The city manager told the Moraine City Council Committee of the Whole on April 10 that Miami Valley Lighting has proposed replacing many of the citys high-pressure sodium streetlights with LED fixtures, and that a multijurisdiction procurement effort is under way to negotiate a new street-lighting contract.

The city manager said Miami Valley Lighting offered to replace the citys 16,000- and 27,000-lumen high-pressure sodium fixtures free of charge and that allowing those replacements "it'll save us about $4,100 annually in savings." He said the city has a mix of fixtures he described in the meeting as "of the 16,000 high pressure sodium, we have 317; of the 27,000 lumen, we have 279." The manager cautioned that converting the larger 50,000-lumen fixtures would carry a cost the staff judged too large to budget now: he said there is a charge of about $27,000 to replace those, with only a small annual savings, and that the city did not budget for that expense.

Why it matters: the proposed replacements would reduce energy use and lower operating costs, while a coordinated procurement across multiple jurisdictions could reduce per-jurisdiction contracting costs.

The manager said the city is participating in a Miami Valley Communications Council (MVCC) negotiation covering about 24 jurisdictions to re-bid a street-lighting contract that he said with the current vendor, referred to as MBL, expires at the end of the year. He told council MVCC is covering roughly 33% of the contractor cost and that the citys share would be "probably in the 6 or $700 range" to pay the contractor for Moraine's portion; he said the group is aiming to have ordinances adopted by May to allow participation, and that the city might need to adopt an ordinance on an emergency basis if timing requires.

On electric aggregation, the manager said Moraine currently participates in an electric aggregation program and cautioned the contract also expires at the end of the year. Mayor Murphy and other council members asked about a change in the aggregation vendor; Councilmember Miller reported he had "found the name" of the buyer: "Vistra" as the company that bought Energy Harbor. The manager said staff expect to be able to secure a positive electric rate but that it "may not be as good as the rate we've just had." He added staff are exploring whether to join a gas aggregation program, but said expected savings for gas are likely to be smaller than the electric-aggregation savings and that the city may need to hold public hearings to permit participation in a gas aggregation.

No formal action was taken at the meeting on the street-light proposal or on aggregation; the manager said staff will return to council with any ordinance or contract request if and when required.

The managers remarks occurred during the Committee of the Whole meeting following approval of minutes and routine reports and lasted several minutes; council members asked brief clarifying questions but did not debate or vote on the items during the session.