News File Photo Rogers City City Manager Joe Hefele

ROGERS CITY — The Rogers City City Council voted today to forfeit $150,000 in state grant money that was to be used with money from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to renovate the Erie Street parking lot and install high-powered electric car chargers there.

Instead, the city is taking an alternate route to make the project a reality — albeit in a smaller form — by having a private company take the reins.

The state had committed $80,000 from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and $70,000 from the Michigan Energy Office to the project.

The council has turned down the money because funding from the MEDC dried up as that agency helped businesses stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Rogers City Downtown Development Authority board voted today to recommend the council turn down the money.

City Manager Joe Hefele said Rogers City has been in talks with the company EV Build to have the charging stations purchased, installed and maintained. The city would lease four parking spaces to the company, which would keep 100% of the revenue from them.

Heffele said privatizing the project allows the city to step aside from all current and future financial obligations but still reap the rewards of tourists coming to charge their cars and visiting local businesses while they wait.

The second part of the project, which would have resurfaced the parking lot and developed a WiFi hotspot there, is now on hold.

Now that the council has voted to change lanes for the project, Hefele said he would begin drafting a 10-year lease for use of the parking lot, which is at the corner of Erie and Third Street.

Hefele said EV Build intends to acquire funding of its own from the state and believes it will fair better than the city because it is a small business. The company will not do the other improvements, which Hefele said would cost the city between $30,000 and $40,000.

Council members indicated they would look to get grant funding for the resurfacing project in the future, when the state is on more stable financial ground once the pandemic clears or other funding options emerge down the road.

Hefele said EV Build is interested in Rogers City because of its location, because there are no other speedy electric car chargers for many miles, and because Rogers City is considered an Opportunity Zone by the state, meaning developers are often eligible for tax breaks on projects there.

“If we don’t do this now, we could miss the boat entirely, and it will do somewhere else,” Hefele said. “I don’t think we should take a chance on missing out on this opportunity.”