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Council discusses whether city should operate EV chargers or outsource; 10 stations planned at community center
Summary
Staff told the council the FY26 capital budget includes plans for public EV chargers at the community center and Buddy Attick Park and that the city must decide whether to operate the chargers or outsource to a provider; staff noted reliability and data‑access problems at some existing Pepco and third‑party stations.
City Manager Josue Semoran and staff briefed the council on planned EV charging infrastructure and options for operating the stations.
Semoran said the city plans to install 10 new public Level‑2 charging stations at the community center/library parking lot and additional chargers at Buddy Attick Park. The city is using the Blink platform for community‑facing chargers, which staff said supports membership, fleet and pay‑per‑use models.
Operational choices and reliability
Semoran outlined two operational models: the city could operate and manage the stations itself (setting rates and handling customer support) or it could outsource operations to a third‑party vendor that installs and manages the equipment and billing. “My personal opinion would be that we outsource the program and let someone else manage it,” Semoran said, citing limited city staff capacity to operate a public charging network and the burden of customer support for many stations.
Council members and staff also raised reliability and data issues. Semoran said staff do not have full usage data from a Pepco‑operated station or from an earlier EV Institute arrangement; in at least one instance, an app reported a station online while the physical device displayed “offline.” Staff said that reliability and data access will factor into procurement decisions.
Procurement and timing
Staff said they hope to bring the first set of chargers online in June; council will be asked to direct whether the city operates chargers or selects a vendor model for public-facing stations. Staff noted ChargePoint is in use for city fleet chargers and Blink is the chosen public platform for community spaces.
