Utilities Executive Director, Year in Review – What’s Next?
This February marked my one-year anniversary as the Executive Director for the City of Fort Collins Utilities, and what a year it has been. I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish and the goals that we have on the horizon. Staff has rose to meet challenges, solved problems creatively, delivered critical reliable services and continued to build trust with the community.
I have a great appreciation for the resiliency of my staff and teams that have endured a vast amount of change in leadership across the utility but the City as well. Last year was the year of transformation for the utility team and I was in a position of listening and understanding, while building a leadership team that was the best fit for our community.
This year, we are focusing on City Council priorities around how we best serve our community and incorporating our City Manager’s visions of:
- Digital transformation
- Complexity to simplicity
- Recovery to resiliency
- Future of work
We added new organizational structure for our Water and Light & Power teams to have better alignment for operations, maintenance, culture with a lens of diversity.
Jason Graham was selected as our Director of Water in April and Phillip Amaya was selected as our Light & Power Director in November. They joined Lance Smith (Sr. Director of Finance) and Gretchen Stanford (Deputy Director of Customer Connections) to complete our Utilities senior leadership team. They have made several key hires to advance our utility and instill stability.
With new leadership comes change and these changes, while not without challenge, have been positive, setting us on the right path for a stronger future.
Completed/Ongoing initiatives:
- Contract Strategy
- Federal Funding/Grant Writing
- Rates
- Digital Transformation
- Regional Partnerships
- Council Priorities
- Platte River Power Authority (PRPA)
I am grateful to have a great team that is focused on providing exceptional customer service to the community while being fiscally responsible. This year our focus is on continual growth, team building, inspiration and improvements of the utilities teams that aligns with the City’s goals. We are being intentional around safety, individual growth of staff, incorporating technology to advance our processes, creating an inclusive work environment, a continual focus on City Council priorities and PRPA initiatives that will impact the City of Fort Collins customer base collaboratively.
I look forward to continuing our partnership and working together so we have the best utility that benefits all in our community equitably! If you have any questions or concerns for me, please reach out to me.
Thank you,
Kendall Minor
Utilities Executive Director
[email protected]
Source: City of Fort Collins
March 2023
