Money needed to bring city’s fuel systems up to snuff
The locations with generators in need of repair include city hall, the Consolidated Operations Depot, Fire Hall 1, Legends Centre, McMillan Parkade, and the Mary Street Parkade. Along with that, the report noted that more than 80 Region of Durham facilities faced similar non-compliant orders.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
A number of back-up power systems at city facilities have fallen out of compliance with legislated rules, and it’s going to cost approximately $555,000 to bring them up to speed.
The details of the project are listed in a recently released staff report to council that is seeking the expense be approved as a time-sensitive item in next year’s budget.
The urgent need was triggered by a Region of Durham decision to change their fuel supplier, which Oshawa also draws from. Due to that change, new inspections of the facilities were required, and according to the report, a TSSA certified contractor who completed the inspections stated six generators were out of compliance with recent changes to standards.
These standards made things more environmentally stringent when it came to the filling and containment of fuel. With that said, the inspector noted that there were no immediate hazards due to the non-compliant issues.
The locations with generators in need of repair include city hall, the Consolidated Operations Depot, Fire Hall 1, Legends Centre, McMillan Parkade, and the Mary Street Parkade. Along with that, the report noted that more than 80 Region of Durham facilities faced similar non-compliant orders.
Mark Robinson, the city’s director of facilities management, notes that the issues deal with the fuel tanks that supply the generators, and the non-compliant issues are different with each facility.
“It’s any number of things,” he says, noting that some fuel tanks may not have a long enough filling spout, may not be the proper diameter, or the tank may not be double-walled. Robinson says the generators range in age from some being installed as early as 1991 to as late as 2008.
“Each has a different degree of work required to bring it into compliance,” he says. “It’ll range from minor repairs to potentially full tank replacement. We still need to do the balance of the evaluation work.”
Initially, the non-compliant orders came with a 30-day deadline. However, along with the Region of Durham, the city was able to get an extension until April 2020 in order to bring things up to snuff, as long as the generators continue to be inspected and tested.
For that reason, Robinson says following the project’s approval, the city will be moving ahead to determine the detailed scope of the repairs required with the aid of a consultant.
“Once we get this project approved we bring the consultant on board, he finishes his review and says here’s your options, do this or replace it, whatever is the cheapest, we go with,” he says.