PLYMOUTH — The Marshall County Council gave its support to an upgrade for the generator for the Marshall County Health Department as they work on their move to their new home on Illinois Street in Plymouth — the old Bowen Health building.
President of the County Commissioners Stan Klotz came before the Council with the request from Marshall County Health Officer Byron Holm to upgrade the emergency generator for the facility as they move in.
Klotz said the new generator requested would be able to handle all of the building’s electrical needs during a power outage. The department keeps vaccines and other medical supplies that must be refrigerated.
The current generator would be insufficient to supply all the needs of the building in the case of an outage. The company that will occupy the current space where the Department is located has said they will purchase the old generator if it is offered, also saving the significant cost of moving it and installing it.
The new generator will come at a total cost of $49,000, and through the county maintenance department and other sources, around $16,000 has already been found to cover the cost. Holm said he will commit Health First Indiana funds to the purchase from the department’s budget, but the project would need to be done immediately.
Holm also told Klotz that even if the upgrade was not completed at this time, he planned on adding it to his budget for the coming year. Klotz said that doing the project now would avoid the cost of $6000 to $7000 to move the current generator, only to remove it in a year’s time, along with gaining the sale price.
Since the department will be using its funds, the Council did not actually commit any dollars out of the general fund, but gave its support for the Department to expend its funds for the project.
