City council keeps Garrison on cutting edge technology
Electric car charges, sidewalk construction discussed
By Amy Venn
There are only two electric car charging stations in North Dakota and the next closest are in South Dakota, city auditor Diane Affeldt told city council at their meeting Monday evening. After attending Municipal Finance Officers and League of Cities conferences in Grand Forks last month, Affeldt came back with innovation in mind.
“The small cities session during the League of Cities was quite interesting,” Affeldt said. “An electric car station was a highlight and something I would like to pursue. The city of Jamestown has two of them; one up at their buffalo museum area and one downtown. Electric cars are getting more and more [popular].”
She said she spoke with Jamestown’s former mayor who was instrumental in getting the charging stations set up. The charging ports need to be close to Wi-Fi and have access to electrical service. Affeldt said she thought a charging station at the city auditorium would be a good idea.
“They could come in, plug in, charge, shop on Main Street,” she said. “They have to pay to use it.”
The charging stations wouldn’t cost the city much to get set up and would bring in some revenue. Costs of implementation and upkeep are still being researched.
