Page 8 - Tennessee 811 Magazine 2019 Issue 2

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reaaessee oii
Alton Green, Jefferson Cocke County Utility District
hat happens atter yuu call 811 to have utilities marked tor
our sxcavaliun m ect7 Man eo le believe that when
y P l y P P
‘ they call an to have utilities marked the one call center is the
company that marks the lines, however, this is not the case
utility companies have locators on statt or hire outside contract locators
to complete this task. Recently I had the opportunity to sit down nith
Alton creen, utility construction locator with Jetterson cocke county cas
. utility along with carolyn Ramsey, administrative manager, and Danny
lzarding, operanans manager, to discuss the 811 process trom the locator's
I perspective. During our time together we covered some of the ohallenges
3 ‘ . V locators go through on a daily liasis as well as how to better work together
\ l wll tunlmtlola lo ensurr: en’ 0 ~' arr: Elhn ocnle accurate an III a
h th , ti g ' gl d ly d *
—, timely manner.
1 f-izjv _ > > _
:_\ Jctterson cocke county cas utility Distnct accum was estalilished in
. \ \‘ 1957 and covers both letterson and cocke counties in East TN. currently
they have 400 miles ot gas main serving 8,000 natural gas customers and
‘ ! ‘-‘ 5 ‘- ‘ ' _ a mximatzl 5,000 to ane customers. Alon with the disrnbution lines,
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‘r - x Jetterson cocke maintains approximately 16 miles of transmission lines as
H _ ‘i well
, Y<llI\("'_1U[ lU|(?\l‘i1. I lllll-||ill~_:
_ _\Hll l|lI‘l]'Ill|l. _\<>ll_;«»I ll) lttw i1.
_ '3 At one time, ICCUD used an outside contract locate company to pertorm
i p -- their locates, hut in the tall ot 2004, the decision was macle to tiring their
l 1' t. locating liack in-house. The utility tound great lieneat in having their
employees locating the gas tacilities, and at the time, Danny telt that
_ . Alton was the pertect tit tor the position, as he had the most knowledge
' ‘, ot the gas system gained through his many roles within the company
. ; i: V _ .- j‘ a with Alton pertorming the locates, the utility district tound he was a
'.‘ -"- —. .‘ F"~ '7 -:_. tremendous help in updating and keeping their maps accurate
. l -. , : - . '5,
., > ‘ ‘ ‘ A. ...:» Alton began working with JCCUD on Iuly 27, 1972 During his
. i; ._ . -;,,:r 5; employment he has had the opportunity to work in many rlitterent
—‘-’ _i 1,‘- ‘SE? ~ it >._' departments including laborer, service teohnician, meter reader, leader
, . A i _ ‘ - .'-‘ over the Jeiterson city satellite ottice, and most recently as the utilities
i ‘ ~ g at‘, »;,-f,» ~ i construction locator. As the pnmary locator tor the utility, Alton is tasked
, p ‘. 3‘ *:,n _ i with protecting the approximately 400 miles or gas main and services
’ _ ." i » - throughoutthe two counties. During his time locating, locate requests
, V. have increased year over year trom iust under 3,000 locates per year in
«i 20:14 to more than 5,200 locates per year currently. The utility district takes
_ . \ great pride in the tact that this past year alone, Alton pertonned 5315
I ‘ : , : .- locates with a 99.9% accuracy rating. when asked whatcontriliutes to his
’ y 7 l - 9, ‘ . \ success rate, Alton says, "You have to have good communication."
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5 . Tennessee 511 2019, issue2