PELL CITY – Pell City Council called a special session Thursday to approve repairs to a damaged transformer at the Pell City Sports Complex.
During a brief session Thursday, the city council approved repairs of no more than $110,000 for a transformer that powers the city’s softball complex.
City Manager Brian Muenger said the repairs were necessary after the transformer appeared to have recently been struck by lightning. He said the problems became apparent when staff turned on the lights this week.
“Our employees turned on the lights and other accessories down there over the weekend and basically couldn’t get power,” the manager said.
Muenger said they checked the transformer and found it had visible signs of damage, including insulation in the unit that appeared to be scattered inside.
“At one point we suffered a direct lightning strike,” he said.
Muenger said the number approved by the council was a worst-case scenario to cover potential repair costs because the city was unable to assess whether the damage extended to other parts of the underground system. He said the number also includes getting the system on the code as the power converter is originally for the complex.
Muenger said the city also filed an insurance claim to hopefully recover some of the repair costs.
Muenger said the emergency meeting called at 4:00 p.m. and called at 2:45 p.m. was held because the damage to the transformer posed a health and safety concern.
“Right now we’ve shut that down for good, but we can’t safely operate any part of it,” he said. “Right now it’s either surgery [the softball complex] with no sanitation, which in and of itself is obviously an emergency, or you operate it partially, but even if you could get it to work I would not consider it safe to operate.”
Taylor Mitchell is a Daily Home reporter covering Pell City.
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