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Consultant recommends LED retrofit, conduit and pole inspections for Carroll County recreation complex; estimated $2.25 million project
Summary
A consultant from Southern A and E recommended replacing field lighting and associated infrastructure with LED systems, adding conduit via directional boring, inspecting concrete poles (line-item $35,000) and considering a phased, per-service replacement; total project budget estimated at about $2.25 million including contractor overhead.
Thad Ferguson, Carroll County recreation director, introduced a lighting and electrical assessment for the county recreation complex and asked Jason of Southern A and E to summarize recommendations. Jason said the county’s oldest lighting systems date to about 1998 and that later systems (circa 2002–2008) are approaching the end of their useful life.
The consultant recommended replacing both fixtures and underlying electrical infrastructure at the same time and converting to an LED sports-lighting system to reduce power draw, lower glare at property lines and simplify future maintenance. Jason said that existing feeders are typically direct burial (no conduit) and have been damaged during other work; the plan calls for installing conduit, using directional boring to each pole, and reusing existing concrete poles where feasible. Jason said the vendor would inspect poles; the proposal includes a $35,000 line item for pole inspection and remediation.
Jason provided cost estimates broken out by the project’s five services (field groups). The infrastructure estimates presented were: service 1 (upper fields) $191,691; service 2 (middle fields) $140,090; service 3 (Black Field/palm field) approximately $107,000; service 4 (football field) $87,000; service 5 (track, orange and multipurpose field) $193,774. An earlier lighting estimate of about $1,200,000 for fixtures and installation was referenced. Jason summarized the combined estimate: “So barring that there's no poles that need to be replaced, we're looking at just a round number of 800,000 for all the infrastructure, the evaluation, and everything. And then you're looking you're you're confident with the prior number that was put in place at 1,200,000.0. Correct? I am a So you're looking at a $2,000,000 project.”
County staff said the team prefers to reuse concrete poles if they pass inspection; concrete poles were described as typically having a 40–50 year life and many on site were assessed as in “fair shape.” Jason advised the commission to have all poles inspected before major installation and noted each service can be bid and constructed independently so the county could phase work by field if budget requires. He said the contractor intends to minimize field downtime by scheduling work so the system remains operational as much as feasible.
No formal vote was taken; the presentation was a work-session update and staff recommended returning with contractor bids and pole inspection findings as next steps.
