The City of Jacksonville’s Wastewater Treatment Plant will be getting a lighting upgrade in the near future.
City Utility Manager Rick Hearin says the current system around the plant is outdated and has become inefficient. The older lights are halogen and sodium vapor lights. Hearin says they are working through an efficiency upgrade incentive program with Ameren-Illinois to upgrade the light system to more efficient LED lights. Hearin says that the city will pay for the cost of the project up front and then receive a rebate from Ameren after the project is completed.
Hearin told the City Council he received two bids on the project, but recommended the city take the bid with Green Environment Company for a cost of $29,150. The Ameren rebate will reimburse the city $23,600. In all, the total cost to the city will be just over $5,500.
Hearin also alerted the council that the city’s annual biosolids contract had gone up by a tenth of a percent. Hearin says that the company that the city has gone with the last 4 years have held prices steady, but both biosolid treatment chemicals and lime treatment had gone up this year. Hearin says it is just indicative of the rising prices on the market for all chemicals and materials.