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MLGW seeks $5 million design contract for new control center as part of $59M consent package
Summary
MLGW asked the council to approve roughly $59 million in contracts covering a new control‑room design, environmental remediation, technology support, lead service‑line replacement and new water wells; the board said the control center design would let construction begin in 2026 and support grid modernization set for 2028.
Memphis Light, Gas and Water officials told the City Council on Dec. 2 that they are seeking approvals for roughly $59 million in contracts that together push the utility’s annual spending toward $922 million.
President Doug McGowan said the highest‑profile request is a $5 million engineering contract for design services on a new control center at Goodlett Farms Parkway. “This is the next step here, getting this control room designed so that we can begin the construction in 2026 and have the control room ready when our grid modernization efforts are online in 2028,” McGowan said.
The consent package also includes: $775,000 for transmission planning and interconnection studies to shorten developer queue times; three environmental contracts covering asbestos and lead abatement and related emergency abatement work; $725,000 for Nutanix support to keep the SCADA and energy management systems current; and water‑system investments including a $6.5 million contract to drill six production wells (about 2 million gallons of capacity per well).
McGowan told council members the utility intends to use about $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to replace private‑side lead service lines for roughly 600 homes where the public side has already been replaced. He said the program prioritizes older census tracts where need is highest and that ARP funds must be spent by September 2026.
Council members asked how projects are prioritized and how coordination with other work (for example, paving after street cuts) will be handled. McGowan said the utility coordinates through the city’s 811 system, is using data to target paving in tandem with lead‑line work, and will launch a new geofenced communications platform in January to notify neighborhoods of upcoming work.
McGowan and staff emphasized that the environmental contracts are specialized work — air monitoring for asbestos removal, lead remediation, and disposal of legacy transformer chemicals — and tied them to safety for workers and customers.
The committee took the presentation for consideration; individual contract approvals proceed through MLGW’s ordinary consent process and subsequent council review.
