Drainage agreement approved

Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review

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By JACK RONALD

The Commercial Review

Road use and drainage plans for Bluff Point Wind Energy Center that were presented Monday to Jay County Commissioners appear to be in order.

“I’ve been reviewing it,” county engineer Dan Watson said of the 5-inch-thick three-ring binder outlining specifics for the 43-wind-turbine farm planned by NextEra Energy Resources LLC for southern Jay County.

Watson said no concerns have surfaced so far when it comes to roads, and the commissioners — acting as the county drainage board — approved the drainage plans for the project unanimously.

“I really didn’t have any concerns with the plans they’ve submitted so far,” county surveyor Brad Daniels told the commissioners.

Blattner Energy of Avon, Minnesota, is constructing the wind farm for NextEra and hopes to begin work late this spring. If all goes well, the wind farm should be operational by Thanksgiving.

Blattner representatives said that the staging area for the company’s equipment will be a site on the northeast corner of U.S. 27 and county road 800 South.

Also Monday, commissioners learned from Watson that the next round of federally-mandated bridge inspections in the county, set to begin in October, will be significantly more expensive than in the past.

“INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) has decided they want to use a different software for bridge load ratings,” Watson said.

The change will result in about five to six hours more work per bridge on the county’s 165 bridges.

As a result, the total cost will be $355,041.75, a jump of about 40 percent. The county’s share of that amount is 20 percent, or about $71,000 over the next four years.

“You’ve got to inspect these bridges every two years,” Watson said.

The engineering firm of Beam, Longest and Neff will do the work.

In other business, commissioners:

•Approved funding WorkKeys testing for Jay County High School juniors at a cost of $4,896. That amount is paid with economic development income tax revenues.

•Entered into an agreement with Bridge Payment of Loveland, Ohio, to provide credit card service in the county clerk’s office. Commissioners took the step at the recommendation of circuit court clerk Jon Eads.

•Authorized county treasurer Paula Miller to move forward with the purchase of a new printer in order to process property tax bills this spring.

•Weighed the pros and cons of having the county do its own excavator work on smaller culverts rather than contracting the work out. They asked highway superintendent Ken Wellman to bring back more information at a future meeting.

•Heard Wellman say he has been in contact with feed suppliers in Ohio about the routes their trucks are taking to confined animal feeding operations in Jay County. Residents had expressed concern over damage to county road 50 North. “Hopefully, that’s taken care of,” said Wellman.

•Received an update from Jay Emergency Medical Service director Eric Moore on continuing efforts to make the county’s emergency medical service self-sufficient.