Clearwater native amped up to work with city

RANDOLPH - It didn’t take long for Louis Herley to find a place to showcase his newfound skills and now he expects to deliver on them.

The newest utility lineman for the City of Randolph comes from Norfolk, where he studied at Northeast Community College and graduated from lineman school.

Herley originates from Clearwater and went to school in Neligh and then headed to the Army before going to lineman school.

While in service, he helped some troops in rescue efforts in Georgia during Hurricane Irma.

“We got to turn on power during the hurricane and that’s where I got introduced to the field at,” he said. “After the hurricane was over and I was done, I knew it was something I should do. It’s an adrenaline rush being around high voltage.

“It’s different than just being a lineman. I also like being outdoors.”

Prior to coming to Randolph, Herley interned with Nebraska Public Power District.

“After I started applying for jobs, I found Randolph,” Herley said. “I enjoy small communities. Clearwater is even smaller than Randolph. I like to help small communities grow and thrive.”

Herley said that this position being secured by him is a rarity.

“Not many kids come out of school and take over a town like I did,” Herley said. “I am going to school on the side, and I am taking my journeyman’s class too.”

Other than a few people helping him get acclimated, Herley will be a one-man wrecking crew.

“We started on the floodplain project,” said Herley, who has held the position for about five weeks. “The easiest stuff would be the line work, but the hard stuff would be budgeting for what we need and updating since the town hasn’t been updated in a long time.”

He said Douglas Street will be put underground and plans on a myriad of projects over the next year.

“I hope we switch to AMR meter reading or try to instead of reading meters manually,” Herley said.

Herley and his girlfriend Kelli – a nurse at Faith Regional in Norfolk – and their dog Rudy have begun the process of making Randolph home.

Randolph City Administrator Ben Benton said the hiring was done in late January and then it was just a matter of time for Herley to get cracking.

“Since May 13, Louis has been very busy with finishing up electrical relocates for the floodplain project that started in 2020, digitizing and updating the electric grid map, catching up on a 3-year backlog of tree tickets, spending the time necessary to clean up and organize the City Electric Department which was long overdue,” Benton said. “He is very organized and relentless on finding ways to make our city more efficient which in turn helps save the city money.

Herley’s relationships with NPPD and knowledge of the Randolph Electric grid were instrumental in restoring power after the twohour blackout from severe weather in mid-May, Benton said.

“We are truly excited to see what all Louis accomplishes in his first year,” he said.