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Neighborhood Centers installs backup generator at new Arthur Street resilience hub
Summary
Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County installed a natural-gas 125-kilowatt backup generator at its new Arthur Street facility to ensure child care and community services continue during outages; equipment cost was just under $60,000 and total project costs were just over $70,000, the executive director said.
Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County has outfitted its newest neighborhood center at 1041 Arthur Street with a natural-gas 125-kilowatt backup generator to keep child care and emergency services running during power outages, Executive Director Rachel Rockwell told the Climate Action Commission.
Rockwell said the 15,000-square-foot center will serve about 100 children through preschool, child care and after-school programs and can be used as a cooling, warming or gathering space for vulnerable residents during extended outages or severe weather. "We're just able to continue to operate," Rockwell said, describing the automatic transfer that triggers the generator within seconds of a power loss.
She said the generator equipment cost was "just a little under $60,000" and the total project cost, including concrete, installation, gas connections and electrical work, was "just a little over $70,000." The system is tied to natural gas, has a 400-amp automatic transfer switch and runs a scheduled self-test every other Monday at 10:00 a.m., Rockwell said.
Rockwell described the investment as part of a broader resilience-hub plan developed with local emergency management and climate staff; she said Dave Wilson, director of Johnson County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, reviewed sizing and functional needs for the site. Rockwell also invited commissioners to the center's grand opening on June 11, with a ribbon cutting at 3:00 p.m. and an open house from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Commissioners asked whether the center's roof was solar-ready; Rockwell said builders designed the roof to accommodate future solar panels. She also reviewed the organization's other two sites (a Broadway location and a family resource center near Muscatine Avenue) and noted the Arthur Street site was chosen for its larger multipurpose space and kitchen capacity. Staff said the remaining two sites will receive smaller backup-power solutions that could include natural gas, solar, battery storage or combinations thereof.
The commission requested follow-up details on matching funds and installation plans for the other two Neighborhood Centers locations; staff said they will report back with specifics.
