New Building Opens This Month
Dear Members,
The first week of October, we plan to open the new Douglas Electric Cooperative headquarters at 1981 NE Stephens St. With a new headquarters building, we will be able to better serve our members and improve staff communication and coordination.
We designed the new headquarters to meet emergency planning needs. The old building was not energy efficient or equipped to handle emergency situations, such as wildfires and “snomageddon.”
The old dock only had room for one or two trucks. The new facility has seven bays and two more loading docks so we can provide a faster response.
DEC has a long history of serving our members and the community. We wanted to support local contractors during construction and stressed the importance of hiring local whenever possible.
The old building also served the community one last time as a training opportunity for the Roseburg Fire Department, who trained firefighters in a simulated emergency using smoke canisters.
We encountered a few bumps in the road during construction, including the pandemic and construction materials shortages. During these challenges, we relied on member support and encouragement from our board of directors.
As we near the finish line, it is important to acknowledge all the hard work and dedication from everyone involved with this project.
We are planning an open house in 2023. In the meantime, we encourage members to visit us at the new headquarters building.
Sincerely,
Keith Brooks