Kendall County Times

Councilmember Larry Hug recently expressed his opposition to the City of Joliet approving an application to obtain a charging and fuel infrastructure grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

“I'm against it,” Hug said at a May 16 City Council meeting. “And I think most Joliet [residents] are, because we are not here to be socialist. We are not here to compete with our own businesses.”

The approval of the grant application came after much debate among council members.

During the meeting, City manager James Capparelli expressed how he was unsure of exactly what the grant would look like as this was a preliminary permission for the application process. Regardless of what it may involve—such as matching funds, money awards or public/private partnerships—Capparelli noted that it was an opportunity for the City to recoup costs it has spent on infrastructure for electric vehicles.

“Our neighboring communities are starting to put these in, so we want to be able to offer the same level of services to our citizens,” Capparelli said regarding providing charging locations for electric vehicles.

In voicing his disapproval, Hug cited research on electric vehicles (EVs) that showed they are still by far the minority and mostly in upper-class communities, whereas Joliet is “blue collar.” He felt that privately owned charging stations at local businesses should suffice, and the City should not create competition with them and take away their revenue.

Hug said the grant had “quite a few onerous provisions as well as different concepts to apply the grant money.” He pointed out that he read through the grant and learned the minimum award would be $500,000, with some grants up to $15 million. The City would have to match 20% of the awarded funds in whatever project they apply it toward.

Hug had made a failed motion to table the item until the council could return with more data and community engagement. In addition to Hug, Councilman Joe Clement voted against the grant application.

Although Councilwoman Jan Quillman voted for the grant, she warned staff that she would require a lot of research before spending any possible grant money.