(KLZA)--A large amount of the nearly 2.5 hour Falls City Council meeting Monday night was spent discussing items concerning the Electrical Department.

Council members have been wanting the numbers of dollars spent on contract labor since the local six-member line crew resigned earlier this spring.

City Administrator Anthony Nussbaum provided an update Monday evening noting that the city has spent approximately $108,000 with RS Electric from St. Joseph on labor and equipment.

About 20 utility poles have been replaced by the company.

The City has hired two new line crew members including one Journeyman, with another line crew member set to begin work at the start of the next fiscal year. Nussbaum noted the two crew members have been performing small service work and customer service items and will be helping repair some damage from recent storms.

For now, the City plans to move forward with a 3-man Line Crew, utilizing outside contractors for large projects.

The City is not limiting the crew to three people but feel that is a workable number for now. Public Works Director Trevor Campbell said that he feels a 4-person crew would be a good number.

The Council later authorized the expenditure of $22,940 to have representatives from Wartsilla, the company that built the $13-million generator at the city power plant that has been plagued by various problems for several years, come to Falls City and do a study of the engine.

While in Falls City the company representatives will provide training to local power plant employees on the machine and work toward completing a plan for maintenance based upon how the electrical generator is used by Falls City

Campbell said one of the issues with the Wartsilla engine has been getting repair parts for the machine that was built in Europe. The company representatives will provide a list of necessary repair parts the City should have in stock to avoid the trouble of have to cross reference parts made in Europe with parts that may or may not be available in the U.S.

Campbell said he feels this proactive approach to the problems that have led to power outages for Falls City Utility customers on an all to frequent basis will help create a more reliable electrical system, but noted it will take large sum of money and a number of years to complete all the necessary work.