Your Electric Co-op

Chief Executive Officer and General Manager

Robert E. Castillo, P.E.

Grants Office

200 E. High St.• P.O. Box 1087 Grants, N.M. 87020 505-285-6656 505-287-2234, fax

Gallup Office

2500 NM Highway 602 • P.O. Box 786 Gallup, N.M. 87305 505-863-3641 505-863-2175, fax

After Hours

877-775-5211

Office Hours

8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (M-F)

Satellite Payment Offices

Villa de Cubero, Zuni, Tribal Utility Dept.

Website

www.cdec.coop

Board of Trustees President

Keith Gottlieb, At-Large

Vice President

Vacant

Secretary-Treasurer

Joe Hoskins, District 7

Lyle Adair

District 8

Alex Griego

District 1

Wes Malcolm

District 2

Lloyd Ortega

District 4

Claudio Romero

District 3

Alfred Saavedra

District 5

Zuni Schools to Receive CDEC Red Bolt Broadband

Students and teachers of Zuni Public School District can look forward to new, highspeed, fiber-optic internet service come the 2020-21 school year.

“I am happy to announce that construction is underway, and initial service should be available before June 30th,” said Robert E. Castillo, chief executive officer of Continental Divide Electric Co-op.

CDEC’s Red Bolt Broadband internet service received a federally-funded E-rate contract to provide 1-gigabit of service to each school in the district. Right now, each school only receives 100-megabit equivalent circuits from its current provider.

“At the moment, they have a bottleneck. High-speed internet is important for students to have access to the same resources as their peers around the state and country,” said William Dixon, manager of CDEC’s Information Technology department.

The $1.1 million of federal funding will build the trunk line necessary to deliver the amount of bandwidth called for in the E-rate contract. CDEC is investing additional resources to upgrade its electric distribution system’s communications, as well as position itself to potentially provide Red Bolt Broadband to Zuni and Ramah residents and businesses in the future.

“Kelly Cable of New Mexico, a CDEC contractor, is constructing the fiber construction component for this project,” said Angela Evans, CDEC’s operations manager.

In addition, Evans said there is a significant amount of make-ready construction needed to support the fiber cabling that will be strung some 25 miles to the connection point. CDEC line crews will perform that work, which includes replacing 32 poles, beginning in May. Most of the CDEC and Kelly Cable construction will not require disruptions of power. CDEC will do its best to notify, in advance, those who may be impacted by brief, planned outages.

CDEC’s Red Bolt Broadband service is a byproduct of the co-op’s effort to improve the reliability, efficiency, safety and quality of the co-op’s electric distribution system through Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA).

SCADA is a digital energy-management system that requires CDEC to install fiberoptic lines and other high-speed internet equipment throughout its service territory to remotely monitor its electrical distribution grid and gather data in real-time. CDEC started SCADA construction in 2017, allowing the co-op to begin building fiber-to-thehome the following year in Grants and Milan.

Red Bolt Broadband’s internet access is ultra-reliable, offering residential and commercial subscribers service at symmetrical speeds, starting at 50-megabits per second, up to 1-gigabit per second – something wireless, satellite and DSL providers are unable to provide with their technology. “We are a local, high-speed internet provider with the co-op principles at heart, specifically the seventh Cooperative Principal—Concern for Community. The Zuni project is a great example of our commitment to work for the sustainability of those we serve,” Castillo said.

As a farmer, rancher and school administrator, longtime board member Grant Clawson inspired the lives of generations— from Ramah, N.M., to Wash., D.C.

Clawson, who served on CDEC’s governing board since 1989, passed away April 19. He was 72.

Clawson was the board’s vice president.

“Grant was a very hardworking, committed and sincere individual. He left nothing to chance and made decisions only after consideration of all the facts. He was a great go-to person and will be greatly missed,” CDEC Board President Keith Gottlieb said.

CDEC Chief Executive Officer Robert E. Castillo praised Clawson’s efforts to help guide Continental Divide Electric Co-op at the local, regional and national levels.

“I met Grant nearly 30 years ago when I worked for the statewide (New Mexico Rural Electric Cooperative Association). He was always refined, very intelligent and humble,” Castillo said.

Clawson also served as a director and member of the contract committee of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the co-op’s wholesale power provider. And from 2011 to 2017, he was on the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance (CFC) board.

CFC provides financing and finance-related services to Rural Utility Service borrowers and nonborrowers, including CDEC.

Clawson led as CFC board president from 2016 to 2017, after previously serving as its vice president and secretary.

“I viewed Grant as a mentor and a wonderful friend. His loss is deeply felt by all of us. Grant’s skills as an educator were apparent to everyone he worked with at CFC,” said Sheldon C. Petersen, CFC’s chief executive officer.

When Clawson wasn’t tending to co-op business, he could be found in Ramah where he farmed, ranched and served as superintendent of the Pine Hill school system.

Prior to that, Clawson spent about 20 years with the Gallup McKinley County School District as a teacher, coach and principal, said Mac Juarez, CDEC’s member services manager.

“I’ve been here since 2005, and not a year has gone by without a phone call or email from Grant, inquiring about applications for our annual Government-in-Action Youth Tour essay contest,” Juarez said.

Clawson’s dedication saw several Pine Hill and Ramah high school juniors compete for the trip to Wash., D.C. Many have been selected throughout the years.

Born in Gallup, Clawson was raised in Ramah, obtained a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of New Mexico and once owned a custom saddle shop in Utah.

CDEC’s Clawson Remembered for Dedication and Sincerity

CDEC Meter Reader/Collector Loved Job, Animals and Sports

On weekday mornings, longtime meter reader and collector Marty Martinez would strut the office hallways in his favorite teams’ caps, asking coworkers if they caught the previous night’s close games.

In the field, he went the extra mile to help co-op members, as well as provide refuge to lost animals. “I don’t think he ever passed up a stray dog. He’d pick them up, get them healthy and try to find them a new home. He wound up keeping a few that he just couldn’t part with,” CDEC Billing Supervisor Donna Venable said.

Martinez passed away April 26. His death was related to COVID-19, according to family. He had underlying health issues and had been on leave from the co-op’s Grants office for about a month.

“Marty dedicated nearly 18 years of his career to serving the members of our co-op, and we will miss him very much. He had a big heart for those in need,” CDEC Chief Executive Officer Robert E. Castillo said.