Ellsworth city officials told the City Council that eight new paid electric vehicle charging ports are operational downtown and producing early revenue, and that two older free chargers on Franklin Street have been deactivated while staff seeks options for reuse or relocation.

City staff said the municipal share of the new charger installation cost was about $10,000 after tax credits and that the city initially funded that out of a reserve account that will be replenished from future charger revenue. "We pulled from, I think, one of the reserve accounts to fund the initial piece, and then we're gonna replenish that reserve account with this going forward," a city official said.

Council members and staff discussed the Franklin Street units, which the city has powered for free under a previous agreement. The city official said the original installer will be contacted to determine whether the units can be repurposed, relocated to municipal facilities (for example, the highway garage or wastewater plant), or sold. "We reached out to the company or the nonprofit that originally helped install those chargers, and the contract had it the city would provide the electricity for free," the official said. The group named as the owner in discussion was Climate to Thrive (transcript references showed uncertainty about the exact styling).

Council members asked whether the city could instead keep the units and charge for usage or charge for parking at their current sites. Staff said the original contract did not allow the city to charge at those specific units without returning them to the owner. One council member suggested installing a parking kiosk at the harbor and charging for the space rather than the charger to create a revenue workaround while preserving infrastructure.

Officials also highlighted differences between the older and newer units: the new downtown ports are faster, trackable and payable through a payment system, and include a municipal code allowing city vehicles to use them. "They're a little bit faster ... Just trackable, payable. We have a special code for our municipal cars that can go in there," the city official said.

The city said early usage brought in "a couple hundred dollars in a week" and emphasized it will continue to monitor usage and consider modest marketing and signage to direct drivers to the new chargers. Council members urged staff to explore reusing the deactivated units rather than removing infrastructure if a feasible ownership or billing solution can be found.

The discussion included no formal vote; council direction was to continue outreach to the original installer/owner, monitor the new stations, and evaluate possible re-deployment or sale of the deactivated Franklin Street units.