MARSHALL —  The city of Minneota is seeking grant funds to buy electric vehicles for its police and maintenance departments.

On Tuesday, Lyon County commissioners voted to become a fiscal sponsor for the grant project — but they had plenty questions about the proposal first.

Commissioners, including Todd Draper, asked whether an electric vehicle was a good choice for a police squad car.

A letter of intent included in Tuesday’s county board agenda materials said Minneota was requesting $103,980, with a local match of about $20,000 from the city.

“The city of Minneota would like to apply for federal funds to replace a few of their fleet vehicles with electric vehicles,” said Lyon County highway engineer Aaron VanMoer. “This is through a MnDOT carbon reduction (grant) program.”

VanMoer said the program is “somewhat new,” and uses federal funds for carbon reduction projects.

“This grant wasn’t really on my radar,” he said.

As a small city, Minneota would need the county to act as a fiscal sponsor for their grant application.

“It’s assurance for MnDOT that the projects will meet all federal requirements,” VanMoer said.

As a sponsor, the county would also need to be willing to secure and guarantee the local share of the project costs.

VanMoer said the city of Minneota met with representatives of MnDOT District 8, and were encouraged to get sponsorship from the county.

He said the grant funding would cover up to 80% of the cost for the city to get electric vehicles.

The letter of intent from the city of Minneota said the project would replace a 2017 police cruiser and a pickup truck used for parks maintenance with Ford Lightning electric pickups. In his presentation to county commissioners, VanMoer said the city was actually asking for funding for three vehicles, one to replace a police cruiser and two to replace parks and maintenance vehicles.

“I thought it was two, until I did receive the application yesterday from the city and they had changed it to three,” he said.

“So, is their intent to put in a charging station?” asked Commissioner Gary Crowley.

VanMoer said a Level 2 charger would be included in the grant project.

Commissioner Todd Draper also asked whether the city knew if Minneota would need a replacement squad car in the future.

“So, we know that Minneota’s police chief resigned, and they’re in the process of maybe looking for a new one,” Draper said.Last month, Minneota Police Chief Bill Bolt notified the city that he planned to retire as chief. “Are they going to be on the hook if they don’t hire a police officer, and they have this vehicle? Are we going to be held responsible for this vehicle?”

VanMoer said if Minneota were to receive grant funding, he would draft a cooperative agreement with the city regarding the vehicle project.

Crowley also noted that Minneota needed a quick response from the county, because the grant application deadline was Friday.

After discussion, commissioners voted 4-1 for Lyon County to sponsor the grant project, if Minneota is awarded funding. Commissioner Thomas Andries cast the vote against.