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Seattle City (spot)Light: Casey Langlois, Senior Power Dispatcher

The Basics
Years of Service: 10
Division: Utility Operations & Engineering
Role: Currently I am a senior power dispatcher, assigned outage coordinator. I schedule and plan many of the outages associated with the utility’s distribution, transmission and generational facilities. I like my job because I get to be more involved with the field crews daily, from facilitating simple requests to being a voice for the System Operations Center on what is feasible for larger outages and how it impacts system reliability. I also enjoy the fast pace and challenging atmosphere the outage office provides.

Background
Hometown:
Renton Highlands, Wash.
Alma Mater: Volunteer Fire Academy at Skyway and Construction Industry Training Council of Washington (CITC)
Discipline/Trade of Study: Initially, I had aspirations to become a firefighter or lineworker. I began by studying for my fire science degree while in the volunteer fire academy at Skyway. My path shifted as I accepted an apprenticeship with Keithly Electric to obtain my electrical license. Before I got into the lineworker apprenticeship at Seattle City Light, I was attending CITC in Bellevue as a part of the apprenticeship. That apprenticeship was cut short as I ventured onto a lineworker apprenticeship at Seattle City Light and eventually became a lineworker in the south end.
Tell us about your family: Both my wife Mariko and I are from the Northwest, born and raised in Washington. We’ve been married going on eight years this August. We share our two-and-a-half-year-old son Leon who keeps us busy with his everyday escapades – and we are expecting another boy in May of 2021! My wife loves her career as a dental hygienist; I’d say we both have careers we really enjoy and that will keep us in the area for a very long time. We both have immediate family in the area that we enjoy spending time with; our roots are very well established here in the Seattle area.

My father worked 30-plus years with Seattle Public Utilities, and I saw the way his job provided for his family…I wanted the same thing for my family and that brought me to the utility.

Just for Fun
Where do you currently live and what’s something you love about the area?
I live in in the Renton Highlands with my wife and our son Leon. I love this area because of its central location to everything the Seattle region has to offer, from the snow at Crystal, Snoqualmie and Stevens to the countless hikes, and beautiful scenery and immediate family that still resides here.

What is one of your favorite activities and one you’d like to get out and do more of? My favorite activity by far is being with my family and watching our son learn new things and develop new interests. My wife and I really love to travel. Some of our favorite places are Hawaii and California, really anywhere there’s ocean and sun. We love to stay busy with activities such as hikes, trips to the zoo, snow adventures, and sports events. I also like to get out on the golf course when I have time.

What is something most people don’t know about you? Oh, I don’t know!! Haha…I guess that I enjoy extreme situations. I’ve been skydiving and really loved it, though I don’t think I’d ever try bungee jumping. Something about having big rubber bands strapped to your ankles and jumping off a bridge or a cliff doesn’t appeal to me! I’d rather jump out of an airplane!

What do you enjoy most about working at City Light? I enjoy a lot of things about working at the utility, the friendships between my co-workers and the experiences we’ve shared in the field and in the office. The fact that I am able to provide for my family with my career and the ability to work in the same city that my family has a history of serving in is a great feeling.