The city of Coos Bay this week is expecting to install a new backup generator to run a portion of city hall during emergencies and blackouts.

The generator, a 35 kilowatt Kohler purchased for $12,500 from Ridgefield, Wash.,-based Pacific Detroit Diesel-Allison, will be able to maintain the police department's dispatch center, phone system, servers, computers and several emergency lights.

"It's not quite 21/2 times more than what we've got," said Steve Doty, the city's engineering services coordinator. "All of our dispatch center is on it. A lot of emergency lights are on it around city hall, our phone system, our servers our computers are all on that system."

The new generator replaces a 15 kilowatt model that had been operating for about two decades, according to Doty.

That generator produced an uneven level of power and caused havoc to the city's computers. During the year's most extensive power outage, which struck on Jan. 2 and left most of the South Coast in the dark, the generator failed to start automatically and had to be reset before being started manually.

The police department's dispatch center also was dark for about five minutes before the generator was started.

Doty said the generator is running to its maximum potential but the city's upgrades have created a need for more power.

"We just kind of outgrew it," he said.

The new, diesel-run generator is expected to be a vast improvement over the current propane model, which can have difficulties operating depending on the weather.

"Propane, in cold weather can be real temperamental," Doty said. "We're going to a diesel generator, which weather doesn't affect."

Reese Electric, of Coos Bay, was contracted to install the generator for $3,900.

The city, meanwhile, is looking for a new place to use the old generator. It possibly will be used as a backup at the Coos Bay Public Library, which is in the city's plan as a shelter in times of emergency but does not have the needed backup.

Doty said the city also is considering placing the generator at the main fire hall in downtown Coos Bay.

- Andrew Sirocchi, staff writer