LED to be installed in street lights

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By Whitney Vickers

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FAIRBORN — The City of Fairborn entered into a contract with Miami Valley Lighting for operating and maintaining street lights, after receiving council approval Monday.

Fairborn streets include more than 2,400 lights, and with the approved contract, its mercury vapor luminaries and high pressure sodium will be exchanged for LED lighting.

“We will see a new type of lights cast onto the streets,” Assistant City Manager Pete Bales said. ” … That will really be a benefit to all of our pedestrians, motorists and safety forces because they’ll be able to identify colors a lot easier.”

The change is necessary because mercury vapor luminaries will no longer be sold or serviceable after 2016. The contract begins Jan. 1, 2016 and ends in 2025; citizens will see these exchanges take place over this period of time.

“Something needed to happen with this contract regardless to do a change out,” Bales said. “The technology with LED has come a long way within the last couple of years and so we feel very strongly that LED is the way of the future. The warranty and quality of the light is just great.”

This contract will additionally lead to pole evaluations, in which city officials proposed no active pole changes. This means that if the pole was in good condition it would not be changed. Miami Valley Lighting proposed changing all of the poles from the current wooden state to an aluminum one, but Fairborn city officials said if the poles are changed, they would still be wooden to reduce additional costs.

The first five years of the contract will save the city money and overall there will be a 1.2 percent increase compared to the current contract.

Adding a school resource/D.A.R.E officer to the Fairborn City School District

The Fairborn City School District reached out to the city in recent months in regards to allowing a second school resource officer, in addition to bringing its Drug Abuse Education Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) back for its students. Council approved those requests Monday.

“They would like to have a second [school resource officer] so they would have better coverage and security for the school,” City Manager Deborah McDonnell said.

The contract allocates two senior officers to the district to fill these roles. Both will be required to be certified in school resource officer training and D.A.R.E. training.

“It’s a great program and with the way things are now, we need them for many, many reasons,” Councilwoman Donna Wilson said.

The second school resource officer and D.A.R.E. program are tentatively set to be added in January. Fairborn Police Chief Terry Barlow will hire a new officer to fill that spot.

“What we’re giving the schools are two of our top, senior professionals and I think that’s our best option,” McDonnell said. “The cost to the city is really the cost of the new officer.”

No council meeting scheduled for Jan. 4

No items are up for council consideration for the Jan. 4 regular council meeting so McDonnell said there is no reason to hold a “business” (regular) meeting. Council agreed to host a work session, in which no action would be taken, instead. It will begin 6 p.m. in the council work room. The next regular council meeting will take place Tuesday, Jan. 19, as Monday, Jan. 18 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Its next citizens forum will take place the following week, Monday, Jan. 25 at Faircreek Church, 2400 Faircreek Ridge Dr., and will focus on mental health and local available resources.

File photo Council members during the Dec. 7 meeting.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2015/12/web1_DSC_07181.jpgFile photo Council members during the Dec. 7 meeting.

Whitney Vickers can be reached by calling her directly at 937-502-4532, or by following her on Twitter @wnvickers. For more content online, visit our website or like our Facebook page.

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