Seaford council directs engineering to shift load to newer substation, place aging Ross facility in standby
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Summary
City officials unanimously approved transferring load from the aging Ross substation to the newer Slatcher substation and funding FY27 engineering to plan the transfer, after hearing that Ross has failing breakers, oil leaks and long equipment lead times.
Seaford’s mayor and council on March 24 voted unanimously to place the aging Ross substation in standby condition and begin engineering to transfer its distribution load to the newer Slatcher substation.
The city’s director of electric, Greg Brook, told council the Ross facility has deteriorating breakers, leaking transformer components and outdated control equipment that could be costly and time-consuming to repair. “The materials that we need in the raw sub have very lengthy lead times up to 2 or 3 years,” Brook said, noting that a piecemeal replacement strategy could be expensive and inefficient.
The vote followed Brook’s recommendation to fund preliminary engineering in the FY27 budget and to construct a new circuit from Slatcher to pick up circuits now served by Ross. Brook described a lower-cost interim approach—putting Ross in standby, replacing oil containment and maintaining it for future growth—while Slatcher is made ready to assume load.
Vice Mayor Dan Henderson raised concerns about physical security and resilience, referencing past attacks on substations elsewhere. “You might recall some incidents couple years ago where, there were some shots fired at a substation and caused quite an outage,” Henderson said, urging that hardening measures be considered in the engineering scope.
Brook acknowledged the security question and said the engineering study would incorporate hardening options. Council members also discussed stress-testing Ross before fully relying on it in an emergency and the long procurement lead times for major substation components.
Councilman Mike Bradley moved the measure to accept the electric committee’s recommendation, including placing Ross in standby, transferring load to Slatcher once improvements are made, and adding engineering costs to the FY27 budget; Vice Mayor Dan Henderson seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
What happens next: staff will execute the recommended engineering study (a $41,000 preliminary proposal from GMB was discussed) to develop plans, specifications and probable costs; the study will inform whether to proceed with procurement and how to finance the work.
The council’s decision aims to balance near-term reliability with long-term planning: Brook said a full refurbishment could cost millions, while shifting load to Slatcher buys time to plan without leaving North Seaford without backup capacity.
