By Dolores Sauca Lorusso

Weeks after approving the use of its property to host a circus next summer, the Hull Redevelopment Authority this week agreed to allow the light plant to host a lineworkers rodeo at the site in May.

NEPPA PHOTO FROM A PREVIOUs apprentice skills assessment rodeo. this type of event will be held on the hra property next year.

At a rare in-person meeting at the Memorial Middle School, the HRA unanimously approved the Hull Municipal Light Plant’s proposal to hold the North East Public Power Association’s 15th annual lineworkers rodeo event and skills competition Tuesday - Thursday, May 7- 9.

NEPPA is the regional trade association representing the interests of 78 not-for-profit community-owned electric utilities that \ provide electricity to approximately two million people across New England. Nationally, one customer in four is served by a public power company that is owned and operated by local or state governments or rural cooperatives.

HMLP Assistant Operations Manager Mike Schmitt said the light plant is “excited” about the joint venture with NEPPA to host the rodeo on the HRA land to support NEPPA’s work to train line workers, offer safety classes, and lobby for municipal light plants.

In a letter to the HRA, the light plant’s Anne Finley said “approval on use of the HRA land for this event will bring attention to community initiatives in our beloved town, and centrally located, will be a fun event for citizens, especially the children in the community, to watch from spectator stands.”

According to Finley, when Hull’s light department learned that the association was looking for a new location to host the 2024 rodeo, staff thought of the land adjacent to plant, which “offers a unique and memorable location for the annual event.”

Combining hands-on and formal classroom training, NEPPA offers a four-year curriculum of the Northwest Lineman College’s Lineworker Certification Program. Each year, students participate in the two-day skills assessment rodeo designed to “showcase the apprentices’ developing technical and climbing skills, and to reinforce the program’s focus on professionalism, safety, and proper technique.”

Ten poles will be installed on the HRA land for climbing, “hurt worker” rescue, and transformer change-out competitions that all will be open for viewing by the public.

Some citizens at the meeting were concerned about the digging required to install the poles for the competition, saying that when the bayside gazebo was installed, workers found asphalt underground.

Bartley Kelly, longtime HRA member and Hull’s building commissioner, said with the width of the poles he does not think it will be a problem, but stressed “if they find anything, they take it and get rid of it.”

Schmitt concurred. “We will not leave debris; if we find anything we dispose of it…we will return the gravel area to better than we found it condition.” For setup and breakdown, the one HRA lot being used for the event will be blocked off from April 29 to May 17.

NEPPA has contracted with the Nantasket Beach Resort for the week of May 6 for hotel rooms and to host the indoor portion of the event, which will include educational sessions, networking, and exhibits.

“Sounds like it is the perfect small-scale event,” said select board member Jerry Taverna.

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