The City of Mount Vernon will take part in a pilot program for Alliant Energy’s Smart Streetlight replacement program. Mount Vernon marks the first community in the Iowa market for Alliant Energy to be part of the program. The lights used will be the new IntelliStreet lights that utilize energy-efficient lighting, audio, digital signage and other features.
Emily Kaiser with Alliant Energy said one of the reasons Mount Vernon was selected was because of the range of festivals that happen uptown during the year.
“I’ve seen what you’ve done over the past seven years with the numerous festivals, and how you utilize your uptown,” Kaiser said. “One of the things we’re interested in is how a city like yours will utilize the communication systems that are part of these lights moving forward.”
City administrator Chris Nosbisch said the city is extremely excited to be selected for this pilot program as well. The city has been discussing the project with Alliant for the past year, and a contingent of council members and staff visited Platteville, Wis., to see some of the lights utilized in their downtown.
The project will replace streetlights from A Avenue to Memorial Park with new lights with various features. On every block there will be at least two light poles which will have the ability to contact emergency personnel using PushBlue notifications. Each light will also have the ability to play music or deliver public service announcements.
That safety feature is one Nosbisch said is needed.
“We removed the warning system from the old fire station because we no longer owned that building, and that has been a concern for us, especially as the storms that hit our area grow in intensity,” Nosbisch said. “We feel we’ll be able to implement these features on these lights a lot more and add something to our uptown festivals.”
Council member Stephanie West, who was an advocate for a community-wide PA system for the uptown in the past, said this will be wonderful.
Another feature Nosbisch said will benefit the city is setting the Åtimes of day.
“Currently, if it’s 3 a.m. in uptown, those street lights are going at the same intensity as they do at 9 or 10 p.m. when more people are about,” Nosbisch said. “We could run the lights, but not as brightly when people aren’t out as much on city streets.”
While there will be some electronic banners and message boards on these lights, Nosbisch said the goal is not to turn uptown Mount Vernon into Times Square.
“We’ll be focusing the messaging or banners displayed,” Nosbisch said. “If there’s adverse weather, we’ll have the ability to communicate those alerts.”
The new light poles will be installed sometime in the next calendar year. Mount Vernon will be responsible for removing the current street lights. Council members asked if there would be a way to reutilize some of those lights on trails or other portions of the city that could utilize light poles. Public works director Eldon Downs said efforts will be made to do that.
There will be some additional costs for the city to tie into the Wi-Fi hot spots for some of the streetlights as well.
Nosbisch said expanding wi-fi access to city parks has been something council member Scott Rose has asked about in the past, and this is a way to do that.
“And if we’re looking to tie into wi-fi it should be via direct lines if we can,” Nosbisch said.
As part of the pilot program, Heidi Porter of Alliant Energy said Alliant Energy will be responsible for the cost and maintenance of the new light poles for 10 years.
“That will allow us to do additional study on how they are used and collect the information we need on how to better roll out new street lighting in other communities,” Porter said.
After those 10 years, the poles will be the responsibility to the City of Mount Vernon. If poles need to be replaced or changed at the 5-year mark, the city will be responsible for the shared costs of replacing the lights.