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Council approves LED streetlight engineering and USDA tree-inventory grants; city plans extensive lighting and tree work
Summary
The council approved contracts to advance a carbon-reduction LED streetlight replacement project and accepted a USDA grant to inventory and manage street and park trees, both aimed at improving public lighting, efficiency and tree canopy management.
The Pontiac City Council on Oct. 7 approved contracts and grant actions to advance two infrastructure projects: a construction-phase engineering contract for an LED streetlight replacement under a carbon-reduction grant and acceptance of a USDA forestry grant to inventory and manage city trees.
Public Works Director Larry Searls explained the LED project will replace approximately 1,079 remaining non‑LED, city‑owned street fixtures and ballasts with LED units. The council authorized a not‑to‑exceed $75,000 contract for construction-phase engineering services with Nowak & Fraus (also cited as NFE/Noak & Frost in the packet), while the estimated construction cost for the work itself is larger and handled separately. Director Searls said the program is grant-funded and will make city lighting fully LED once complete.
The council also accepted a USDA forestry grant for a Pontiac Urban Restoration Project that will build a tree inventory for street right-of-way and park trees. Searls said the inventory will record condition, pruning status and other asset information to move the city from reactive to proactive tree maintenance and to support future grant requests for tree work. Council members asked about schedules for MLK Boulevard and other priority corridors; Searls gave target start windows for specific repairs and said he would provide more detailed schedules to council.
Both measures passed by roll call; council members asked staff for clearer communication on start and finish dates for projects and for timely updates to affected neighborhoods.
