Ohio University already has five electric vehicle charging stations across campus, but soon Athens citizens will also be able to plug in when they take a trip Uptown.
Monday night, Athens City Council members began talks to determine a location for four electric vehicle chargers that Nissan North America donated to the city. Councilman Patrick McGee, I-At Large, said he hopes the city invests in more chargers as time goes on in order to encourage more citizens to begin driving electric cars.
“Sometimes we need to give the public some incentive … to use electric cars.” McGee said
Councilman Kent Butler, D-1st Ward agreed with McGee’s sentiment, and said he would like to see chargers placed in more public places to further promote the usage of electric vehicles.
“I encourage the pursuit of more of these chargers,” Butler said. “I think it really speaks to who we are as a city.”
Each of OU's charging stations accommodates two vehicles. The city-owned chargers will only accommodate one vehicle each.
At the same meeting, City Auditor Kathy Hecht told council members the city is behind on its budget for 2017. The city is required to have a completed budget by Dec. 31.
“We are behind schedule, but we are moving along,” Hecht said.
Patterson said if no issues occur with the process, the budget will be completed well within the deadline.
“If things go without any hiccups along the way, Dec. 13 would be the third (final) reading,” Patterson said.
Patterson also announced that Moody’s Investor Service, a corporation that evaluates cities based on their economic situation and how well they repaid their previous bonds, evaluated that the city's maintained its “excellent” credit rating after an examination of its funds.
The city was required to undergo a bond rating procedure in order to take out bonds to pay for a new swimming pool in 2017, according to a previous Post report.
“We just got word today from Moody’s that the city’s bond rating is being held at AA2, which is of course fantastic for the city," Patterson said.
An AA2 credit rating denotes that the city has shown ability to pay off all of its loans in the past.
Butler also introduced plans for a 2017 waterline project that would improve waterlines on Strouds Run, Columbia, Northwood and the top of Cable Lane roads. According to Butler, the total cost of the project would be less than $50,000 and would perform much-needed repairs and improvements on the area’s water infrastructure.
