For more than 30 years, Tom Russo has helped keep the lights on in Lowell as an employee of Lowell Light & Power. However, it isn’t just the local community that has benefited from his expertise. Russo was recently recognized by the American Public Power Association (APPA) for his service on the Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) Program’s Review Panel.
Russo was a member of the panel from 2013-2019. Although he retired from full-time work at Lowell Light & Power in 2016, the utility’s board requested Russo continue on the panel, and he readily agreed. That reflects of the type of commitment he has to seeing a job through, Lowell Light & Power General Manager Steve Donkersloot says.
“Tom Russo embodies everything you would hope for and want in an employee,” Donkersloot notes. “He is loyal, dedicated, trustworthy, and respected by all.” His high level of professionalism and expertise made him a valuable asset to the RP3 panel which helps create quality standards for the country’s public power providers.
Program Promotes Safety and Reliability
The RP3 Program was created by the APPA to recognize public utilities that demonstrate certain levels of proficiency. To achieve RP3 status, a utility must meet standards in four categories:
- Reliability
- Safety
- Workforce development
- System improvement
The RP3 application is exhaustive, says Perry Beachum, Chair of the Lowell Light & Power Board. It covers everything from financial metrics to whether a utility has automated external defibrillators (AED) in their trucks. While there are more than 2,000 public power utilities in the country, only 274 – including Lowell Light & Power – have earned the RP3 designation.
As the power industry evolves and innovates, the RP3 application must undergo constant review. The APPA relies on a panel of 18 people to ensure the application reflects the most current industry standards. It’s on this panel that Russo was appointed to represent small and medium utilities.
Representing Lowell at the National Level
Russo has represented Lowell well at the national level, Beachum says. “The respect that Tom receives from everyone in the APPA is phenomenal,” he says. The board chair has witnessed it firsthand at APPA conferences he’s attended where others have made a point to confer with Russo on various matters.
It’s not surprising to either Beachum or Donkersloot that Russo would be held in such high esteem. “Tom is one reason, among others, that Lowell Light & Power is the good place it is today,” Beachum says. “[He] resigned from the Navy to come work with Lowell Light & Power. He has that military ethic.”
“Tom has always put the team — LL&P and the community – first,” Donkersloot adds. So when he was asked to sit on the RP3 Panel, there was no question Russo’ answer would be yes. As Donkersloot notes, “This is just another example of his commitment to LL&P and the entire public power industry.”
Russo was presented with a resolution of appreciation from the APPA earlier this year, and the Lowell Light & Power board adopted that same resolution during their August meeting.
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