July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Council: Act now on livestock farms (05/11/06)
Jay County Council
By By MARY ANN LEWIS-
Members of the Jay County Council have decided it’s time for Jay County Commissioners to more closely regulate confined feeding operations in the county.
And recommendations from a comprehensive study of CFOs completed last year seem to be the place to start, council members said Wednesday.
“Commissioners gotta pick this up and run with it,” council member Gerald Kirby said during the council’s monthly meeting.
Several residents of Noble Township who have spoken to commissioners the past two weeks expressing concern about a proposed confined feeding operation in the works to be located on county road 50 North, addressed county council members Wednesday night.
The recommendations of a comprehensive study of confined feeding operations in Jay County seems to be a plan that would work for everyone, the Noble Township residents have concurred, but they questioned commissioners Monday about why action on the recommendations was never taken.
The group presented the same concerns to the county council that they have expressed to commissioners. Major concerns have been the devaluation of property values, operations owned by out of state residents, not being notified of pending construction, over-saturation of the soil with manure, as well as water quality in the county.
“We all should be concerned, no matter where we live,” said Noble Township resident, Barry Davis.
After a lengthy discussion, council members urged commissioners to adopt the study’s recommendations into law.
“I support the commissioners doing this,” said Jay County Health Officer, Dr. Stephen Myron, who was also in attendance at Wednesday night’s meeting. Myron also co-chaired on the committee that conducted the comprehensive study.
Recommendations of the committee included more local requirements at the start-up of confined feeding operations, local citations for environmental violations, a manure land-use database and a manure management ordinance, and requiring those who purchase or build residential properties in rural areas to read and sign a copy of the Indiana Right to Farm law.
Noting no action has been taken on adopting the committee’s recommendation, Myron said Wednesday night he felt it was time commissioners “rethink that. If we adopted the recommendations, things would be better. We gotta talk about it before there’s a riot.”
“The guys are doing a good job,” Myron continued, “but we need to do a better job of tracking them.”
The meeting’s sometimes heated discussion began when Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation, presented a recommendation from the Jay County Tax Abatement Advisory Committee to grant a three-year abatement to Rick Dues, 3742 South 300 East. Dues is planning to construct a 92-foot by 154-foot 4,000-head nursery hog operation and is asking the abatement, or phase-in of new taxes, for the buildings, valued at $400,000.
The request eventually was passed by the council by a 4-2 vote, with Judy LeMaster abstaining and Todd Wickey voting against the request.
Additionally, council granted an abatement to The Andersons Inc. for the construction of an ethanol plant adjacent to its Dunkirk grain operation. Company officials were granted a 10-year abatement on $2.9 million of real property and $1.8 million on personal property.
In a return to a discussion on CFOs, Quadrozzi explained how the abatement works for those farmers.
“The tax abatement is not totally understood,” Quadrozzi said. “Tax abatement is a phasing-in of taxes. It’s not a give-away. I will set down with anyone to explain it.”
Kirby made a motion to not grant any tax abatements to operation owners living out of state who build in the county and ask for an abatement, and council approved the motion.
The motion was not reviewed by council attorney George Lopez, who was not in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting.
“All abatements originate in my office,” Quadrozzi explained. “If they don’t meet the qualifications, I will say they don’t qualify.”
“I’ve lived here all my life and I have no say in this,” said Noble Township resident, Alice Strohl, said about the proposed construction. “We need some kind of restrictions.”
While residents continued to be concerned about the increase in the number of CFOs and CAFOs being constructed in the county and the affects on the environment, Quadrozzi explained to the nearly packed room of a meeting he attended Monday when Andy Miller, director of the Indiana Department of Agriculture, spoke to group in Winchester.
“He wants to double the hog production in the state,” Quadrozzi said, adding, “there will be a series of public meetings held throughout the state. That’s where you should express your views.”
In other business Wednesday night the council approved a request from Dr. Myron to allow the clerk’s position at the Jay County Immunization Clinic become a full-time position and to now collect a $2 charge for each immunization administered.
