NORWICH - Chenango County welcomed in the new year with new electric vehicles (EV) to support the needs of senior county residents.
The vehicles were purchased with a grant by the county's planning and development team and will be used by the Area Agency on Aging.
One of the goals of the Chenango County 2050 Vision Plan is to promote sustainable living practices and thanks to a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Clean Energy Communities Program Grant.
Chenango County Planning and Development Director Shane Butler and his team collaborated with Chenango County Area Agency on Aging to provide four EV Subaru Solteras' for the agency's home delivered meal program and outreach services.
"Our office has been working on the NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities program since around 2016 and we were certified a 'Clean Energy Community' in 2019," said Butler. "Each time we have been awarded grants through the program we have used the money towards projects that would allow us to gain additional points."
"When we found out we had met a points threshold and would be awarded $150,000 ($187,500 if the project was located in a disadvantaged community), I sent an email out to all of the department heads asking if they had any ideas for clean energy projects and listed off some options of what would be approved," he said. "And the Area Agency on Aging Director Heather Felter came by and talked to us about the vehicles."
Butler explained other projects they had completed mainly helped the county departments themselves, so they felt this project would have a larger community impact.
In addition to the vehicles the county intends to install charging stations.
"We didn't quite use all $187,500 so we will use the remaining funds for additional clean energy projects," he added.
Felter said the charging stations will be built behind the Red Roof Inn and will be open the public.
Previous projects can be found here: https://www.chenangocountyny.gov/397/Clean-Energy-Communities 

Butler said Allison Yacano, Planner for their Department of Planning and Development, wrote the grant before the 2050 Vision Plan was adopted by the board last month.
"But obviously," he continued, "the project fits perfectly within the scope of the action items in the 2050 Vision Plan and was in our minds as we worked with Colliers Engineering to write it." 

The grant funding from NYSERDA fully paid for the electric vehicles as their vision is to advance clean energy and invest in combating climate change.
"We also used the funding to pay for the longest warranty we could get to make sure the vehicles are maintained with as little impact to the County budget as possible," Butler said.

He noted these are the first electric vehicles in the County fleet, enabling a perfect case study and since they bought them at the beginning of the year, they will be able to benchmark them.
"Our staff drove them back from the dealership and said they were great to drive and very comfortable," said Butler.
Felter said, "We were looking to take ownership for delivery of our home delivery program and reached out to Chenango County Planning and Development Department, where we learned about the grant."
She said they were interested in working with the development department as it would be at no cost to the county taxpayers and the grant would allow program expansion for additional outreach opportunities for Chenango County seniors.
"Right now, we go to about five home visits a day," said Felter. "And being able to expand our delivery program and be able to get people off of the waitlist is a win--win for everyone."
Felter said an opportunity for additional vehicles presented itself due to more available funding and they acted on it.
"We have high needs and will put them to good use ," she said. "We took possession of the extra vehicles with the understanding that if other departments might need them in the future, we would have them available, yet the agency has the sustainability with our funding and budget to take on all four electric vehicles."
"If seniors are homebound, especially at this time of year, our outreach will go out to them to qualify them into needed services," Felter added. "Every day we have outreach conducting home visits throughout the county."
She said they researched electric vehicles and found Soltaras are able to hold a charge and charge faster in colder weather than other EV's. In addition, the vehicles are all-wheel drive and have more cubic storage space than their other vehicles have, so they are interested to see how this works for home delivery meals.
Felter explained charging station electricity will be paid for by agency state and federal funding and is cost effective for the agency as the electricity will cost less than mileage reimbursement paid at 70 cents a mile.
"All of this betters our services and better meets the needs of our neighbors," she added. "The vehicles just arrived last week and we're so excited to put them to use."
The Chenango County 2050 VisionPlan can be found at www.chenangocounty2050.com.
For additional information on Chenango County senior programs, visit the Area Agency on Aging Facebook page.
For more information on NYSERDA, visit their website at nyserda.ny.gov.