Hillsboro to work on streets with bonds, replace lights with grant
Staff writer
Hillsboro expects to receive proceeds of a $1.56 million bond issue to pay for street repairs July 9.
The project will include work on Adams, Lincoln, and Wilson Sts.
A separate grant will make the streets easier to see after work is completed.
Hillsboro has received a $110,988 energy efficiency and conservation block grant through Kansas Corporation Commission to replace 245 streetlights.
The money will be used to buy LED equipment and supplies.
One high pressure street light uses 73,400 kilowatt hours a year, costing the city $9,837 in electricity plus $18,375 in maintenance.
LED replacements will cut yearly energy usage to 500 kilowatt hours, costing $897, with little to no maintenance required.
“It’s a gift that keeps on giving,” city administrator Matt Stiles told council members.
Council members voted to hire Elcon Electric to replace a controller panel for water filters at the water plant.
Internal components of the panel, installed in 2006, have accumulated rust and oxidation.
The panel controls filters critical in day-to-day operation at the water plant, Stiles said.
The system provides regular updates on the chemical composition of water.
It allows the plant to be monitored remotely and is critical to maintaining Kansas Department of Health and Environment certification, Stiles said.
Microcomm would upgrade at a cost of $43,406.
Elcon said it would upgrade the filter set console for $30,000.
The water fund has money to pay for the needed replacement, but the budget might need to be amended, Stiles said.
He also announced Tuesday that a planned solar panel array on seven acres west of Hillsboro’s wastewater facility had to be shifted slightly because of changes in a floodplain map.
Construction is still expected to begin in late fall, he said.
“I think that will probably go live early in the spring,” Stiles said.