Opelika Power unveils new logo

The new logo comes after the Opelika City Council approved the name change in October to better reflect the additional services the department will soon offer. Opelika residents voted in 2010 to allow the city to offer cable, Internet and telephone services through a fiber-optic network being built.

While speaking about the new logo, Mayor Gary Fuller addressed the status of the fiber project and the search for a replacement for former OPS Director Derek Lee, who resigned in January after being unable to negotiate a new contract with the city.

The logo features a lightning bolt to symbolize the electric service as well as three horseshoe-shaped characters representing cable, Internet and telephone services. It was one of multiple options voted on by OPS employees.

Fuller said it is important to have the logo as an identifiable feature of Opelika Power Services.

“It’s important how we use it both in print and graphically,” he said. “Of course, as we begin to offer the cable TV, Internet and telephone services … our advertising strategy will change considerably.”

Fuller said the cost of updating Opelika Power Services’ vehicles and uniforms with the new logo would come out of the department’s annual budget rather than the $28 million in revenue warrants issued in 2011 to complete the fiber project.

Fuller also said a groundbreaking ceremony would likely be held in the next few weeks for the new Opelika Power Services facilities to be located off of Fox Run Parkway. On May 1, the council awarded a bid of $3,696,000 to RACO Alabama LLC for construction of the facilities.

Customer service functions such as opening a new account or paying a bill are completed at Opelika City Hall, but those activities will be transferred to the new facilities when they open, Fuller said.

He added that one of the first phases at the new facility will be to construct a fiber hub, where the fiber-optic network throughout the city will be centralized. Fuller said about half of the fiber needed for the network is already installed throughout the http://www.fiberise.comcity.

City leaders originally projected that the first telecommunications customers would come online by the end of this year, but Fuller said the first quarter of 2013 is now a more realistic timeline.

The search for Lee’s replacement as OPS director has narrowed to five applicants, of whom three will likely be interviewed, Fuller said. He said he anticipates having a replacement named by July.

“For this type of position, it’s not something you enter into lightly because it’s very important,” Fuller said. “It’s an important job.”

After Lee’s departure, the council approved a contract with The Motive Group to manage the fiber project as well as Opelika Power Services on an interim basis.