Operations staff reported a power interruption at Lift Station 2 on Oct. 29 tied to nearby utility work, and said the station’s backup generator did not start automatically during the event.

"Apparently, this just happened at nighttime," Operations Speaker 4 said, describing a resident’s report and subsequent inspection. Staff installed a replacement unit, reprogrammed the verbatim dialer and hard-reset the generator so it is now set to auto, the report said.

Board members questioned whether the overflow reached local surface waters. "We don't see that the overflow was huge ... I don't think it even got close to the river," Speaker 4 said, adding crews hosed down and cleaned the site and that Eagle services removed solids during seasonal cleaning.

Speaker 6 said an IDEM contact initially recommended filing a report "to be better safe than sorry," then later confirmed IDEM recorded the incident as a power failure. The board also learned the contracted generator service account was inactive since about 2019; operations staff said they will restart service and institute a monthly run or inspection.

Why it matters: a nonfunctioning generator can leave sanitation infrastructure vulnerable during utility outages. Board members asked staff to pursue a service contract and regular generator testing.

Next steps: staff said they will contact the generator service company, attempt to restore a service/account for regular testing, and will follow up with IDEM where required. The board recorded no formal enforcement action in this segment.