Myron explained the increased use of the clinic because of state mandates concerning immunizations and the slight reduction in funding from the state grant that funds the clinic each year have warranted the request.
The council approved an additional $1,250 for Myron’s 2007 budget to allow for the full-time clerk position and also to collect the $2 immunization fee.
Commissioner Milo Miller Jr., presented an ordinance authorizing the purchase of the property at 116-118 W. Walnut St. Council members agreed to adopt it pending approval from Lopez, the council’s attorney.
The building just north of the courthouse will be razed to create for additional parking for the courthouse.
“I want you to know it’s not coming from tax dollars,” Miller said, speaking to the audience, “it’s coming from the landfill (infrastructure fund).”
The infrastructure fund is generated through an agreement with Waste Management, which pays the county 10 percent of gross gate revenue collected on trash dumped in the Jay County Landfill.”
“We need to press on with this,” he continued, adding he would be seeking quotes for the demolition of the building.
When questioned about the historic value of the building which was recently challenged by Portland businessman, Bryan Alexander, Miller said, “We’ll jump the hurdles as they come.”
A request to use $100,000 from the infrastructure fund to apply magnesium chloride as a dust control to the county’s gravel roads was also approved.
The council also approved a request from Rosalie Clamme, Jay County Public Library director, to re-appoint Pat Bennett to a four-year term on the library board.
Concerning other financial matters the council approved additional appropriations: From court assessment fund to substance abuse program contractual service, $19,312; from prosecutor pre-trial diversion fund to prosecutor witness fees, $700; jury fees fund to superior court petit jurors, $5,000; and drug free fund to Jay County organizations, $16,000.
The council also approved a salary ordinance amendment for public defender salary of $5,293.78.
At the request of Miller, the council also conducted a consensus vote that will allow highway superintendent, Ken Wellman, to order a new dump truck now but not have it delivered until 2007.
Miller explained that in June a new emissions control regulation will go into effect that will increase the cost of a new truck by about $10,000.
By placing the order now, he said, the county could save that money.[[In-content Ad]]
And recommendations from a comprehensive study of CFOs completed last year seem to be the place to start, council members said Wednesday.
“Commissioners gotta pick this up and run with it,” council member Gerald Kirby said during the council’s monthly meeting.
Several residents of Noble Township who have spoken to commissioners the past two weeks expressing concern about a proposed confined feeding operation in the works to be located on county road 50 North, addressed county council members Wednesday night.
The recommendations of a comprehensive study of confined feeding operations in Jay County seems to be a plan that would work for everyone, the Noble Township residents have concurred, but they questioned commissioners Monday about why action on the recommendations was never taken.
The group presented the same concerns to the county council that they have expressed to commissioners. Major concerns have been the devaluation of property values, operations owned by out of state residents, not being notified of pending construction, over-saturation of the soil with manure, as well as water quality in the county.
“We all should be concerned, no matter where we live,” said Noble Township resident, Barry Davis.
After a lengthy discussion, council members urged commissioners to adopt the study’s recommendations into law.
“I support the commissioners doing this,” said Jay County Health Officer, Dr. Stephen Myron, who was also in attendance at Wednesday night’s meeting. Myron also co-chaired on the committee that conducted the comprehensive study.
Recommendations of the committee included more local requirements at the start-up of confined feeding operations, local citations for environmental violations, a manure land-use database and a manure management ordinance, and requiring those who purchase or build residential properties in rural areas to read and sign a copy of the Indiana Right to Farm law.
Noting no action has been taken on adopting the committee’s recommendation, Myron said Wednesday night he felt it was time commissioners “rethink that. If we adopted the recommendations, things would be better. We gotta talk about it before there’s a riot.”
“The guys are doing a good job,” Myron continued, “but we need to do a better job of tracking them.”
