TVPPA Education & Training Services (E & T) has begun conducting technical training at Dothan, AL, Utilities, per an agreement reached by the two parties in late 2015, and is working on a similar arrangement in Illinois.
“We’re happy to be working with Dothan Utilities and looking forward to the opportunity in Illinois,” said TVPPA Training Director John Cooke. “We’ve got Affiliate and Associate members – and there are plenty of non-TVPPA-member utilities – for whom the availability of a training site outside our footprint will be a real benefit.”
TVPPA and Dothan Utilities have in common the memory of the late John Marse. A Dothan resident, Marse worked 24 years at Dothan Utilities and retired in 1996. He joined TVPPA full-time in 1998 and put in 17 more years, most of which he spent as the lead instructor at its training site near Scottsboro, AL. Marse died in May 2016 after battling cancer.
“I’d like to think John would be very pleased by our partnership with Dothan Utilities,” said Cooke, who added that TVPPA has been working with the Illinois Municipal Utilities Agency (IMUA) on an agreement that could allow TVPPA to conduct technical training in Springfield, IL.
“That we have training sites in Scottsboro, Princeton [KY], Jackson [TN] and Greeneville [TN] makes our training very convenient,” Cooke said. “But having additional sites in the Midwest and near the Gulf Coast makes our training a lot more accessible for a lot more utilities.”