The Sullivan City Council met in special session on Tues., Jan. 12 discussing proposed grant applications for energy efficiency. The following is the minutes from the special meeting.
The city engineer appeared before the board and reported that Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants are available from ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). There are two programs the city engineer stated that he felt the city might be interested in applying for:
1) Public Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits; and/or
2) Water and Wastewater Treatment Efficiency
The grant application deadline is Jan. 15, 2010. The engineer noted that many of these items were recommended to the city in the energy audit performed by Johnson Control back in 2003.
Public Building Efficiency Retrofits – Under this program, the application would be for funding to upgrade all interior and exterior lighting, heating and cooling in city hall, the library, police station, community center, skating rink, and the ball complexes. The fire department has an interest in partnering for the same upgrades to all the old fire stations.
The retrofits must result in a simple payback of 10 years or less. Maximum incentive level is estimated to be about 50 percent of the project cost with a maximum incentive of $500,000 per application.
The city engineer reported that there are approximately 300-400 fixtures that would be eligible. The electric department could install them. This project is estimated to cost $44,682 (which includes the firehouse) with the city’s out-of-pocket costs estimated at $6,195 (and the fire department’s portion at $5,193).
Water and Wastewater Treatment Efficiency -  Funding requests under this program would include replacing all pumps in the primary lift station at the treatment plant, which is the only upgrade that has not been made with the new construction. New pumps will be more energy efficient with variable speed drives.
The maximum incentive level is 75 percent of project cost with a maximum incentive of $1 million per application. Projects will be prioritized according to the shortest simple payback.
Since Oak Grove Village is under contractual obligations, they could be considered a partner. The estimated cost of this project is $91,432 with the city’s out-of-pocket portion estimated at $23,910, which will probably be covered by the existing MAMU loan.
City engineer Robert Schaffer reported that the grant submission deadline is Jan. 15, 2010, with an expected award date of Feb. 15, 2010. Some discussion ensued on how this fits into the city’s budget. The city engineer indicated that this project could be spread out over several fiscal years, if necessary.
It was the consensus of the board that, if the projects could possibly reduce future expenditures, both applications should be pursued. Alderman Dace made a motion authorizing the mayor to go sign the applications. Alderman Watz seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
If the applications are approved for funding, an ordinance will be drafted authorizing the grant execution. More discussion ensued with the board asking staff whether they could seek and find grant opportunities in a more timely fashion. Alderman Dace stated that pursuing grants should be part of the economic developer’s job description.
With no further business at this time, Alderman Watz made a motion to adjourn the meeting with Alderman Ryan seconding it. The motion carried unanimously and the meeting adjourned at approximately 5:20 p.m.