Waterford is one step away from replacing all of its approximately 2,000 street lights with LED lighting.

At its Nov. 8, special meeting, the Board of Selectmen approved waiving the bidding process for the LED Streetlight Conversion Project and awarding the contract to TANKOLighting as the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities preferred vendor in the amount of $1,049,356.

The board then recommended an appropriation from the Undesignated Fund Balance of the Capital and Non Recurring Expenditure Fund to the Board of Finance and the Representative Town Meeting.

The finance board approved that recommendation at its Nov. 14 meeting and forwarded the plan to the RTM for final approval at its Dec. 3 meeting.

If approved by the RTM, this will leave $165,257 in the Undesignated Fund Balance until the town receives reimbursement for some current projects from the state and/or the sale of the Cohanzie School property.

The $1.049 million total project cost is much less than the estimated project cost of $1.4 million just to purchase the street lights from Eversource in the FY2017 Capital Plan. The Eversource purchase price is $389,475.50 in the project pricing sheet provided by TankoLighting.

Other towns first

East Lyme and New London have already converted their street lights to LED lighting using TankoLighting. If the RTM approves the funding in December, Tanko will start with a Comprehensive GIS Audit of Existing Streetlights.

During the audit, the town will be provided with weekly updates to permit the town identify and address any immediate safety concerns and any other issues that may need attention before installation.

The audit deliverables are a Preconstruction Existing Inventory GIS Records and a Reconciliation report defining any discrepancies found between records and actual data collected by the audit.

Once the audit is complete, the town will be able to negotiate with Eversource to purchase the street lights. In the meantime, Tanko will commence the necessary design work to ensure that the proper light fixture is installed in the proper location.

Tanko will also assist the town in developing a Community Outreach and Notification Plan to promote public awareness and minimize public disturbance. There will be a preconstruction pubic information session to inform the residents of the impact on their individual neighborhoods, including sample fixture installations.

Tanko will develop the installation plan that outlines ordering schedules, traffic control plan, waste disposal procedures, installation and commissioning schedules as required by the town. All project waste disposal will be in compliance with all applicable state and federal laws.

Tanko will task Red Thread Electrical Contractors of East Hartford as the installation contractor. Each Installation crew is expected to install an average of 30 fixtures a day.

Weekly Installation Reports will be provided to the Town to keep town officials and the public up to date on project progress.

The project will include documentation to verify rebates to the town from Eversource and the changing of the tariffs to the newly installed LED fixture rates. Final Reporting Documentation will also include GIS records for all newly installed streetlights in the town, including all wattages, badge numbers, locations, attributes and environmental disposal documentation.

TankoLighting’s proposal also includes a continuing maintenance proposal that will cost the town around $24,000 a year but the LED lighting will save an estimated $233,329 in annual energy costs according to the Tanko proposal, which will result in a 4.74 year project payback.

John W. “Bill” Sheehan is a former Democratic Town Committee chairman.