16
THE DAVEY BULLETIN
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July/August 2021
STARTING FRESH WITH AUSTIN ENERGY
In February, shortly after Davey picked up the Austin Energy
account, a winter storm ravaged Texas, leaving millions of
homeowners without power. Davey Tree Surgery Company
crews on the new account, led by Josh Maudlin, account
manager, and Brandon Freeman, area manager, consisted of
mostly new hires with some veteran employees mentoring,
training and leading on the ground.
"This is an exciting opportunity for Davey, and we're starting
fresh here in Austin with a lot of young employees," Maudlin
said. "The client has high expectations that we hope to
exceed so that we can retain this contract and continue our
success in Austin."
Right now, crews focus on reactive work and hot-spotting,
working on service tickets submitted by any one of Austin
Energy's 507,600 clients spread across 440 square miles of
territory. When they started, much of the initial work came
from a backlog of winter storm related issues. During the
initial storm response in February, 15 Davey crews traveled
from other accounts in Texas to assist the Austin Energy
crews (see "Texas Landscape Devastated by Historic
Winter Storm" in the May/June Bulletin).
Most of the 60 employees on the account are recent hires,
although several have previous experience working with
Davey. Nelson Medina, supervisor, runs the day-to-day
operations along with five general foremen, and Maudlin
SAFETY
said the focus is on getting work done quickly and safely
while ensuring that employees are being trained in Davey's
safe operating procedures.
Frequent communication, all-stops and using the Close
Call Communicator are encouraged, he said.
"In a way, it's a good thing that we're starting off with new
employees here because we're able to mold them in the
Davey way by giving them the best on-the-job training on
a daily basis," Freeman said.
The crews have been making their way through Davey's
Career Development Program (CDP) booklets and training
workshops are planned in the coming months. The account
has also been supported by Fredis Mauricio, foreman,
CenterPoint Energy account, who acts as a mentor and
helps ensure client expectations are met.
"It's Austin, which means there's not only expectations from
the client but also expectations from individual homeowners
and local governments that control the utilities," Maudlin
said. "We tell everyone regardless of who they are that
our job is to make sure services aren't interrupted and that
people are safe."
Numerous new crews are ramping up this year on the Austin
Energy account in Texas for the Davey Tree Surgery Company.
