Consideration and Approval of Contract:  Street Lighting in Support of Dark Skies RFP 2015-69 (Approve contract with Monrad Engineering, Inc. for the development of an installation and light management plan in the amount of $100,000).

Award the contract for Street Lighting In Support of Dark Skies RFP 2015-69 to Monrad Engineering, Inc. of Tucson, AZ in the amount of $100,000.

Street Lighting in Support of Dark Skies (SLEDS) is an applied research effort to develop a replacement strategy for the City's increasingly obsolete Low Pressure Sodium (LPS) street lights with a newer technology, most likely Light Emitting Diodes (LED).  LED lights have advantages and disadvantages relative to dark skies.  They can be filtered to limit damaging blue light but this reduces energy efficiency. They direct light better reducing glare and allowing light to be placed where it is needed.  They are readily controlled providing the opportunity to turn them on or dim them as needed.  This effort will test a series of LED light types and control strategies and evaluate them for the impact on astronomical studies, street lighting needs, and  municipal capital and operating budgets.  The consultant, Monrad Engineering, was selected by a panel that included representation from Lowell Observatory. They have done similar work in Tucson and are looking to synthesize several areas of research and application into a unified process for street light planning. Their proposal includes work with a citizens committee and the existing Flagstaff Dark Skies Working Group will serve this purpose. The City of Flagstaff Transportation Engineering Section will manage the day-to-day aspects of the research.

The cost of the contract is $100,000.  The schedule is approximated at 7-8 months.  Variability due to weather and atmospheric conditions and procurement process for obtaining test luminaires is expected.  One result of the study should be an estimated capital expense for replacing luminaires city-wide.  A $200,000 grant has already been approved to support purchase of test luminaires for this effort.
 

 

The Council supported the Dark Skies Summit last year and approved in June the use of $200,000 in federal funds in procurement  of light fixtures.

1)  Approve the contract and award as recommended.
2)  Remand the project to the FMPO Executive Board for further consideration.  This may result in funds being put to a different use.  It will delay reaching a decision on a future light source for the City street lights.
3)  Remand the project to the review committee for further review and consideration. 
4)  Do not approve the contract

LPS was set as a standard for lighting in Flagstaff in the 1980's and Flagstaff was identified as the world's first Dark Skies City.  With the advent of LED lighting the production of LPS has decreased resulting in cost increases, poorer quality and delay deliveries.  Further, the LPS lighting fixtures are large, catch the wind and fatigue the light poles and mast arms.  Together these create an increasingly urgent need to find a replacement technology. The US Department of Energy promotes the use of LED lights as very energy efficient.  This is true for those lights producing white light.  However, the light levels and light spectrum from white LED is very disruptive to the regional observatories.  Last year's Darks Skies Summit convened experts in astronomy, development, health and lighting where these and other issues were examined.  Extensive blue light application can have negative implications for health and the environment by disrupting circadian rhythms.

In May of 2015, the Purchasing Section conducted a Request for proposals (RFP) and received a total of four (4) proposal responses.  The evaluation committee evaluated and scored the four (4) proposal responses according to the evaluation criteria outlined in the RFP document.  Monrad Engineering's proposal was determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the City, taking into consideration the evaluation factors outlined in the RFP. 

In awarding the contract, the Council may wish to consider the following:

• The regional observatories were involved in the Dark Skies Summit, the development of the request for proposal, and Lowell Observatory was involved the review and selection of the consultant.
• Four proposals were received, three of which were highly qualified.  The experience, priority and ability to work with the observatories was a deciding factor in selecting Monrad Engineering, Inc.
• Monrad Engineering is based in Arizona providing ready access to Flagstaff and local interests.
• Monrad's proposal includes working with a citizen's group and such a group is already in operation.
• The FMPO Executive Board approved the Summit, the research effort and the $200,000 expenditure on light fixture procurement in the annual Transportation Improvement Program.
• Coconino County will consider the results of this study in determining how to replace their inventory of LPS lights.
• A goal of the study is to produce a methodology and applications that are transferable to other communities.  This will help Flagstaff retain its role as a leader in Dark Skies protection.

• The research is federally funded using Surface Transportation Program dollars passed through from the Arizona Department of Transportation to the Flagstaff Metropolitan Planning Organization. 
• The City will charge its indirect cost allocation plan rates to this project.
• The City will provide in-kind services to install the test lights.
• Longer term financial implications to be learned from this study include capital costs (luminaire and possible pole replacement) and life-cycle operations and maintenance.

Maintaining dark skies has implications for the astronomical sector of our regional economy, tourism and daily quality of life for our citizens.  The ability to change technologies and employ strategies to manage dark skies friendly street lighting in as cost-effective means as possible is a service to tax-payers.

Involve - Citizens from the Flagstaff Dark Skies Working Group will be engaged in evaluating different lighting types and strategies.