An electric vehicle (EV) charging station at the Oxford Memorial Library. The City of Norwich voted last week to enter an agreement with Greenspot, an EV charging company, who will be installing and maintaining eight charging units in the City of Norwich. (Sun File Photo)

NORWICH — The City of Norwich Common Council convened on Tuesday, June 21 and unanimously voted to enter an agreement with New Jersey-based electric vehicle (EV) charging company Greenspot to install eight electric vehicle chargers in the City of Norwich.

Chargers will be placed on four city-owned properties: two in the Hayes Street parking lot, two in the Red Roof Inn parking lot, two in the East Main Street parking lot, and two in the Fire Department parking lot at 31 East Main Street.

However, chargers will be installed, owned, and maintained by Greenspot, with no out of pocket cost to the city or taxpayers.

"This is at no cost to the city, the electricity is at no cost to the taxpayers, and the people that want to charge their vehicles would be paying for the electricity. They’ll be able to use a credit card or debit card or something like that at the machine," said Alderman Dave Zieno. "The only thing the city is committing to is using a couple of parking spaces in the parking lots."

The city will receive ten percent of the gross revenues earned from individuals using the chargers. Should the charging units get a lot of use, there is also the possibility of Greenspot installing additional chargers within the city, or upgrading the units from level twos to level three chargers.

"This is a private entity that's willing to come into our community and do this. This is nothing that the city is doing ourselves, this is not necessarily municipality-owned. This is a private business that is coming here to do that, and as part of that we get a piece of the revenue share as well. This is a positive thing," said Alderman Robert Jeffrey.

"And as updates happen, they’ve already put in this agreement that they’re going to install updated chargers with the most modern technology. I think this is a great benefit to tourists that have these cars, and it’s also a benefit to city residents as well," he added.

Greenspot will also be responsible for any accidental damage done to the units, as well as any vandalism.

City of Norwich Director of Finance Dee DuFour was able to get a clause, which would have made the city 100 percent responsible for vandalism damages, removed from the agreement after Alderman Matthew Caldwell expressed apprehension and concern in regard to that part of the contract.

"I appreciate the extra work the Director of Finance did on this contract. I was a 'no' at the joint committee [meeting], but I’m satisfied with the removal of the vandalism clause and I think this could be a positive thing for the City of Norwich. So you directly changed my vote to 'yes' tonight, so thank you," said Caldwell.

According to DuFour, the city will now be listed as an additional insured under Greenspot's insurance, which will cover any accidental damage or intentional vandalism.

All common council members present at Tuesday's meeting voted in favor of entering the agreement with Greenspot.