Monday, January 20, 2014
I worked with and for Art Trube at Jersey Central Power & Light Company (JCP&L) when he was Manager of Fleet Services. He hired me to be his department's Transportation Engineer. This was in the 1990s. Here is a brief history about Art's short but memorable tenure as Manager-Fleet Services of JCP&L:
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Back then, JCP&L's parent company, General Public Utilities Corporation, (GPU), centralized and decentralized the organizational structure of its subsidiaries repeatedly, almost every other year. They drove us crazy!
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For many years up through the 1980s, JCP&L had its own Transportation Department staff group based in Morristown, New Jersey that managed JCP&L's vehicle repair garages, bought cars and trucks, wrote purchasing specifications for specialized equipment, and managed the company's transportation budget. I don't recall the name of the man who ran the department back then, but I recall that Bill Carey and Bill Goerlitz worked there. There was also a manager named McMillan, if I recall correctly.
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Then, around Year 2000, GPU established a new centralized transporation staff group to take care of not only JCP&L's fleet, but also the fleets of JCP&L's sister companies, namely Metropolitan Edison Company (Met-Ed), Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec), and GPU Service Company (GPUSC). GPU eliminated the JCP&L Transporation staff. The new group was based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Only a couple of the members of the former JCP&L staff accepted jobs at Reading. The others retired from the company.
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The centralized staff at Reading lasted for a few years. At that time, Art was Transportation Area Supervisor for the Northern Area of JCP&L's service territory. As Area Supervisor, he was in charge of the garages but not the staff functions. He reported out of the Area offices on McFarlan Street in Dover, New Jersey. Because he reported through a different branch of the JCP&L organization, he was immune to the cycles of centralization and decentralization that affected the staff groups in Morristown.
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In 2004, due to changes in the executive ranks, GPU management decided to decentralize its staff groups once again. And that's when Art landed his job as Manager of Fleet Services. In his new job, Art became the manager for Transportation for all of JCP&L, and this included not only the garages, but also all the transporation staff functions. It was a nice promotion for him.
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In order to fulfill his added responsibilities, Art had to rebuild the staff of the newly-reinstated JCP&L Transportation Department from scratch. Most of the folks who ran the Jersey Central Transportation Department in years past took the opportunity to retire when the last reorganization occurred, so Art could not bring them back into the fold. He had to hire new people to fill the staff positions that reported to him.
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Most of us were new at our jobs. Our group included Darryl Tuxhorn and Roy Cooper, who were promoted out of the garages to become Area Managers for JCP&L's Northern and Southern service territories. Our group also included Jim Curtin and a young lady whose name escapes me; they took care of all the budgeting and accounting for Transportation. The budget was in the millions of dollars because our group was responsible for all the garages and for procuring all the new vehicles. Dale Toth, Bill Carey, and I took care of the engineering, technical specifications for new vehicles, and special maintenance programs where we needed to get the manufacturers involved. We also hired retiree Bill Goerlitz on a part-time basis to improve the technical specifications for trailers and other unique equipment. Art had a couple of bargaining unit clerks on his staff, too.
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We had a great group of people, and Art was a wonderful boss. I really enjoyed working for him, and it was the most interesting job I ever had.
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But it didn't last long. After only two years, in 2006, the bosses at GPU decided to recentralized all of the staff groups again out in Reading, PA, including not only transportation, but also many other departments. Jeffrey Sturm, who was the former Comptroller of Met-Ed, was promoted to Director of Administration for GPU, and he in turn, promoted Ed Earnest, the Transporation Manager of Metropolitan Edison Company, to be the Manager of Fleet Services for the newly-centralized GPU operation. Ed was now responsible for fleet management not only for Met-Ed, but also Penelec and JCP&L. Not surprisingly, Ed hired another Metropolitan Edison Company employee to be Transportation Engineer for the centralized group. In effect, GPU had reinstated the centralized transporation staff group that existed from 2000 to 2003, except with a new cast of characters. Art's staff at JCP&L was eliminated.
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Ed offered Art a position as a Fleet Maintenance Supervisor, and Art accepted it. I found a new position in the GPU Power Contracts group, which bought and sold electric power on the grid. It was a completely different line of work for me.
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Darryl and Roy found jobs in the Jersey Central garages. Dale and Jim also found new jobs, but not in Transportation.
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But consistent with GPU's never ending policy of creating chaos in its ranks, the powers that be decided to reorganize everything once again, and so Ed's new organization was wiped out, too. In 2001, the CEO of GPU, a guy named Fred Hafer, decided to sell GPU to FirstEnergy of Akron, Ohio. Basically, he sold the company down the drain in exchange for a golden parachute reputed to be worth $13 million. Shortly thereafter, in 2002, FirstEnergy eliminated the Ed Earnest's Reading-based staff group and centralized the Transportation Department out at the FirstEnergy headquarters in Akron, Ohio.
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I believe that's when Art left the GPU companies for good. Ed Earnest left, too. I left GPU about a year later, in 2003.
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I will always remember Art as a great guy. When he was Manager of Fleet Services at JCP&L, we were just beginning to get everything in ship shape, but we just didn't have enough time due to the constant reorganizations imposed by GPU. I wish I could have worked for him longer. I'll never forget his smile.
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Allan Lacki
