The City Council met for the regular monthly meeting on Thursday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m.
CFO Luke Feighert presented information at the City Council Committee meeting held on Thursday, August 8, about a $1.3 billion Federal Grant offered to municipalities for installing electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. The 80/20 grant will close on Aug. 28. The committee moved the item to the full council for more discussion and information.
Feighert shared with the Council on Aug. 22 that the chargers would pay for themselves within three years. “There are no high-speed electric chargers available between Conway and Branson. The proposed chargers are level three, which can charge a battery in 15-20 minutes, compared to level two, which takes seven hours.”
The chargers generally cost $200,000 each. The 80/20 split is actually better than it seems. The tax rebates would lower the city’s cost to around 12% instead of 20%.
There is no obligation to accept the money after the application is made. Clint Howard from Solutions Provider has a team that works with federal funding and brought the grant to Feighert’s attention.
“There is only one commercial EV charger in Harrison, and it is located at Clay Maxey Ford. They had no problem with the city participating in this grant,” Feighert said.
Level two chargers can take up to seven hours to fully charge a vehicle. Level three (covered by the grant) takes 15-20 minutes. At least two of the chargers will have to be located on the highway.
Feighert said that, according to state officials, there are 4,000 electric vehicles in the state. When hybrids are added, the number goes to almost 40,000 vehicles.
Once council member said he preferred for Harrison to receive this money, other than another city or state.
The Council voted to approve the grant application.
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