The Kenai City Council met on Wednesday, January 17th, to determine if they would be approved to seek assistance from professional engineering services to fix some outdated street lights within the city.
The ordinance (3386-2024) would allow the engineering service to conduct an assessment to identify deficiencies and direct future capital improvement projects.
According to a memo, the council has been made aware of the the aging street lighting infrastructure, which is approximately 40-50 years old, and continues to be challenging to maintain.
The fiscal year 2025 Capital Improvement Plan will include funding for the design and construction of a project to be identified within this assessment.
If this ordinance were to be approved, it would ensure funding is directed toward the areas of greatest need, which could be taken from the general fund. It could be funded up to $80,000.
The assessment will include a review of the existing electrical services and lighting control panels, light fixtures and poles, wiring condition, and location.
It is anticipated that the number of street lighting maintenance projects that will be identified will take several years to fund and complete.
According to City Manager Terry Eubank, the hope is to get the project started in the summer or fall, with the FY25 budget.
“I believe there was $400,000 included in the capital plan to actually go out and then start affecting those repairs and that will give us the bid documents for contractors to then respond to the options we discussed when I met with our public works directors. You know, we could put those design funds in the FY2025 budget that. It wouldn’t be doing any fixes until probably the fall of 2025, where I think under this plan, if we get somebody out there and do this planning, we could get some of these repairs started this summer and this fall with funding appropriated July 1,” said Eubank.
After a vote, all council members were in favor of the ordinance.
