STERLING — Matt Stelmach recently took over as general manager of the Sterling Municipal Light Department, a move that he said “has honestly felt, to me, like coming home.”
The former longtime town resident, who is looking to return to living in Sterling, officially
took over the helm at SMLD on March 27, but he is no stranger to the light department and town workings. Stelmach was elected to the SMLD Board of Commissioners in 2009 and served three 3-year terms until 2018, six of those years as chair.
He is also a founding member of the town of Sterling Energy Committee, and as such brings a wealth of experience with him.
“I was inspired to apply to SMLD because of the opportunity to serve and make a difference on a local level, similar to what I had been able to do as a commissioner but even more so as manager,” Stelmach conveyed.
The Hyde Park, New York, native graduated from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. Stelmach has been living in Rutland for the past five years after being on Birch Drive in Sterling for 13 years. His most recent job positions were with a large state agency and a national engineering company.
He has big shoes to fill. Longtime town resident and SMLD employee Darren Borge was in the general manager position since May 2021, after longtime general manager Sean Hamilton retired.
When asked what his immediate and future goals for the light department are, Stelmach has a detailed list.
“Immediate goals include working to control power supply costs in order to keep customer rates low and also pushing to expand the availability of our new fiber internet service,” he said. “Future goals include increased employment of smart-grid technology aimed at reducing outage times and securing additional long-term, non-carbon power supply contracts.”
As far as how the transition to leading SMLD has been, he said, “Everything has gone extremely well thanks to the staff at SMLD.”
“I am also very fortunate that interim general manager Sean Hamilton has made himself available for a transition period until I get up to speed,” Stelmach shared.
He said it’s important to him to continue the work that Hamilton, Borge, and others have done as far as seeking and adding alternative energy sources to the diverse SMLD portfolio.
“SMLD has been nationally recognized as a leader in sustainable energy,” Stelmach noted. “I will continue that effort by working to expand solar and energy storage systems in town. This is not only important from a sustainability standpoint, these projects also help to keep energy costs down by reducing power line transmission charges and contribute to the overall resiliency and reliability of Sterling’s electrical grid.”
