SLAYTON ELECTRIC UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP

Mick Keleher is the new owner of Slayton Electric as of July 1.

Keleher had originally planned to transition into ownership of the business about six months ago, but the process was delayed because he was involved in a horrific auto accident. Miraculously, Keleher survived, and with his goals still intact, is excited to begin serving the Slayton community and beyond as the business owner.

“I’m ready to put everything I’ve got into it,” he said. “I think it’s going to continue being a successful business.”

Keleher purchased Slayton Electric from Doug Brinks, who owned the business since 1985. Brinks also co-owned the business with Dean Kooiman from 1980 to 1985. “It was originally established in the 50s as Spartz Electric,” Brinks said.

“Bob Spartz was the original owner. He had it built up pretty good. We just continued on.”

The name changed to Slayton Electric when Brinks and Kooiman bought the Spartz business, and Brinks kept it the same in 1985, when he bought out Kooiman’s share. “I’m happy the business will keep going,” Brinks said.

While Brinks is “officially” retiring, he plans to keep working through the transition period.

“I’ll stick around and help him however I can,” he said. “He’s getting familiar with the customers, but it takes time to build that relationship.”

Keleher said he’s especially me on a helicopter, flew me to Sioux falls and I was there for almost two months. I got out Feb. 3.”

Keleher just finished a long road of physical therapy this past week. “Doug actually made a decision that he was going to wait for me to recover,” Keleher said. “I really worked hard at recovery and kept my goals in focus, but it’s been a miraculous recovery. (Doug’s) daughter, Jenny, was actually one of the EMTS who responded to my accident. I definitely credit her for saving my life.”

Keleher is also thankful for all the support he and his family received after the crash. Brinks believes there were a lot of answered prayers, and Keleher agreed. “I’ve heard a lot of people were praying for me,” Keleher said. “Every time I hear that, I say, ‘Well, that worked.’ I really appreciate all the support that the community gave me and my family. And all of the prayers that people offered up, they worked. I’m really close to being back to 100%.”

Keleher and his wife, Tracy, moved from California to Slayton in 2007. They rented a house on Maple Avenue before purchasing a home outside Hadley about a year later. The Kelehers, who recently celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary, have a daughter named Gwenna who will be 9 years old in September.

Mick Keleher started off his career working in the renewable energy industry, with wind and solar projects. A promising job working in the wind industry is what brought him to southwest Minnesota, but then at some point, Keleher decided he should take advantage of his master electrician’s license and potentially look at operating his own business. After talking with a CPA and learning that Brinks was looking to retire, everything seemed to fall into place. “The plan is to keep operating as we have been over the last year or so since I’ve been here,” Keleher said. “My wife is actually going to be working in the office and keeping the store open. She’s a wonderful lady and she really does our family right. And my brother-in-law, Tom (Trevillyan), he’s wonderful to have on the team.”

As Tracy handles the billing, bookkeeping and other office duties, Mick, Tom and Doug will focus on the service work. “We do a lot of service work, so that is fixing people’s problem when they encounter problems with their electrical system,” Mick Keleher said. “That’s residential, but also commercial. We also have several customers that are government agencies, like the City of Slayton. We also have agricultural customers. We do service work on hog barns, grain storage systems and things like that.”

Brinks said he has kept busy for the last 40 years, doing “a little bit of everything,” so he anticipates that continuing for the new owner in the future. Keleher acknowledges that Brinks’ knowledge and experience, not to mention camaraderie, is a huge benefit to him. “I told Doug sometime last year that he’s going to have an office in this building as long as he wants one,” Keleher said.

Reflecting back over the past 40 years, Brinks jokingly said it was bittersweet to have worked alongside a lot of his employees who later became competitors. “I probably trained all the local electricians at one point in time,” he said. “A lot of them worked for me and then went out on their own. But they were all good people, and it’s been a good business.”

Brinks said he doesn’t have the typical retirement plans, such as traveling or starting a new hobby, but he does plan to help out more at Stonegate Orchard, which his daughter, Jennifer Kirchner, owns. He also anticipates taking a week off in the next month or two. “I hope to do that, but I have to check that yet with the new boss,” Brinks said.