03-23-1976 HUCM14101
Special Meeting
March 27, 1976
All Commissioners were present; also Don. Swanson of Associated
Consultants, and Ivan Larson.
President Qua?e called the m-eting to order at 10 a.m.
Discussion too'- place on the non - acceptance of Dale Frank as
Manager of the Hutchinson Utilities. Don Swanson was instructed
to explore, through various are yes, for a new manager.
Don Swanson presented a study on rate comparisons for the Gas
and Electric divisions. Detailed discussion took place on every
aspect of the situation.
On a motion by Commiss_oner Filk, seconded by Com- lissioner Tracy,
and carried, instructions were given to Associated Consultants
to proceed to prepare a new rate schedule using a 6`i increase,
except a 10% increase for Large Gas Industrial.
The motion was made by Commissioner Tracy, seconded by Commissioner
Filk, and carried, instructing Associated Consultants to prepare
specifications for the construction of a Roadway, Dice, and Other
Site Work for the Municipal Electric Utility, bids to be opened
at 2:00 p.m. on April ?0, 1976.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 12:15 p.m.
:)n—Tracy, Secretary
ATTEST
H. P. Quade, President
Special Meeting
March 30, 1976
All Commissioners were present; also Orville Kuiken and
Ivan Larson of the Utilities, Dale Birkeland and Brian
Buchmayer of the Hutchinson Public School System.
President Quade called the meeting tr order at 10:70 a.m.
The meeting was called to discuss interest in purchasing the
garage and was
by the School System, which is renting
the property at present.
On a motion by Commissioner Filk, seconded by Commissioner
Tracy, and carried, the Garage and Warehouse were offered
to the Hutchinson Public School System for $140,000.00,
this being $10,000.00 below the quoted price because of the
offering being made to an inter - governmental agency.
The meeting adjourned at 11:40 a.m.
C'finton Tracy, ecretary
ATTEST
H. P. Quade, President
I
I
L�
Council gets verbal reply
to letter to commission
When some members of
Hutchinson City Council
attended a Monday meeting of
Hutchinson Utilities
Commission to discuss dike
work, they received a verbal
answer to a letter.
The council members were
told there had been five
WK
continued from page 1
outage.
Investigations, into the fire
and its cause began Jan. 10 and
continued for days after, said
Rufus Alexander, Utilities
general manager, with local
personnel aided by outside
firms.
Engineers from three firms
on the scene soon after the fire,
he said, were from Associated
Consultants of Minneapolis, the
commission's consulting
engineer firm .which specializes
in utility work; from Harold
Scholz Company d, Omaha,
Neb., and from United Power
Association (UPA) of Elk
River..
The telephone consultations
were with General Electric,
manufacturer of the equipment
destroyed. "They have no
answers as to why the breakers
wouldn't open or why an
insulator would give way," said
Alexander.
After three Utilities
employees were injured Friday,
Feb. 2, an inspector from
Occupational Safety and Health'
Act (OSHA) stationed at
Montevideo investigated that
incident and utilities
equipment, said Alexander.
And there has been an
investigation by the State of
Minnesota, Department of
Education, Vocational -
Technical Division, he said.
Commission members
pointed out to the city officials
that General Electric had made
a routine Inspection of all
equipment in both switch gear
buildings seven months prior to
the fire and reported it in
satisfactory workinic condition.
investigations, as well as
telephone consultations,
following the Jan. 10 fire in the
commission's switch gear
building south of the downtown
power plant.
The council, during a special
meeting Monday morning, Jan.
