$717,000 streetlight conversion project before council

The City of Vernon is looking to update its streetlights — which staff say will save money in the long run.

A roads manager is recommending city council spend $717,000 to convert 1,200 streetlights from HPS lamping to the more energy-efficient LED technology.

“The conversion project is proposed to use two City of Vernon signal traffic technicians to perform the replacements. The project would be broken into two phases; one being performed in the spring of 2020 and the other in the fall of 2020. Each phase would take approximately five weeks to complete,” said Chris Ovens, Manager, Roads, Drainage and Airport in a report to council.

The switch would save $58,500 a year in electricity fees, which means the project’s return on investment would take 12 years.