Preparing for the NEXT CENTURY - Eugene Water & Electric Board

12 EWEB: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
The Eugene Water & Electric Board is made up of nearly 500 employees who are
skilled in a wide variety of jobs, from engineering to power trading. They also
have diverse backgrounds and interests, and contribute to our community in
numerous ways. On this page, we introduce you to a few of the people who keep your
lights on and the water flowing.
Power to the people
SCOTT COVER
Scott Cover is one of nearly
40 electric line technicians who
work through rain and shine to
provide EWEB customers with
quality power service.
“It’s the kind of work I enjoy
doing,” he says. “I like working
outside and working with my
hands. When you finish a job,
you see something you’ve made.”
As an EWEB line technician, Cover builds and
maintains underground power systems and responds
to trouble calls and outages. Prior to joining EWEB
in 2004, he worked 15 years as a lineman for the Los
Angeles Department of Water & Power.
His construction skills reach far beyond his
job duties at work: Cover and his wife, Kristy, are
currently putting the finishing touches on the house
they built in the south Eugene hills. They came to the
Pacific Northwest from Southern California seeking
a great place to raise their two daughters, 3-year-old
Summer and 5-year-old Samantha.
Cover and his family spent much of this summer
in their boat, relaxing on many of Oregon’s beautiful
lakes, and they are looking forward to a winter filled
with just as much fun. Cover is hoping that this year,
he might actually reconnect with his snowboarding
gear and hit the mountain.
“I said I’d get better at snowboarding after my
apprenticeship,” he says. “But that was eight years
ago.”
ALLEN DANNEN
The Duck’s dominating 48-
10 win over Stanford to kick
off the 2006 Oregon football
season wasn’t nearly as exciting
for EWEB Senior Civil Engineer
Allen Dannen as for many others.
You see, Dannen is a Cardinal.
Although his civil engineering
degree from Stanford isn’t helping Cardinal football
this season, it is helping EWEB and the rest of
the systems engineering department design and
construct many of the utility’s large capital projects.
For example, he is currently working on enhancing
the emergency detection system at the Leaburg Power
Canal that would protect the McKenzie watershed in
the event of a major emergency.
A member of the American Society of Engineers
and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials,
Dannen worked for the City of Lebanon prior to being
hired at EWEB in September 2003. He says he was
attracted by EWEB’s “strong reputation,” and enjoys
working on projects that “have a strong history,” such
as the Leaburg hydroelectric project.
Dannen was born in Lebanon, and still lives there
with his wife of 11 years, Amy, their 6-year-old son,
Jack, and 14-month-old twin girls, Sadie and Lauren.
“Even though they are still pretty small, it already
seems like my kids are growing up really quickly,”
says Dannen. “I’m taking as much time as I can
to enjoy things like coaching T-ball, playing with
LEGOS, going to the beach and reading bedtime
stories.”
IDA SAJOR
Each work day in the life
of EWEB short-term power
trader Ida Sajor begins at 5:30
in the morning, when she
starts buying and selling power
with other utilities across the
Western United States.
Coming to work that early,
however, is made easier by her co-workers, many
of whom she already knew when she worked as a
power trader at other utilities prior to coming to
Eugene in 2004.
“In the power trading industry, everyone knows
everyone,” she says.
Sajor, who has a master’s degree in finance,
has been in the energy industry since 1983. Before
EWEB, she worked at Montana Power and later
traveled the country as an energy consultant.
EWEB power traders focus on providing
customers with cost-effective energy supplies to
remain competitive in the ever-changing market.
“There’s true integrity behind everyone who
works here, and that’s very important to me,” says
Sajor. “I go home each night with a sense of instant
gratification.”
DESIGN BY CINDEE LEE