Boone commissioners facing showdown on EV charging stations incentivized by OKI grant

By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter

A showdown is brewing in the Boone County Fiscal Court about EV charging stations, and the meeting on December 17 may decide the issue by who has the most Boone County citizens on their side at the meeting.

Tuesday morning’s meeting ended with the issue of EV charging stations being voted back into discussion with the intention of voting on it. The basic argument is that Judge Executive Gary Moore wants to install 9 charging stations in the county, on county land, with the county in charge of selling the electricity, and Commissioner Chet Hand maintains the position that the county should definitely not be in the business of selling electricity, viewing it as expansion of government, and he believes the court should decline the grant offered by OKI.

Commissioner Cathy Flaig was absent at the last meeting, which was why the issue was tabled, but at the Tuesday meeting she said she has received a hundred or more calls from her constituents telling her not to vote for the EV charging stations.

“I had no idea; I didn’t think it was a big deal, but it is a big deal; it’s a big deal to the residents of Boone County!” she stated. “The people who go to coffee at the McDonalds, at the White Castle’s — they’re all unhappy. The people I hear from all the time. . .”

“The folks I hear from want to be here to discuss it and to make the case of why we should do it,” Judge Moore interrupted, and then tried to put it back into the ‘not a big deal’ status. “We’re only talking about 9 stations countywide.”

Moore constantly hammered the point that the county could be penalized by OKI for future projects because the county originally let OKI believe the county wanted the stations. But the county already has a minus three points because some OKI partially-funded projects are behind schedule. If OKI does take points from the county, it would only be five points, and maybe none at all, because the county has not accepted the grant yet.

Moore said again and again that they would be possibly jeopardizing up to $1.5 million in potential future grants.

“I think we should go back to OKI and say, ‘we are very, very sorry, a mistake was made, blame it on the commissioners —- but it’s not going to work!” Flaig stated flatly. “People really don’t want it!”

Commissioner Hand, who has made his position abundantly clear in previous discussions, made a motion to Call the Question, a parliamentary procedure that ends discussion on a topic, and asks for an immediate vote. Because Moore is the Chair of the Commission, he basically said he disagreed with the motion and seemed like he ignored the parliamentary procedure. Hand called him out on that, saying there has to be a vote when the Call the Question is motioned. Moore countered, saying that there wasn’t a second to the motion. Hand accepted that, but said the Call the Question would stop the discussion, an important point because the court has discussed this issue for three separate meetings.

But because every time it is discussed, the outcome looks like the EV issue will be defeated, Moore is keeping the issue alive. It is notable that earlier this year an issue proposed by Judge Moore was defeated by a two-two vote, and Judge Moore brought it back and it finally narrowly passed, so the court could be counting on persistence and persuasion to make their case.

Commissioner Hand believes the public businesses should handle the EV charging stations and the county should stay out of it.

This meeting, Judge Moore kept saying that he wanted to table it again until the 17th when they would have more information about the OKI grant, and people who are in favor of the issue can come to the meeting and show that the people of Boone County really want the county to sell electricity. He persuaded Flaig to vote with him to table the issue. Commissioner Jesse Brewer already appears to be willing to vote for the charging stations.

But if what Flaig is saying is correct, people don’t want the county in the electricity business, so if they would all show up at the meeting too, would the issue be decided by a head count, or the loudest voices?