June 18, 2019 - Workshop
The Town of Glen St. Mary held a workshop on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 at 6:05 P.M. at the Town Hall with Council Member Davis, Councilman Foster, and Council Rhynehardt present. Mayor Juanice Padgett presided over the meeting. Council Member Hodges was not present.
The purpose of the workshop was to inform Council of a Franchise Agreement the Town has had with Florida Power & Light for the past thirty years, but is about to expire. They are asking for a new Franchise Fee Agreement to be executed between the Town and FPL. Representatives Jim Bush, Scot Thrapp and Patrick Bryan were present to go over and explain both the Franchise Fee Agreement and also a LED lighting project. Included in the agenda packet was a “Franchise Agreement Information Between Florida Power & Light Company and The Town of Glen St. Mary.” Both Mr. Bush and Mr. Thrapp went over this with Council. Council wants to opt for the full 6% as FPL will grant either a 5.9% or 6%, but no more than that. The agreement will need to be revised to reflect the change as it was prepared as 5.9%. It was pointed out that the new agreement also has an improvement whereas the last agreement paid out at 90% and then had a true-up month in June or July where FPL would pay the difference over the past year revenue. The new agreement has a 100% monthly payout.
Mr. Thrapp then turned Council’s attention to the LED lighting conversion project FPL is conducting. He told council that a little over two years ago the Public service Commission approved FPL’s LED tariff. The tariff allows FPL to offer lights with no up-front cost. The customers pay according to what type of light they choose. They started the light conversion down in South Florida. The Town has seventy-three lights to be converted in this project. Where the Town currently goes around periodically and reports street light outages to FPL for repairs, the LED lights will be self-reporting so FPL can go out and fix them without the Town having to report them. LED lights are also more efficient. Pictures were handed out showing the difference between the current street lights and the LED lights when they were installed on the same street. They have better color and put off less pollution with no up-light. They can also put a shield on the light at no additional cost. They showed two options for Council to decide which they prefer. With Option 1 the Town would receive the same light level and would save about $50 per month and with Option 2 the Town would increase the light level and pay about $27 more per month. Surrounding areas have opted for Option 2, including Unincorporated Baker County and the City of Macclenny. They have just completed two phases in the City of Macclenny. It would be the same agreement as we currently have, but would be a ten-year agreement and then would roll into a five-year term. There is no time frame to do this, it is not going away anytime soon. The timeframe for conversion would take about ten weeks. Once they get the agreement, they do a design. The lights are made to order and are not just sitting on a shelf. Mr. Thrapp thinks they can install all seventy-three lights in one week. This should not disrupt traffic or anything within the Town. The Town can add more lights and there is no cost to add a light to an existing pole, we would just pay the light fixture rate. There would be a pole charge if there is no existing pole present. The approximate cost would be about $7 more per month if adding a new wooden pole. In areas where the lights have been converted, the feedback from the police and fire departments are very good. They are able to identify much better with the new lights. This lighting agreement is on the agenda to be voted on tonight.
Mayor Padgett closed the workshop at 6:35 P.M.
