerce networking event, during which time Seminole CEO Lisa Johnson discussed how the company decides to plan for its future.<\/p>\n

Johnson told government officials, business owners and everyone else in attendance Seminole plans for its needs now and years \u2013 even decades \u2013 in the future. The company is looking toward 2021 and beyond, she said, and Putnam could greatly benefit if Seminole needs a new plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really got some stringent criteria we have to meet in order to make decisions,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cOne of the decisions we have made at this point is if we decide that building a new power plant is either the solution or one of the solutions to meet our needs during that time frame, we decided that that power plant would be here at our Seminole plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said Seminole thinks of its needs and how to benefit its consumers, and now, company officials are looking at a two-track plan of action.<\/p>\n

The company will first look at the marketplace to see what other parties have to offer Seminole, she said. And depending on the marketplace, she said, the company will decide if building a new plant will be an option.<\/p>\n

Local officials and residents were overjoyed at the prospect of building a new plant in Putnam County \u2013 and the economic windfall it will bring. But Johnson reiterated no concrete decision about building the new plant has been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t made a decision, and we have a lot more work to do to get to a decision,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Seminole Communications Manager Ryan Hart said the company made plans to consider numerous locations to build the plant. And as of Thursday, he said, Putnam is the leader of the pack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked at several locations \u2026 and we eliminated the other options,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n

County Commission Chairman Chip Laibl, one of the people enthusiastically applauding Johnson\u2019s speech, said a new power plant could do wonders for the county, which each year faces shrinking property tax revenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, the proposal is really game changing for Putnam County,\u201d Laibl said. \u201cIf it does come to be, it will lure other investors. This one came out of nowhere, and it\u2019s major.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laibl said he first heard about the potential plant only the morning before the chamber event.<\/p>\n

The county is trudging through its budgeting process for the next fiscal year, and commissioners and county staff are facing depleted reserves, which for years have been used to balance the budget.<\/p>\n

If Seminole and other companies build in Putnam County, it would be a surefire way to bring in more revenue and boost the local economy, Laibl said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s talking about bringing homeowners,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you really want to grow your county rich, you need to grow the industrial and commercial aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brenda Atkins, the Seminole Palatka plant director of operations, said one of Seminole\u2019s objectives is \u201cconcern for community,\u201d and the company strives to make their surrounding communities a better place.<\/p>\n

She and Johnson said Seminole\u2019s success is due in large part to its community partners, and they hope to carry on that partnership for years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity service and community involvement is very important to Seminole Electric,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cAnd we couldn\u2019t do it without you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electric coop says it\u2019s focused on Palatka Thursday, 8\/18\/2016 BY: Brandon Oliver boliver@palatkadailynews.com   Seminole Electric Cooperative officials on Thursday announced there is a chance the company could build another power plant in Putnam County. The power plant hosted an after-hours Putnam County Chamber of Commerce networking event, during which time Seminole CEO Lisa Johnson […]\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[234],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33622"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seminole-electric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}