BEMIDJI — The
Bemidji City Council
shared an overall hesitant view on proposed electric vehicle infrastructure being implemented by the city during Monday’s meeting.

Initially, the council approved a Local Climate Action Planning Grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in 2024 to incorporate an electric vehicle fleet along with EV infrastructure. City staff began working with the Great Plains Institute to form a community EV roadmap and a community-wide EV vision statement as part of the grant requirements.

Planning Director Jamin Carlson provided the roadmap report during Monday’s meeting, joined virtually by a GPI representative.
When the project was updated on Jan. 6, 2025,
the council shared a consistent level of skepticism.

The project will conclude on June 30, and staff will present final findings at some point this summer. Then, the council can finalize a decision based on GPI’s research. However, it’s becoming increasingly likely that the council may reject a proposal altogether, with several councilors reiterating hesitation about the capabilities of EVs within northern Minnesota.

Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince spoke against the roadmap’s conclusion.

“The conclusion (of the roadmap says) ‘the city’s plan of action to expedite the transition of the local transportation sector to zero emission vehicles,’ it goes on, has the council decided that it is a mission of the city to expedite?” he questioned. “I’m wondering if that happened, and if it hasn’t happened, why is it going in the report? I feel like that conclusion, perhaps, is a bit overstated.”

Prince went on to state that the private sector should play a bigger role in the implementation of electric infrastructure, agreeing with Ward 3 Councilor Mark Dickinson. Prince also shared hesitation about EVs, asking how many exist in the county as a whole before adding that used car sales still outperform new cars for a reason.

“There are way more used car sales happening in the merchant community because of the socioeconomic demographics than new cars. So, how does that impact all of this?” he asked. “I hear about a desert as a business person, sometimes a desert exists for a very valid reason, because if there was an opportunity there for the demand, usually somebody would step in.”

Dickinson was the most adamant when speaking against the roadmap.

“I appreciate (that) everybody’s concerned about the environment and all that kind of stuff, but I just am not sold that these cars are made for northern Minnesota, and I’m definitely not sold that the city should be providing an infrastructure to charge somebody else’s car,” he explained.

The EV roadmap would require that business owners implement some form of electric infrastructure and would work to replace the city’s existing vehicle fleet, things that Ward 2 Council Member Josh Peterson spoke against.

“I’m not interested in adding more requirements, because I think if a business owner, if that’s their market and that’s their niche, they’re going to naturally do it anyway without us requiring it,” he shared. “In regard to the city fleet, I still need to see some improvements on the technology, because we had individuals from the state of Minnesota come out driving an EV in 35 below in January a couple years ago, and they never made it to our meeting for public works because their car died, so I think there’s some technology improvements that still need to be made when you look at our location.”

At-Large Councilor Audrey Thayer spoke in favor of the proposal, but questioned its financial feasibility.

“Whose going to pay for those charging stations, and will we have the private businesses do it?” she questioned. “Thank you for this report (and) the good examples, but I keep thinking about how we address the lowly communities?”

Ward 4 Councilor Emelie Rivera also shared a mix of support and concern, namely, where the charging stations would be located and if new requirements would discourage new development. Rivera did mention that she still would like to explore the proposal and to incentivise new and existing developers to add some form of electric infrastructure, but not expedite the process.

“Our technology is advancing, and every year we get more and more capabilities, and I don’t want to wait to build out our infrastructure, because we were not 100% convinced of the technology,” Rivera concluded.

The roadmap discussion will likely resurface at some point this summer before the council takes any action.

The Bemidji City Council will next meet at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 22, at City Hall for a work session. All meetings can be viewed on the
city’s website.