A collaboration between Middleboro Facilities Department and Bristol Plymouth Vocational Technical High School brought students to the Town Hall and Town Hall Annex for what Middleboro Facilities Director Matt Foye called a much needed lighting upgrade project. 

Starting in early October, the students came to work every other week and finished the project in mid-May. Class size varied but averaged about 10 students per day which equated to about 960 combined hours of time working on the project. 

Along with updating outlets and fixing issues, the majority of the time was spent on safety and lighting improvements. Motion activated backup lights were added to the basement and exit lights were updated. 

Emergency power failure lights were added and lighting units were replaced in both buildings to provide a clean, well lit work environment. Students installed replacements for items including 22 ballasts, 21 exit and safety light units, and 152 four-foot lights.

 It is estimated that the students work saved the Town $45,000-$50,000 in labor costs. 

The students brought professionalism to the very busy and active Town Hall offices, Foye said. He added that at the end of the academic year, students were asked about their experience and that their feedback was very positive. 

Foye said the students were happy there was always something challenging to work on and that they enjoyed working in a historic building and finding the differences between buildings from the 1800s and modern buildings. 

The Bristol Plymouth electrical shop class used the operating budget from the Facilities Department to purchase materials needed and provided free labor which was overseen by Foye, Electrical Shop instructor Keith Powers, and code compliance inspections by Middleboro Electrical inspector Bill Gazza.