news Gulfport Council’s Electrifying Talk By Laura Mulrooney
LAURA MULROONEY
Gulfport City Councilmembers Michael Fridovich, left, Christine Brown, Mayor Sam Henderson, Paul Ray and April Thanos, encouraging residents to vote.
Electric vehicles were the hot topic during the regularly scheduled Gulfport City Council meeting at the Catherine Hickman Theater, Tuesday, October 20 at 6 p.m. On multiple occasions since swearing in this past spring, Councilmember April Thanos has encouraged other city council members to look into changing city vehicles to electric or hybrid vehicles, including police vehicles. Dory Larson, the electric vehicle program coordinator for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy gave a presentation about the availability and benefits of electric vehicles. “The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a regional membership organization that promotes responsible energy choices to ensure clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the Southeast,” according to Larson. “We have tried to answer all of Ms. Thanos’ questions in regards to alternative vehicles,” said City Manager O’Reilly. Mayor Sam Henderson, Councilmember Paul Ray and Police Chief Rob Vincent spoke in opposition. Most city vehicles, especially those needed for public works, are pickup trucks meant for heavy-duty tasks. According to Larson, there are no electric or hybrid pickup trucks available at this time. “I’m not against electric vehicles,” said Mayor Henderson. “I don’t want
to do this prematurely and cripple the ability of those departments to do their jobs.” Ray brought up the logistics of electric charging infrastructure needs, including commercial charging stations. His concerns included the need to charge vehicles overnight for employees who take their vehicles home who are on 24-hour call. “Would we need to supply these employees with commercial charging stations?” asked Ray. “There’s a lot of stuff we need to go through and create an infrastructure plan before we commit.” Vincent voiced his concern about the additions required for police vehicles. One of the evening’s resolutions was to approve four new vehicles for the police department – three patrol vehicles and one SUV for Police Explorer tasks. “In light of conversation around electric vehicle use for police, I did a lot of looking at other agencies that have them and what they’re doing,” said Vincent. “I can tell you that there are some concerns about the aftermarket equipment and how that aftermarket equipment is put into the vehicle.” According to Vincent no market standard defines light installation and prisoner partitions. “In the event that something bad happens, I don’t think in any event it’s appropriate for a representative of the
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city to tell the family or the jury for that matter that we said this should be a police car,” said Vincent. Until an electric car manufacturer labels and approves a certain car as a police car, Vincent remains skeptical. Other concerns included deprecation, resale value, vehicle warranties and maintenance costs. Council did not rule out the idea of electric vehicles; however, the consensus was that it had multiple details to work out before buying them. Masks Not Required at Polling Places Council unanimously approved a contract with the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections to lease Gulfport City Hall for the March 9, 2021 municipal election. This decision stirred conversation about the upcoming November 3 election. The Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections, which leases facilities from Gulfport, will not require face coverings Council continued on page 6
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