Several hundred customers of Sioux Center Municipal Utilities joined utility staff to celebrate Public Power and Public Natural Gas week. The Customer Appreciation Barbeque, held on October 8th, was attended by approximately 800 citzens.
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provided by the American Public Gas Association
While Congress has been out of session, there have been a number of activities occurring at the regulatory level of significance to public natural gas systems and other natural gas consumers. IAMU has scheduled a series of workshops across the state in December to help member's meet OSHA's Log Illness and Injury Recordkeeping and Reporting requirements.
The workshop explains the regulatory requirements for OSHA's recordkeeping standard; Part 1904 = Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. Class attendees will learn which types of injuries and illnesses are recordable, how to make entries on the OSHA 300 recordkeeping forms, and how to complete the annual summary form. The workshop will also discuss OSHA's updated reporting requirements that go into effect in Iowa in March 2015. Who should attend? Those responsible for, or who have been given the task of, documenting work-related illnesses or injuries. The recordkeeping standard applies to those cities with 10 or more employees throughout the year (with full and part time employees included in the count) while the reporting standard applies to all cities. Workshop Schedule (all sessions from 9:00am to Noon) Wednesday, December 3 IAMU Office and Training Complex 1735 NE 70th Avenue, Ankeny Thursday, December 4 Mount Pleasant Emergency Management Center, 900 W. Washington Street Thursday, December 11 Elkader Emergency Services Building, 921 Humphrey St. NE Thursday, December 18 Harlan Fire Station, 906 Cyclone Ave. Friday, December 19 Algona Public Library, 210 N. Phillips St. Registration is $75 per person and IAMU Risk Management Coupons may be redeemed for this event. Registration information is available on the IAMU website.  The JT&S Department at IAMU is now offering a library of documents that will assist you in conducting toolbox talks. Toolbox talks are brief (usually lasting 5-10 minutes) interactive safety training sessions designed to generate discussion and to remind employees of the importance of working safely. These documents can also be used to integrate your safety policies into your communications.
Toolbox Talks are posted on the IAMU website at the following link: http://www.iamu.org/en/services/job_training__safety/toolbox_talks/. Additional topics will be posted to the Toolbox Talks library over the coming weeks.And we'll be highlighting different Toolbox Talks in upcoming issues of The Informer. Grinnell College's plans to build a 5.1 megawatt wind farm have been abandoned after Alliant Energy, which serves the college, said it likely would have to curtail much of the project’s energy production because another wind developer had applied for an interconnection agreement first. The combined production, according to Alliant, likely would overload the local distribution circuit.
If built, the wind farm would have generated about half of the college's energy usage. For the complete story, see Midwest Energy News.  As part of the 2nd annual Energy Conference, IAMU hosted a Municipal Utility Community Solar workshop on September 30th. Workshop attendance was strong, and attendees showed significant interest in developing municipal utility led community solar projects.
To observe October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, employees of the Maquoketa Municipal Electric Utility and Harlan Municipal Utilities swapped out their old hardhats for new ones in bright pink.
 IAMU members are invited to attend a retirement reception for Rudy Parcel, IAMU's long-time Gas Services Coordinator. The reception will be held at the IAMU Office and Training Complex, 1735 NE 70th Avenue in Ankeny on Friday, December 12th from 10am to noon.
We hope you'll join us in honoring Rudy for his decades of service to Iowa's municipal gas systems!  With the cold weather approaching and the resulting increase in heating bills, it is inevitable that some customers will fall behind and be unable to pay their utility bill in a timely manner. If a customer does fall behind, the utility is required to offer the customer an opportunity to pay the outstanding portion of the bill over time through a payment plan.
 IAMU has recently acquired a used backhoe/trencher for use on the IAMU training field. The backhoe/trencher, which was purchased using proceeds from the annual "Golfin' Fore Safety" outing and the Insurance Trust Committee, will be available for use in future IAMU training workshops.
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