Mayor, City Council Near Deal Over Electric Vehicle Lawsuit

Updated, Sept. 2.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The mayor of Indianapolis and city councilors have reached a tentative deal in a lawsuit over the city’s electric vehicle fleet.

Legal documents still needed to be signed, but a contract for supplying city departments with electric vehicles will likely be sent back out to bid. The council must first agree to drop its lawsuit, Mayor Greg Ballard said in an interview with WFYI Tuesday.

"That is part of the agreement," he said. "And if they agree to do that, we will re-bid it and move on rather quickly."

California-based Vision Fleet has a deal to supply the city with 425 electric cars. About half those cars have been delivered so far. Under the tentative deal, supply of the other 200 cars will go out for bid.

Distribution of those cars has been controversial, with police officers upset about the lack of storage space.

Councilors have argued Vision Fleet should have a purchasing agreement and not a services contract. Ballard insists the contract is legitimate. "That's a valid contract. And that contract is in place," he said.

On Wednesday, Vision Fleet issued a statement about the agreement. CEO Michael Brylawski says it part:

"With this lawsuit in the rear-view mirror, we look forward to continuing our strong relationship with the City as an innovative partner providing a service that we hope will be replicated elsewhere to benefit taxpayers, employees and our environment. We are proud of the value we have delivered to Indianapolis and hope to continue building on that record."