A Greenspot electric vehicle charger in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The City of Norwich recently discussed a possible contract between the city and Greenspot, who would install and maintain eight level two electric vehicle chargers in Norwich. (Photo from Greenspot)

NORWICH — The City of Norwich Common Council held a joint committee meeting last week, and discussed a proposed contract with New Jersey-based company Greenspot, who would provide the city with eight level two electric vehicle (EV) chargers.

"There are no out of pocket costs to the city. It’s a level two charger. Greenspot, the company, is responsible for the installation, they own all of the equipment, they’re responsible for the ongoing operation of the service," said City of Norwich Director of Finance Dee DuFour. "Greenspot maintains all of the equipment, they keep it all in proper working order, they’re responsible for operating all of the equipment. They have 24/7 customer service, mobile applications, they display all their information on the equipment."

The city, on the other hand, would be responsible for keeping the parking spaces with EV chargers clear of debris and snow, and also making sure gas vehicles are not parked there, or that electric vehicles have not been taking up the space and charger for longer than is necessary.

"According to them, what we would be responsible for is we would be responsible for keeping any debris, any snow, and that type of thing, out of there," said DuFour. "Now, if by chance somebody, they said, stays for four hours and they’re not supposed to, we would be responsible to ask them to please leave that parking space because they’ve been there for four hours or something, a lot longer than they’re supposed to be. Technically, we’re responsible to go and ask that person to leave."

"I believe that Greenspot would be able to tell if someone was there too long, and they could just notify us if that was being abused," she added.

Should the city approve the agreement, DuFour said level two chargers would be placed in four locations around the city: two would be installed in the Hayes Street parking lot, two in the Red Roof Inn parking lot, two in the East Main Street parking lot, and two at the Norwich Fire Department at 31 East Main Street.

Although the city would be starting out with level two chargers, DuFour said Greenspot would also be responsible for upgrades to the chargers, such as swapping them out for level threes, should the need arise.

"They will upgrade throughout the term," said DuFour. "If we had more people charging or whatever, they’d put in a higher grade. But they put in a level two for now and see how much usage you had, or that type of thing."

She went on to explain that the contract would be for a 15-year term with Greenspot, but that either party could cancel at any time and would then have to wait a period of 90 days for the agreement to be dissolved.

The contract also has an exclusivity clause stating that any other EV chargers placed on city property must be from Greenspot.

However, many council members were in support of the proposed agreement, as installing EV chargers would not only keep Norwich up to date with technology, it would also be an added revenue source for the city through profits from residents using the chargers and the increased gross receipts tax.

"The profit sharing payment to the city would be that we get 10 percent of the profit generated by the equipment on a quarterly basis," DuFour explained. "We’d be using electric which would increase our electric charges, so that would increase utility, so it would increase our gross receipts tax, which the city receives one percent of. That would be an additional revenue source for us."

What's more, if the EV chargers are hooked up to municipal electricity, DuFour said the city would pay the electric bill and Greenspot would reimburse them for the cost.

Despite the many benefits to the agreement, there was one sticking point for Alderman Matthew Caldwell: the original agreement made the city responsible for all vandalism against the chargers.

"I just can’t see that it's 100 percent, even with the insurance, a ten percent profit is counter-balancing the full liability of vandalism. And I wonder if there’s any negotiability on that," he said. "I could see it being proportional; You want to pay us ten percent of the profit, we’ll assume ten percent of the liability. But I can’t see accepting the ten percent profit with an insurance policy for 100 percent liability of the vandalism. I can’t get there tonight."

Since the joint committee meeting, DuFour has been working with Greenspot to address the concern and find a solution.

"We did get that clarified after the meeting, actually. Greenspot is removing the vandalism clause from the contract. So the city will just be covered as an additional insured under Greenspot’s insurance, as long as the EV chargers are on public property," she explained. "We would have to have an additional rider for it if it was on private property, but if it's on public property we’ll be covered under either as an additional insured."

Caldwell commended DuFour's efforts to negotiate the terms, and said he is now in full support of moving forward with the contract.

"I would just like to thank Dee for addressing this concern. I think the electric vehicle chargers are the way of the future, and we certainly want to be on the cutting edge where we can so long as the risks don’t exceed the rewards," said Caldwell. "So I really appreciate the work that she did to make this happen. It would not have been possible without her extra effort."

City of Norwich Mayor Brian Doliver also spoke in support of the agreement, and reminded the council they always have the 90-day termination clause should they ever wish to back out.

"Obviously there are more and more electric vehicles on the road every year. So the fact is that they’ll be needed to have electric vehicles there, so there’ll be space for everyone," he said. "At the end of the day, my opinion is this: We don’t stop here. We continue to look at other companies in the future and if there’s a better deal, we can say goodbye to this company in 90 days and we go with somebody else. Right now this is what we found to be the best deal."

While the city has not signed any contracts yet, it is expected that the common council will vote on the matter during the common council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 21.

"I think the most important thing is that, I think that we accomplished our goal of having somebody private to come in and do this, and ten percent I’m comfortable with because we’re going to get an additional percentage from the [gross receipts] tax," said Alderman Robert Jeffrey. "I feel comfortable moving forward. This is more of an accessibility thing, and really this is the way it’s going to be going, is more hybrid and electric vehicles, and this seems like a great way to move forward."

A full recording of the June 7 joint committee meeting can be found on the City of Norwich Facebook page. More information on Greenspot can be found at joingreenspot.com.