Abbevile Council declares state of emergency to help speed up purchase of electrical equipment

The Abbeville City Council voted Wednesday morning to declare a state of emergency in regard to a recent electrical equipment outage.
The vote came during a special meeting. Councilman Brady Broussard Jr., District C, made the motion for the vote, one seconded by Councilman Francis Touchet, District B. The council’s move coincides with the state of emergency declared by Gov. Bobby Jindal.
“The state of emergency allows you to purchase equipment and hire contractors to come in and do the work as expeditiously as possible,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said. “We are in a situation where we just can’t wait to get quotes and bids for the work.”
Wednesday’s move comes largely in response to an incident that occurred on Feb. 2. Part of Abbeville experienced power outages because of failure to a 34,000 volt switch/breaker on one of the two transformers at the “Pete” Noel Electrical Substation. That station serves as the main electrical source for the city.
“We have been informed that breaker could have been a victim of the freezing and defrosting,” said City Attorney Ike Funderburk, as he told the council the effect of recent weather could have had on the damage to the breaker. “It has to be replaced and our electrical consultant recommends that we acquire another one as back-up in the event that we have another emergency like this.”
The city previously ordered a breaker in November at a cost of $29,900. Wednesday’s vote allows the city to purchase an additional breaker at the same cost without being subject to open-bid laws.
“Fortunately state law allows us to do this,” Funderburk said explained to the council. “It is the recommendation of your electrical consultant, and me, that we take advantage of the provisions of state law that allow us to declare an emergency so that we can acquire the equipment that we need in order to protect our citizens and their property.”
Each of the two transformers at the “Pete” Noel Substation works with two breakers. Three of those breakers are currently operational.
Piazza informed the council Wednesday of a looming issue at the Noel Substation that possibly comes as a result of the damaged breaker.
“It looks like we are facing a bigger problem down the road,” Piazza said. “I was informed (Tuesday) by Harvey Dubois, our electrical control specialist, and Stewart Head, our electrical superintendent, that one of the transformers had a malfunction that could have been caused by damage to the breaker.
“The breaker caused a bigger problem to the transformer.”
Piazza said the transformer is being tested.
“We are right now operating on one transformer,” Piazza said of the substation. “It looks like we will be faced with having to purchase another transformer.”
All options to do so will be explored. Piazza said depending on what type is purchased, the cost could be anywhere between more than $750,000 and more than $1 million.
“If we purchased something not that old, maybe in the 10-year range,” Piazza explained, “we are probably looking at $750,000. If we purchase something new, it will exceed $1 million. You also have fees, like engineering, transportation and installation that will be there no matter what you buy.”
Touchet expressed that situations like this are why he would urge the council to save when at all possible.
“We need to take this situation and learn from it,” Touchet said. “We need to make sure we have some type of (reserve) fund for things like this. The money the transformer is going to cost just doesn’t fall out of the sky. We need to take care of the monies we have, so when something like this happens, we don’t have to take it from something else. I think this is very much a learning experience for us.
“We should always be cautious because every dollar counts.”
Touchet said he does not dispute the need to move on a new transformer in the coming months.
“This is very important,” Touchet said. “I know the mayor and consultants will make the right decisions on what we have to do,”
The city will move on obtaining a replacement transformer as soon as possible. Piazza said electrical companies have been contacted. The operating transformer is capable of handling the load at the Noel Substation for the time being.
“We are OK in the immediate future,” Piazza said. “We need to get something in here before the summer months hit, when we start peaking in June and July. Then that transformer will be maxed out. That’s the haste. We need to have something in place before the summer hits and new transformers are not readily available. We are calling every Co-op, Entergy, Cleco, and surplus companies trying to get every possible option out there for something to rent, lease or purchase. We are looking for something in the short term and something in the long term.
“We are looking at those options and a proposal will be brought to the council in the near future.”