Wakefield to have transformer installed

By CHARITY SMITH

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Wakefield — After going unnoticed for nearly 20 years, a transformer will soon be installed in pump No. 2, one of the city’s three variable-frequency drives, at the main lift station in the City of Wakefield.

City officials were made aware the transformer was not installed in the pump during work to upgrade the main lift station this summer, said Mayor Dale White at Monday’s city council meeting. He said the transformer was supposed to have been installed during the original construction of the lift station decades ago.

“Pump 2 is notorious for failing multiple times,” said White. “I think that has been a lot of our problem over the last few years, is we had a pump that was not functioning the way it was supposed to.”

City manager Robert Brown agreed, saying that this is a “troublesome” pump. If there’s an alert at 2 a.m., it’s guaranteed it’s pump 2, he said.

“The good news is that the new system that we put in with the computer system will override it and normally self correct it,” Brown said. “The problem is because it is the main lift station, if it’s raining, you don’t take a chance and a guy has to go out. So it’s two hours of overtime for them to go out and look. I would say nine times out of 10, when we get there, the pump’s self corrected and it’s fine.”

The city council unanimously approved having Xylem install the transformer, for a cost not to exceed $5,799.

The city also heard from Joe Simonich, the new executive manager of Beacon Ambulance. He said the reason they took the ambulance station out of the city is because there are no longer any Beacon Ambulance employees living in the city. He said that it worked out well when they had two to three employees living in the city. Dispatch times were a lot quicker, he said.

“That’s the reason the ambulance came out of Wakefield. Not because we didn’t want to serve you or there weren’t enough calls,” said Simonich.

Simonich said that ambulance services across the country are in a staffing crisis. He said that it is the worst staffing crisis he has seen and he has done ambulance services for 50 years. He said he started when he was 16.

He said he spoke with Brown a few months ago and would like to develop a first-responder program that could utilize a Beacon ambulance.

“This would at least get help to somebody out here a lot quicker,” Simonich said. “Whatever ill will there may have been or whatever bad juju there might be, I think it behooves us all to put that in the past. The only way we are going to make this work is to work together, and I am committed to doing that.”

The council heard the planning commission will hold it’s regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. today.