Page 2 - Wilson Electric Newsletter Jan 2021

FAMOUS POTATOES By Todd Klimas

“Famous Potatoes” – It actually says that on Idaho auto license plates. Internet trivia – Idaho
was the first state to put a slogan on their plates. Famous Potatoes started appearing on
default plates in 1928.

On a drive in the Idaho mountains I decided that the state's advertising of its famous crop
might be an intentional deception campaign to keep outsiders from visiting or, worse, moving
to the area. I say this because the area is absolutely beautiful contrary to the image you
might picture when they tout their potatoes. Clean, vibrant cities, and breathtaking
mountains and forests with rushing streams, rivers, and pristine lakes.
Outsiders have caught on though, particularly in Boise, where the population growth made it
the fastest growing city in the country between 2017 and 2018. To be fair, most of the growth
in Boise was Idahoans from neighboring counties, though those were followed closely by
Californians moving into the area.

So, you may be wondering why I'm talking potatoes and Idaho. As part of our ongoing geographic expansion, we've
opened an office in Meridian, a suburb of Boise. The area is growing in many of the types of work we excel at, higher
education (Boise State University), technology (Micron), military (Mountain Home Air Force Base), with an airport served
by several airlines. We've hired two local electrical industry veterans, Phil Whitney and Perry Foster, who are working on
business development right now. As we are awarded projects, we'll ramp up construction operations.

TUCSON NEWS

Our Tucson team recently completed Sahuarita's first hospital, the $45 million,
77,000-square-foot Northwest Medical Center-Sahuarita, officially opened for
business on November 11, 2020, giving area residents another option for health
care.

The low-key opening, blame coronavirus, included a staff-only ribbon cutting just
before the doors opened.

The first floor is the 18-bed hospital initially offering inpatient care, surgery, laboratory services, diagnostic imaging and
emergency care.

The second floor, which will be done in February or March, will house medical offices with primary care, general surgery,
orthopedic surgery, podiatry, ob-gyn, gastroenterology, cardiology and more. There is room on the second floor for more
clinic space or other needs that might come up.

Initially, there are 50 employees, about 60 percent of whom are from the immediate area. The hospital is at the
southeastern corner of Interstate 19 and Sahuarita Road, a site that eventually will include restaurants and a drugstore.
When fully staffed, the facility will employ about 100 people, including nurses, physicians and support staff workers.