Manitowoc County was awarded with an almost $6,000 rebate from Focus on Energy thanks to its work in increasing energy efficiency. The rebate, totaling $5,946.19, is the result of a project undertaken by the county more than a year ago.

“When the chiller on the lawn of the jail died, we had a new chiller put in at the jail and worked with Focus on Energy at that time ... to become much more energy efficient. With that comes a custom rebate,” said Manitowoc County Public Works Director Gerry Neuser.

The question then became what to do with the money. Neuser told the county’s Public Works Committee on Wednesday, Aug. 12, there were two options approved by County Comptroller Todd Reckelberg. The money could be set aside for other energy saving projects, or it could be put back in the Jail Assessment Fund from which it was originally taken for the chiller.

“I think it should go back into where it came out of,” said Supervisor Bob Cavanaugh.

The other committee members agreed, with Supervisor Rick Gerroll saying further energy efficiency projects could be paid for in other ways.

“We could do that with any county monies that we could budget for to do that,” Gerroll said. “It’s not like this prevents you from doing that.”