The Chattanooga City Council heard complaints Tuesday about a bid for street lighting that fell short of its original proposal.
Don Lepard, owner of Global Green Lighting, told council members he wanted his firm to be the first pick for installing new light-emitting diode lights within the city after his company won the original bid.
“What I’m asking for is a commitment,” Lepard said.
Global Green Lighting, the company that put the LED lights up in Coolidge Park, won a bid to install 26,500 lights citywide. But city officials later said they could not afford to replace all city street lights and scaled back to 5,500.
The cost of installing all 26,500 lights would be $18 million, Lepard said. But he projected the city would save about 75 percent annually on energy with the new lights.