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Portage City Hall goes solar

A man with a red beard and baseball cap pushes a baby into Portage City Call.
Leona Larson
/
WMUK
A baby peaks out from a stroller while being pushed around traffic cones that guide citizens to an temporary alternative entrance into Portage City Hall. The solar panels were recently installed on the new roof. A new heated sidewalk is being laid at the main entrance and the entrance to the city's treasury department.

From the roof to the parking lot, the improvements at Portage City Hall are focused on energy efficiency.

If you drive by Portage City Hall, it’s a hub of construction activity. The building is going through a number of improvements.

A redesigned parking lot will add dozens more spaces to park under energy-efficient lighting, along with new landscaping and sidewalks.

Portage is “adding in heated sidewalks near the front entrance and near our treasury department, just to make it easier for our residents in the winter to come and go from City Hall,” said Adam Herringa, the city’s chief operating officer.

Herringa said city officials first considered putting solar panels on the roof a decade ago. But, he said, the time wasn’t right, and the technology wasn’t as advanced or cost-effective.

“Solar is at a point now where you can have a substantial return on investment. So, this project will pay for itself in the next six to eight years. And in looking at forecasts over 20 years, it will result in over a million dollars’ worth of energy savings.”

Ten years after first exploring solar, the roof on City Hall needed to be replaced.

A construction worker in a red shirt and hard hat wipes down a flag pole which is being moved to a new location at Portage City Hall. The blue and white city hall sign is in the foreground of the photo.
Leona Larson
/
WMUK
A construction worker cleans one of three flag pole at Portage City Hall before its set into its new location. The new parking lot and landscaping design called for the flag poles to be moved to the other side of the driveway. The new solar panels can be seen in the background.

“That was the ideal time to put the solar panels on, because you don't want to put solar panels on a 30-year-old roof and then in five or 10 years have to take them down to replace it.”

Herringa added that the solar panels will extend the life of the roof by decades. And the project is more cost effective today because of two government incentives.

“A couple of years ago, the federal government announced the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant Program, and the city was eligible for a $76,800 grant for energy efficiency improvements.”

The Inflation Reduction Act also made the project more affordable by providing a 30% reduction in the cost.

“We decided that this was absolutely the best time to engage in this project, especially since we needed to redo the roof.”

Herringa said it made sense to do all the work on City Hall, from the roof to the parking lot, at the same time to minimize the impact on the public and building staff.

He said all the construction work is scheduled to be completed by Election Day. But the solar panels still need to be connected to the grid. Herringa said he expects that to happen by the end of the year.

Leona has worked as a journalist for most of her life - in radio, print, television and as journalism instructor. She has a background in consumer news, special projects and investigative reporting.