Commissioners OK Letter Of Support For MACOG’s EV Charging Stations Grant Application
May 10, 2023 at 1:29 a.m.
By David [email protected]
Tuesday, the Kosciusko County Commissioners approved a letter of support for Michiana Area Council of Government’s (MACOG’s) grant application to the United States Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.
The grant can pay for publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure, as well as hydrogen, propane and natural gas fueling infrastructure.
In presenting the request for the letter, Leah Thill, MACOG director of sustainability, said what MACOG was applying for the grant for EV charging stations.
“We’re putting together a regional package of prioritized rural locations in small towns across the region, as well as ... gaps where investment is not pulling from the private market. We’re not seeing lots of charging stations popping up here,” she said.
The two charging stations downtown Warsaw were secured in part through a grant MACOG assisted with.
“We see the trend of automakers going toward all plug-in and all electric vehicles in 10-15 years and we have concerns about whether” the charging stations will be able in rural areas in the region, she said.
Thill said MACOG just wanted a statement of support from the commissioners and they don’t foresee any of the EV locations will be on county facilities at this time.
“But we do welcome partnerships with private entities, schools, libraries, other entities that would like to host charging stations as part of our application. Currently, the only location in our grant is in Winona Lake near the town hall, but we’re actively in conversations with other towns and other project partners,” she said.
The charging stations generally will be station-level charging, slower, but she said they hope to include something along U.S. 30 because there’s no fast station between Fort Wayne and the Chicago area.
Commissioner Cary Groninger made a motion to approve the letter.
“I know that trying to keep it competitive, the application here, it’s good to have the support of all the counties that are in the MACOG region,” he said.
The motion passed unanimously.
To contact Thill, anyone interested in partnering with MACOG can call 574-287-1829, ext. 801; fax, 574-239-4072; or email [email protected].
After the meeting, Thill said this was something MACOG has been involved in for several years now.
“It started with the Volkswagen settlement” from the emissions cheating scandal, she said. Money became available to Indiana and the state decided to distribute it.
“We convened an application, an original co-hort, of local governments primarily, and also the Goshen Library, to apply and host some of the first Level 2 destination charging stations, for example, in Warsaw,” she said.
MACOG was not the direct recipient of those funds, but MACOG helped write the grant and implement the project. With that project successful, MACOG said the immediate impact of it, so when the federal grant opportunity became available, she said they decided to go for the funds as a direct recipient and be able to multiply the impact in places that currently have nothing.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• For the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office to purchase five Dodge Durangos through Warsaw Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Three of those vehicles will be used in an administrative support role - lead canine, one lead investigations and one for the public information officer. The other two will be used on patrol for shift sergeants. The money will come out of the commissioners’ budget for the rotation of the fleet.
• A quote of $11,850 from Core Mechanical to put in mini-split air conditioning in the IT room at the Kosciusko County Highway Department, as requested by County Administrator Marsha McSherry. The room is where the county’s off-site storage of data is located and the room needs to be kept at a cooler temperature.
• To continue with Sun Life as the county’s stop-loss insurance carrier. Groninger said because the county is self-insured, there’s a stop-loss policy that takes care of large claims. He said the cost is going down by 1%.
• An addendum for the county’s tax sale vendor, SRI, who is raising their tax sale fees from $100 to $125, as requested by County Auditor Rhonda Helser. The last time the fee was raised was in 2019.
• Richard Dan to serve the rest of Parke Smith’s term on the Lakeland Regional Sewer District Board of Directors. Smith resigned from the board as of April 20. The term expires in April 2026.
• Changes to the Public Safety Communication Tech Committee, as requested by Emergency Management Agency Director Kip Shuter. Sgt. Brad Kellar will replace Capt. Joel Beam as the representative for Warsaw Police Department, and Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Brian Mayo will replace Lt. Joel Shilling. Amanda See represents Central Dispatch, replacing Sara Lancaster, and Josh Spangle represents Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office, replacing Travis Marsh.
