I read with much interest Hank Haines’ editorial in your March 15 edition titled “Why can’t we turn off the lights in public buildings?” Since he talked about the Patterson Center, I feel compelled to respond.
First of all, I am glad Mr. Haines loves coming to the Center, and I am especially pleased that he finds our staff “delightful.” More and more people in Murfreesboro and the surrounding area are discovering Patterson and all it has to offer. I like to call our Center the busiest undiscovered place in town.
Concerning the use of lights in the Center, Mr. Haines is correct in that it is an issue we should pay close attention to as stewards of a public facility. And I assure you we do. Lighting in large buildings is a significant, but necessary, expense. In fact a larger proportion of overhead is required for large buildings than in residential structures.
The Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department studies energy use closely. Director Lanny Goodwin has met with his section heads several times on this issue in a concerted effort to reduce utility costs. Concerning the Patterson Center specifically let me elaborate:
1. First I should mention that lighting is one of the primary means by which we keep the public safe, and that is always our No. 1 priority. A community center like Patterson, which caters to a large diversity of people more than 100 hours a week, has tremendous liability exposure. There are many areas in the Center where it would appear lights are not needed during certain time frames, but indeed they are needed to maintain visibility for security and safety reasons. We have 47 video cameras in the Center to help monitor the many venues and isolated areas. These do not function in the dark. Studies have been done concerning vandalism in public parks and two factors have been shown to decrease the expense of this public nuisance – lighting and ease of access. It is often a balancing act on our part regarding which lights to keep on longer for security purposes. We actually keep the lights on at our outdoor shelters now per a request from our city police to assist them in curbing some recent overnight vandalism. This has paid off for us thanks to their help.
2. We do turn off lights when we can. Our ability to do this is a function of two things: our ability to lock that particular venue when the lights are off and the availability of natural light. We do both as we are able. For example, we are able to lock our large gyms during the day so we cut lights off in them. We do this in several other venues also. Natural light is available in our pool, lobby and youth gym, and we leave the lights off in these venues often on sunny, bright days.
3. We also have many lights on timers.
4. Mr. Haines did not mention heating and air but I will here. We meet periodically with our vendors to re-calibrate our computer controls to better manage this expense. For example, we turn many systems way down during the overnight hours. A couple months ago we lowered the temperatures in the Center 5-10 degrees depending on the venue and the amount of activity in that venue. Once again safety here is a concern. We have a lot of folks exerting themselves in our exercise venues and we pay attention to making these areas safe. You may have noticed a lot of our staff wearing jackets at work this winter and spring. In the past our patrons often complained when we tried lowering temperatures, but recently most realize we are all trying to conserve as much as possible in these difficult times.
Something interesting to note is that even though Murfreesboro City Manager Roger Haley has asked all city departments to make significant cuts this year, the use of our community centers is increasing significantly due to more people saving money and looking for the best values in recreation, which we feel we offer to our community.
5. Some weeks ago, I attended an energy audit training session in Nashville to try and see if there were other areas at the facility where we could improve. What I took away from that training was the need for us to examine closely where unconditioned air may be entering or exiting our building. To this end we are currently studying all of our 138 doors to make sure they are sealed well. I learned at this seminar that an average home, when you add up all the cracks in the house, has the equivalent of a 4-foot-by-4-foot hole letting air in and out. I shudder to imagine the air escaping from a 112,000-square-foot building. But we are on it and doing what we can.
Sure, we can always do better. But I hope folks realize that we give this issue the attention it deserves. I am very proud of the city, the parks department and our staff for all they do to help with this. Patterson is an extremely vibrant community center and as a public facility is under constant scrutiny, as it should be. And I hope folks also realize that an issue is not always as simple as it appears on the surface.
We hope everyone will take the time to visit Patterson and see for themselves the level of services we offer. We think you will believe, as we do, that even in these tough economic times, what we offer is second to none.
Tom Sage, Superintendent Patterson Park Community Center Mercury Boulevard
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