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Residents press council to turn off downtown 'holiday' rope lighting; staff cite Chamber ownership and wiring safety issues
Summary
A council member and residents asked the city to turn off downtown rope lighting that remains on year‑round; city staff and other councilors said many lights are owned by the Chamber and some fixtures run on city power, and staff raised safety and maintenance concerns.
During public comment at the Aug. 11 meeting, Council member RJ and other speakers urged the council to remove or turn off decorative rope lighting in the downtown historic district, saying the fixtures remain on year‑round and create light‑pollution and aesthetic concerns.
"It's August and we have Christmas lights on still," RJ said, urging the council to direct staff to put the issue on a committee agenda so the matter could be publicly discussed. RJ said residents who live downtown have complained the lights were on all night.
City staff and other council members responded that the Chamber of Commerce owns many of the lights and that some strings are plugged into private buildings; the city pays for electricity only for lights that plug into city poles, staff said. Public works supervisor Cody told the council there are technical and safety issues with the current wiring configuration, including multiple three‑way plug adapters and grounding problems since the switch to LED, and recommended a more robust, conduit‑based solution and a planned refurbishing of the globe lights.
Councilors suggested discussing the lighting on a committee agenda to allow formal review, outreach to the Chamber and potential technical fixes. Staff said the city pays a small portion for a limited number of lights but warned that unless the fixtures are on city infrastructure the city's ability to require a private owner to turn them off is limited.
