- Kim Oatman, chief Facilities Management officer, discusses the damage to the sprinkler system in the Biology Building. Photo by Lexy Gross // The News
Murray State’s main campus will open Thursday morning after two days of power outages, generator malfunctions and damage to campus buildings as a result of extremely cold temperatures Monday.
The Tennessee Value Authority ordered Murray State to shut off the power on campus Monday afternoon as part of an interruptible service contract with the University. Power was back on amid temperatures in the single digits, at around 9 p.m. Monday night.
Kim Oatman, chief Facilities Management officer, said a generator used to power the residential colleges, the Wellness Center and Winslow Dining Hall was immediately fired – but it malfunctioned.
“The generator fired but didn’t transfer the load,” Oatman said. “It won’t transfer the load if there’s a problem on the circuit. We checked equipment, reset everything and got the generator going for three hours. Then it threw a belt.”
At that point, the generator shut off entirely and Facilities Management contacted an outside contractor to work on the generator. The residential colleges, dining hall and Wellness Center have electricity, heat and water now.
Facilities Management reported damage in at least 40 percent of the major buildings on campus Tuesday afternoon. Some of the damage occurred in the residential colleges – including flooding on the sixth floor of Regents Residential College.
Oatman said most of the damage was due to pipes freezing, primarily in the older buildings on campus. He said Facilities Management will take care of the piping issues, but a contractor will have to come in for damage caused to sprinkler systems.
Oatman said the interruptible service agreement has been in effect since 2010 and it is a five-year contract. He said the University received a credit from TVA of approximately $300,000 – $400,000. He said at the time, it seemed unlikely TVA would ever call and if they did, it would be during the summer when electrical use is in high demand.
With the savings, Oatman said the University purchased the generator in case of a power outage or severe weather. He isn’t sure of the cost damages will have on the University so far.
“We looked at the credit from the standpoint that when there’s high peak demand, someone has to turn power off,” Oatman said. “So in a way,we’re doing a service by agreeing to this. We don’t have hospital beds here. We don’t have homes.”
Move-in for students is on schedule Sunday and classes will begin Monday.
Story by Lexy Gross, Editor-in-Chief. Follow her on Twitter @lexygross.