VIENNA — A nearly three-hour Ameren Electric electrical power outage in Vienna and some other local areas resulted in Maries County needing to repair or replace its generator and also played a role in disrupting at the courthouse the 911 Dispatch Center, phone and internet connection for two days. 

The Maries County Commission on May 10 met in a darkened room as all of Vienna with Ameren were without power from about 8 to 11 a.m. At that meeting, Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman reported the courthouse generator did not come on as it was supposed to. The generator powers the 911 Center, the sheriff’s office, and the Vienna License Office. Communication devices in the courthouse also were impacted as the landline phones and computers were not working; even cell phones weren’t working well.

Courthouse custodian Dave Juergens reported he was told by a Norton Generator representative the generator can’t be fixed. Stratman asked if they might be able to keep the generator and replace the control panel, which is the problem. Clerk’s Deputy Renee Kottwitz said they were told they can’t get parts for it.

Military Surplus generator

The Maries County Sheriff’s Office was working on the generator problem as well on Monday morning. The county’s 911 Dispatch Center was down and the jail was dark. Sheriff’s Detective Dale Harp spoke to the commissioners about a military surplus 50 KV generator owned by the sheriff’s office. Harp said it’s on a trailer and can be moved to the courthouse. Major Scott John talked to Kottwitz who relayed John said that generator will run it. The generator is an electrical power back-up for the county’s 911 Dispatch, the sheriff’s office, and license office when the electricity is off. No other county offices are hooked to it and they remain dark when the electricity is out. 

Harp said the generator is powered by diesel fuel with its on self contained tank. Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel suggested they bring that generator and let the electrician look at it. Harp was unsure of the generator’s phase, but said it will run whatever they need it to run. Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said he’s not much on diesel fuel operated generators because it can run out of diesel fuel versus the propane powered generator that broke down. Fagre said the military stuff “is all different.” Stratman said they have to be careful that it doesn’t spike the electricity and mess up a bunch of computers. He added the county pays money to have the generator inspected and “it didn’t work this time.” Kottwitz said John had put in a call to SEMA for an emergency request for a generator. She said SEMA was sending a 100 KV generator and it was on its way. 

Retrofit

Fagre said he thinks there is probably a company that makes the control panels for the Elliott Power System generators. Stratman said at least a retrofit. 

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said the county purchased the Elliott Power generator in 2001 for $14,100. Fagre said he thinks USDA gave the county a $6,000 grant to help pay for it. It’s not been used much, the commissioners said. Doyle Electric installed it. 

As the power outage continued, school at Maries R-1 in Vienna was dismissed early, at 11:30 a.m.

Stratman later reported the power came back on before the generator showed up. He asked that the sheriff’s office military surplus generator be hooked up in case of another electrical outage before the commissioners can get a new generator or retrofit the old one. The in-route SEMA generator was called off, and they turned around and went back to their location.

The whole courthouse

At Thursday’s county commission meeting, Fagre said he heard the outage originated at a site along Highway AA. 

Stratman said he wants information about fixing the current generator. The sheriff’s office generator is diesel fuel operated and he prefers a propane generator so they won’t have trouble keeping it filled with diesel fuel.

Fagre said while they are doing all of this, he’d like to see how expensive it would be to have a generator wired to run the entire courthouse when the electricity is out. Stratman said he was told it would cost an estimated $90,000 to hook up the whole courthouse with a new generator. He’s not sure how many KV’s are needed to do this. 

Fagre said $90,000 sounds like a lot of money. He recalled there being continual problems with the leaky courthouse roof and constant patching work on the roof and still water came in. At that time Drewel suggested they consider a new roof. The commissioners decided to replace the courthouse roof at a cost of about $70,000. “It was some of the best money we every spent,” Fagre said as the leaking and patching ceased. He wants to see if the Covid money the county is getting through the American Rescue Plan can be used for a new generator.

Kottwitz said it was a mess when the power was out. The license office staff could not do its work and help customers. Employees could not do any work if it involved the internet or the telephone.  

Rolled over to Miller County

Following the electrical outage, the courthouse phones were out for about two days. Major John said because of this the county’s 911 Dispatch Center’s calls were rolled over to Miller County for two days until the phone situation was figured out. The calls were  left with Miller County for another half day until they were certain the problem was fixed. He said to route Maries County’s 911 calls to Miller County requires AT&T to “flip a switch.” Then, when a Maries County call came in to Miller County, they would radio the Maries County Sheriff’s Office and Maries County dispatched it out. John said Maries County’s 911 Center gets from seven to 15 calls a day. 

He told the commissioners the power outage was “a perfect storm” as the backup generator didn’t work so they were in the dark. The jail was dark like a cave and they had to keep checking on the inmates. 

An expensive problem 

Stratman said the old generator has some value. “Now, it’s a piece of junk.” Drewel said all it needs is a motherboard. If it didn’t need to have the computer parts to automatically tell it to turn on when the power was out, there would be nothing wrong with that generator. The engine and other parts are fine. He said a propane motor will run for many years. We have “an expensive problem,” he said. 

Stratman said on Monday they were without electricity from 8  to 11 a.m. He asked how many times that happens and how necessary it is to bring generator back-up electrical availability to the entire courthouse. Drewel said as time goes on with the addition of more machines and technology, there will be more and more electrical power usage at the courthouse. 

Do some research

Bo Walters, the technician from Norton Power System, who inspects the courthouse generator, called and was put on speaker phone at the commission meeting. He said the generator was manufactured by Elliott Power System and they can’t get parts for it. He said several years ago the starter kept burning up and he fixed it. Then it got worse and he could not get readings from it. It would not start when it was supposed to and he would manually be able to restart it. That worked in 2019 and 2020, but now in 2021, it won’t start at all. He told the commissioners he can’t get a display to see and know what is going on with the generator. 

Stratman said if the “computer stuff is fried” can’t they retrofit it? Walters said he’s not sure as the parts may be obsolete. He said he will reach out to the manufacturer and see if they can help.

Stratman asked him for a cost on replacing it. Even if the county ends up buying a new one, they will have a 1,500 lb. pile of junk. He wondered if there is a resale value. Walters said he needs to do some research. 

Advertise to bid

Stratman wrote up an invitation to bid on replacement/upgrade of the generator at the courthouse. Bids are scheduled to be opened May 27, 2021.