CWS WELCOMES MIDWEST WATER OPERATIONS
Less than a year ago, we sent around a memo announcing that CWS had aligned itself Keystone Capital, a growth investor, to take our company to the next level. It’s been an excellent year since – our best yet in fact – and we’ve never been more excited about our future. Our new partners have been incredibly supportive, giving us resources to improve and grow all while allowing us the freedom and autonomy to continue building this great company our way. While growth has always been a core element of CWS, we’re now able to supercharge that in a new way – by acquiring other compatible O&M companies into the ClearWater family. With that, we are thrilled to welcome Midwest Water Operations into our company. Midwest Water Operations (MWO for short) is a water and wastewater O&M company based in Washington, Missouri. Their focus is serving private utilities where they not only manage operations, but provide repair, maintenance, and construction services as well. MWO has 120+ people operating more than 200 systems across a 7-state footprint. They share our growth philosophy and have an impressive track record of expansion. We’ve gotten to know their leaders – Ben Kuenzel and Terry Merritt – over the past few months and couldn’t be more impressed with their industry knowledge and leadership ability. They are quality people, and we’re honored to call them our partners. MWO is such an excellent fit for us. Together we’re 400 employees serving both public and private utilities across 12 states in the greater Southeastern US. In addition to our presence in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and most recently Florida, we now have operations through MWO in Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Texas, and North Carolina. The sky is the limit for us as we leverage our new partnership to pursue municipal work across a broader footprint than ever before. We never imagined we’d achieve this size and scale so quickly, and yet here we are. With it, we’re all systems go on investing in our team –that’s all of you – and providing more growth and relocation opportunities across the board. We’ve got big plans – investing in technology to drive efficiencies, adding to our administrative staff to better support the company, prioritizing business development and client retention initiatives to grow our footprint and strengthen our home base – and we’ve got a supportive team over at MWO looking to do the same. This isn’t our first merger and it won’t be our last. As leaders of CWS, we’re committed to building this great business the right way and investing in our collective future. There’s a lot more to come as we navigate this combination and continue improving our game, so stay tuned, but don’t hesitate to ask questions along the way.
TEAM ASSISTS WITH STORM CLEANUP EFFORTS IN KY
Team members from CWS’s Lanett, AL and Fayetteville, GA projects recently traveled to Mayfield, KY to assist with storm damage repairs and cleanup. The Mayfield community was devastated by the tornadoes that struck the state overnight on December 11, 2021. Damage to the city’s wastewater treatment plant was extensive. Debris littered the yard, the roof was ripped off the building, there was a semi-truck trailer in the clarifier. The CWS team – Claude Barber, Zachary Ewbank, and Tyrese Jones – worked for four days to help get the treatment plant cleaned up. According to Houston Black, the CWS Chief Operations Officer, “Even though Mayfield isn’t a client of CWS, we were proud to be able to assist them when they needed help. The ‘Building Communities’ statement that we speak isn’t just words…it’s what we work towards every single day. Midwest Water Operations (MWO), serves the Kentucky area and told us about the need for help there. So we stepped up, talked to our guys, booked hotel rooms, stocked the vehicles with water and supplies, and sent them on their way. A huge thank you to the guys for their willingness to help out.”
