Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Water Wastewater topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Escanaba council approves water/wastewater training and mixer purchase; staff cite reliability concerns
Summary
Council approved a $6,000 qualified electrical training contract and a not-to-exceed $17,500 purchase of a wastewater mixer, with staff citing arc-flash study follow-up and the need for redundancy to protect biological processes at the plant.
Escanaba — The Escanaba City Council on Feb. 19 approved two items aimed at maintaining water and wastewater operations: a contract for qualified electrical-work training for water and wastewater staff (not to exceed $6,000) and the purchase of a replacement wastewater mixer from Xylem Water Solutions (not to exceed $17,500).
Administration told the council that the training is budgeted and follows MIOSHA and NFPA guidance related to arc-flash safety; staff said the training will allow city employees to safely access panels for some tasks rather than rely on outside electricians. "We do take advantage" of Bay College offerings, city staff said, "but those classes would not give us the disqualified training to be able to do the work on the electrical panels," and the specialized contractor training is required.
On the mixer purchase, city staff explained the current mixer (installed two to three years ago) has failed multiple times, and adding a second mixer will preserve the plant's biological treatment process if one unit fails. "This is a 2 or 3 year old mixer that has failed a couple times... Having 2 is better for the process," said Mister Lampe, city wastewater staff, describing why redundancy is necessary.
Both items were budgeted and brought forward as motions; council approved each in separate roll-call votes recorded in the meeting minutes. Staff said the expenditures are drawn from currently budgeted funds and that the mixer purchase is a replacement for catastrophic failure rather than routine fleet cycling.
Council members asked whether similar training at Bay College could substitute for the contract class; staff replied that the college courses do not meet the specific qualification requirements for the electrical tasks considered, so the contracted training was recommended.
Implementation details: the training contractor is Integrated Safety Solutions (Amherst Junction, Wisconsin), not to exceed $6,000; the mixer vendor is Xylem Water Solutions (Pewaukee, Wisconsin), not to exceed $17,500. Staff will proceed with contracting and purchase as authorized by the council.
