Kevin Westhuis, Utility Director

In November of 1900, the City of River Falls experienced electricity for the first time as the downtown lights along Main Street were illuminated. This year marks the 125th anniversary of public power in River Falls, which is one of several essential services that River Falls Municipal Utilities provides to residents.

Kevin Westhuis is the Utility Directory for the City, and he joins this episode of the Kinni Cast to talk about the benefits -- and value -- of public power. He also discusses the challenging job of RFMU's lineworkers, talks about the nearly completed biosolids dryer building, and also shares about his passion for broadcasting high school sports right here in River Falls.

Learn more about the City of River Falls at www.rfcity.org. Follow the City of River Falls on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Transcript

Tyler Mason:

Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Kinni Cast. My name is Tyler Mason. I'm the Communications Coordinator here for the City of River Falls, and today's guest on the podcast is no stranger to microphones. You may recognize his voice from the broadcasting that he does for some of the local sports here in town. I'm joined by Kevin Westhuis, the Utility Director for the City of River Falls. Kevin, how are you doing today?

Kevin Westhuis:

Great! How are you? Thanks for having me today. You know, I've listened to a couple of your Kinni Casts already, and the bar has been set pretty high, so we'll see what happens today.

Tyler Mason:

Well, yeah, I think we'll continue to hopefully raise the bar, but yeah, like I said, we've got someone who knows his way around the microphone here. We'll maybe talk about that in a little bit, but Ikind of want to jump into some of the work you do here and kind of what that all means for the city and the residents here. Let's start with you. How did you end up at local government and maybe more specifically in the utility field?

Kevin Westhuis:

Sure, I'd like to get into that, but I was going to just quip a little bit and say, Hey, Kevin has never met a microphone he didn't love. So here we are today. I found another one today. So yeah, how did I end up in local government and the utilities was the question, and I was thinking back my Uncle Andy when I was out of college and he says, 'You know what, Kevin, you should get into the utility business. Those jobs are never going away.' And I didn't even really know what he was talking about, but the delivery of electricity, water, sewer, he said, those jobs are going to be around forever and you want a stable career. Get into the utilities. So I did get hired by Wisconsin Power and Light Utilities and was working there as a design engineer for electric and natural gas at the time. Then got a job in Fort Collins, Colorado as a design engineer and project manager there, and worked there. We were in Colorado for 23 years.Out of the 23 years, I did have a short stint as a realtor as well, which taught me some great —

Tyler Mason:

Oh, really? I didn't know that.

Kevin Westhuis:

Yeah, some great private business experience, customer service experience, and that's a whole nother podcast, by the way. But that little stint taught me a lot and I was able to carry over into the utility world as well. So Uncle Andy, I'm going to blame Uncle Andy for that. He said, you should get into the utility business, and it's been a great career.

Tyler Mason:

And you joined the city here in 2013, so coming back home to Wisconsin, I'm sure was that nice to, I mean, you've been in Colorado for quite a while.

Kevin Westhuis:

Yes, I did. So we were in Colorado for 23 years. My wife is from Chicago and I'm from Wapun, southern southeast of Wisconsin, and living in Colorado for 23 years, it was unusual because we always said, we're going back home every time we visited, and I said, at year 17, 18, why do we keep saying we're going home? Why isn't Colorado home? That was a wonderful place to live. It is as advertised, no humidity, 300 days of sunshine, the Rocky Mountains, bright blue sky. All of that is true. The Midwest was always home to us, and one day we said, Hey, maybe we'll move back someday when the kids get out of high school and through college. But the criteria is this. We want a small Midwest town with a university in the town close to an international airport. And I had a connection in southern Wisconsin about this job that came open, and he let me know about it. I applied and Scot Simpson had me. How about that? So there we go. And it checked all the boxes, and we were just talking the other day, my wife and I, there hasn't been one day of regret of moving to River Falls, Wisconsin. It's been some of the best years of our lives.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah, that's awesome to hear. Well, like I said, we're going to be talking about 125 years of public power in River Falls in just a little bit. But maybe let's kind of first set the table more broadly on municipal utilities. River Falls Municipal Utilities is the provider here for residents in town. What does that term municipal utilities mean and maybe how does it compare to other private utility companies?

