BROWNSTOWN
Decorative lights line both sides of Main Street or U.S. 50 in Brownstown.
There also are some along a portion of Walnut Street and around the Jackson County Courthouse.
In total, there are 71 decorative lights.
The Brownstown Town Council recently received a quote of $403,589.30 from Duke Energy to replace 53 of the lights and switch them to LED. Clerk-Treasurer David Willey said he doesn’t think the lights on Walnut Street and around the courthouse were included in the quote.
When Duke Energy dug up the poles and replaced the streetlights in other parts of town several years ago, Willey said it cost around $100,000. Now, he said different technology is used to set the poles.
“Most of them are set in concrete with the sidewalk somehow. They are bolted somehow to the concrete,” he said. “They don’t do it that way anymore.”
Willey also said the decorative lights cost more than the traditional streetlights, so he asked the council which one they wanted to stay with and if they wanted to reduce the number of lights.
“I’m thinking LEDs are stronger, so could we spread them out a little more, less quantity but still have good coverage lightwise?” Councilwoman Sharon Koch asked.
Council President Gregg Goshorn asked town attorney Travis Thompson if there’s a certain lighting requirement on streets, in particular the ones along North Main Street since they are along a federal highway. Thompson said he’s not aware of any guidelines, but he would find out.
Willey said Duke Energy could have an engineer do a study to see if some of the lights could be eliminated.
In looking at the map of lights, Thompson said he noticed many are directly across from each other, so that’s something that could be researched to see if that’s needed.
Currently, Willey said the town’s bill for the 71 lights is $138 per month.
The council agreed to table the matter until the Sept. 20 meeting to seek more information.