The Village of Sunbury Services Commission has met twice virtually over the summer in which members discussed a range of topics, including streets, trees and lights.
On June 4, street lights were the first order of business. In the meeting minutes, Chairman Joseph St. John said Sunbury’s “current replacement policy is that as the older high sodium bulbs burn out, they are being replaced with LED lights. This is creating an inconsistency in the color of the light on a particular street.”
The older lights are yellow-colored, whereas the newer light is slightly blue and brighter.
“A blue light is a very hot light while red/yellow is a cold light,” Engineer David Parkinson said in the minutes. Although the two types of light bulbs have different temperatures and colors, the amount of light produced is the same. However, the reason LEDs “are considered more efficient is that they are more directional, creating an environment that needs less lumens of light.”
Mayor Tommy Hatfield said the difference in lumens made LED lighting more efficient and cheaper to operate.
St. John suggested perhaps replacing the entire street’s bulbs with the LED bulbs when one of the old bulbs burns out. This way, the lighting on a street will appear consistent. Councilman and commission member Martin Fisher said they will recommend this process to Street Superintendent Brad Gerwig.
Trees have also been part of the conversation. St. John led the group in “a discussion on the benefits on purchasing wood chipping equipment versus renting.” They decided to have the Street Department develop a tree inventory, with a remove/replace plan for each street, although the project may be outsourced.
On July 15, Parkinson gave an update on the 2020 street project. Sunbury applied for Ohio Public Works Commission funding last fall, but the COVID-19 pandemic affected passage of the state’s capital improvement budget. In response to that outcome, Sunbury scaled-down the project, which was subsequently awarded to Columbus Asphalt Paving. However, Gov. Mike DeWine signed a senate bill that included funds for OPWC. A second contract was awarded to the same company, with the total being $520,000 from Sunbury and $600,000 from OPWC.
“Now that we have the original funding, we would like to expand that contract to the original scope of work and award the work to Columbus Asphalt,” the meeting minutes state. “The work would be complete by Thanksgiving.”
