Carbon County is taking the middlemen out of its retrofit lighting project.

On Thursday, the county commissioners voted to terminate the contract with Ingram Engineering Services Inc. of West Chester for professional services related to the project at the courthouse, annex and 76 Susquehanna St. building.Commissioner William O'Gurek said the county used Ingram to identify its needs.The county currently has over 700 fixtures and 51 exit signs that it hopes to change over to LED fixtures."The lights we are going with are environmentally safe and have a five-year warranty," Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said, adding that they also will require less space for storage and do not lose their efficiency like fluorescents.Now, after much consideration, the county plans to purchase the lighting fixtures and lights through state contract, rather than bid out the whole project."We're taking out the middleman (electric companies) because we are going to hopefully save money by buying the products through state contract," he said. "We're going to purchase the fixtures and then bid out to electrical companies to install them."In April, Carbon County received a $48,284.34 matching grant from the Northeast Pennsylvania Alliance for the NEPA Efficient Lighting Grant program. The county will also put $48,284 into the project.But the nearly $100,000 project will cost the county nearly nothing after a $33,000 PPL rebate that is currently available.In addition, the savings through the new lights is expected to be approximately $24,000 annually.O'Gurek added that additional money may be available through the Application Regional Commission to NEPA for the additional lighting project at the county prison.Currently, the prison board is looking at changing over the facility's lighting using in-house crews.In other matters, the board approved the 2014 Workforce Investment Area financial agreements, commencing July 1, 2014, and terminating June 30, 2015, for employment and training and related administrative services between Carbon County, the administrative entity, and Monroe and Pike counties. Monroe's payment shall not exceed $1,460,834, and Pike's shall not exceed $477,006.80.