Valley Energy honors Owego man as ‘employee of year’

Valley Energy recognized employees for years of service and outstanding service to the company during the utility’s annual awards breakfast last month.

Following a breakfast prepared by the utility’s management team, veteran Valley Energy operations technician David Farrell was recognized as the company’s 2016 Employee of the Year.

Valley Energy President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Crocker presented Farrell with a plaque and praised him for his commitment to customers and the company.

“Dave is a very conscientious employee and does a great job maintaining and upgrading the company’s maps and records systems,” said Crocker. “He has great rapport with the community, our customers and contractors and is a real asset to Valley Energy.”

Farrell’s primary responsibility involves locating natural gas lines for the Pennsylvania One Call System and Dig Safely New York. He responded to more than 1,200 line-location requests in 2016 and maintains an outstanding accuracy record, according to Crocker.

A 27-year veteran with the Sayre utility, Farrell resides in Owego, N.Y. with his wife, Theresa.

The awards breakfast also featured the presentation of certificates to employees for achieving years-of-service milestones in 2016. Those recognized were: construction manager Anthony Jenner, 15 years of service; and customer representative Kathleen McCutcheon and construction mechanic Anthony Peterson, 5 years of service.

Valley Energy provides natural gas service to more than 8,870 customers in the Sayre, Athens, Towanda and Monroeton areas in Pennsylvania and the Waverly and Chemung areas of New York State.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of C&T Enterprises. Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative, based in Wysox, and Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Mansfield, jointly own C&T Enterprises. The parent cooperatives provide electricity to approximately 36,000 consumers in north-central and northeastern Pennsylvania.