Mountrail-Williams Opens New Stanley Facility
Construction is now complete on Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative’s new Stanley facility. Staff moved into the building on September 22. Planning for this new facility began as part of the 2010 plan for the cooperative. They bought the property in 2014. Construction began in the spring of 2025.
Ditribution Line Superintendent Chris Meiers says that management at the cooperative and the board of directors were good about letting employees participate in the design for the building and they ended with an excellent product because of that. Employees visited all of the offices to see what was or was not working as they made their decisions. They also were working with JLG Architects along with consultant engineers AE2S and CMTA, companies that had worked on the other facilities, meaning they had a good working relationship to accomplish those goals.
General Manager Alex Vournas says that the Bakken oilfield play was the largest driver of growth and changing needs for the cooperative. They went from 30 employees to now closer to 135 companywide. The board realized they needed to handle that growth. They were using modular buildings and rentals as they addressed the needs that included more warehouse space and staff spaces. They also put in a vehicle maintenance shop with three mechanics on staff. Those mechanics, housed in Williston, are able to go to the Stanley and New Town locations as well. With the specialized nature of their equipment this is critical, especially during a storm response.
As they looked at their building needs, it was determined to start with Williston, as it had the most immediate needs. With Stanley’s building the newest at the time, they then moved on to the New Town building that opened in 2021.
For Stanley, the move into the new building is important in so many ways. As they experienced growth, linemen have been working in temporary trailers for the past six years. They were out of room, including no room to hire to fill needed positions. That delayed hiring at times. Now all 20 employees are in one building that has been designed for future growth and needs. The building is meant to stand the test of time as a 50+ year facility. They also have enough property if they have to add to the facility in the future. For Chris Meiers, he says it is the first time he has been close to the linemen in years.
The new building, in addition to having space for up to 40 employees, also has met other needs. That includes a new conference room. Meetings in the old building had to be held in the break room. The board had their first meeting in Stanley on the week the employees moved into the building.
The new facility also has a much larger shop space and increased warehouse storage space. They will repurpose the old building for those needs as well. Meiers says that when he first started, poles were 30’ tall and the wire was smaller than a finger. That wire is now the size of a quarter and poles are at minimum 40’ tall. All of the equipment has gotten heavier and bigger. While guys still climb poles, they are also using a 45 ton crane, two 100’ bucket trucks and they have a semi to pull equipment. The old two shops were a combined 13,500 sq. ft., while the new shop is 22,000 sq. ft., not including the office spaces in the building. That space is roughly 16,500 sq. ft.
The new facility also helps their preparedness during wide-scale outages. With the new shop space, important equipment will be inside, ready to go immediately. They have also put in a fuel island to ensure a ready fuel supply during those same scenarios. They need crews to be able to get out in those worst case scenarios. That included putting in a large generator to power the entire building.
All of these improvements will benefit the whole footprint of Mountrail-Williams Electric. While the company’s computer servers are in Williston, they back up the systems to Stanley and New Town. A 24/7 dispatch could also run out of the Stanley office if they needed to relocate in an emergency. The training room could become a temporary dispatch and keep the full system operational. It is part of the cooperative’s commitment to reliability, redundancy and long-term planning to provide those consistent services for their members.
The additional warehouse space is important for the cooperative. As with most other industries, across the last six years they have seen supply chain issues. Some of their materials are harder to get or take longer to get, meaning they store considerably more. That takes room. By storing more, they assure they have what they need on hand and better manage inflationary costs.
Looking at the cooperative’s growth over the years, MWEC’s monthly peak demand has grown by nearly 16% annually. During this same time period, the MWEC membership has grown by nearly 4.5% each year. Meiers said that the peak load was 20MW years ago. At its peak, they have seen 863MW while an average day likely sees around 715MW of power. They are expecting traditional load growth for the next ten years as they serve their current members.
They also believe that the new facility will help with retention and attracting new employees. This is a place people want to be and take pride in it.
Mountrail and Williams merged into one cooperative in 1991. They still have offices and in fact new facilities in all three communities: Williston, New Town and Stanley. They have stayed the course and remain committed to those communities.
The new facility is a secure facility, meaning that the lobby is open to the public, but access to other areas will only be possible if accompanied by an employee. Due to concerns with cyber security and physical security, this is true in all of Mountrail-Williams’ facilities.
One change that members will find is the installation of a bill pay kiosk in the entryway that will be available 24 hours a day. They will also find that office hours have been extended to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
As they moved into their new building in Stanley, they were also able to make donations of equipment from the old building. The ice machine was given to the wrestling club. The pressure washer was donated to the fire department. Desks were donated to the elementary school. Their temporary trailer was donated to another cooperative.
If you are looking for a chance to tour the new building, an open house is set for Thursday, Oct. 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. There will be an official ribbon cutting and program at 10:30 a.m. Tours and lunch will start at 11 a.m. They are partnering with Bravera Bank to grill, using hamburger from E&E Beef. They will also feature cookies by Teri Ostdahl and cake by Jan Thiege, both MWEC members.