OBSERVER Photo by J.M. Lesinski Pictured, a soon-to-be converted streetlight on Central Avenue in Silver Creek, just miles down the road from the Town of Hanover. Silver Creek passed a LED conversion plan Monday, while Hanover remains undecided about moving forward with its own LED project.

SILVER CREEK — After months of information gathering and workshops, the Silver Creek Village Board will be moving forward with the village’s conversion to LED street lighting through New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG).

“It took us a year and a half to get here, but I think we’re making the right decision on the brightness of the lights and the locations,” said Trustee Warren Kelly. “I think we’re going to enjoy a savings of $20,000 a year, maybe more.”

The conversion, which has been on the docket since November, was approved by Mayor Jeffrey Hornburg and all present board members, excluding Marv Cummings, who was absent from the board meeting Monday, due to illness. Workshops regarding wattage and intensity wrapped up in March, concluding that the 4,000 kelvins option was the best choice.

“When it’s done, it will alter a little bit because of our additions, but when it’s done we’ll be cutting our street lighting bill in half,” said Hornburg of the conversion. “We spend approximately $53,000 a year now, and we’ll be going down to the upper $20,000s. It will be a nicer light, it will be a whiter light and it’ll be a brighter light.”

The evening before the meeting, Trustees Stephen Romanik and John Burt went around the village to find areas in need of lighting improvement or additional lighting.

“We met with NYSEG last week, and it was under the suggestion of Mark Stifter from NYSEG that before we do the LED conversion if there’s any lights we want to add or delete from our current system, we should do it before we do the conversion,” Romanik noted. “If we take them off when we do the conversion, we have to pay the depreciation on the lights that they change.”

There are currently two poles slated to be added, as well as two to be taken down or moved. “On the list, there’s three lights that we’re going to add downtown, two for sure,” Romanik said of the new lights. “There’s a pole on Parkway that we’re looking to take out…same thing for Front Street.”

Hanover Deputy Supervisor Louis Pelletter was also present at the meeting, and when asked by Hornburg about Hanover’s status with their LED project, gave the following update. “The biggest hold-up, and I’m still at the biggest hold-up, is that road (Routes 5 and 20),” Pelletter stated. “They (NYSEG) have an open-ended contract that if they have to hire a road crew for traffic control, we have to pay within 30 days and I have no idea what that entails and neither do they.”

The board is aware of the same stipulation in their contract, but doesn’t have the same issues as Hanover, which Pelletter went on to note. “We had an issue with our water lines,” he said. “Every time we have a water break, we have a major project. Having been through that, I want to make sure there isn’t any problem.”

While the conversion was passed, the changing of the lights by NYSEG will likely take longer to begin, as the village submits the final documents. “We have to get our homework done and get it in to them (NYSEG),” said Hornburg of the next step forward. “Then we again play the waiting game, until they get a crew out to get them changed over.”