By Mari Radtke
Dennis Hasselhoff spoke to the Primghar City Council on Wednesday December 8. Hasselhoff is an electric engineer with DGR Engineering. Hasselhoff explained to the council about having NIPCO replace the cityÕs transmission line. That transmission line connects to the NIPCO line south of town and runs 2.75 miles to the substation. The project includes replacing 49 poles. The project cost estimate at present is from $800,000 to $1 million.
The current transmission line was built in the late 1960s-early 70s. Normally those lines have a useful life of 40 years. An inspection of the Primghar electric service this summer indicated a number of deficiencies in the system and includes failing poles on the transmission line, loosened hardware and other risks to power transmission.
Hasselhoff noted to the council an annual inspection of simply walking the line could help avoid the enormous rebuilding task.
Some talk of relocating the line has come up, but that would require the council to repay and refile for a franchise for the line from Iowa Utilities Board. Hasselhoff explained the design part of replacing the transmission line would occur over the winter and maybe spring. The project, assuming materials are available is expected to begin and be completed during the fall of 2022. Doing the project and paying for crop damage is a lesser cost that fighting weather conditions during other times of the year.
The state of the ongoing feasibility study for a replacement generator was given. In the event of an outage, the city would need to generate at least some power to the city. The two generators that the city currently owns and house at the ÒLight PlantÓ do not work. No plan for generation in the event of interrupted transmission is in place. The study is still underway. The current discussion is to replace the 2 with one 2-megawatt generator and house it in a separate building near the sub station. It was recommended that any generator purchased should be newer than 2010 to limit the effect of emissions control regulations.
In other on-going utility work the sizing of the lift stations and water tower is underway.
Resolutions approving the tax abatement applications for Aaron and Megan Giese and PAC were both approved. The resolutions codify the Urban Revitalization incentive for new construction and property improvements throughout the City of Primghar. That incentive is currently the cityÕs portion of property tax on 100 percent of new value for 10 years. Council briefly addressed the incentive and decided to readdress the incentive each year.