Geared Toward Growth

United Cooperative Services closed its 40-year-old Cleburne facility Jan. 19 to begin the 18-20-month process of overhauling the site with a reconstructed office building and operations center/warehouse. Decommissioning and demolition commenced Jan 19. However, members can conduct co-op business at United’s offices in Joshua, Burleson and Godley.

“The population and economic growth in Johnson County—along with adjacent counties served by United—require the cooperative to take measures to ensure highly reliable electric and internet service,” said United CEO Cameron Smallwood. “To meet the needs of the growing membership, United’s strategic planning calls for resourcing the cooperative to meet the needs of our growing membership today and far out into the future, which requires the reconstruction of our facilities at the existing Cleburne location.”

Throughout the construction process, United electric line crews will continue to operate out of the existing Cleburne warehouse/yard until completion of the office building and warehouse in late 2025.

Upon completion of the new facility, the existing operations/warehouse will be demolished and the space will be converted into a larger materials yard to accommodate the growing membership needs. United developed a long-term facilities plan (LTFP) in 2010, which included plans for new/renovated facilities at existing office locations in Burleson (2012), Granbury (2015) and Cleburne (2021). Design for the new Cleburne facility began in 2020. However, due to Winter Storm Uri causing United power supplier Brazos Electric    Cooperative to file chapter 11 bankruptcy—creating unknown impacts to United at that time—the Cleburne project design was tabled until the bankruptcy conclusion in 2022. Design re-started in 2022, leading to the January 2024 demolition and reconstruction launch. Without the Winter Storm Uri delay, the revamped Cleburne facility would have been completed in mid-2024.

The LTFP also included a new facility in Mansfield (2023) that was constructed on 10 of 60 acres purchased in 1992, with the proceeds from selling the remaining 50 acres to cover all or most of the cost of that facility. The remaining 50 acres are currently being marketed to potential buyers.

“Our long-term facilities plan is evaluated and modified accordingly on an annual basis,” said Smallwood. “In 2017, the plan emphasized the need to utilize the existing Cleburne site for a new operations and warehouse facility and a new office building to be constructed beginning in 2021. United opened its first Cleburne facility in 1982.

While both the operations building and office facilities have served the membership well for three of the last four decades, the growth in membership over the last decade has stressed the ability to serve member needs at an acceptable level,” he added.

Some of the challenges facing the cooperative with the growing membership include: materials yard constraints, lack of adequate vehicle fleet housing/mechanics areas, warehouse age and size limitations and office age and size limitations. In the Cleburne district alone, work orders have increased by more than 40 percent in the last five years and service orders have increased by nearly 50 percent during the same period.

“The Cleburne site no longer possesses the space required for our expanded workforce needed to serve the growing electric membership and the internet member-subscribers,” said United Chief Operating Officer Marty Haught. “As a temporary measure, the cooperative purchased two Wells Fargo bank branches—one in 2021 in Joshua and the other in 2022 in Godley—to handle the overflow of some of the new employees and those who are going to be displaced as a result of  the Cleburne construction process that’s about to begin.

Upon completion of the Cleburne reconstruction, we intend to sell these temporary offices and use the proceeds to help offset some of the costs of the Cleburne project,” said Haught.

Doing the reconstruction on the existing property is the most cost-effective approach as land values in Johnson County made purchasing a greenfield site prohibitively expensive. The reconstruction of this 40-year facility will be $33 million. However, delaying this project any longer will only result in additional expenses as construction costs are expected to continue to rise as the inflationary pressures affect building material and labor costs, said Smallwood. Once the project is open to the membership in 2025, a few notable improvements will include:

• An appropriately sized lobby for members to conduct business with United member service representatives efficiently and confidentially, something not possible today with the confined space

• A drive-through member service option for members who do not  wish or who are unable to get out of their cars to conduct cooperative business

• An expanded community room, allowing for members and the  community greater use and flexibility in the meeting space for approved reasons

• A facility that will bring employees currently spread across three locations to be in one place, allowing for more expedient and efficient collaboration to meet member requests and needs

• A hardened system operation center to strengthen reliability of electric and internet service during severe weather occurrences

• An expanded warehouse and equipment yard to house the appropriate amount of materials to be more efficient in and responsive to current and new United members

“Throughout this organization, from the board of directors to management and all of our employees, there is a singular priority at the top of all of our planning and strategic preparation and that’s service to the membership,” said United Board President Patsy Dumas. “That’s what a co-op is all about, ensuring that service reliability and responsiveness are always the top objectives, and we are confident that this Cleburne overhaul will serve our membership for at least the next 40 years.”