Southborough Library Board of Trustees members voted May 2 to approve the installation of one electric vehicle charging post (with two ports) in the librarys upper parking lot, a project the board said will be paid for through incentives from National Grid and owned and maintained by the Town of Southborough.

John (staff member) told trustees the installation would convert three existing parking spaces into two to meet ADA-accessible parking requirements and that the single post would provide two charging ports. "Basically, what we're looking to do here is to add 1 vehicle charger to the library up in the upper parking lot," John said. He described the unit as a roughly 6- to 6
2'-foot post with two ports and said National Grid incentives would cover the equipment cost: "This is over a hundred and $22,000 for free," he said.

The board discussed parking impacts, payment, maintenance and likely users. A trustee raised concern that parents of students at Saint Marks might heavily use the charger; John replied that users would pay with a credit card at the charger and that the unit is a Level 3 fast charger, which he estimated would charge a vehicle in about 20 minutes, but added "don't quote me to it." John also said the town would place the charger on the towns building electricity plan and bill users for electricity because "the town cannot give free energy to anyone." He said the town would secure a maintenance plan and that maintenance costs would not be charged to the library.

Trustees noted the charger site is adjacent to the new park and is accessed from the upper lot off Cordova Road near the senior center; one trustee clarified for the record that the three existing spaces are "in the upper right quadrant" of the lot. The board also said prior discussion of the charger took place at a meeting in August, and that the current vote moved forward from that prior awareness.

After a motion and second, the board took a roll-call vote. Trustee Yazdani, Trustee Mayne, Trustee Tinti, Trustee Jane and Trustee Landry voted yes; Trustee Ekberg voted no. The chair announced the motion carried. The board did not record an audible vote for Trustee Davis during the roll call.

The trustees directed that the town own and maintain the unit and that usage be billed to users; no additional formal conditions or amendments were recorded in the meeting minutes. The board chair closed the topic by thanking John and noting the installation would be a "nice addition" to library services.