City Hall goes LED efficient
— Photo by MARY MALONE Sandpoint City Hall will have 984 new energy efficient LED bulbs to replace the old fluorescent lighting throughout the building by Dec. 30.
SANDPOINT — City Hall's 984 fluorescent lights will soon be replaced with energy efficient LED lighting.
Council members approved a services agreement last week in which the city will pay Ron's Electric $21,300 to replace the 4-foot long, 32-watt fluorescent bulbs with LED 12.5 watt bulbs by Dec. 30. The city will then submit a $15 per bulb rebate with Avista, saving the city $14,760, for a net cost of $6,540, plus a long-term savings with an energy use reduction of 61 percent per bulb.
Parks and Recreation Director Kim Woodruff said, as per the agreement, the contractor would dispose of the old lighting. The method of disposal was unclear in the agreement, causing concern among council members.
"Fluorescent tubes have mercury in them," said Councilman Bill Aitken. "This is my industry and we don't throw those into the trash."
Aitken looked into other options prior to the meeting, including one through Waste Management where the company provides boxes to pack the tubes into at about $1 per fixture.
"It's not easy, but if we are moving toward a more sustainable, energy-saving approach, it would make sense also to ensure that we dispose of the mercury-containing bulbs in a sustainable manner," said Councilwoman Shannon Williamson, who suggested tasking the city's sustainability committee with the disposal.
"I think, as a city, it would be good for us to set a positive example about how we are going to dispose of our toxic waste," said Councilwoman Deb Ruehle, adding that she would also be interested in pushing it to the sustainability committee.
Council members agreed that the contractor would still do the removal and replacement. City staff will order boxes through Waste Management and require the contractor to pack the old bulbs during removal, then the boxes will be shipped back to Waste Management straight from City Hall for recycling.
"We can negotiate any reduction of costs because the contractor's no longer disposing of them," said City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton.
"We do have budget elsewhere in some line items that we can move, not from the (sustainability) committee’s budget — that's really for supplies and things to support the committee — but we have elsewhere, in our own garbage budget or somewhere that we can pull the difference recycle the bulbs."