The city of Dunkirk is considering legal action against the company that provided its light-emitting diode (LED) streetlights.

The city’s conversion to LED bulbs in its approximately 1,500 streetlights was completed in 2023. Since then, the city Department of Public Works has had regular problems with the bulbs burning out. Councilwoman Natalie Luczkowiak brought up the issue at a recent Common Council meeting.

“There have been approximately 150 lights out in neighborhoods, some for about a year now. The LED Solutions company had a PowerPoint program stating a 10-year guarantee when they were soliciting business. However, that never made it into the contract, I hear,” Luczkowiak said. “I think we should sue, and time to move on with other solutions.”

Addressing DPW head Randy Woodbury, she asked him to confirm he has a plan to work on the lights with his own staff. “We have two bucket trucks, neither of which are certified to work under electric lines,” Woodbury responded. “So, we’ve reached out to National Grid to see if we can buy a used bucket truck that would be certifiable for that. Then we could address these things more rapidly.”

He added, “Right now we have a purchase order with BECC, a very reliable local company, that’s working on these. They had a good start in the First Ward until we had a couple blizzards come in… In terms of the other company, we can talk about that with the mayor and the city attorney sometime. But I think the priority would be to figure out a go-ahead plan to get these fixed more rapidly.”

Woodbury had a bit more to say about the situation at a subsequent meeting of the council’s Finance Committee.

He complimented Luczkowiak, his deputy Mike Przybycien, and Councilwoman Nancy Nichols for setting up a meeting with utility officials about the bad bulbs.

“It’s a potential legal issue, so it can’t be discussed at this time,” Woodbury said. “I think we’ll let (City Attorney) Elliott (Raimondo) do his thing.”

Fiscal Affairs Officer Ellen Luczkowiak said the bulbs were financed in 2018 by a bank, and not paid for through a bond. The financing was paid off in 2024, she said.