The meeting’s sometimes heated discussion began when Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation, presented a recommendation from the Jay County Tax Abatement Advisory Committee to grant a three-year abatement to Rick Dues, 3742 South 300 East. Dues is planning to construct a 92-foot by 154-foot 4,000-head nursery hog operation and is asking the abatement, or phase-in of new taxes, for the buildings, valued at $400,000.
The request eventually was passed by the council by a 4-2 vote, with Judy LeMaster abstaining and Todd Wickey voting against the request.
Additionally, council granted an abatement to The Andersons Inc. for the construction of an ethanol plant adjacent to its Dunkirk grain operation. Company officials were granted a 10-year abatement on $2.9 million of real property and $1.8 million on personal property.
In a return to a discussion on CFOs, Quadrozzi explained how the abatement works for those farmers.
“The tax abatement is not totally understood,” Quadrozzi said. “Tax abatement is a phasing-in of taxes. It’s not a give-away. I will set down with anyone to explain it.”
Kirby made a motion to not grant any tax abatements to operation owners living out of state who build in the county and ask for an abatement, and council approved the motion.
The motion was not reviewed by council attorney George Lopez, who was not in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting.
“All abatements originate in my office,” Quadrozzi explained. “If they don’t meet the qualifications, I will say they don’t qualify.”
“I’ve lived here all my life and I have no say in this,” said Noble Township resident, Alice Strohl, said about the proposed construction. “We need some kind of restrictions.”
While residents continued to be concerned about the increase in the number of CFOs and CAFOs being constructed in the county and the affects on the environment, Quadrozzi explained to the nearly packed room of a meeting he attended Monday when Andy Miller, director of the Indiana Department of Agriculture, spoke to group in Winchester.
“He wants to double the hog production in the state,” Quadrozzi said, adding, “there will be a series of public meetings held throughout the state. That’s where you should express your views.”
In other business Wednesday night the council approved a request from Dr. Myron to allow the clerk’s position at the Jay County Immunization Clinic become a full-time position and to now collect a $2 charge for each immunization administered.
Myron explained the increased use of the clinic because of state mandates concerning immunizations and the slight reduction in funding from the state grant that funds the clinic each year have warranted the request.
The council approved an additional $1,250 for Myron’s 2007 budget to allow for the full-time clerk position and also to collect the $2 immunization fee.
Commissioner Milo Miller Jr., presented an ordinance authorizing the purchase of the property at 116-118 W. Walnut St. Council members agreed to adopt it pending approval from Lopez, the council’s attorney.
The building just north of the courthouse will be razed to create for additional parking for the courthouse.
“I want you to know it’s not coming from tax dollars,” Miller said, speaking to the audience, “it’s coming from the landfill (infrastructure fund).”
The infrastructure fund is generated through an agreement with Waste Management, which pays the county 10 percent of gross gate revenue collected on trash dumped in the Jay County Landfill.”
“We need to press on with this,” he continued, adding he would be seeking quotes for the demolition of the building.
When questioned about the historic value of the building which was recently challenged by Portland businessman, Bryan Alexander, Miller said, “We’ll jump the hurdles as they come.”
A request to use $100,000 from the infrastructure fund to apply magnesium chloride as a dust control to the county’s gravel roads was also approved.
The council also approved a request from Rosalie Clamme, Jay County Public Library director, to re-appoint Pat Bennett to a four-year term on the library board.
Concerning other financial matters the council approved additional appropriations: From court assessment fund to substance abuse program contractual service, $19,312; from prosecutor pre-trial diversion fund to prosecutor witness fees, $700; jury fees fund to superior court petit jurors, $5,000; and drug free fund to Jay County organizations, $16,000.
The council also approved a salary ordinance amendment for public defender salary of $5,293.78.
At the request of Miller, the council also conducted a consensus vote that will allow highway superintendent, Ken Wellman, to order a new dump truck now but not have it delivered until 2007.
Miller explained that in June a new emissions control regulation will go into effect that will increase the cost of a new truck by about $10,000.
By placing the order now, he said, the county could save that money.[[In-content Ad]]
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