In 1969, the Board of trustees saw a need for enlarged office space, and knowing the City of Laurens also needed office space and public meeting rooms, the Trustees approached the City Council with their needs. After much thought and planning, it was decided the offices could be combined and the building erected on the land the city already owned. The New Laurens Municipal office building was completed in 1971. Funds in the amount of $143,972.00 were transferred to the City of Laurens for the project. This money was also derived from the operating revenues of the municipal electric utility and the building was paid for in cash.

In addition, the Laurens Municipal Light and Power Plant makes regular payments to the City of Laurens and lieu of taxes. This was started in February 1967 with a payment of $5,000 and a total of $10,000 per year was paid until 1970 when the payment was increased to $14,000 dollars annually. This payment in lieu of taxes has been increased over the years and has been at $30,000 for several years now.

This annual payment to the city helps to pay the costs of city government. In addition, the new municipal building was built from profits of the municipal light and power system . . . money that would have gone out of the community had it been served by an investor- owned utility.

The year 1971 saw the initiation of an underground distribution system. After extensive planning and recommendations of Buell and winter, Consulting Engineers, approximately 180 customers would be served from the first stage of the plan. The next stage was planned for 1975, and eventually the entire system would be underground, with a 12,5000-volt loop all around the city limits in order to give better voltage to all customers. As of 1988, the underground system was complete. All secondary services to the home and business firms were furnished at no cost to the customer.

Early in 1974, much consideration and detailed studies by the Board of Trustees made an important step into the future to provide adequate low-cost power and energy to serve the citizens of Laurens. As a result, an agreement was signed with Iowa Public Service Company to share ownership in a jointly-owned generating plant which was to constructed near Sioux City and to be known as Neal 4 Generating Station.

The plant was constructed to generate 580,000 kilowatts of electricity and is coal-fired which consumes 367 tons per hour to produce steam to drive the turbine generator. Thirteen power systems are owners in the Neal 4 plant of which Laurens owner 3126KW of capacity.

In April of 1984, the Light Plant transferred $70,807.30 to the city for the purchase of a fully equipped ambulance. The ambulance was put into operation in October of 1984.

On July 28, 1986, a tornado touched down at the Neal Plant causing $25,000,000 in damages with a large portion being covered by insurance. This put the Plant out of operation for almost the entire year until May of 1987.

In 1987, for the purpose of economic development within the City, the Board of Trustees voted to transfer $600,000 to the City of Laurens for use in funding for the newly organized Laurens Industrial Foundation, Inc.

During 1988, contracts were signed between Cornbelt Power Cooperative & North Iowa Municipal Cooperative Association which provides NIMECA members, including Laurens, with ownership of capacity in &operation of electric transmission facilities &sharing or generation capacity. These contracts guarantee Laurens transmission of energy purchased form the Western Area Power Administration & Neal 4 over the former Cornbelt Transmission System.