NAECA and Apprentice Program Formed
R. Palmer, Electric Times
Six owners of electrical contracting companies in Flagstaff, Ariz. have come together as the founding members of the Northern Arizona electrical Contractors Association (NAECA), which is aiming to promote the industry and education in the Northern Arizona area.
According to NAECA Spokesperson and founding member Jim Anderson, owner of AEC Electric, the work to form the new association started about eight months ago. Meetings have been held since February 2008.
“We formed this association primarily for the betterment of our industry – training and promoting the electrical industry in Northern Arizona,” said Anderson. “In all honesty, it has been a void in Northern Arizona for decades.”
The other NAECA founding members are Frank Patton Jr. (NAECA President and owner of Shaum Electric), Rick Monn (NAECA Treasurer and owner of Northland Electric), Edward Jirsa (NAECA Vice President and owner of 5J Electric, Tom Goodman (owner of Goodman Electric) and Dave Lakin (owner of Lakin Electric).
Each of the six founder member companies provided startup funds for the association. Robin Baxter of Shaum Electric has also been helping with the administration of the new organization. Anderson has owned AEC Electric in Flagstaff since 1999. He previously owned Andco Electric, which he sold to Hatfield Reynolds in 1999. As an industry veteran in Northern Arizona, he feels attempts to align contractors in that region of the state with existing state industry groups has been difficult, mostly because of simple geographic realities – distances required for travel to meetings, for example.
With their training goal, NAECA has teamed up with Steven Herold of the Southwest Electrical Training Center to put together their training program. Sinagua High School in Flagstaff has provided the classrooms and a computer lab. The certified eight-semester, four-year apprenticeship program began its first class on May 29 with 29 students.
“We have recruited teachers to work with Southwest, and fortunately, one of our teachers is one of the head electrical inspectors for the City of Flagstaff – Bob Sorenson,” Anderson said.
NAECA is actively seeking electrical contractor members north up to the Page area, to the far east and west ends of the I-40 corridor and the Prescott, Verde Valley, Payson and White Mountains areas.
We thoroughly intend to reach out to contractors in those rural areas to join,” said Anderson. NAECA can be reached at (602) 451-5791, or www.naecaaz.com.
