WEST ALEXANDRIA — West Alexandria Village Council heard a presentation from Solar Power & Light LLC during its regular meeting on Monday, June 20, during which SP&L discussed potential solar energy options for the village.

Representatives of SP&L explained to council during the public participation segment how their company would conduct business with West Alexandria, should council decide to use them to install solar panels in the village.

“We could go to a village, go to the places with the highest use of energy, and build a solar array on that property and then sell the village the power from it. This adds zero cost for capital expense to the village. All (the village will) do is agree to buy any of the power that is produced,” stated the SP&L representatives.

The SP&L representatives added the only way they would build the solar array in West Alexandria was if they could produce energy cheaper than the village’s current power expenses.

“Today’s times are showing that these rates are going up, and up, and up, so we are very active right now,” remarked the representatives when speaking to the current economic costs for energy, and the trending use of solar power. According to the spokesman for SP&L, they have been responsible for building, maintaining and overseeing solar arrays for the City of Cincinnati, the City of Xenia, as well as several villages, schools and colleges all around Ohio.

According to SP&L representatives, if council were to decide on solar power for West Alexandria, SP&L would be solely responsible for acquiring property on which to build a solar array, as well as paying the lease for, or purchasing said property. SP&L would then maintain all aspects of the array and the property it sits on. The only obligation the village would inherit from this deal would be purchasing energy in the amount agreed upon between SP&L and the village.

“We only get paid if the project is working and if its producing power. So, it’s in our vested interest to make sure it’s operating and not sitting there idle,” John Halley of SP&L said.

As of June 20, council had made no decision on rather to pursue solar energy or not, but had scheduled a work session to further investigate its potential for West Alexandria.

In other business:

• Mayor Jeff Hickey publicly thanked Rachael Vonderhaar and her family for donating to the remembrance benches for Carol Lunsford, in the amount of $500 dollars.
• Hickey also thanked his wife, JoEllen, for, “taking the initiative to contact our representative, Rodney Creech, getting the ball rolling on what eventually led to us getting a $100,000 grant for the village.”
• Council adopted a resolution consenting to ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) resurfacing projects for U.S. 35, and Ohio 122.
• Council approved a purchase order for fire hose replacements for the fire department.
• Council accepted the resignations of EMS employees Michelle Bowman, Mindy Jones, Matthew Vannatter, and Tristen Cahall.

West Alexandria Village Council meetings are public meetings held on the third Monday of each month, at 7 p.m at 8 Marty Lane in the EMS Building.