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RESOLUTION R-1819-70: A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, APPROPRIATING $6,900 FROM THE GENERAL FUND BALANCE TO UTILIZE THE SERVICES OF SMALL ARROW ENGINEERING TO ASSIST STAFF IN THE PREPARATION OF A GRANT APPLICATION TO SUBMIT TO THE OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY.
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BACKGROUND: In 2016 the United States federal government settled claims against Volkswagen (VW) concerning the use of a “defective device” installed on 2.0 and 3.0 liter diesel vehicles which resulted in air pollution emissions from these vehicles exceeding federal guidelines. States are allocated a portion of the settlement based on their number of affected vehicles. Each of these vehicles can emit up to 40 times more than the allowable limits. Oklahoma has been initially allocated approximately $21 million from the VW Environmental Mitigation Trust Agreement to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has been designated as the lead agency with oversight from the Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and Environment. DEQ has prepared and implemented the Beneficiary Mitigation Plan (BMP) with the State’s intention for utilizing these funds. On November 29, 2018, DEQ released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for $3.1 million to build out Oklahoma’s light-duty electric vehicle charging network with 80% eligible for reimbursement when the project is completed. Staff is anticipating other grant opportunities in the near future to be released by DEQ for reduced greenhouse gas projects. Dates for these programs have not yet been determined.
DISCUSSION: Staff has reviewed the “Charge OK” RFP issued by DEQ on November 29, 2018. This competitive grant is designed to build electric charging stations throughout the Oklahoma federal highway corridors with traffic counts higher than 7,500 vehicles per day. All eligible projects/charging stations are required to be within walking distance to retail shopping, access to public restrooms and no further than one (1) mile from a federal highway, along with a host of technical details required to build the charging station. This competitive grant will be scored in several areas including the amount of additional match funds, background and experience with charging stations, corridor locations, 24/7 public access, host agreements with 3rd party business, to list a few. Deadline for the grant submittal is March 1, 2019. Zero emissions vehicles and particularly electric vehicles appear to have increased availability for the future; however, EV charging stations and infrastructures in Oklahoma are very limited. Due to the complexity of this grant and technical aspects, the rapid RFP response time combined with limited staff knowledge of electric vehicle charging stations, Public Works staff has consulted with the city’s original CNG station design and engineering firm, Small Arrow Engineering, LLC, of Joplin, MO (SAE).
Since 2010, Small Arrow has several years of Alternative Fuels experience including grant writing/administration services and experience with EV charging stations. SAE has prepared, obtained and administered several of the ARRA Grants for design and construction of Public Access CNG Stations for City of Norman, NOPFA (Northeast Oklahoma Public Facilities Authority), City of Tulsa and City of Owasso, OK. In addition, SAE worked with ACOG on administration of their alternative fuels grant program for City of Norman (2 different CNG projects) and INCOG for City of Tulsa. For this project, SAE has teamed with an Oklahoma based EV systems provider to assure that charging stations installed in the City of Norman are consistent with other stations in the State and use a compatible Point of Sale (POS) system.
If approved, staff would like to utilize the services of SAE to assist staff in the preparation of a grant application and to submit to DEQ no later than March 1, 2019 at 12pm. If approved, Public Works staff will bring the final draft grant application and project details back to Council no later than February 26, 2019 for ratification before the application is submitted to DEQ on March 1, 2019.
RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended City Council approve Resolution R-1819-70 appropriating $6,900 from the General Fund Balance (Account 010-0000-253.20-00) to Fleet Professional Services/Consultant-Management Research (Account 010-5070-435.40-01) to employ Small Arrow Engineering, LLC. If approved, the contract with SAE will be authorized immediately by Interim City Manager Mary Rupp.