Kevin Westhuis:

Sure. Municipal utilities, again, we just say that we hear that a lot of people don't know what that means. That is really a special thing. There are just over 2,000 municipal electric utilities in the country right now. It's kind of a unique thing. It's owned and operated by the community it serves, right? So unlike investor owned utility, which is responsible to shareholders, we're responsible to the citizens it serves. We're governed by local boards, commissions, and the city council who were elected by the people. The electric utility gives about $500,000 a year back to the community's general fund in payment lieu of taxes. The water utility does the same thing. So municipal is a unique brand because we're really able to have local people with local control making local decisions, reflecting local community values. It's all done right here in your community. All local. And that community, that local community effort has been here for 125 years and working very successfully. So that's how it's different.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah. That's awesome. You said 125 years for electric. I think 130 years for water was celebrated last year. But you celebrated that anniversary last year.

Kevin Westhuis:

Correct. So the municipal model works. Local people who are really invested in what they do, serving the people in the communities where they live. So it's a model that is proven. It works and it's still working here today.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah. You mentioned the number of municipal utilities nationwide. Do you know off the top of your head how many in Wisconsin?

Kevin Westhuis:

I think it's like 85.

Tyler Mason:

Okay.

Kevin Westhuis:

So we're part of WPPI Energy. They're our wholesale energy provider. 51 communities have come together to allow WPPI energy to be the wholesale energy provider for our community and 51 communities in the state, but I believe there's about 85 munis, some that aren't a member of WPPI.

Tyler Mason:

Gotcha. RFMU or River Falls Municipal Utilities is comprised of several departments. We're talked about electric and waterk, wastewater, sewer. I guess for you, what does a day in the life of utility director look like as you manage those different departments?

Kevin Westhuis:

Well, for a person that can't stay focused, it's a perfect job because no two days really end up looking the same. Today, I had to get out early today and deliver CDL drug testing. So that's just a process they have. They're not allowed to tell anybody about that. So they give it to the utility director to make the surprise visit. It's always funny because when they hear the heels clicking down the hall out at Public Works, they know something's coming. So anyway, had three of those to deliver today. So that's atypical. That's quarterly, but every day is different. What does a utility director, what do I do? I'm in communication as a leader, kind of like a coach. I have to know all my leaders. I use too many sports analogies, but like a head football coach, you've got an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, you've got that next level below you. I've got my direct reports right below me. They know the game plan, then they're able to get it down to the people below them, and hopefully that trickles all the way down into all of our people. I oversee about 35 people from the electric department, water department, wastewater, sewer, and public works that I'm also now in charge of. So about 35 people. So a lot of it is coaching, getting people on the same page, meetings constantly with people, oversee regulations with the DNR. Let me see, other Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Service Commission, the EPA, dealing with those folks, making sure we're in compliance all the time, budgeting, play a role, expenditures. So those types of things. But I would say really if you think of a head coach of a football team, I think that's my role and you have to know about all of it. But then you have experts below you who know more than you do, who you really trust and develop those relationships and making sure that everybody on your team is proud to wear the uniform and we'll run through walls for you in the end.

Tyler Mason:

And like you said, every day something could happen, the power could go out. I know those are big thing that kind of gets sprung upon you that maybe upends your day or a couple.

Kevin Westhuis:

That's a good one, Tyler. So with the social media aspect, if there's a power outage and you see the communications online from River Falls Municipal Utilities, that's me. So nobody knows that. So it could be in the middle of the night. I've done it on vacation already. So I'm always in communication with the people that are handling the outage. I know what's going on. Sometime they send me pictures, but that's typically me who's communicating with the public and giving them almost a play by play,

Tyler Mason:

Letting 'em know what to expect, how long it might take,

Kevin Westhuis:

What's happened, what's happening now, why is it taking so long? So I think on that one too, we talked about setting the bar, right? I think we're setting the bar pretty high on that. People almost get a play by play of what's going on with an outage compared to even 10 years ago when you would just call in and wait. Now they know.

Tyler Mason:

Right. We've got an outage map on the website and all that good stuff.

Kevin Westhuis:

All that's good stuff. Sometimes I'll do a live video onsite, like what's going on here at this outage? So anyway, that's usually me on communicating with that. That's just another thing your utility director does as well.

