The Light-Emitting Diode project went back into Trinidad’s 2012 budget and will go out for bids as the result of action taken at a Tuesday city council work session. The project had been taken out of this year’s budget in a Dec. 20 council vote, after originally being part of the city’s proposed budget.

Trinidad City Manager Ed Gil de Rubio had worked out a deal with Colorado-based Live Green Solutions, a supplier of LED lighting with a manufacturing arm in New Mexico. The council nixed that proposal in favor of going through a bidding process. The vote to take the project out for bids was unanimous.

Councilwoman Bernadette Baca Gonzalez said the proposal from Live Green Solutions only involved custom-made light bulbs, while other distributors wanted to install new light poles and fixtures, making the Live Green proposal less expensive for the city.

Mayor John Rino said the city should be able to get bids and make a decision within 45 days. He doesn’t believe Trinidad would see a greater expense by going through the bidding process.

Gil de Rubio described the process he had gone through to get a good deal from the manufacturer. That deal would have offered the city considerable savings on the lights and involved a training program at TSJC for students to learn how to install them. That deal expires Tuesday. Gil de Rubio said the city had been offered such a good deal because Trinidad would have been a model project it could then show other potential customers. Councilman Joe Bonato said a bidding process would be fairer to other manufacturers.

City Attorney Jerod Beatty offered his opinion that there was no federal mandate requiring LED lighting in municipalities. Beatty said that new federal energy efficiency standards have effectively made the current incandescent lighting the city uses obsolete. He said the city does have other lighting options but said he felt LED lighting was the most cost effective options. He said he had gone over the city’s procurement policy with Gil de Rubio. He said his feeling when the LED project was first discussed last year was that cost savings were of primary concern and felt the city manager should go ahead and try to get the best deal he could.

Beatty told the council his opinion has changed. He said he now feels a bidding process would be the proper way for the city to proceed.

Citizen Ken Fletcher said he was in favor of the LED project but felt a bidding process was the correct way to proceed.

Frank “Sonny” Leone, business owner who runs a sand and gravel company, said he has bid on many government projects. He told the council he has always had to place bids on contracts. He said he felt the bidding process was the only proper way to conduct business.

Baca Gonzalez, a retired lawyer, said she was concerned about the council not having received legal advice on subject of whether a bidding process was necessary until Tuesday’s meeting. She said the LED lighting project had been under discussion since July and that council should have received a legal opinion much earlier.

“I am very concerned that the legal issue was not addressed earlier,” Baca Gonzalez said. “I have had experience representing political subdivisions, and I was ethically obligated to come forward and point out problems or irregularities whether or not it pleased my boss or a board of trustees. I’m very concerned that the issue of whether or not this should be bid didn’t come up until the last inning, and I’m also concerned that the first time we have received a legal opinion that the bidding process should have been adhered to is today. I’ll be the first one to tell you that I’m not going to vote on something if legal counsel is advising against it. I would recommend that the city council give clear and unequivocal instruction to the city manager and city attorney regarding what city council wants to do about the LED lights.”

Councilman Al Pando made a motion to put the LED lighting project out for bids. Bonato seconded the motion.

Council member Carol Bolton shared a newspaper article with the council about the benefits of LED lighting in Topeka, Kan. Quoting from the article she said: “The transition to LED street lighting has helped the city achieve 40 percent energy savings and cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 63 tons. City officials ran a separate meter for their LED lights and compared their energy readings with the previous two years to capture the data.”

Bolton said the article showed that Trinidad would have great savings by installing LED lights.