PEC to ‘compress’ Bertram office, build new facility in Marble Falls
Employees at the Pedernales Electric Cooperative office in Marble Falls are temporarily being housed in portable buildings because of a mold problem. Utility officials will break ground in the fall on a new facility on a 10-acre tract about a mile north of the current site on U.S. 281. Staff photo by Connie Swinney
CONNIE SWINNEY • STAFF WRITER
BERTRAM — Pedernales Electric Cooperative officials have announced facilities plans following issues with mold at the Marble Falls site and questions about the future of a site in Bertram.
Bertram leaders and residents recently raised concerns about the utility’s plans to “compress” services and resources at the Bertram district office, 365 Texas 29.
PEC officials confirmed the possibility that some of the office’s 40 employees could be shared among offices in Marble Falls and Liberty Hill.
Bertram Mayor Dickie Allen said in August he faced questions from residents who interpreted “compress” to mean possible closure of the facility.
“PEC and Bertram have had a long relationship. The first meter that was ever set when electricity came out of Burnet County was out of the Bertram office, and that was set in Oakalla,” Allen said. “That was sometime around 1939 or 1940, so there’s been a working office here ever since.”
The nearest offices to Bertram are in Marble Falls and Liberty Hill.
“It would be a big economic blow to Bertram. We have people that work there,” Allen said. “It’s one of our biggest employers in Bertram.”
Part of the facilities considerations by PEC administration involves finding a way to “execute a strategic facility management plan that will work to control costs while supporting a fast-growing membership,” according to a Sept. 10 statement from the utility.
“PEC’s plans are for the Bertram office to remain open and to leverage and balance resources across the Bertram, Marble Falls and Liberty Hill offices,” PEC General Manager John Hewa stated. “We will continue our work delivering strong reliability and member service while lowering costs.”
Allen said the community’s economy remains tied to the fate of the Bertram office.
“There’s about a million-and-half dollars’ worth of personal property, inventory and trucks that would be gone out of our area,” he said. “I just hope everything turns out good for the people of Bertram.”
Along with Bertram, Marble Falls residents will see a change at the facility, 3105 U.S. 281, in that community.
“It was determined it had quite an extensive mold issue, so we brought in some very nice temporary buildings,” PEC President James Oakley said of the current space for personnel at the site. “They are modular-type buildings that were custom-made to fit our size requirements for our parking lot.
“We wanted something that would still accomodate the public for the short term,” he added.
The site is also adjacent to a flood plain, which figured into the decision to find a new location.
As a result, officials approved constructing a new facility on a 10-acre tract about a mile north of the current site on U.S. 281 across the highway from the Marble Falls Business and Technology Park.
Work is expected to get underway in the fall.
“We really look forward to the final product of this new facility out there which will have a lot more space for the warehousing aspect,” Oakley said.
connie@thepicayune.com
2 thoughts on “PEC to ‘compress’ Bertram office, build new facility in Marble Falls”
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As A growing community we need PEC not to leave Bertram nor share the employees.
A Co-op is a specific business model whereby its prosperity and that of the communities it serves, thus that of the members, are closely tied…a special synergy. How will the “compressing” affect the communities, members, and the PEC in the long term?
Joe Summy
Johnson City, TX