The Franklin News-Post
P. O. Box 250
310 Main Street, SW
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151
540-483-5113
Fax: 540-483-8013
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Monday, November 16, 2009
By JOEL TURNER - Staff Writer
Rocky Mount will join Franklin County and Franklin County schools in seeking a federal grant to hire a consultant to make an energy audit of their public buildings, hire an energy manager, and make improvements to the buildings to make them more energy efficient.
Town Manager James Ervin said that the three governmental entities have decided that it is in the best interest of their citizens to jointly apply for an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG).
"The proposal, if funded, will lead to a regional governmental effort to reduce energy consumption, reduce our regional governmental effort to reduce energy consumption, reduce our carbon footprint and to encourage similar cost and energy saving efforts by local residents and businesses," Ervin said.
Town council has approved a resolution authorizing the filing of an application for the grant funds. The resolution does not specify an amount.
Franklin County is taking the lead with the preparation of the application and the administration of the grant if approved.
The EECBG program is part of the stimulus package approved by Congress earlier this year.
It is intended to assist states, cities, counties and towns to develop, promote, implement and manage energy efficiency conservation projects
The program is modeled after the federal Community Development Block Grant program.
On a related matter, Rocky Mount decided to apply for a an EECBG grant to seek funds to retrofit the town's water treatment plant with high efficiency electric motors.
Town officials are also seeking EECBG funds to equip the town's traffic lights long life LED bulbs to reduce electricity costs.
"These (two) projects are being undertaken with the goal of reducing energy consumption and the cost of operations of our essential municipal services," Ervin said.
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