Tyler Mason:

And fun little fact on the outage part is it about 40% of the time it's squirrel related.

Kevin Westhuis:

40, 40, 50% of the time it's a squirrel. And we have squirrel guards and all of our equipment, but them little buggers can find a way around it.They're pesky, and they get around squirrel guards and squirrel protectors and yeah, you don't want to be grounded and touch a hotline at the same time and put people out of power. Usually know when someone calls in, we heard a loud bang, probably a squirrel.

Tyler Mason:

Well, speaking of electricity, as we mentioned earlier, it's 125 years of electricity in River Falls this year after it was the first things that were electrocuted or electrified, I should say, were streetlights downtown. That was I think November of 1900. When you look at the evolution of public power and what that's meant for a city like River Falls, what comes to mind?

Kevin Westhuis:

It's taken us from a second world country to our first world country. The average lifespan of a human being in 1900 was 48 years old. Today it's about 78. So I'm going to take credit, not personally, but the electric industry, we put 30 years on the lifespan in like a hundred years. It's amazing what electricity has done. It's allowed for lighting and appliances. There's a big one, refrigeration, keeping food cold. A lot of people died just bad food. Clean water, water pumps and water sanitation, sewer sanitation and pumps, medicine technologies, all that stuff that electricity has allowed to happen in our country in a very, very short amount of time. And as I was thinking about this, I'm 60, that's like half of my life almost. So it's not that old. So in a very short amount of time in 125 years, we've gone from an average lifespan of 48 years old to now what's 78? And I think a lot of it has to do with the invention of electricity and being able to use it like we do for all of the things that medicine and technologies. And now we got our phone in our hand. We got the whole world right in the palm of our hand.

Tyler Mason:

So many things we take for granted with electricity that 125 years ago people couldn't dream about.

Kevin Westhuis:

Yeah, no. You had a gas lamp and wood to keep warm and the ice man would come around with an ice block for your refrigeration. The medicine was pretty scarce. I mean, sanitation, sewer of almost non-existent people died of a lot of things. They're not dying from today due to the advent of electricity. So it's a big deal. And actually I look at our system, it's poles, it's wires, it's underground, and connectors, I'm amazed it works as well as it does, but the average outage time in River Falls is, I think it's like 16 minutes a year or something like that on the average. So well below the two hour per customer average nationally. But I look at our system and I'm amazed it works as well as it does, but I'm going to give credit to our team who understands the system. They plan for the future. They're replacing, we have replacement programs. But no, it's amazing and it has transformed our world.

Tyler Mason:

You mentioned the outage time and just recently we had a storm that knocked my power out for I think 12 hours, and I don't live in River Falls, so I don't have RFMU. I won't name the name, but

Kevin Westhuis:

I bet you have an investor-owned utility.

Tyler Mason:

Maybe. But I mean that type of outage just doesn't happen in town here. I mean, people aren't going power for a day, not too often.

Kevin Westhuis:

Not too often. Yeah. It's amazing that we have these local people that are so invested in what they do. They're at home, they get the call, their boots are on, they're here, they're on the ground. We're able to communicate directly. I think it's because of the local aspect, it's just there's the buy-in. Investor owned utilities are great. I mean, I don't want to badmouth them. They're great. They do a great job, but it's a little different when it's your own deal, when you're taking care of your own nest.

Tyler Mason:

That was one of my questions I wanted ask is about the lineworkers at RFMU that literally help keep the lights on here. What do you want people listening to know about the electric team who's on the ground or up in the bucket trucks and doing those repairs or that sort of thing? What do you want to know about the line workers?

Kevin Westhuis:

They're all in, these guys. We talked about coaching and sports analogies. They are very, very, very proud to wear the River Falls Municipal Utilities uniform. It's their system. They understand that they've taken ownership in their system. There's pride in that. And when things go wrong, they take it personally. They are totally invested in the River Falls Municipal Electric system. They know every fuse, every transformer, every wire. When there's outages, they take care and caution to make sure the customers are back in power. Safety is number one with those folks. Sometimes customers and the community would like to see them work faster. They're going to work deliberately and safely. It's a very dangerous job. They take it very seriously. They're proud of what they do. They're bought into what they do, and they're going to be taking care of our community without having to prod them too much because it's their deal. They're all in.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah. One thing that you and I have talked about, and I think we had something in our newsletter about it, is the value of public power. That's something that we take pride in as well. Can you maybe outline for those listening a bit more about the value of public power and maybe how that impacts the residents here in River Falls?

