Pact with CEI enables Brook Park to phase | Zhongshan Cinnamon Spice Group

Brook Park streetlights that fail will be replaced with LED bulbs at no cost to the city under an agreement recently executed with Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company.Robert Higgs, Cleveland.com

BROOK PARK, Ohio – Brook Park will begin replacing the lamps in streetlights with LED bulbs after City Council on June 21 unanimously approved an ordinance enabling the mayor to execute a service agreement with Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company.

CEI representative Dave Conley explained the bulb replacement program at council's June 14 caucus, noting the city's current legacy (i.e., high-pressure sodium) bulbs will be replaced as they fail at no cost.

"There are cost savings associated with this," Conley told council. "LEDs are much more efficient in their energy usage. As your energy usage goes down, it affects your cost savings on a per-kilowatt-hour basis. You would be using less energy on those lights.

"You don't pay anything to convert these lights," he added. "When the lights go out, you report them and we come out and convert them to the appropriate LED."

There are roughly 1,900 streetlights in the city, Conley indicated. If the city had opted to replace all of them up front with LEDs, it would have cost approximately $460,000.

He noted Strongsville is one local community that operates under the replace-on-failure option.

Councilwoman Nora Coyne asked Conley if the city will require fewer streetlights in the future because the LEDs are brighter.

"Every situation is a little bit different," he replied. "It's going to come down to the city's preference, and we do not guide that decision."

Mayor Ed Orcutt said the cost savings to the city will be "considerable."

"This is a win-win situation for us," Orcutt said. "Every year we lose lights in the city, and we will be replacing them at no cost. This is something that is going to lessen our operations cost."