Tuesday, the Kosciusko County Commissioners approved a letter of support for Michiana Area Council of Government’s (MACOG’s) grant application to the United States Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.
The grant can pay for publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure, as well as hydrogen, propane and natural gas fueling infrastructure.
In presenting the request for the letter, Leah Thill, MACOG director of sustainability, said what MACOG was applying for the grant for EV charging stations.
“We’re putting together a regional package of prioritized rural locations in small towns across the region, as well as ... gaps where investment is not pulling from the private market. We’re not seeing lots of charging stations popping up here,” she said.
The two charging stations downtown Warsaw were secured in part through a grant MACOG assisted with.
“We see the trend of automakers going toward all plug-in and all electric vehicles in 10-15 years and we have concerns about whether” the charging stations will be able in rural areas in the region, she said.
Thill said MACOG just wanted a statement of support from the commissioners and they don’t foresee any of the EV locations will be on county facilities at this time.
“But we do welcome partnerships with private entities, schools, libraries, other entities that would like to host charging stations as part of our application. Currently, the only location in our grant is in Winona Lake near the town hall, but we’re actively in conversations with other towns and other project partners,” she said.
The charging stations generally will be station-level charging, slower, but she said they hope to include something along U.S. 30 because there’s no fast station between Fort Wayne and the Chicago area.
Commissioner Cary Groninger made a motion to approve the letter.
“I know that trying to keep it competitive, the application here, it’s good to have the support of all the counties that are in the MACOG region,” he said.
The motion passed unanimously.
To contact Thill, anyone interested in partnering with MACOG can call 574-287-1829, ext. 801; fax, 574-239-4072; or email [email protected].
After the meeting, Thill said this was something MACOG has been involved in for several years now.
“It started with the Volkswagen settlement” from the emissions cheating scandal, she said. Money became available to Indiana and the state decided to distribute it.
“We convened an application, an original co-hort, of local governments primarily, and also the Goshen Library, to apply and host some of the first Level 2 destination charging stations, for example, in Warsaw,” she said.
MACOG was not the direct recipient of those funds, but MACOG helped write the grant and implement the project. With that project successful, MACOG said the immediate impact of it, so when the federal grant opportunity became available, she said they decided to go for the funds as a direct recipient and be able to multiply the impact in places that currently have nothing.
In other business, the commissioners approved:
• For the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office to purchase five Dodge Durangos through Warsaw Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Three of those vehicles will be used in an administrative support role - lead canine, one lead investigations and one for the public information officer. The other two will be used on patrol for shift sergeants. The money will come out of the commissioners’ budget for the rotation of the fleet.
• A quote of $11,850 from Core Mechanical to put in mini-split air conditioning in the IT room at the Kosciusko County Highway Department, as requested by County Administrator Marsha McSherry. The room is where the county’s off-site storage of data is located and the room needs to be kept at a cooler temperature.
• To continue with Sun Life as the county’s stop-loss insurance carrier. Groninger said because the county is self-insured, there’s a stop-loss policy that takes care of large claims. He said the cost is going down by 1%.
• An addendum for the county’s tax sale vendor, SRI, who is raising their tax sale fees from $100 to $125, as requested by County Auditor Rhonda Helser. The last time the fee was raised was in 2019.
• Richard Dan to serve the rest of Parke Smith’s term on the Lakeland Regional Sewer District Board of Directors. Smith resigned from the board as of April 20. The term expires in April 2026.
• Changes to the Public Safety Communication Tech Committee, as requested by Emergency Management Agency Director Kip Shuter. Sgt. Brad Kellar will replace Capt. Joel Beam as the representative for Warsaw Police Department, and Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Brian Mayo will replace Lt. Joel Shilling. Amanda See represents Central Dispatch, replacing Sara Lancaster, and Josh Spangle represents Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office, replacing Travis Marsh.
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