LAC LA BICHE - The lights are on — but nobody's there.
That's an energy-wasting observation from Lac La Biche County councillor John Mondal when he visits the community's Bold Center early in the morning for his daily workouts.
"When I go to the gym at six in the morning, I see the entire place's lights are on — both ice rinks and the soccer field," said Mondal, raising the concern last week to the municipality's recreation boss Darrell Lessmeister. "Is there a reason the lights are on for the entire Bold Center while no one is using it?"
The Bold Center recreation complex is connected to the J.A. Williams High School through a shared fieldhouse, so Mondal is aware that the lights are needed in the mornings ... just not that early.
"I know the school starts at 8:30 but for two-plus hours, I think there is a wasting of electricity," he said.
Counting the savings
With recent utility rate hikes garnering a lot of concern from residential and commercial users, Mondal said even a reduction of a few pennies per kilowatt hour each morning could be a big saving in such a large facility.
"I counted on one ice rink ... approximately 384 tube lights — so there's lot of energy being used out there. You can save money out there if you take a look at it," Mondal told Lessmeister.
The Bold Center is open to the public from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m through the week. Lessmeister said that staff are on-site well before the 6 a.m. opening to perform their duties in all areas of the facility. Staff are also in the building after the doors close at 11 p.m.
"I know we do have staff there early to make sure that everything is open and everything is up and running," he explained.
Mondal's comments come on the heels of recent utility bills for area residents that saw electricity rate hikes almost double from before Christmas.
"We need to start thinking of saving the costs," said Mondal.
Lessmeister agreed to shine more light on the issue by having a report prepared for council with a detailed account of the facility's lighting schedule.
'Ghost lights' outside
Coun. John Mondal's recent concerns about lighting inside the Bold Center follow a recent discussion by municipal officials about dark areas of the parking lots outside the Lac La Biche recreation facility.
Concerns were raised by council members that outdoor light standards were not working at night time, leaving large portions of the multi-plex's parking areas dark.
Those concerns were addressed by facilities staff after it was learned that along with some burned out light's a timer was malfunctioning, causing the lights to operate at the wrong times or not at all.
The County's Recreation and facilities boss Darrell Lessmeister joked that at the time it was like there was a ghost in the facility playing around with the lights. He said the glitch was rectified when the timer was fixed. He said the mini-blackouts weren't part of a cost-saving plan.
"We definitely had to change the lights out — we're not saving any money by not having them," he said, explaining that when a contractor came in recently to change the burned-out lights, they didn't have enough replacements. Municipal staff have since fixed all of the lights ... and the timer.
"It's all been rectified now," he said.
