Electric-vehicle charging station unveiled at City Hall

Cutting the ribbon: Council Member Bruce Southworth; David
Huff, director of energy efficiency and emerging technologies for
KU and LG&E; Mayor Grayson Vandegrift; council members John
McDaniel and Sarah Hicks; Woodford Forward CEO Chase Milner.

Kentucky Utilities representatives and Midway city officials unveiled KU’s new publicly available charging station for electric vehicles Thursday in the far corner of the parking lot behind City Hall.

The City Council agreed in July to reserve two spaces at the back corner of the parking lot for the charging station, which was installed at no cost to the city. Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said then that KU had picked Midway to be one of 20 towns with such stations, which charge $3.28 per hour.

Council Member Sara Hicks, who had pushed the idea, said at the July meeting it would attract new visitors to town and generate business because "They'll have to sit around for an hour" while their vehicles charge. Vandegrift said, "It's just the next step in becoming a greener city."

Local nonprofit Woodford Forward took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Its chief executive officer, Chase Milner, "initiated outreach with KU and the mayor of Midway this spring in seeking to cultivate a private/public EV partnership opportunity," the group said in a news release.

“Chase helped to bring renewable energy innovation and EV charger development to Midway’s infrastructure grid, thereby putting the City of Midway ‘on the map’, which will help to attract more zero-emissions vehicle drivers to Woodford County,” Woodford Forward Chair Benny Williams said. “We hope that this effort will also help spur more destination tourism to Midway’s uniquely charming and historic downtown, as EV drivers will now have a great place to visit and shop while they wait on their vehicles to charge.”