The Ottawa Historic Preservation Commission is all for some electrical upgrades, but it’s worried about looks. A new generator to power the downtown courthouse and new power company equipment for all of downtown could be installed next year. LaSalle County and Ameren Illinois are asking for City Hall’s approval to have the equipment above ground next to the building.
Circuit Clerk Greg Vaccaro says power outages are hard on the computers used in his office and the courts. Battery backup doesn’t last long enough to shut everything down properly. Sudden shutdowns and restarts when the equipment’s not ready turn devices into junk. And the courts, which don’t use pen and paper nearly as much as they used to, are shut down too in the meantime. Documents can’t be filed electronically. Court clerks can’t access case information. Hearings conducted online are impossible.
Taking cues from Ameren, county officials want the generator above ground for safety and convenience. Dan Klein with Ameren says antique switches and transformers from the 1940’s are hidden in a vault under a courthouse sidewalk. The equipment is deteriorating. When there’s an outage that can be resolved there, Ameren has to get access through the courthouse. He says it’s not quick and easy when it happens in the middle of the night.
Above ground or not, Ameren’s aging equipment was installed in an era of lower safety standards. Bare wires and unprotected switches weren’t unusual then. Klein says linemen at other companies now have never seen such things still in use and can’t believe the pictures he shows them.
Commission members asked about putting the generator on the courthouse roof. Kurt Rimmele with BCA Architects says the building can’t support the weight of a generator big enough for the job. Vaccaro says it must power all of the courthouse’s operations. Separating the Circuit Clerk’s Office and the courtrooms electrically from everything else would require extensive rewiring. They share too many branch circuits with the land use, animal control, regional school superintendent’s, and other offices.
Putting things above ground could take parking spots and some of the courthouse lawn. Historic Preservation Commission members are asking for plans to protect appearances. They suggest a historic looking fence to conceal the generator and switch boxes. The commission tabled the request for approval today and plans to talk about it again next month.