- November 27, 2024
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The Palm Coast City Council has agreed to try charging people a fee to use City Hall's electric vehicle charging stations.
Chief Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Maeven Rogers gave a presentation at a Sept. 12 council workshop on the possibility of the city government partnering with private companies to bring more EV charging stations to Palm Coast.
She proposed a trial fee structure to see what a realistic return on investment might be.
The council unanimously agreed on a fee structure of 18 cents per kilowatt hour, with an initial fee of 50 cents when someone first plugs up the car. The council has not set a date to implement the fee.
Rogers said the 50-cent connection fee would go to ChargePoint, the EV charging company the city uses. The 50 cents covers the use of ChargePoint's cloud services, plus the city's warranty on the charging stations, she said.
Based on 2,400 kWh used a month, the city could see a net annual return on investment of $839. If that rate increased to 20 cents per kWh at 2,400 kWh a month, it would be an annual $1,315 net return, Rogers said in her presentation.
Some cities, she said, implement a larger fee to discourage loitering or overnight parking. The council did not set such a fee.
EV stations do not typically need a lot of maintenance, Rogers said.
“I don't see a lot of our EV charging infrastructure needing upkeep or cleaned or anything,” Rogers said.
Vice Mayor Ed Danko asked her how she was qualified to make such a statement.
Rogers said she had eight years of experience in the industry, specifically when she was in Orlando and the city installed 100 EV stations.
“We have not seen any type of maintenance in that time,” she said.
When Danko said that things break down, she replied, "That’s why we have the warranty, to make sure that we’re covered under that.”
The presentation was primarily informational, expanding on the benefits of electric vehicles and EV-related plans and legislation being considered in Tallahassee, including a Florida Department of Transportation electric vehicle infrastructure master plan to expand EV charging station coverage on the highways to every 25 miles by 2035.
We're not in the market to compete against free enterprise."
— Ed Danko, Palm Coast vice mayor
That plan, Rogers said, would support short- and long-range EV travel and emergency evacuations.
But after Rogers spoke about the potentially limited global supply of crude oil and other nonrenewable liquid fuel sources, Danko called the presentation "absurd" and "woke propaganda."
He also pointed out that fewer people may use the City Hall stations if they have to pay.
"We're not in the market to compete against free enterprise," Danko said.
Rogers last made an EV presentation to the council in June, when she asked the council to consider a grant for the same purpose. The council voiced several objections, questioning whether there's a need for more EV stations in Palm Coast and expressing concern that city-run EV stations may interfere with private enterprise.
Danko said he was not impressed that Rogers would present a proposal that would encourage residents to spend money with the city government, rather than at local gas stations, to charge their cars.
"The facts that you're presenting, quite frankly, they're just based on AOC, Green New Deal, Joe Biden [policies]," Danko said.
Mayor David Alfin said that the city manager had asked Rogers to give the updated presentation on EVs. If the vice mayor had a problem, he should take it up with City Manager Denise Bevan or Alfin — not the staff member, Alfin said.
"You've made your point," Alfin said, raising his voice over Danko. The two began yelling over each other to be heard.
"I'm not finished yet," Danko said.
"Yes, you are," Alfin said.
"I will express myself any way I want to," Danko said. "I don’t even know why this person has a job here.”
"I will not tolerate your going after staff,” Alfin said. "I'm the mayor of this cityand I control this meeting."
I will not tolerate your going after staff ... I'm the mayor of this city and I control this meeting."
— David Alfin, Palm Coast mayor
Danko did ultimately agree to the 18 cents per kWh hour, despite his other concerns.
Council member Cathy Heighter agreed to the fee structure too, but said she also didn't like the idea of interfering with free enterprise.
For council member Theresa Carli Pontieri, the crux of the issue was the lack of local need for EV stations. Palm Coast only has around 500 EVs, she said, which is not enough to justify spending taxpayer money on additional stations.
Alfin asked Rogers to return to the council in the future with more information on how the city could lease land to private companies interested in adding charging stations, garnering even for the city without interfering in the business itself.
He said he was also curious about implementing a permit fee to install EV chargers in city limits.
