On Thursday, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion to apply for two grants to fund a project to install LED lighting in all county buildings.

The supervisors will then assess which grant better meets the county’s needs.

In order to finish the project by an Aug. 31 deadline, the supervisors hope to modify the project to keep its cost below the threshold requiring public bidding, a lengthy process.

Before the meeting, Johnson County grant specialist Sara Sedlacek and the supervisors believed that any project above $100,000 required public bids, but Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell noted that the threshold had been raised to $125,000 this year.

The project as planned would cost $109,609.81, but the initiative could be trimmed to $97,466.88, Sedlacek said.

The supervisors also considered asking for a deadline extension to Oct. 31.

Sedlacek and the supervisors agreed that, considering the raise in the public bidding minimum, the state’s energy grant is preferable because it could fund the project in its entirety.

— by Eleanor Marshall