Highland Heights To Install New Lights at Municipal Complex

will be getting $193,515 in work done to upgrade lights around the municipal complex and paying only about $100,000 of the cost.

The work will address eight of 14 energy-saving measures identified in an audit done by URS. That audit was paid for by a $26,000 grant the city received. Another $81,000 grant, from the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, will be used to pay a portion of the cost of installing new lights.

City Council approved the $193,515 contract at Tuesday's meeting. Service Director Thom Evans said the energy audit also identified heating and air conditioning improvements, but the lights would provide the most benefit for the expense and will save about $24,600 a year in electricity.

"Lighting was the low-hanging fruit to upgrade our energy use," Evans said.

New lights will be installed in some areas and fixtures will be replace in others, such as the community center.

"The community center lights are outdated. It didn't make any sense to jump relamp them," Evans said. He added that new lights could be made brighter or dimmer to better fit the variety of uses at the center.

He added that fixtures in the parking lot were in bad shape and will be replace, although the poles will remain. He said the replacing the poles wasn't worth the $37,000 cost.

In addition to having a grant pay part of the cost, the city also intends to apply for a rebate from FirstEnergy that will probably be between $10,000 and $15,000.