Leadership Transition at Clayton Public Power

A transition of leadership will be taking place over the next few weeks at Clayton Public Power, the town's electric company, as long-time employee Dale Medlin takes over for retiring Electric System Director Ronnie Wood.

"I think this is a great opportunity for Dale and for the town," Town Manager Steve Biggs said. "He knows our system as well or better than anyone."

While praising Wood for leading the modernization of the town's electric system over his 15 years here, Councilman Bob Satterfield echoed the feelings of the Town Manager about his replacement.

"I'm extremely excited about you moving up through the ranks to this position," the Councilman told the new director.

Medlin, who grew up in nearby Garner, came to Clayton as a Senior Electrical Line Technician in 2004 after a 26-year career with Progress Energy.

He said Wood "has done an excellent job in upgrading and implementing new ideas to enhance the continuity of electric service as well as hold the cost of electricity to a minimum."

"He has raised the bar for me to maintain, and if I know him as well as I think, he expects much more from me," Medlin said. "I'll try to meet it."

Wood has led the electric system here since leaving Carolina Power & Light after a 31-year career in 1997. During his tenure, Clayton Public Power has evolved into one of the state's most efficient and dependable utilities, with outages becoming infrequent. Over the years, he oversaw massive system upgrades, including more and better options for working around outages.

"I feel very fortunate and blessed to have worked for the Town of Clayton over the past several years and to have had a career in the power industry for almost 46 years," Wood said. "I feel very good about leaving the system in the hands of folks who care as much as I do about reliability and providing high quality electric service. Looking back, I don't know of anything I could have done that would have been any more challenging or rewarding."

Wood plans to travel and spend more time with family in retirement.