Ryan Piersol center, member services representative of Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, was the guest speaker of the Kingfisher Rotary Club last week. Piersol narrated a PowerPoint slide show that emphasized the benefits derived by the 62 communities that are members of OMPA, of which Kingfisher is one. He said Kingfisher citizens are fortunate to reside in a community that has its own power plant capability, which ensures that at least part of the community would have electrical power during extended outage periods. Piersol said OMPA was created in 1981 and Kingfisher is one of the original 26 members. Currently Kingfisher City Manager Dave Slezickey is on the OMPA board, which Piersol said is an added benefit to Kingfisher residents because Slezickey is up to date on all details of OMPA activities. He concluded by saying the main benefit of OMPA membership is increased local control and management of electrical power in the city. He said interested persons could go to the website ( www.ourlocalpower.org) to find out more about OMPA. Piersol is pictured with Slezickey, left, who introduced him to the membership and guests, and Kingfisher Rotarian Greg Garrett, who arranged for the presentation. [TIMES-FREE PRESS Staff Photo]