The City of Morden has installed a Generator at the Access Event Centre for emergency power outage situations.
When Tabor Home constructed their new facility in 2018-2019, they included a new generator. The one they had was available for purchase and was essentially new as it had only operated for three hours as emergency support and monthly testing. The generator is inside a building and is not exposed to weather conditions. These conditions provided an opportunity for the city to address the lack of a generator at the Access Event Centre, used as the regional emergency centre.
Fire Chief Andy Thiessen explained, “this project has been in the works for over eight years. Some good things are worth the wait. I'm glad to see that the generator can be used as a benefit as a shelter for people displaced from their homes in emergencies."
Police Chief Brad Neduzak commented, “it's a relief to have this generator in place. During emergencies, it is helpful to have an alternate location for our team to work from.”
The Access Event Centre is the designated emergency evacuation site for the city, local health care, and schools. It is also the primary reception center for the Southern Emergency Response Committee, which includes the RM of Stanley, Winkler, and Morden.
The generator will allow for power services during outages and extreme weather. Although the facility has the required space, parking, kitchen facilities, shower facilities and meeting room space if there was a power outage in either the community or region, it could have also been out at the Access Event Centre. The generator will ensure the facility is available to meet these emergency needs.
“The project supports the Southern Emergency Response plan and priorities to provide local emergency services. This was a great opportunity for the city to secure our safety now and into the future,” explained Mayor Burley.
“Although we had hoped to have things in place in the spring, there were some challenges with delivery times on the electrical and transfer switches, but it feels great to have this project completed,” shared Clare Agnew. “It’s one of those projects that are necessary, but you hope you never need it.”
“We worked with local trades in moving the equipment on-site, securing it in place and connecting it to the facility. It was a big task, and the trades were great to work with,” said Tim Harsant, Facility Manager. Local trades used in this project were Bob Gionet Construction, Bernie’s Backhoe Service, Cross-Stream Carriers and True North Electric. As part of the installation, the unit was tested on November 22. They completed a maintenance/load test simultaneously, which included putting the generator under some load to ensure everything was in working condition. Everything tested positive, and it was ready to go,” explained Tim.
“We are very thankful to local sponsors Morden Thrift Store ($50,000), Access Credit Union ($5000) and Enbridge Inc ($7500) along with the provincial Manitoba Building Sustainable Communities grant ($60,000) that assisted in making this project happen,” shared Clare Agnew.
Generator installed outside the Access Event Centre
