SPPD Plans April 30 Ground Breaking for Funk Service Center

FUNK – Southern Public Power District will break ground on its new Funk Service Center at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30.

The ceremony will take place at the site of the new facility at the intersection of T Road and Lions Drive on the west edge of Funk.

Once construction is complete, SPPD will move its Phelps County operations from its current location at 1605 US Highway 6 on the east edge of Holdrege down the road 6 miles to the west edge of Funk.

Construction will begin soon on the new 26,700-square-foot service center with a completion date goal of December 2019. Boyd Jones Construction of Omaha is the general contractor.

LeAnne Doose, Public Relations Manager for SPPD, said the new service center will be centrally-located in SPPD’s Phelps/Kearney County territory allowing for quicker access to customers.

In Phelps County, SPPD serves rural customers and residents of Atlanta, Bertrand, Loomis and Funk. The power district is headquartered in Grand Island and also has service centers in Juniata, Franklin, Grand Island and Central City. The company serves rural power customers and villages in seven south-central Nebraska counties: Phelps, Kearney, Franklin, Adams, Hall, Hamilton and Merrick.

Doose said SPPD has outgrown its space in Holdrege due to the current-day size of vehicles needed on the job.

“Our current space didn’t allow for growth,” she said. “The lot in Funk was available. It’s a clean slate that allows us to build from zero. It also allows us to be located immediately in a town that we serve.”

Fourteen employees work at the Holdrege SPPD Service Center, and Doose said that number will remain the same once the new service center is built.

The ground breaking ceremony will include a welcome by Phelps County Development Corporation Executive Director Ron Tillery, opening remarks by SPPD President/CEO Neal Niedfeldt, and remarks by Village of Funk Chairman Bud Mondt and Phelps County Commissioner’s Chairman Tom Nutt.