Musco Lighting - Corona takes control of lights

Corona takes control of lights
Innovation saves energy and staff time for California city

Opening day at Corona Park, California, found staff members looking forward to a smoother, less time-consuming season thanks to Musco’s Control-Link® system. Lights are turned on and off according to a weekly computer schedule that can be changed any time, lowering energy costs while saving significant time, money and hassle.

“The field usage data is great. It helps us set user fees easily and more appropriately.”

— Judy Flynn
Recreation Supervisor
Corona Park and Rec

Park and recreation departments, city planners and facility managers across the country are always on the lookout for ways to stretch continuously strained budgets and resources.

The city of Corona, California, has recently found a new way to increase staff efficiency and decrease energy costs by eliminating costly trips to turn lights on and off.

The Corona park and recreation department has used various forms of automated systems for operating lights since 1979, including digital clocks with timers. Because the clocks were susceptible to power surges and still had to be set daily, Corona decided to use one of their seven fields as a beta test site for Musco’s new Control-Link® system.

Control-Link is a management tool that allows you to remotely operate any electrically controlled device through on/off schedules that are entered via the internet, phone or fax. The schedules can be changed any time in case of forfeitures, rain delays, extended games, etc.

Corona staff noticed an immediate difference and soon realized that Control-Link was the long-term solution they’d been looking for. Corona has now installed these systems at each park. Since it can handle variable schedules at multiple locations, Control-Link has saved park supervisors a significant amount of time and hassle.

“It’s been great. It’s ten times better than anything we’ve ever tried before,” said Judy Flynn, recreation supervisor.

Operating the lights that used to take Flynn and her staff several hours each day now takes about one hour a week. Flynn feels they are serving their customers much better now. The lights come on when the team needs them — no more waiting for a staff member to get to the field.

Taxpayers’ concerns about wasted energy usage have also been curtailed. Phone calls about lights being left on when no one is playing have decreased dramatically.

Control-Link also enables park officials to track lighting usage by park, field and user. This further enhanced Corona’s park and recreation department’s management effectiveness. “The field usage data is great,” Flynn said. “It helps us set user fees easily and more appropriately.” •