Urbana city staff told the Sustainability Advisory Commission that the city received a State of Illinois General Revenue Fund line-item appropriation to fund electric‑vehicle charging infrastructure at the Urbana Public Works facility to support fleet vehicle charging. The final design stubs out 10 charging locations; five will be installed now and space is reserved for five additional units in future phases.

"The city received a quarter of $1,000,000 line item appropriation, from the State of Illinois General Revenue Fund that's paying for an EV charging station at the Urbana Public Works department," City staff (Unidentified) said during the meeting. Interim Public Works Director Vince Gustafson added that the city is starting incrementally: "Once we determined that the storage facility... we were comfortable making the investment," and that the program will be iterative as the city learns how chargers, software and vehicle procurement interact.

Gustafson said the vehicle market constrains how quickly the city can electrify specialized equipment. "There's not really, like, a mass produced option" for many heavy public‑works trucks, he said, and the city plans to begin with mid‑to‑light duty pickup trucks and passenger EVs where available. He noted the city already operates one fully electric passenger vehicle in a staff role and that training for maintenance staff will be required: "We have 4 full time certified mechanics... Training's another big one for us."

Staff also reported the city executed a community solar subscription for streetlight and traffic‑light electric accounts and expects a discount compared with default supply; staff said renewable energy credits resulting from that subscription will be treated under Illinois' renewable portfolio standard.

The commission did not take any formal policy votes on vehicle procurement at the meeting. The city signaled it will pilot the charging bank, evaluate vehicle options and expand charging and vehicles in phases as experience and funding allow.

Next steps: staff will continue the pilot at Public Works, gather operational data, work with the fleet supervisor on vehicle specifications and report back to the commission and to city elected officials as procurement timelines firm up.