29, had approved sending a
letter . to the commission
suggesting that an outside
engineering firm be retained to
investigate the problems in the
switch gear building that
caused the January power
See LETTER Page 2A
"All the malfunctions have
Alexander told The Leader
been mechanical," said
that in the various meetings of
Alexander, "none of it has been
local and outside engineers, a
because of human error."
determination of what type of
During the meeting,
replacement' equipment was
commission members said the
rgached and a design
last time Hutchinson had a total
formulated for installation.
blackout was in 1957 or 1958
Equipment which was being
when an insulator went out and
manufactured for a municipal
the power was off for four
plant at Blair, Neb., was
hours,
released by Blair officials for
And the commission had
installation in Hutchinson by
compiled a list of other outage
the Scholz firm of Omaha.
occurrences in parts of
Alexander received word
Hutchinson. In 1972 there was
Tuesday that the first of the
an hour outage, 1973 a 45- minute
equipment is to arrive in
outage, 1976 a 48- minute outage,
Hutchinson Feb. 27. That will be
1977 a twb -hour, one - minute
the cubicles to go into the fire.
outage and in 1978 a two-hour,
damaged switch gear building,
23- minute outage.
which Is now being repaired.
Alexander explained to The
Breakers, or large switches,
Hutchinson Leader that an
which fit into the cubicles are to
outage, in utility terms, is an
arrive in Hutchinson no later
uncontrollable loss of power,
than March 1.
such as the loss of a line or a
"We'll be about a week doing
feeder in all or part of a
the wiring and getting ready
community.
and now we're looking to a
There are planned outages, he
March 4 hook -up, and the
said, which occur when
chances are very good that we
equipment is shut down for
can make the changeover
maintenance work and affected
without a blackout. The decision
recipients are notified _. in
on that will be made in the
advance.
coming week."
"The reliability of utility
Alexander added that rumors
service in Hutchinson remains
circulating in the community
high,!' said Alexander,
that the equipment here is not
The coca's latter to the ,'.
adequate to serve the
dated Feb, 12,
co mmunity and is beincommission,
commission, also
said, "There have been
overworked are not true.
questions from industry
He said that with the fite-
concerning reliability of
damaged equipment having
electrical power service and
temporary replacements and
the Curtiss- Wright turbine
indications of apprehension
'among homeowners about rate
down, the stag unit and three
increases to cover damages."
diesels in the downtown plant
Alexander said if there were
are producing enough power for
to =_ be any rate increase for '
the community. "And we've a
electricity in Hutchinson it
fourth diesel on standby, ready
would not be caused by the fire
to start. We're buying some
damages because of insurance
power (from UPA), but mainly
coverage the commission has,
at a time it is cheaper than we
The last rate increase was in
can produce It.
June 1976, he said.
9.0;
"When everything is working,
we have a generating capacity
of 00.7 megawatts, designed to
serve the community and its
growth for the next 10 years. At
our most recent peak hour, the
demand was 28 megawatts so
we're not up to half the
generating capacity we have,"
said Alexander.
The council's letter also
expressed the city's
"appreciation to the many
concerned people who made
great efforts during the recent
power outages to extinguish the
fire and restore electrical
service under conditions of
extreme cold."
The dike work the council and
commission members
discussed Monday is being
considered between the
downtown plant and the South
Fork of the Crow River "to give
more stability to our operation
there," said Alexander.
(612) 879 -2311
CITY OF HUTCHINSON
37 WASHINGTON AVENUE WEST
HUTCHINSON, MINN. 55350
February 12, 1979
Hutchinson Utilities Commission
225 Michigan Street
Hutchinson, Minnesota 55350
Dear Commissioners:
We wish to express again the City's appreciation to the many concerned people
who made great efforts during the recent power outages to extinguish the fire
and restore electrical service under conditions of extreme cold.
Many accounts or rumors have been circulating regarding the cause of the crisis,
its handling, and the extent of damage to facilities.
There have been questions from industry concerning reliability of electrical
power service and indications of apprehension among home - owners about rate in-
creases to cover damages.
We feel that public confidence and, conceivably, optimum economic health for our
community may be best served through an investigation of the recent problems, con-
ducted by qualified outside personnel. The investigation would rightly cover the
design of the system, maintenance of'equipment, contingency planning, and per-
formance during crisis, as these pertain to the recent events and potential fu-
ture problems.
This is an unusual step, but it is in response to serious and unusual events.
Therefore, we recommend that the Hutchinson Utility Commission initiate such an
investigation while events are fresh.
Respectfully,
CITY OF HUTCHINSON
Pyor DBla ck
DJB:ms