Brighter nights for MTC

Two years ago, Moorcroft Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Schneider applied for and received a $25,000 Wylite Energy grant through the Wyoming Energy Authority to replace the old halogen lighting in the gymnasium at the Moorcroft Town Center (MTC) with new energy efficient fixtures.

This year she again applied and received $25,000 to install exterior LED lighting around the circumference of the building. The work was completed Tuesday morning and will ensure well lit and safer nighttime accessibility for seniors and those who utilize the gymnasium after dark. Any funds not used on the outside will be “moved to the inside of the building”.

The plan of the council and committee now is to continue changing the lighting to the LED system throughout the interior as long as funding is obtainable, explained Schneider: “We’ll just keep moving down those hallways each year as we write that.”

This 90/10% reimbursement grant will continue to be available for application each year as long as the funding is to be had, said Schneider, and the council has been budgeting for the town’s obligatory ten percent match as they figure for the fiscal year.

The MTC Committee is an integral part of the discussion regarding the prioritization of needs for the building, Schneider expounded the process used to decide what first to replace or install, “What would be our most cost effective use of the funds?”

The group invited Long’s Engineering, who works for the Wyoming Business Council to go over the catalog of needs and provide them with a comprehensive prioritized list from which to work. According to Schneider, “They determine what is the biggest bang for the buck [and] the windows would be a huge cost efficiency, but they’re also very expensive so we started in some of the more affordable areas like replacing the lighting.”

Schneider noted that the Wyoming Energy Authority is an excellent help for small communities that cannot afford these upgrades alone and looks forward to applying again next year, “We plan to apply every year the funds are available and the town has the match to do it. It’ll be chipping a little bit at a time, but at least we’ll get there.”