At Monday’s West Windsor Selectboard meeting, the Sustainability Committee spoke in pursuit of an electric vehicle (EV) charging grant.
Committee spokesperson Joelle Brown addressed the room, saying, “We tried to receive a grant a couple of years ago for an electric vehicle charging station; seven were given out to the state, and, unfortunately, we did not receive one. After that, the Sustainability Committee tried to obtain funding through ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act), but that also proved unsuccessful. Recently, I found that there is $100,000 left in the state that Windsor County is eligible to use for an employer grant. I am advocating that money go to the purchase and installation of two electric vehicle chargers.”
Brown continued, “The grant is available for employers only. To install an EV charger, the employer must own the land. I was told to submit a pre-application, which I did, and in the interim, we decided to open this venture up to all employers in the West Windsor area. The Town Hall employs 19 people; the Brownsville Butcher and Pantry employs 28. If you include the local school and hotel, we are left with a consortium of employers in the village, which gives us a little more leeway [to obtain the grant and] place the two charging stations.”
Brown has gone through the pre-application steps without finalizing which employers in West Windsor would want to be involved in the initiative. She told the selectboard, “Brownsville Butcher and Pantry is a yes; the school is a yes. I’m here to see if the town will want to partake in this venture.”
For more on this, please see our July 31 edition oft he Vermont Standard.
