Sabrina Bates, News Editor
Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:24 am

Weakley County Municipal Electric System Manager Faron Collins said after one year of watching the new construction of the WCMES headquarters come to fruition, the general co-census among workers is relief while they prep for its opening on Monday.
WCMES employees are busy this week moving all of the company’s equipment as well as the combination of two offices to the electric system’s new location on Hwy. 22.
“We’ll be moving out the offices up until closing time on Friday. Frontier will be installing the telephone services for us on Saturday and we plan to open to the public Monday morning,” Collins said on Wednesday.
The groundwork and design of the new 20,000 square-feet office building actually began last spring. Eighteen months later, WCMES’s central office will be operational by Monday.
Collins said the municipal electric system faced a growing challenge to remain efficient while operating out of numerous locations within the county.
The general manager added that while the company will be boasting several changes internally, their hope is that the customers will notice a more efficient operating system to serve them.
“We will have people on stand-by at night and on the weekends who will take bucket trucks home. This will help in the event of a power outage and allow us an even better response time to restore electricity,” Collins noted.
Within the new facility on Hwy. 22 between Dresden and Martin, every electrical component WCMES uses will be housed at the central location.
There are also bays to hold up to 45 vehicles at the main office. The new facility also contains two drive-thru lanes for WCMES customers to pay their bill as well as night deposit boxes.
“This building will allow all of our crews to be kept together, but give us a lot of flexibility out in the field by allowing everyone to check into one location every morning before being sent out on the road,” Collins said.
Martin and Dresden customers are asked to use the central office on Hwy. 22 beginning Monday.
Collins said the current offices in Martin and Dresden will likely be put up for sale through a sealed bid or auction at a later date.
The general manager also reported the recent annexation issue is at a stand still after a lawsuit was filed by the county against the City of Martin for its attempt to annex the new property.
An answer to the suit has been filed by Martin, but court proceedings have not been set in the matter.
“We’re hoping that we could still try and work this out before it gets to that point,” Collins commented.
Greenfield, Gleason and Sharon customers can still pay their bills at their current WCMES customer service locations. Dresden and Martin customers are asked to visit WCMES’s new location on Hwy. 22 beginning Monday morning.