Bountiful council approves power‑department purchases tied to I‑15 widening and reliability work

Bountiful City Council on Feb. 24 approved a series of purchases for the municipal power department that staff said are needed for system reliability and to accommodate the I‑15 widening project.

Alan Johnson, presenting for the power department, described the first item as two PME‑9 pad‑mounted switchgear “cans” used to isolate circuits and limit outage size. He told the council the items will be used on the I‑15 widening project and “will be reimbursed by UDOT” when the project work occurs.

Council approved the low bids or staff recommendations in separate motions for: PME‑9 pad‑mounted switchgear; 20 units of 25 KVA transformers (low bid $36,317); two transmission switches (single‑source Wesco/Hubble, total $58,944) to isolate 46 kV lines during Northwest Substation work; 39 treated poles from Stella‑Jones for $51,686; a dispatch‑center battery bank (low bid accepted from Reliable) to keep communications systems operating during outages; and two capacitor banks (Westco) for $39,586 to manage voltage and power factor. Johnson noted longer lead times on some items (transmission switches 40–55 weeks; capacitor banks 24–28 weeks) and told the council the city will place many items into inventory until they are needed.

Several councilmembers asked about reimbursement and delivery times. Johnson said agreements with UDOT typically reimburse materials and labor tied to the I‑15 work and that some items have become more available after multi‑year supply delays. Each procurement was approved by voice vote; no roll‑call tallies were recorded in the public minutes.