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Lenox council approves consent agenda including wastewater service agreements and SCADA upgrade
Summary
The Lenox City Council approved a consent agenda that included multi-year service agreements for the wastewater treatment plant, a planned upgrade to the plant SCADA computer, a change order on the band shell project, a listing for a habitual violator property and a new hire for the fire department.
The Lenox City Council on an as-amended consent agenda approved service agreements for the city wastewater treatment facility, authorized a planned replacement of the plant SCADA computer, accepted a change order for the band shell project, approved listing a property at 300 South Cherry as a habitual violator for grass and weeds, and added a new firefighter to the roster.
The council approved the consent agenda by roll call after a motion to adopt the agenda as amended; Dougherty, Gerald, Peterson, Swearer, Welch and TZ voted aye.
City staff described two service agreements for the wastewater treatment plant: one with Cummins for diesel generator maintenance and one with Hock for lab equipment. A separate contract with Direct Technologies covers software/cloud upgrades tied to the plant's systems. Kyle (staff member) told the council the SCADA computer that provides plant operators a “snapshot” of plant conditions and alarm notifications is original to plant start-up and “well overdue for replacement.” Kyle said the existing system runs on an outdated Windows 8 operating environment that is no longer supported and that the planned replacement will move toward encrypted cloud access and broader user access.
Kyle discussed continuity during outages, saying the generator transfer is effectively instantaneous in tests and the SCADA computer will be on battery backup. He described the replacement as increasing security compared with the current screen-mirroring remote access method.
Other consent items included change order No. 3 for plaster repair and painting at the band shell and the addition of firefighter Randy Bugnes to the Locks Fire Department roster. The packet also included a grant application for the Lenox Area Community Fund.
Council members asked technical questions about SCADA security and continuity; staff responded that the upgrade will allow more secure, encrypted remote access and more authorized users for plant monitoring. No separate vote was taken on individual consent items; the entire consent agenda passed as amended.
