Town officials this month approved an approximately $30,000 contract with a Canaan-based company to remove existing lights at two Mead Park tennis courts and replace them with a new system.
The company, Musco Sports Lighting, “did a fantastic job on the lights at Dunning [Field],” Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Nov. 15 at Town Hall and via videoconference. “I don’t know if you’ve been able to see a game. See the new lights. But they are fantastic.”
He added, “This will be for removal and completing installation of the new ‘SportsCluster’ system with ‘Total Light Control.’ With LEDs, it should give us a savings on our usage, as well. They’ve done excellent work not only at Dunning but every single light system that we have in town is a Musco light system.”
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the $30,889 contract.
The selectmen asked how many lights the project will involve (four), whether the new system will be all-LED lights (yes), what lights in town currently are LED (Dunning), how old the current lights are (at least 25 years), what is the life expectancy of the new ones (at least 20 years) and whether Musco is also under a maintenance contract that has them come in and replace bulbs (yes, as the little league baseball fields).
Corbet asked whether the new lights will cover the pickleball courts at Mead. She referred to an increasingly popular racket sport with new courts installed in the summer of 2021.
Mann said, “No, it’s not just [tennis court numbers] 7 and 8. We are looking to put in lights to cover pickle, but that would be a separate project.”