POWER MOVES
The City Council approved a new $2-million steam turbine generator and the extension of an air quality monitoring contract for the Grayson Power Plant and nearly $600,000 for three new power transformers.
Grayson turbine-generator Unit No. 2 was last serviced in 1995 and has since accumulated 93,000 operating hours. The recommended interval for a major overhaul is 50,000 hours.
Maintenance on the unit was deferred pending the outcome of a statewide deregulation study that may have affected the city-owned power plant.
The new power transformers will replace those at the Howard Substation that are at the end of their life expectancy. They were first installed in 1937.
A three-year contract with a private firm to monitor emissions from the Grayson plant was extended for two years.
The $135,000 contract extension will bring the five-year total to nearly $350,000 for periodic testing that various government agencies require for air quality reporting.
WHAT IT MEANS
Since the city has committed to keep the power plant operable, Glendale Water & Power officials say upgrading to current gas turbines and revamping other operations is a key component to ensuring efficiency and reliability.
VOTE: 3-0
Councilman Bob Yousefian and Mayor Ara Najarian were absent.
POOL DEVELOPMENT
A pool at the Pacific Community Park complex took a step forward Tuesday when the City Council approved a $69,000 development study that will seek neighborhood input for the project’s scope and design.
The contract authorizes San Juan Capistrano-based RJM Design Group to begin the first phase of building the pool, which would be located where the current “tot lot” sits at the joint-use Edison Elementary School-Pacific Park complex.
As part of the study, consultants will begin evaluating the site for pre-construction conditions before engaging the neighborhood in several input meetings that will help shape the initial concept design of the pool.
The original pool at the park site was demolished six years ago to make way for the Edison-Pacific complex, and was the last existing city-owned public park.
WHAT IT MEANS
While the study represents the first step toward reviving the public pool, the project is still dependent on unsecured capital-improvement funds.
So far, the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department has secured $2.3 million in grants for the pool, but the project could run close to $9 million.
The City Council is midway through prioritizing more than 40 city projects, of which the pool is a part, that are eligible for about $30 million in capital-improvement funds.
VOTE: 3-0
PHOTO PROJECT
Library officials will work to finalize a community photo project, for which the City Council approved the $45,000 needed for program advertising, promotion and publishing costs.
Called the “Snapshot of Glendale” community photo project, an advisory group will evaluate amateur photographs taken throughout Glendale on Saturday, Nov. 3.
The deadline for submitting a photo will be Nov. 17.
Those photos will comprise a book, of which 2,000 copies will be published and sold to benefit the library’s Special Collections Room at the Central Library. The books will likely sell for $50 apiece and realize a total return for the city of about $55,000.
WHAT IT MEANS
Library officials will soon roll out their public outreach campaign to inform the public of the program details.
