Portable generators for wastewater lift stations

1:59:10Lot of love. Lot of love. Um the next one uh that we'd like to discuss uh is our emergency portable generators for wastewater, storm recovery and resilience. Again, coming off of the storms, what occurred in our county?

1:59:24Hi everyone, Jeff Brockman. I'm the Director of Utilities Operations and Maintenance. Uh a little history is uh we have eight hundred and forty-five LIF stations throughout the county. During Hurricane Helene, we had two hundred and eighty of those lift stations that were affected. And we had to bring back online. During Hurricane Milton we had four hundred and forty. the difference between the the two hurricanes. Hurricane Helene was mostly our west Communities. Hurricane Milton, it was countywide. We have ten or excuse me, thirteen generators

1:59:54that we currently own. Uh and we're seeking an addition uh funding for additional twenty five.

2:00:05Uh make sure that we uh Get the county back online. Uh we we took those thirteen generators that we owned and we also received ten from the state. Uh but we had to shuffle those resources throughout the county. Uh so as we brought lift stations down, we had to take that portable generator, move it to another lift station, do the same thing, and that was uh twenty-four-seven effort for for quite a period of time. Uh and receiving these additional generators would be um helping the operation moving forward.

2:00:36I experienced that problem in two neighborhoods in Gulf Harbor and um Aristida where the gener the lift stations went down and everything came up in the street. Um it was just gushing out of the street.

2:00:53And you were there in front of Commissioner O or John Gallagher's house. It was coming up and out and it and actually the generator in fr in front of the Gulf Harbor Civic Association building right across the street. The lift station went out and they just had remodeled the community building and everything came up through the toilets and the showers and ruined the brand new building. So um but And and you had to take the generators away from the pumps that were draining

2:01:24the lake out there and then the water got into the houses. But um but they were needed in other places. So we this is this is a real big hurricane storm prevention

2:01:36Absolutely. And to add to that, ma'am, uh, you know that these are resources that we can share with other departments. Yeah. Um and these are also resources that our other municipalities reach out for assistance that we can provide assistance to them as well.

2:01:50You guys just running around Bringing those to the different lift stations just to get some capacity. It was a lot of work.

2:01:58Madam Clerk. And you know, this is such a environmentally sensitive thing as well. Yes. When that wastewater topples over I can't tell you the calls I've got from everybody across by over and over again. Yeah. Uh at their best they can't keep up with what's here. Representative Burkfield's house had the same problem

2:02:15in banales, uh it all came up Yeah. Yeah.

2:02:18No, we we I tried to

2:02:19do a short term fix with I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, I just don't I don't know I know personally she had the same problem with the lift station going out and the sewage coming up in Uh Silver

2:02:32Seth for us. This is a

2:02:34model. Insult on injury. Every well

2:02:37every city and every state organization does want to be other than this. Everyone has. So we haven't generated a pop issue, I guess. Uh that's a good idea.