Decision on streetlights set for February

A decision on a proposed pilot project to shut off select lights in north Brainerd will not be made until February.

The Brainerd City Council on Monday, following a recommendation from the Personnel and Finance Committee, postponed all discussion on the proposed pilot project until its Feb. 1 meeting.

Under a plan proposed to the Brainerd City Council by Public Utilities Superintendent Tom Phelps, 45 streetlights would be shut off for the six-month pilot project, with the majority of the streetlights at mid-block locations between Kingwood and Washington streets. Other areas recommended were mid-block lights on North Eighth Street from Washington to Fir streets and lights in alleys between Kingwood and Washington streets.

In all, there are about 170 streetlights in north Brainerd. Shutting off 45 would save an estimated $552 a month and $6,626 a year.

The plan was presented to the Brainerd Northside Neighborhood Association on Nov. 25, and association members formed a subcommittee to look at what lights residents would want to keep or turn off.

Council member and Personnel and Finance Committee member Kelly Bevans said Kathleen Hermerding, neighborhood association vice president, asked that no action be taken until after the association's next meeting in January.

"There were some lights (in Phelps' proposal) they didn't want turned off and some they did," Bevans said at the committee meeting.

Jan Burton, north Brainerd resident and association member, told the committee she polled residents from North First to North 10th streets and she didn't come across anyone that was in favor of shutting off select streetlights.

She was in favor of delaying the issue because it would allow more residents to be educated on the proposal.

"Why were the lights put in there in the first place? It was because of safety," Burton said.

Also at the committee meeting, Al Gmeinder, owner of the Sawmill Inn restaurant on Washington Street, said the neighborhood association should invite input from businesses. Property manager Rick Fargo asked that the city be fair with where lights are being removed and with where they would stay.

Phelps previously told the council and the neighborhood association that he selected north Brainerd for the pilot project not to pick on the neighborhood but because it was a condensed area.

Council member and Personnel and Finance Committee member Anne Nelson Fisher on Monday echoed Phelps' sentiments.

"Our goal wasn't to have a blackout. Our goal was to cut back where reasonable," Fisher said.

Mary Koep, council member and committee chairwoman, said at the committee meeting that she has heard from many people who question why the city didn't look at shutting off some of the decorative lighting along Laurel Street from South Second to South Sixth streets, which costs about three times more than regular lights.

The pilot project is one of several energy-saving ideas Brainerd Public Utilities is considering as a means to save the city money wherever it can. Other areas include changing the wattage and design in streetlights installed with street projects and seeking stimulus money to improve energy efficiency for all city buildings.

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerd dispatch.com or 855-5857.