By Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter)

Shining the Light on Coloured Illumination Choices at City Hall

Mar 9, 2016 | 4:05 PM

LETHBRIDGE: Never mind how many people it takes to screw in a light bulb.

The bigger question is “How much does it cost to have coloured light bulbs installed to light City Hall?” The answer is $80,000 – in Capital Funding.

Last November 23rd, Council assigned City Administration the task of looking into alternatives for lighting the exterior of City Hall. The exercise was prompted by the fact that Mayor Chris Spearman had brought to light the fact that he gets a couple dozen requests every year to light the exterior of the building for different causes or events.

Administration’s report came before Council on Monday, and noted there are already 28 flood lights outside the building, (14 at the front of the building, ten at the back and two on each of the west and east sides) which give off a white light.

Right now, the fixtures can handle colored lenses, which the city has in stock. With manual labour, the lenses can be installed in about two hours, as was done on December 6th, when City Hall participated in the YWCA Light the Night Campaign to raise awareness of violence against women. The lenses were used to cast City Hall in a red glow. (Photo above shows lavender lenses).

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Administration offered Councillors three options for lighting.

The first option was to stick with the existing lighting, which required a minimal cost for manual labour to occasionally change out the lenses. The second option was to replace 14 of the flood lights with programmable multi-coloured LED lights at a cost of $80,000, and the third option was to replace all 28 lights with coloured LED’s for $150,000.

Options two and three would eliminate labour costs of changing out the lenses but, it would come with the cost of replacing the fixtures and modifying the wiring.

Council voted 8 to 1 in favour of the $80,000 option, with only Joe Mauro opposed.

by Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter)

Shining the Light on Coloured Illumination Choices at City Hall

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