By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
At its Monday night regular council meeting, the Wyoming City Council accepted more than a half a million dollars from the Department of Natural Resources Natural Resources Trust Fund.
The city first applied for the fund in March of 2016 with it taking about a year and half for the state to release the funding, said the city’s Director of Community Services Rebecca Rynbrandt at the Aug. 7 council meeting. Rynbrandt said the funds were officially released on July 14 when the Governor signed the authorization.
The grant, totaling $508,300, is a 63 percent match to the city’s $300,000. The total $808,300 along with an additional $68,150 for capital outlay will be used for improvements at Ideal Park, which was severely impacted by two tornados, one in 2014 and a second one in 2016. The 2014 tornado caused extensive damage which included the lost of the park’s playground, tennis and basketball courts and a majority of the trees.
The money will cover the first phase of reconstruction for the park, which is located at 5843 Crippen Ave SW. Included in the plan is the construction of a shelter, playground and basketball court, reforestation, traffic control improvements for vehicle and pedestrian safety, and non-motorized trail improvements including the establishment of a trail head and improved connection to the Inter-ubran trail and Kent County trail system.
Upgrading lights to LED
Also at the Aug. 7 council meeting, the City of Wyoming Council approved the expense of $253,000 to upgrade 1,081 Cobra Head street light fixtures from mercury vapor and high pressure sodium to LED.
The city actually has more than 4,422 existing Consumer Energy mercury-vapor and high-pressure-sodium street lights that the city is looking to upgrade to LED light fixtures. The main reason for this, according to a report from the city’s Director of Public Works William D. Dooley, is that it would reduce energy usage which is a benefit to the environment and a cost savings to the city.
Of the existing lights, most are the Cobra Head lights totaling about 3,391. The total cost to replace all the Cobra Head lights is about $1.4 million or an average of $410 per light. The new LED fixture will reduce the energy use by an estimated 64 percent and save Wyoming approximately $300,000 a year. According to Dooley’s report, the city would recoup the cost of the replacements in less than five years. The cost for upgrading these lights to LED reflects a large discount from Consumers Energy because the company can avoid its scheduled upgrade.
In April, the City Council had decided to move forward to upgrade the Cobra Head lights to LED fixtures. The replacement will be done in four phases. At the Monday night meeting, the council approved the expense for the first phase of about $253,000.
The first area to receive the upgrade will be the northwest section of the city, from about north of 36th Street and west of Burlingame Avenue.
The Wyoming City Council meets the first and third Mondays of the month at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at the Wyoming City Hall, 1155 28th St. SW. The Aug. 21 meeting will be on the lawn at the Metro Health Village. The meetings are broadcast live on WKTV Channel 26 and rebroadcast at 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays.
