The City of Oak Harbor is serious when it comes to bathroom-related technology.

Oak Harbor council members are considering purchasing the latest-and-greatest in public restrooms facilities once construction of the state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant is completed downtown.

Public Works Director Cathy Rosen briefed council members during a special meeting Wednesday afternoon about the “Portland loo,” a prefabricated toilet kiosk that has become all the rage in civic privy technology.

Councilman Joel Ser-vatius asked city staff earlier this year to research and report on the unique public toilets that solve many of the problems which bedevil public works departments nationwide.

The Portland loo, Rosen explained, is a single-occupancy, gender-neutral restroom that’s durable and designed with safety in mind.

The simplicity of the design translates to minimal maintenance.

The public works director had nothing but praise for the advanced outhouses.

“The Portland loo … was designed with safety in mind, designed for an urban environment,” she said.

“It has many of the features we are looking for.”

Each loo can fit in a average parking space. Still, it’s big enough for a mother to bring a stroller and bicycle inside, City Engineer Joe Stowell said.

Rosen explained that vandalism and graffiti have been ongoing problems in city restrooms in Windjammer Park. And 911 logs show that reports of people doing weird stuff in the restrooms aren’t an uncommon occurrence.

“When it’s too private, sometimes people like to do nefarious things,” she said.

The Portland loo solves those problems, she said. Angled steel louvers on the top and bottom allow police to see how many people are inside and if anyone is lying on the floor.

The stainless steel structures have anti-graffiti coatings, Rosen explained. The heavy-gauge steel walls and doors can take a lot of punishment from vandals. There is no mirror or sink on the inside that can be damaged; there’s hand sanitizer on the inside and a sink on the outside.

“It’s very simple in there,” she said. “There’s not a lot of things that can be vandalized.”

Rosen said a lot of governmental organizations are moving toward gender-neutral bathrooms because of the state law that allows transgender people to use the restroom of the gender he or she identifies with.

The loos are built on concrete pads and need to be hooked up to city sewer and water lines. Rosen said they come standard with solar panels that power internal and external LED lights.

Rosen said a Portland loo costs about $100,000, including shipping costs.

The newly adopted master plan for Windjammer Park calls for improvements to the waterfront park once the new sewage treatment plant comes online in 2018. The aging restrooms are among the facilities that need to be replaced.

Rosen made it clear that Portland loos would be a great option. Several council members not only agreed but pointed to other places where the newfangled bathrooms could be installed.

The lack of public restrooms in downtown Oak Harbor has long been a concern for officials; Rosen said she identified a possible downtown site for a Portland loo but wouldn’t specify. Councilwoman Beth Munns also advocated for loos in Flintstone Park near the bus terminal while Servatius suggested Volunteer Park next to the swimming pool.

In fact, Servatius proposed budgeting to purchase one or two loos each year. He said they could be “sprinkled” around town in public, well-lit areas.

“Eventually we ought to look at getting them integrated throughout town,” he said.