By Mike Kruzman & Jon King / news@whmi.com


Brighton officials are staying local with needed streetlight purchases and have opened up discussion bringing them to a uniform standard.

Brighton has black decorative streetlights in various locations throughout the City. Patty Thomas, Assistant to the DPS Director, gave a presentation to City Council last week, and showed that there are actually several different styles sprinkled around town.

While some are owned by the City, most are owned by DTE. The City is still responsible for purchasing the lights for DTE and keeping at least one of each type in stock in so that in the case of a knock down, the utility can install a new light in a timely manner. The lead time for these lights is approximately 6 weeks and they are not manufactured until an order is in place. The City was looking to purchase lights for 4 locations and requested quotes from 3 contractors. Two of them provided virtually identical pricing. City Council elected to go with KE Electric for a price just under $41,300. KE Electric’s quote was more expensive, but only by $1.08. As they were local and having done business with them before, City Council voted unanimously to offer them the contract.

Meanwhile, the discussion meanwhile turned towards the topic of having so many different styles of streetlights. Councilman Jim Muzzin said that is something they should consider changing. He said, “I’m all in favor of a little more consistency. If that means there might be some different ones til we get through the transition, then it is what it is… the fewer options we have, the cheaper it’s going to be.”

City Council members that spoke were again in lockstep agreement in this direction. DPW Director Marcel Goch said it would be easier to only have 1 or 2 types to store. City manager Nate Geinzer added that if City Council wishes, they can slowly start standardizing the lights.