Highland Park will install 50 donated solar streetlights under a five-year pilot program, a city official said, and the City Council has approved the initial allocation.

The staff member said the city has already put in 10 lights and that the new donation will allow the city to add 50 more. “So it's only 50, but it's a start. We've already input in 10. So now this 50 is gonna go in, and we know we do not have the locations yet,” the staff member said.

The staff member identified Solatronic as the manufacturer and named a nonprofit partner, Solidarity, which she said has worked for more than a decade to restore lighting one street or one light at a time. She described the lights as solar and said the pilot runs five years, after which the city will decide whether it is able to take over maintenance.

Placement of the lights will be decided jointly by the solar company and the city. The official acknowledged the limits of the donation: “50 lights will not go very far over the city, but it's definitely a start.” She also noted that “they took out 1,400 lights out of the city,” a figure offered by the speaker during remarks.

The official urged community support and volunteerism to help the city expand lighting and other services. She said the effort is intended to relight the city “at the least cost to the citizens and the city.”

The speaker did not provide a formal vote tally or a written agreement in the remarks, and placement, maintenance cost estimates and long-term funding were not specified.