Alternative delivery route OK'd

The arch bridge on Meridian Street in Portland can’t handle the load.

Jay County Commissioners on Monday approved an alternative route for the delivery of 49 reinforced concrete bases for the wind turbines that will make up Bluff Point Wind Energy Center.

Each base weighs 233,000 pounds and will be carried on a 167-foot extended tractor-trailer unit with 13 axles. Because of that weight, the original route using U.S. 27 had to be jettisoned.

Beginning Friday and continuing into late August, the giant units will be traveling from the north into Jay County via Indiana 1. At Redkey, they’ll turn to the northeast on Indiana 67, then they’ll travel west on county road 400 South.

Each unit will be accompanied by six escort vehicles.

Commissioners unanimously agreed to suspend enforcement of the “no trucks” ordinance on a portion of county road 400 South and to amend the county’s agreement with NextEra Energy Resources to make sure the wind farm’s parent company will repair the county road to at least its current condition.

Representatives of both NextEra and Blattner Energy, the Minnesota firm constructing the wind farm, were on hand for Monday’s meeting.

“Your firm is bending over backwards,” commissioner Mike Leonhard told Blattner. “I want to put a gold star on you.”

Meanwhile commissioners continue to be concerned about the level of truck traffic on county road 200 South, much of it related to POET Biorefining-Portland, and an intersection on county road 300 South that was the scene of a traffic fatality in 2016.

Though county crews have done some work at the county road 300 South and Boundary Pike intersection, Leonhard said it continues to be a hazard.

“People are flying through there,” he said.

“It’s not a visibility issue,” said commissioner Chuck Huffman.

Commissioners weighed making the intersection a four-way stop earlier this year but rejected the idea.

“My guys can’t be there 24/7,” said Sheriff Dwane Ford.

Huffman, however, noted that much of the increased truck traffic is related to an egg production facility and that it might be possible to identify a normal trucking schedule.

“Ticket one, and word gets around pretty quick,” said Huffman.

Commissioners also questioned enforcement of truck limits on county road 200 South.

“If there’s an ordinance, we need to do what we need to enforce it,” said commissioner Barry Hudson.

“I’m questioning what we’re doing,” said Huffman.

Ford said effective enforcement will require installing additional signs on roads that connect to county road 200 South, alerting drivers of the truck limits. Huffman responded that if more signs are needed, more signs will be put up.

In other business, commissioners:

•Approved a transition plan to bring all county buildings into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Compliance, which is expected to cost $14,600, will be taken care of over a period of several years, with $2,000 a year budgeted. Most of the changes are relatively minor and inexpensive. Leonhard, who is the county’s ADA compliance officer, will work with courthouse superintendent Bruce Sutton to prioritize the adjustments and repairs.

•Approved repair work on the former bank building that is now the courthouse annex. A large second-story window on the Court Street side will be replaced and a wall crack repaired at a cost of $1,152. The work will be done by Rick Clifton Contracting, Portland, which submitted the low quote.

•Pressed Jay Emergency Medical Service director Eric Moore to get updated collections figures from Accumed so they have a better idea of the emergency medical service’s fiscal condition. Medicaid and Medicare payments have been delayed in part as a result of the transition from former commissionerDoug Inman to Huffman as president of the commissioners. Moore said he is working with county council president Jeannie Houchins and financial consultant Greg Guerretaz on ways to reduce JEMS overtime expenses, which have ballooned in recent months.

•Agreed, as the drainage board, to help resolve a flooding problem on Division Road near county road 200 East where silt has built up near a waterway that needs to be reconstructed. Adjoining landowner Tom Homan is working with Jay County Soil and Water Conservation District to have a new waterway designed and constructed later this year. By addressing the silt build-up, the county hopes to provide a temporary solution in the meantime.

•Heard presentations from the soil and water conservation district, Jay County Chamber of Commerce and Jay-Randolph Developmental Services as they requested county support in the 2018 commissioners’ budget. The SWCD has received $10,000 annually, which is matched with another $10,000 from the State of Indiana. The chamber received $2,500 in the most recent budget but would like to see that rise to its earlier level of $5,000. JRDS renewed its request for its current level of support of $27,500.

“I figured it wasn’t a good time to ask for a raise,” said JRDS executive director Jim Sinclair.

•Scheduled an update from engineering firm Butler, Fairman and Seufert on a flooding study for 10 a.m. July 24. Hudson urged that copies of the study be shared with Portland City Council and others concerned about the issue.

•Set a public hearing for 9 a.m. July 19 on raising the county’s cumulative bridge fund from 3 cents per $100 assessed valuation to 4 cents per $100 assessed valuation. The bridge fund was as high as 6 cents but was reduced in recent years because of tight budgets.

•Agreed to send a letter to the East Central Regional Cities Initiative requesting Jay County representation on its five-member board. Three counties — Jay, Delaware and Henry — are involved in the program, but Jay has not been represented in the past.

•Floated possible dates for a meeting in August when county, city and school corporation representatives can get together to hear a report on a study of the impact of changes in farmland assessment on property taxes. Umbaugh and Associates was contracted earlier this year to conduct the study. A meeting date has not yet been set.