Service Awards

Earl Harris / 30 Years

Earl Harris recently celebrated 30 years of service with GUC. As an Overhead Lineworker II in the Electric Department, Earl works on the “trouble truck,” and is one of the first to respond when a customer is without power. Troubleshooter crews provide our 24/7 response to electric system emergencies on a weekly rotation. During regular hours, they perform small-scale construction, maintenance and repair; but they’re also the ones who are first on the scene when there is a problem. All trouble calls go through the Troubleshooters first. They go to the location, evaluate the problem, and most often can make repairs. For more serious cases, they determine which crews and equipment are needed.

“Nothing brings me greater joy than to help people in need,” said Earl. “It is the best job ever when you can receive appreciation from your community just by doing your job.”

Together, Earl and his wife, Carol, have five children, three of whom serve in the military and the youngest graduating high school this year. During his spare time, Earl enjoys fishing.

5 years

Lin Hall, IT Systems Analyst I

Matt McLawhorn, Electric Overhead Lineworker Second Class

10 years

Hunter Dixon, Stores Manager

Promotions

Dustin Jenkins, Meter Technician II

Stephen Roebuck, Gas Systems Technician II

Linwood Smith, Water Resources Systems Maintenance Crew Leader

Chris Rouse, Gas Systems Crew Leader II

David Springer, Assistant Director of Water Resources

Congratulations

Congratulations to Gas Systems Technician Chris Bright and his wife, Robby, Natural Gas Supply Analyst, on the birth of their son, Jackson Thomas.

Accomplishments

Congratulations to Juan Herrera on his successful completion of our Pre-Apprentice Program. Juan is the first Pre-Apprentice in this new program at GUC. He was introduced to GUC through the Apprenticeship Pitt County program in 2017, which is a combination of a Pre-Apprenticeship program through Pitt County Schools and Pitt Community College. Juan came to GUC as a Senior at North Pitt High School last year and has worked in GUC's Facilities Maintenance section for nearly a year where he has been mentored by our facilities maintenance employees. 

After completing the program, Juan was promoted to an Apprentice, and is now part-time with Facilities Maintenance while he attends PCC. “Our section was extremely happy to participate in this program, and would like to encourage other departments to do the same,” said Superintendent of Buildings & Grounds Greg Roberson. “Juan has done an excellent job.”

Sympathies

Our deepest condolences are extended to the family of David Ellis Woolard, who retired from GUC’s Gas Department in 1983.

Thank You's

Jean Michel called to thank GUC for all the hard work put in by employees before and after Hurricane Florence. “I’ve lived here 40 years and always feel so safe during storms like Florence, all because of GUC,” she said. “I want to thank the employees who got out there and put in the extra hours and hard work. I don’t think my lights flickered once.”

A customer (who wished to remain anonymous) called to thank the crews who helped restore her power during Hurricane Florence. “We really appreciated the speed in which our power was back on,” she said. The employees who worked the outage in her area were Substation Crew Leader Mark Andrews, Troubleshooter Crew Leader Keith Gaskins, and Lineworkers Mono Jones, Remington Gaskins, Paul Hollingsworth, William Clanton, and Earl Harris.

The following thank you was published in the “Bless Your Heart” section of The Daily Reflector on September 17th: Greenville Utilities was on top of its game during this storm and took care of outages almost as soon as they occurred. Also a big bless your heart to the water response team that went to New Bern to assist in rescues. Well done!

Hundreds of thank you messages from customers were posted on GUC’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts before, during, and after Hurricane Florence, so be sure to browse through those as well. Here is just one snapshot of messages on Facebook:

Carolyn Bess Taylor - Thank you so much for restoring our lights so fast. We really appreciate you guys.

Felicia Heath - Thanks GUC for all that you do to keep us safe.

Kathryn Norman Hardee - You guys are awesome! Thank you, thank you!

Eneida Laguerra - Go GUC. Thank you for your service.

Natalie Schwartz - So cool. Fantastic work guys.

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