Title
Authorizing the City of Saint Paul to enter into a vehicle lease agreement with National Cooperative Leasing for the carshare service component of the Twin Cities Electric Vehicle Mobility Network.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul (“City”) is leading the Twin Cities Electric Vehicle Mobility Network (TCEVMN) project which will deliver 70 electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs across Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and each hub will provide both public EV charging and EV charging dedicated to use by an 150-electric vehicle carshare service that will be operated by HOURCAR; and
WHEREAS, the City is planning to deploy the Twin Cities Electric Vehicle Mobility Network in 2021, including the first phase of the carshare service; and
WHEREAS, the TCEVMN will provide EV carshare as an additional transportation option in the Twin Cities to complement transit, biking, and walking, and in particular in ten ACP50 neighborhoods across the two cities where carshare is not currently an option; and
WHEREAS, the TCEVMN will produce no local emissions, supporting improved air quality in our neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, the TCEVMN will enable more residents to think about transitioning to electric vehicles; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul has been awarded a federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) grant of $4 million for the Twin Cities Electric Vehicle Mobility Network through the Metropolitan Council’s Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) regional solicitation in the 2021-2024 Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul - via the Lung Association as the lead applicant - is a subrecipient of $3,650,237 in Department of Energy funding to support deployment of the project; and
WHEREAS, the City committed to completion of the Twin Cities Electric Vehicle Mobility Network under Council Resolution 20-1370; and
WHEREAS, Federal Funding stipulations require that vehicles be leased rather than purchase; and
WHEREAS, after a year of thorough financial analysis, evaluation and review, the project team is ready to proceed with a lease of vehicles; and
WHEREAS, National Cooperative Leasing (NCL) has gone through a competitive process to become an approved Sourcewell vendor; and
WHEREAS, the NCL lease contains a Terminal Rent Adjustment Clause, whereby at the end of the lease, the vehicles will be sold by NCL, with proceeds from the sale being applied to any remaining balance, and resulting in either the City receiving a refund from-or owing a balance to-NCL; and
WHEREAS, the NCL lease contains an indemnification provision, wherein the City is required to indemnify and hold harmless NCL from third-party claims arising from the vehicles and lease, while also agreeing that NCL and the City are responsible for their own acts and omissions and the results thereof; and
WHEREAS, the City finds that promise of indemnity is reasonable and necessary for the purpose of advancing the Twin Cities Electric Vehicle Mobility Network carshare service; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the City Council hereby authorizes and directs the proper city officials to enter into said lease with National Cooperative Leasing.