The Village of Northport discussed power outage and business continuation solutions at its regular meeting on April 10. Jim Dyer, who has been serving as the village manager until Jerred Ottenwess assumes duties, explained that the village recently had two power outages in a row. During the first outage, Dyer said temperatures were cold enough that it resulted in the loss of use of computers and the furnace for a couple days. Due to this event, Dyer said he decided to close down the building for the day as it was too cold to work in and they didn’t have any computers to work on anyway. Shortly after that outage, he said they had another one almost of the same duration.
The idea of having a natural gas powered generator to operate the entire village building, including the computers, came to mind following both power outages. Dyer said he then inquired about generator prices and received a first cost estimate, $15,532 from 45th Property & Power. While he acknowledged the high price and how other bids could be sought, he said it helps give the village an idea of what such a solution would cost.
“And from everything that I’ve heard, particularly from Joni and other staff members, we’ve never had anything like that happen, those kinds of outages,” Dyer said at the meeting. “Then that was followed by the ice storm to our east where there are still people for the last two weeks who have not had power, so I thought it’d be a good idea to at least start to think about what your solution is.”
Council trustees agreed it would be a good idea to look into more bids and to get the process of ensuring they have power outage solutions in place for possible future emergencies.
“I think it would be well worth it... I think if we can find a cheaper alternative, that generator is the only way to go,” trustee Hugh Cook said.
“I think we absolutely need it because these villages east of us that had this ice storm — if you had a catastrophe like that, which is more likely as things change in the climate, you want to be able to function as a municipality,” trustee Susan Ager said.
At a minimum, Dyer said they’ll look for other alternatives and recommend to Ottenwess that he present them to the council at a future meeting.
“I’m hoping we’re beyond the ice storm and unexpected power outages,” he said. “But it is something that I think you need to consider.”
In other business, the board: - Appointed Laura Cavendish as the village council staff liaison for infrastructure - Appointed Hugh Cook as the village council staff liaison for parks and marina - Approved three year appointments to Bob Newell and Mike McMillan to the village planning commission
