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Council to fund EV charger maintenance; law director to prepare rate-setting language
Summary
City staff told a Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers committee the EV charging station maintenance agreement now falls to the city at $9,240 annually; council included that amount in a budget amendment and introduced an ordinance to permit the city administrator to set charging rates.
City staff told a Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers committee that the city now must pay the annual maintenance agreement for its electric vehicle charging station and recommended changes to local code to allow the administrator to fix rates.
The matter matters because the city will begin paying for equipment maintenance after grant support ended. Council approved an appropriation to cover the first-year maintenance bill and introduced an ordinance to permit administrative rate-setting — steps the city said are needed to avoid service interruptions and reduce ongoing general-fund exposure.
At the committee meeting, a city staff member identified only as Dutra said the charging station’s “maintenance agreement fee is $9,240 annually and does not include the electricity.” Dutra said ChargePoint provided initial backend support under the original grant; when the grant period ended the city was notified it would be responsible for maintenance payments. He also said the station logged 116 uses in January by 31 unique users but that the system does not provide user-location detail.
Councilmember Kevin Reisner reminded the committee that electricity costs and higher maintenance frequency for heavy-use sites can raise expenses; the committee voted 4-0 to ask the law director to prepare legislation covering the city’s options. Councilmember Erin Jones moved that the law director prepare legislation; the motion was seconded and the committee vote passed 5-0 in committee proceedings recorded to the minutes.
Finance Director Kathy Kaufman told council during the ordinance discussion that the city requested an appropriation of $9,240 to pay the maintenance agreement; the money was included in ordinance 25-20, which the council suspended the three-reading rule to adopt. The city administrator later said some of the related HVAC, flashing-beacon and charging-station costs would be reimbursed through NOPEC grant funds, so the appropriation is expected to be largely reimbursable.
Officials told the committee the city electricians do not consider themselves qualified to maintain the ChargePoint equipment without additional training and that a review of comparable communities showed other cities reassess station programs annually. NOPEC has offered a temporary grant to help with this year’s costs, but staff recommended planning for a sustainable funding approach — including the authority to set user rates. Council introduced ordinance 25-21, which would add a local code chapter permitting the city administrator to set charging-station rates; that ordinance was read for the first time and will return for further consideration.
Ending
Staff noted the maintenance payment is due in mid-March; council’s appropriation is intended to allow the city to meet that deadline while city staff and council refine the long-term funding approach and any rate structure.
