The nearly constant sunny days have given us some insight into the amount of electricity the town hall solar panels can produce. Supervisor Doug Steltenpohl reported that we produced 1,391 kilowatt-hours (kW⋅h ) during the month of August. To put that in perspective, his home used 890 kW-h during the month (average 29 kW-h/day). Our town hall uses very little electricity compared to a home with an active kitchen, laundry area, etc. When the town hall produces more energy that we use the Town will be given credit by the electric company. This will help us offset our electric costs.

Along the same lines, we hope to realize more savings once a solid waste compacter is installed at the Transfer Station (TS). This month the area where the co-mingle and cardboard containers reside will be excavated, a cement slab laid, and a compacter installed. Residents will be redirected to the most eastern side of the TS (where we usually hold our Choose-to-Reuse program) to access these containers while upgrades are made. A new traffic pattern will be implemented once all receptacles are relocated. We expect these changes to be a bit challenging for a while, but in the end will benefit everyone!

Public works did quite a bit of grading this week and was busy adding some road base to areas where hard surface meets unsurfaced areas. Sometimes these areas get gouged out due to traffic but oft times due to irrigation operations that water the road rather than the field. An example of this problem is included in this week’s picture.

We had a very unusual event this week with a “blue moon” (when there are two full moons in one month). I’ve included a picture of that phenomenon in hopes that everyone got a good look.

Try to stay cool and be safe this holiday weekend, Sharon