Kevin Westhuis:

Sure. I think, again, because it's local, lower rates, local input in rate making, local stable employment opportunities that we can support local businesses, we can have one-on-one communication with our a hundred top largest customers. We have a rotation. We talk to these people, community sponsorships and engagement through scholarships at the tech schools, high schools, university, giving to other nonprofit organizations in town. We support economic development utilities. We have, like I said earlier, local decision making, reliable service, fast response times, accessible, friendly customer service. Hey, there's a good one. We're still used to now not being able to talk to somebody. You can walk right on down to City Hall and talk to a human. You can call us. You can come over to my house in town and you can catch me in my yard. People have done that and we can talk, so we can't hide. And that's a great thing. We're just, I think municipal government, it's like the last bastion of peer government, totally responsive and accountable to the people we serve. You can come down and talk to me, you can come to my house, you can see me in the grocery store at a ball game.

Tyler Mason:

Any of the events we have.

Kevin Westhuis:

At events we have. We're not hiding and we're accountable to the customers and the rate payers that we serve. And that's one very, very important thing about municipal.

Tyler Mason:

If people want to find Kevin, come to the Community Appreciation Event. He's always handing out the plates at the entry.

Kevin Westhuis:

I don't miss a customer, Tyler. I hand one to every customer and get to say hello. Thousand people, I get to say hello. There's something about that, the human interaction of making these relationships. And that's another thing you said. What about your job? It's relationship making. It's having people know us, trust us, and so they want to do business with us. And it takes time. You're not going to do that in a job title in a year in two years. This takes some time, a decade, decades. And we know how fast trust can be lost as well, but I'm continually trying to develop these relationships and gain trust with our community.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah, absolutely. There's other utility projects that are either in the works or ongoing right now. I know the biosolid dryer building over at the wastewater treatment plant's been a big one. They're currently reconditioning one of the water towers, so there's always something going on. But I'm curious, what excites you most about some of these other projects that RFMU and the team are working on that are kind of setting up River Falls for future success and future growth?

Kevin Westhuis:

Yeah, this is kind of a personal thing. I like doing what they say can't be done. I think that's a country song. I think that's a Jerry Reeves thing, I think. But no, I like doing what they say can't be done. On the dryer building, I mean, it was talked about for a long time. We did a lot of analysis. City administrator Scot Simpson made us do analysis for three years on that. And it finally came to fruition and it's almost done now. Water tower painting, I mean, that has to be done every 10 years. And all of this is done with the teams of people, good people. I mean the deep bench, the people that are bought in, the conscientiousness of the people, all the way from customer service to accounting, to the people on the ground to the operators. This is how this gets done. And everybody has got a vital role to making sure that we succeed in these projects. But I like doing the big projects because I know they're hard. I like 'em if I can make 'em seen easy, they never are. But that doesn't matter to the public. We want people to think they seem easy, but that is done with competent, good people who are bought into the systems and all doing what they say can't be done.

Tyler Mason:

Maybe if we want to expand on the solid dryer project and what that is, for people who are listening who maybe aren't familiar. I know we've put some things out there about what this is and what it'll ultimately mean, but do you just want to give a high level overview of that project and what it'll ultimately mean for the city?

Kevin Westhuis:

Sure. So I'll just try to give the highest level quick view I can on it. Every time you run your sink, flush your toilet, take a shower, or put anything down your drain, it ends up at our wastewater treatment plant, about 99.8% of what comes into that plant goes back into the river after the water is treated. There is a very small portion of that that cannot be treated that we currently bring to West Central Wisconsin Biosolids in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. We have trucks show up every day and haul out this end byproduct to Ellsworth. Well, we're going to stop the trucking and we're going to take care of that ourself, and we're going to dry it on site and make it into what's called a Class A sludge product. It's like fine powder or dirt. It's basically odorless and it can be applied on lawns, gardens, farm fields. It's a Class A product. So we'll be no more trucking. We're going to handle our own sludge right here, and it'll be into the community, into farm fields, gardens and whatever in our community.

