A powerful brotherhood

Aaron and Ivan Boehm just wrapped up their first major maintenance outage at Minnkota Power Cooperative’s Milton R. Young Station near Center, North Dakota. These planned outages are scheduled every three years for each of the Young Station’s two generating units. This fall was Unit 1’s turn to get the multiweek treatment, with a full inspection, a round of maintenance and some important updates.

If you hadn’t already presumed, Aaron and Ivan are brothers. Both have less than a year and a half under their belts as an apprentice plant technician and apprentice plant mechanic, respectively. The learning curve on a fast-paced, complex maintenance outage is high. But on top of having each other to learn from, they had something a lot of new employees don’t: the guidance of two more big brothers.

“I just know I can ask either of them questions and they’ll give me a good answer and they’ll teach me more. A lot more,” Ivan said of his brothers Tyler, a plant maintenance supervisor, and Casey, a plant mechanic with whom he shares a crew. “Especially working with Casey all the time. I’ve learned a ton from him.”

“We work good together,” Casey said.

“We work really good,” Ivan agreed. “We get things done for sure.”

The four brothers are sons of Keith Boehm, a plant shift supervisor who retired from the plant in 2022 after 42 years of service. Electricity flows through the family’s veins. They even have a fifth brother who works for BNI Coal, Minnkota’s power sibling next door.

Tyler has worked at the Young Station the longest (16 years), so major outages are just part of his professional rhythm now. His team in the scrubber and coal handling area hit all their outage project deadlines while Casey focused on boiler feed pump maintenance, Ivan on precipitator maintenance and Aaron on other projects to ensure the continued reliability and performance of the plant.

The Boehms were busy, but the outage touched the workflow of every one of the nearly 200 employees at the plant. Not only is a planned outage an all-hands-on-deck job for them, but it’s also game time for hundreds of contractors who are called in to assist with large specialty projects. This time around, the Unit 1 turbine received some precision care – and removing, cleaning, updating and replacing its components is never a small task.

“The crews handle it well,” said Neil Kramar, plant manager of operations and maintenance. “They know the fall outage is extremely busy, and most plan for 50- to 60-hour weeks where they’re going to be away from their friends and family and devote their lives here. And it is difficult, it’s stressful, but for the most part people handle it well.”

The Boehm boost

The fall outage ran into delays due to materials and labor, but Unit 1 was back up and generating power within two months of coming offline. Through every challenge, employees had each other’s backs, prioritizing safety, patience and open communication. The Boehm siblings stand as an overt metaphor for that feeling of plantwide brotherhood.

“What the Boehm brothers bring, I feel, is consistency. They were born and raised around here. They truly want to come work for Minnkota,” Kramar said. “And I’ve said it before – if there were more of them, we’d hire more.”

The Boehms grew up on a farm west of Mandan, North Dakota, in a home with eight children (yes, there are also three Boehm sisters). The men have fond memories of their father’s years commuting to and from the plant.

“I’ve always wanted to work out here ever since I came here for the first time to be here with him,” Ivan said. “We’d visit him sometimes.”

“We used to come out on Sundays and bring pizza out,” Tyler added.

Casey continued the recollection. “He would bring us to the lunchroom – let us all come in as a whole family, all nine of us, downstairs in the lunchroom. I remember that when I was super young,” he said with a reminiscent smile. “It was fun.”

The brothers couldn’t deny the pull, and one by one, over 15 years, they landed jobs in different areas of the plant. Although they don’t spend much time together during the workday, they’ve realized some perks of having grown up roughhousing with a handful of future coworkers.

“I know how all these guys act and work, so I can be more reliant on them for certain things,” said Tyler, the eldest. “I’m in a supervisor position, so it’s kind of nice to tell them to go do something and not worry about it.”

Ivan and Aaron are still fairly new to working in the industry, so they’re grateful to have the mentorship of family when questions arise. “You feel more comfortable doing stuff if you’re working around them,” Aaron said.

“You can come in any morning and you can just give your brother a look. You don’t have to say anything to him – you’re saying hi with just that look,” Casey said. “Maybe it’s a goofy look or whatever it may be. It’s just nice that you can do that with your coworkers. That’s your brother.”

Keith Boehm never intended for his sons to work at the Young Station together. In fact, he urged them to pursue whatever careers they were called to. However, the legacy of Minnkota’s Young Station – major outages and all – was too strong to resist. The brothers are now helping the plant carry on its story so that they can carry on their family’s.

“It’s just a really good place to work,” Ivan said. “Love it every day.”

MAIN IMAGE: Minnkota’s Boehm brothers take a break from their plant duties for a family snapshot. Left to right: Casey Boehm, Ivan Boehm, Aaron Boehm and Tyler Boehm. (Minnkota/Michael Hoeft)