Court hears solar options

PRESCOTT – Representatives from McKinstry were on hand for the November meeting of the Nevada County Quorum Court meeting Wednesday to talk about possible improvements to the courthouse along with going solar.

Jay Holstead and Walter Wills spoke for more than an hour about how improvements such as LED lighting, upgrades in the HVAC system and thermostats could save the county money, along with other things. Holstead pointed out the courthouse has an aging infrastructure needing to be repaired and the county has limited money to work with, which leads to deferred maintenance. Meanwhile, costs continue rising while the revenue falls due to a declining population and tax base.

Wills said the company will put a plan together, looking at what needs to be done and develop a strategy to meet what’s needed in the area of lighting, HVAC, roof repair and solar energy. He said grants are available as this is a historic courthouse. Holstead agreed, saying the county does qualify for a historic grant.

Wills continued, telling the court the company would get rid of all fluorescent lighting, replacing it with LED lights, do a retrofit on the HVAC system, removing any R-22 units as they are obsolete and look at upgrading the thermostats, while also going with low-flow toilets. Holstead added going solar isn’t a requirement and just doing the other things would result in savings to the county on its utility bills.

He talked about how the net metering system will sunset next September and how it’s important to do solar now. There are two ways to do solar, he said, on-site and virtual – or off-site. On-site, he said, shows usage in real time, while virtual provides a credit on the electric bill. He called the virtual option a trade, whereas on-site would mean the county could literally receive money from using solar energy. Holstead talked about how expensive electricity is in Prescott, adding a solar system would pay for itself, but needs to be grandfathered in under the net metering laws.

Holstead said a system could be placed on the roof of the courthouse and the company would do the necessary roofing repairs. He told the court there are some funding sources, such as the federal government, the recovery act money (if any was left) and preservation grants, along with a revolving loan program through the state with an interest rate of 0.4 percent fixed for 15-years. He told the panel the company would be taking the risks as its costs are built into the grant.

According to Holstead, if the county went solar, it would own the system lock, stock and barrel, with the maintenance costs built in as well on a five-year plan, renewable after five years. He said a letter of intent would be required to apply for a preservation grant.

At this point, Ben Hale, Eighth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney, spoke up telling the court the county doesn’t want a preservation grant because the county wouldn’t be able to do anything with the courthouse if it got one. He also pointed out the county should go through the bid process if it’s considering these repairs and going solar. Historic preservation grants, he continued, give the Historic Preservation Society complete control of what’s done to the building.

In the end, the concept was tabled until more research could be done on the topic.

In other business, Mary Godwin updated the court on what’s going on with the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office. She said Leadership Nevada County will hold its graduation Dec. 7 at the Senior Center at 6 p.m. The Explore Success program, held recently at Hempstead Hall, saw more than 800 eighth graders from schools in the region learn about manufacturing jobs available in the area.

Jamie Hillery, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce, said Trick or Treat on Elm St. was a huge success with more than 1,700 coming through the entry gate and 55 vendors handing out candy. This is the fourth year of the giving tree, she said, and 26 families applied this year. To date, all but two of the families have been adopted. She pointed out this isn’t a program to provide toys to children, but give needy children things they need such as clothes, shoes and socks. Mingle and Jingle will be Nov. 30 with 17 businesses registered to date. The annual Christmas parade will be Dec. 7 at p.m.

The court agreed to hold a budget meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 20.