Tyler Mason:

I had the opportunity to go into the building last week, and it's coming along pretty nice and looking good in there. And Bill Swenson over at the wastewater treatment plant brought up the point, too, with the trucks. I mean, that area is getting more developed. There's more houses going there, so to not have the semis going in in addition to saving the city money. Obviously, just not having to worry about that too.

Kevin Westhuis:

It's a big deal. I mean, it's every day a giant tanker comes through there, loads and then unloads. So that will not be happening anymore after the first of the year. That'll be nice. So no, that's a good thing, and we'll be in charge of our own destiny on end product sludge.

Tyler Mason:

Well, a couple left here for you. I alluded at the beginning that people might recognize your voice from some of the sports broadcast work you've done in town. How did you get into that in the first place and what do you enjoy about calling the games?

Kevin Westhuis:

So it goes back to 2010, before I moved to River Falls. My son was part of a four consecutive state championship baseball team in Fort Collins, Colorado. And my parents lived in Wisconsin, and I knew you could start, this is in 2010, people were just starting to stream video online. The bandwidths were getting big enough, and I knew that was happening. I'm like, I wonder if I can stream these games. I figured it out. I was using a platform called Ustream, and I started streaming his high school baseball games from Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, Colorado. And that was very successful, and people were like, oh my gosh, I didn't know this could be done live broadcast. So then I was doing baseball, football, basketball, and there's four division one high schools in Fort Collins. I was doing stuff for all four high schools in Fort Collins before I moved here. And it was kind of like taking off. This is a thing, the local newspaper partnered with me. They were putting links online to go watch the games. So I moved here, had the gear, had the knowledge, and I go into the gym at River Falls High School, Russ Blasius and Fred Barr are filming a basketball game, boys varsity basketball game. And I went and introduced myself and I say, 'Hey, whatcha guys doing you streaming this live?' They go, 'Oh no.' They said, 'We taped these and we take it down to Channel 16 studios here, our cable access at City Hall. We edit them and then put it on cable access for people to see during the week.' I'm like, 'Did you ever consider doing live?' And they're like, 'Oh, no way. We couldn't do this live.' I'm like, well, I said, 'I'll tell you what, I'll bring this stuff down here. We'll set it up and we'll try it.' And they go, 'Alright, let's try it.' Well, we tried it. We had a blast with it. And they go, we're not looking back. And Fred's like, 'You mean I don't need to go edit this?' I'm like, 'No, it's done.' So this was a start. I think it was a spring of 2013 when we did that here.

Tyler Mason:

So not long after you got here then?

Kevin Westhuis:

No, it was, yeah, it like a month or so after I got here. And then we were using what was called High School Cube at the time. They got bought out by NFHS about six years ago. We went to YouTube. We have a River Falls Sports YouTube channel now, and it has just coming up on 7,000 subscribers in the fall. We get between 60 and 80,000 views a month during the football volleyball season. It's become popular about 150 high school sporting events throughout the year.

Tyler Mason:

And it's all different kind of sports that you do.

Kevin Westhuis:

We do, yeah. Football, volleyball, girls soccer, boys soccer, girls basketball, boys basketball, swimming goes on, wrestling, baseball, the whole thing. And it's a team of about 20 volunteers. This is a 501c3 nonprofit. Nobody gets paid. First National Bank is the main sponsor. They help sponsor for getting equipment, stuff like that. And now because we have so many views, other people want to jump in and be sponsors as well. So I don't make any calls to anybody. They call me, we let 'em sponsor. It's not very much money, and we use the money to offset costs of equipment and things like that. So anyway, so no, it's a lot of fun. And it's a team of 20 volunteers for the joy of doing it.

Tyler Mason:

I think one of them is the new fire chief, Justin Wilson. Doesn't he do some games, or he has in the past?

