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After July outage, Versailles prioritizes underground cable replacement and advances substation design
Summary
Following a July 17–18 underground primary cable failure and a multi-hour outage in Heritage Estates, Versailles officials outlined emergency repairs, planned conduit installation to replace direct‑buried cable, and reported a preliminary $3,815,808 estimate for a new McGreevey Road substation.
Versailles, Ohio — Village officials said the late‑evening July 17 failure of a primary underground power cable in the Heritage Estates subdivision prompted overnight restoration work, a temporary above‑ground primary feed and an expedited plan to install conduit and replace direct‑buried cable in the affected area.
Mayor Todd M. Dammeyer thanked the electric department staff for working through the night to restore power. Village Administrator Francis described the outage timeline: linemen located the failure, installed a temporary above‑ground primary cable to restore service, and crews continued work the following days to install a new riser pole and an overhead feed while removing the temporary cable to reopen Hubert Drive.
Francis said the underground primary cable that failed was originally installed in 1989–1990 as direct burial cable, which cannot be easily replaced without conduit. Village leadership reported that the project to replace direct‑buried cables in Heritage Estates — originally planned within five years — will be moved up in priority; Ruhenkamp Boring is slated to install conduit from Callaway Court to Hubert Drive in the coming weeks.
In separate infrastructure updates, Francis reported that GPD Group has provided 30 percent design drawings and a preliminary engineer's estimate of $3,815,808 (including 15 percent contingency) for a new McGreevey Road substation. He noted that this initial estimate is below the earlier planning figure of $5 million to $6 million and that AMP Transmission and AES Ohio are coordinating regarding property needs for a Baker Road 69 kV breaker substation near N. West Street.
The village is also preparing a sanitary sewer main relining project in the S. Center Street area to address tree root intrusion and inflow/infiltration; that work is planned for bidding late summer or early fall with construction in winter into spring 2026 and will be funded locally through the village 1/2% income tax and sewer funds. Design is nearing completion for the Greenlawn Water Improvements project (replacement of a 10‑inch cast‑iron main with a new 12‑inch main routed under a railroad bridge), and Jacobs Engineering Group has begun a preliminary engineering study for the water and wastewater plants with preliminary cost scenarios expected in October.
Francis also reported elevated system-level power consumption: AMP advised that consumption was up about 40 percent compared with May 2025, driven by sustained hot weather; the Village has notified customers about higher usage on utility bills. Several contractors — including Vaughn Industries (electric installation), Ruhenkamp Boring (conduit), Barrett Paving Materials (street paving) and SunbeltSolomon (transformer supplier) — were identified as active participants in ongoing projects.
What happens next: work crews will begin conduit installation and cable replacement planning in Heritage Estates, and the Village will continue engineering design and cost-estimating work for the McGreevey Road substation and treatment-plant studies.
