By DAVE SCHULTZ
It appears likely that an Indianapolis-area firm will do the engineering work on the city’s next electrical substation.
The company, Alpha Engineering, comes with the recommendation of the city’s operations manager, Jon Oman. He introduced the company’s president, Ben Huckaba, who in turn introduced his colleagues at Tuesday’s meeting of the Bluffton Board of Public Works and Safety.
The Alpha employees had spent time earlier Tuesday reviewing portions of the city’s electrical infrastructure before attending the Board of Works meeting with Oman.
Board of Works members Scott Mentzer and Roger Thornton — Mayor John Whicker was not present — asked questions of Huckaba about his company’s abilities.
One of the key questions Thornton had was the idea of a timeline. Huckaba said that transformers — the key component of a substation — take two years right now for delivery, so when the substation is designed and engineered, the clock will pretty much start after the decision on the transformer is made.
The city wants a new substation on the west side of town to service new industry in and around the Decker Industrial Park and provide additional electrical service for housing.
Both Mentzer and Thornton said they were comfortable using Alpha going forward on the substation. A final decision will follow a formal presentation by Alpha.
In other business Tuesday, the board:
• Tabled discussion of a request for liquidated damages pertaining to the construction of the new water filtration plant. Mentzer said Crosby Construction and Midwestern Engineers, the companies that constructed and designed the facility, are still in negotiations.
• Asked Building Commissioner Richard Triplett to consult with City Attorney Tony Crowell to see if the city could pay Republic Services to remove junk furniture at 1021 S. Oak St. and then seek reimbursement from the property owner.
• Tabled any discussion of revised city standards until enough copies were available for a full review.
daves@news-banner.com