Kevin Westhuis:

Justin and Melissa, yes, and they do it with another, they have a husband wife team, and they have a name for their broadcast crew. And I can't think of it off the top of my head, but some of these broadcast crews name their crew. I don't have a name for our crew, but yeah, Justin does that. And I met Justin maybe, I don't know, six, seven years ago. And that's how I met Justin. And they jump in on that and they do a great job. They do girls' basketball and they take it and they run with it and they own it, and they're there early. They're the first ones there and the last ones to leave. That's the broadcast set up. But no, and it's a lot of fun. I get a lot of joy out of that. It's really a great break from the serious job of utility director where there's a lot of seriousness going on, and you go do that and call a high school sporting event with your friends and interacting with the people online. It's really a fun thing.

Tyler Mason:

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, Justin's going to be on in a couple episodes here, so I'll have to ask him what his experience

Kevin Westhuis:

With the two. Yeah, ask him. Ask him what his broadcast crew's name is.

Tyler Mason:

There we go. I'll find out if they do have a name. Well, last question here, Kevin, is the question I'll ask everyone is what impact do you hope your work has had on the people of River Falls?

Kevin Westhuis:

So there's two segments. I think the general public and then the employees.First for the general public, what I hope the utilities bring to this community is stability. I think reliable, safe, affordable, best value electric and water systems. I can't say we're always going to be the cheapest, but we're going to be the best overall value, fastest response times, best communication there when you need us. So best overall value for water, electric, wastewater. I think clean parks, clean streets, place to drop your yard debris. I'm in charge of the yard waste drop site as well. And the most challenging one actually is helping get garbage and recycling picked up. I'm also managing the waste management contract, and that's challenging, right? People's expectations for trash and recycling are very, very high. I personally can't do anything about it, but I manage that contract and feel ultimately responsible for that. So that's another thing I'm working closely with 'em on developing those relationships to make sure that happens. That service is going out to bid here in about a month.

Tyler Mason:

Oh, okay. Interesting.

Kevin Westhuis:

So yeah, so stability, I think really, so people can live, work and start a business in River Falls and feel certain that they're going to have reliable electricity, safe and affordable, and have the best overall value here. And then for employees, here's what I think about where I want to leave with employees, and I've told them this. I hope they can use this employment to live their best life by being fulfilled, grow, and contribute to our community. I want them to feel like what they do matters. I really want to have them just like a volunteer. I have got these 20 volunteers showing up because it makes 'em feel good. What if you can have that same feeling and be employed and get paid for it? That's really what I go for. I want every single employee to understand that their role is vital. There's a lot of different roles, sports analogy, there's quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and linemen. They get treated differently in the public's eye. But every one of those roles is vital to the success of the whole. So I really aspire to have every single person feel their significance in what they do and feel good about what they do and show up and then use this as a tool to have a great life. So that's my goal. Remind people.

Tyler Mason:

Bring it full circle with another sports analogy. I like it.

Kevin Westhuis:

There it is. I have too many. And some people that aren't into sports will throw a cold bucket of water on that. But to me it's very, very similar. It is team effort. And I always think like a kicker in sports. They don't even practice with a team sometimes, but they put the uniform on, they're proud to wear the uniform, and then the whole thing revolves around them making a 37 yard field goal.

Tyler Mason:

No pressure.

Kevin Westhuis:

No pressure. So they're vital. They don't make one tackle. They don't even get dirty. They might not even shower, but they're vital to the success of the whole, just like our utility and our organization here. Some people are more active and more transparent than others, but every single person employed here is vital to the success of the whole.

Tyler Mason:

I love it. That's a great place to stop. And to wrap this up, Kevin, I appreciate the time and it's been fun working with you over the last year plus since I started and looking forward to doing more together. So thanks for hopping on another microphone.

Kevin Westhuis:

Well, yeah, right, exactly. Well, thank you for inviting me and it's a pleasure and hope somebody maybe get a kernel out of this and learn more about our community and why municipal is great for River Falls.

Tyler Mason:

Absolutely. Well, thanks everyone for listening to this episode of the Kinni Cast with Kevin Westhuis, our utility director here at the City of River Falls. If you don't already subscribe, I know we're still just a few episodes in, but it really would help. If you subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, you can find it at rfcity.org as well, really wherever you get your podcast. So be sure to tune in, tell your neighbors about it, and help spread the word about the work that we're doing here at City Hall and beyond to make River Falls a great place to live. So again, thanks to Kevin and thanks to all of you out in River Falls for listening.

Kevin Westhuis:

Good night everyone.