CCWS 10-11-2005 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES OCTOBER 1"1, 2005 2 . eouncilmember Larson asked if the City Hall generator was the same size as the two portables. Mr. Moore responded it was much larger. eounciImember Larson asked what was the cost of a portable generator which would be roughly equivalent to the generator they had now. Mr. Moore responded he did not have those figures, but he believed it would be in the neighborhood of $21 ,000 to $25,000. Councilmember Larson asked if there was any reason they should not purchase a third generator and not convert the City Hall generator. Mr. Moore responded staff would not be in opposition to that and their main goal was to have another generator in use for cmergency situations. He stated if they did get an additional generator, perhaps they would get a generator with a quiet switch so they could use tbat generator at the Arden Hills Celebration for the bands, as well as other City events as needed. eoullcilmember Holden asked what the life expectancy for the 200 Watt generator was. Mr. Moore responded the lifc expectancy was approximately 25 years. eoullcilmember Holden stated she would like to have a back up plan in place also and suggested they also work with other cities for thc use of their generators. She stated she did not want to . place staff in a situation such as they were in after the last scvere storm. Mr. Moore responded they had contacted other cities, but adaptors in the lift stations were unique to that particular lift station, so sharing of generators was not always practical. Ms. Wolfe stated staff had a discussion today with Ramsey County to inquire about a countywide effort about keeping a list of generators the cities have available in case they are needed for elnergencles. eouncilmember Grant stated adaptors had to be less expensive than an entire generator. He asked staff look into sharing generators with other cities before asking for funds from the general fund for a new generator. He also expressed concern about storage space for the generator. eouncilmember Holden stated she did not believe neighboring cities were a good option because many neighboring cities were hit during the recent storms and they were using their generators. She stated the City should look for more metro-wide generators. Ms. Wolfe noted even with a far reaching inventory of generators, Arden Hills had all of their lift stations down during the last storm and noted they might not have the ability to obtain additional generators if other cities needed the generators for their own emergencies. eouncilmember Grant noted in an emergency, City Hall would need to keep the gencrator it . currently had and he did not believe it was feasible to convert the generator. He stated a new generator was a better suggestion, but he wanted staff to research sharing of generators with other cities also.