Friday, June 11, 2010

Borough has an online solution to reporting problems with street lights

If you live in Elizabethtown, you now now have an easy and convenient way to report problems with streetlights online.

By simply following the link, type in the grid number, which is the number on the two metal labels on every utility pole. If you don't know the number, simply click on the Unknown Grid Number button, which will take you to a screen where you can type in Elizabethtown's ZIP code (17022).

This brings you to a screen where you can type in your address. A Google map of the area appears with icons showing the locations of the streetlights in that area of town. You just click on the light that has an issue and follow the on-screen menus to report it.

I recently reported a problem with a light outside my house. I found the system to work very easily.  If you're at all familiar with using online tools, it will be a cinch for you.

6 comments:

  1. That's pretty cool.
    My only questions are:
    1) who is running the service, and
    2) how much is the borough paying for the service? (initial and on-going)
    3) Was this project bid?

    The site is very bare-bones. The domain registration points to someone in Moscow, PA. That person links to municipalenergymanagers.com, which is a dead-end site registered to a fake name and address:
    Registrant:
    eCampaign
    Billing Department
    Street
    City PA 19100 US

    It appears to be set up by Robert Hughes (http://nepaern.com/user/1).

    It all seems a bit sketchy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The borough entered into an agreement with Municipal Energy Managers in February 2009 to provide services for acquiring and converting E-town's street lights to local ownership (rather than PPL's owning them), the installation of energy saving equipment on the street lights and maintenance services.

    Because the agreement fell under the provisions of maintenance, repairs or replacement of electric lights, it was not a project that was bid.

    The contract outlines that the Borough will finance the project for $836,300 over the 20 year term of the contract and that the Borough will save $75,278 per year in excess of the annual debt service payments.

    In addition to saving money, especially over time, the benefits include having a faster response time for repairs to street lights.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the update, Jeff. It's nice to have a little "freedom of information" now and then.

    Do you know what the "energy saving equipment" will entail? What is the installation schedule?

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment is not in regard to street lights, but I wanted to ask if you have any information or comment on the large black bear that was found in Etown (my development specifically, Conoy Crossing - down from the EMS station). We have not heard anything further since police came Sunday morning (June 13th). Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mrs: Police Chief Jack Mentzer told me this evening that there definitely is a bear that's been out in that part of the E-town area. He said police found tracks, and residents have reported seeing it. Sightings have also been reported as far as Marietta.

    The bear has not been captured or killed, Mentzer said. Police have notified the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

    I did find this link to a news release that the Game Commission issued in May about how to avoid attracting bears:

    http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pa-game-commission-offers-advice-to-avoid-attracting-bears-92694204.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. By the way, sorry to Mr. Anonymous for the delay in posting his comment. I thought I had approved it from my e-mail -- but when I checked the administrative part of the blog tonight I noticed that it was still pending approval. My apologies -- my goal is to be as expeditious as possible in approving and posting comments.

    ReplyDelete

Because of ongoing spam passed off as comments, I have instituted a policy of moderating all comments. I will receive an e-mail when you comment and will review to ensure they are appropriate. For the record, this is not an effort to censor anyone except spammers hawking offensive websites and inappropriate and unrelated content. I pledge to post all comments, regardless of whether they are critical of me and my writing or not.