NORTH VERNON, Indiana — The process of converting nearly all city-owned buildings to solar energy is a little behind schedule but is about 75 percent completed.
“We thought we would be completely finished by now but we ran into a few delays,” said North Vernon Mayor Mike Ochs.
Ochs explained one major delay involved repairing some of the structures before the solar equipment could be installed.
“When we actually got into the buildings to do the work, sometimes problems showed up in the structure of the building itself. It was things that would have had to be repaired anyway and it was a good thing they were identified in the long run, but repairs to some of the buildings did slow things down,” Ochs said.
The decision to convert North Vernon’s city buildings to solar energy was finalized at a North Vernon City Council meeting in April.
Soon after, Johnson Melloh Solutions was contracted to convert city buildings, street lights and park lighting to solar energy.
Work to convert the North Vernon Fire Department to solar energy has been completed as well as some city office buildings.
Solar conversion work is continuing at the city golf course, the water department, the sewer department and the parks department.
