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To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
SUBJECT: STREET LIGHTING PROGRAM UPDATE
20
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This Informal Report is to respond to Council's request for additional information about the Street Light
program.
ARTERIAL AND RESIDENTIAL LIGHTING
With the adoption of the 2005-06 general fund budget, Council approved a reduction to the bond
reimbursement target in the Transportation and Public Works Department budget. This reduction
allowed TPW to shift additional crews from street light installation in new subdivisions to nighttime
lighting maintenance. This shift from installation to maintenance has achieved positive results as shown
below.
October I't, 2005 through February 28t 2006
Year
to Date
Projected
Annual
Annual
Average
Percent
Change
MAINTENANCE
Lamps replaced
3839
9214
6585
40%
Lighting, heads replaced
795
1908
1005
90%
Street light trouble calls responded/completed
1677
4025
12,964
-69%
Streetlight knock downs repaired
69
166
290
-43%
Street light cable cuts repaired
40
96
38
150%
NEW INSTALLATION
New street lights installed
840
2016 1
1043
93%
The table above illustrates the increased emphasis on maintenance activities. With additional night crews
handling lamp and head replacement and the focusing day crews on cable cuts and electrical grounds,
I Z.17
citizen request trouble calls have decreased by a projected 69%.
The installation of new lights is projected to be up again significantly this year. This increase is due in
part to the continued pace of new developments and in part, to the successful reduction of the backlog of
new developments waiting for new street lights. The backlog reduction is being accomplished using a
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combination of contractual services and city forces. Develop-ers are also beginning to install their own
street lights subsequent to the revision in the CFA policy that now allows this option.
Streetlight knock downs have been relatively low to date this budget year. While these events are outside
staff control., we do belleve that night time vehicle accidents resulting in street light pole hits should
cc-,nfinu- to decrea.,,z-,-,- as, the night mainte-in"'arlec frmciu!s on keeping otix art-,rial -Cladways
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
Q
SUBJECT: STREET LIGHTING PROGRAM UPDATE
0
April 4, 2006
Page 2 of 2
From a budget standpoint, the maintenance emphasis has increased in material expenditures. We have
been expending about twice the rate as previous years. Last fiscal year, the average monthly
expenditures for roadway lighting materials was $35,000. With the five months completed, the average
monthly expenditure for roadway lighting materials is $70,000. We expect that TPW will continue to
spend at this rate and will, therefore, be over in their street light materials budget this year.
FREEWAY LIGHTING:
On December 6, 2005 Council authorized the award of contract to Republic Electric, Inc. for the
maintenance of freeway lighting. Execution of the contract was slowed due to the contractor's delay in
obtaining the required bonds and insurance through the holiday season. Work began this month along
SH -121 from IH -35W east to the City limits. Republic Electric has struggled in their efforts to obtain
large bucket trucks needed for the highway lighting work since most of this type of equipment has been
committed to companies working on gulf coast hurricane recovery. However, the contractor did finally
acquire two large bucket trucks and hired an additional 4 crew members this past week. The additional
equipment and staff will allow them to increase their efforts to rehabilitate the freeway lighting
throughout the city.
Staff continues to receive citizen calls on freeway lighting outages. We are now passing those calls to
Republic Electric. Their staff has committed to train TPW dispatch staff on how to use their nation wide
web based work order tracking system. This system promises to allow city staff to enter a citizen call on
the freeway lighting into their work order system directly via the internet and in turn the call will be
transmitted to the designated crew leader in the field via a cell -phone web browser. City staff in turn
should be able to track the process of the citizen call as the crew leader clears the work ticket on -line in
the field.
Charles R. Boswell
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH. TEXAS