MINSTER – Minster Village Council heard a report from Micheal Kiser of Encompass Engineers and Architects, during its Tuesday meeting concerning bids for the new Northwest Substation. Kiser said the bids for major equipment for the substation will be between $1,587,000 and $1,622,000.
The engineering firm, which is overseeing the creation of a new electrical substation, said the list did not include the building to house the equipment.
The new substation is replacing the existing one north of the village which was determined last year to have reached the end of its useful life. Upon completion, he said, the output of the village-owned electrical department will double from 60 Mega Volt Amps (MVA) to 120.
Council also approved two expenditures requested by village administrator Don Harrod. The first was to Paulus Excavating $296,127 for their work on the state Route 66 industrial park. The second was to purchase of a $49,915 KVA 3-Phase Padmont transformer from the Solomon corporation. Harrod said the transformer purchase replaces the village’s backup, which was used for a recent transformer failure at the Nidec Foundry.
Council also approved the third and final reading of an ordinance levying a special assessment for the Ffith Street Improvement Project. Property owners affected will receive notice that they have 30 days to pay the assessment. Thereafter, the county auditor will set up a 10-year payment program for nonpayers.
Council also agreed to suspend the rules and pass in one reading an ordinance to sell their 2008 Terex Digger Truck to the village of Arcanum for $50,000. Harrod said that Ohio Revised Code allows municipalities to sell equipment either by sealed bid, auction, or sale to another municipality.
In other action, council approved receipts of $1,701,783 and invoices of $1,328,929.76.
In his report to council, Harrod said that the village set an all-time single hour high in production from the Solar Field in June, producing 3051 kW or 3.051 MW of electricity on June 6. He said this was almost 100 percent production from the facility.
He said work continues at the Route 66 Industrial Park. All of the water line has been installed and the asphalt has been put down. Baumer Construction have begun to frame up the pump house and the pump station itself has been delivered to the village. He said the next steps in the development of the park is to level off the area east of the Minster Distributors building so grass can be planted and install the pump station and force main to the waste water treatment plant.
Harrod said Delta Star will repair a broken weld and repaint the transformer at the Golf Course Substation. Since the equipment was still under warranty, he said there will be no cost to the village.
He said the village repaired four water line breaks that occurred over the past few weeks, on Ohio Street, Cleveland Street and First Street.
In other news, Harrod said NKTELCO is replacing fiber at the RoseBud and Parkview Subdivisions over the next several weeks. The village will be working in conjunction with them to install conduit to the homes in the older part of Parkview so that the village electrical department can pull new electrical lines to homes in the area. He said in the early sections of Parkview, electrical lines laid in the 80’s and early 90’s were direct buried. The village’s goal is to replace the wire and run the wire through conduit.
The village administrator also reported a power outage last week at Nidec Minster was due to failure of an underground wire that provides electricity to the Nidec Foundry.
Finally, he said crews have installed the storm line that will serve Chad Berning’s home on South Cleveland Street and swings purchased for the Four Seasons Park will arrive this week. Crews from David Williams and Associates will be installing them in the near future.
Council then went into executive session to discuss land purchases. No action was taken.
