Three agreements approved

If Scout Clean Energy’s proposed wind farm is built, an agreement will be in place spelling out how it will be decommissioned at the end of its useful life.

Jay County Commissioners unanimously approved that contract and two others Tuesday that will take effect if construction of Bitter Ridge Wind Farm begins by July 1, 2020.

“All three of these protect the county should this project go forward,” said Chuck Huffman, president of the commissioners.

As outlined by county attorney Bill Hinkle, the decommissioning agreement requires Scout to post a bond in an amount to be determined by an outside independent engineering firm that would cover the cost of removal of the 52 wind turbines when combined with their salvage value. The initial term of the bond would be eight years and would be renewed five years at a time based upon additional reviews by independent engineers.

“The county’s not at risk,” Scout’s attorney, Mary Soliday, told commissioners.

A second agreement requires Scout to restore roads, bridges, culverts and drains that might be damaged during construction. 

“This is quite similar to the Bluff Point project,” said Hinkle, referring to NextEra Energy Resources’ wind farm that began generating electricity earlier this year.

To ensure that the work is done, there would be two bonds posted by Scout —one to cover repairs during the construction period and one for another two years to protect the county if damage is discovered later.

“These are significant bonds,” said Hinkle.

The third agreement includes some options if Jay County Council were to reverse its decision earlier this month to deny a request for tax abatement on the wind farm.

Initially, Scout had offered between $1.2 million and $1.56 million in economic development funds, depending upon the number of megawatts the wind farm generates.

But that offer was taken off the table after the tax abatement denial.

Scout’s development plan for the wind farm will come before Jay County Plan Commission on June 21. If the project gets a green light, Scout will return to the county council and ask it to reconsider the abatement request.

If abatement were to be granted, the initial offer of economic development funds would be restored.

“This has been kind of a long negotiation,” said Huffman. “There has been some extensive work.”

Scout’s Pete Endress presented the commissioners with 133 letters in support of the project from Jay County residents and businesses.

But the wind farm opponents were not impressed.

“Are we going to just trust these guys?” asked Jeri Garringer. “What is our safety net?”

Jeff Birsfield, who has been at the forefront of the opposition, questioned whether a road repair agreement would be included in the decommissioning itself.

“Is that all Scout’s responsibility?” he asked.

Mike Garringer was heated in his response.

“Our (zoning) ordinance is nothing short of pathetic,” he said. “This company has lied to us … and you guys want to get in bed with them. I think you’re stupid … This is something that could come back to bite us.”

Garringer acknowledged that the Facebook page of the Scout opponents has posted the names of those who have signed lease agreements for the new wind farm. For that, he said, “our website got labeled a hate group.”

Also Monday, commissioners sparred at times with engineers who had been hired by the county and the City of Portland to look at ways to reduce city flooding because of inflow from Millers Branch during times of heavy rain.

John Speidel of Butler, Fairman and Seufert said the firm had developed plans and cost estimates for the creation of a detention pond on land at the southeast corner of county road 100 North and Morton Street.

“We’ve continued to focus on that location,” said Speidel.

But commissioner Barry Hudson said that land, owned by the Gildersleeve family, won’t be part of any solution.

“The Gildersleeve property we’ve said is impossible to do,” said Hudson. “It’s economically impossible.”

Instead, he said, BFS had been urged to look at a number of possible sites for detention ponds on the industrial park land owned by the city.

“It appears to me you haven’t done the only thing I asked you to do,” said Hudson.

Huffman agreed.

“That is what we requested,” he said.

But Speidel argued that development of ponds north of road 100 North “would be of minimal impact.”

Huffman also noted that even if a detention pond could be developed on the Gildersleeve property it would only serve to prevent flooding north of Pearl Street and wouldn’t eliminate the flooding threat downtown.

Ultimately, said Hudson, “we need to clear the river.”

At the moment, the city and county are waiting to hear from the Army Corps of Engineers what can be done to keep the river channel as clear as possible.

In other business, commissioners:

•Heard from a representative of Platinum Benefits, the county’s health insurance consultant, about what options might be available for coverage in 2019. The county switched from Anthem to Physicians Health Plan this year when faced with a potential 38-percent rate increase. So far, county auditor Anna Culy said, that transition has gone pretty smoothly. “A lot of people have been happy,” she said. “Some are still not.”

•Approved a request from Lifestream for $56,000 in local matching support for the New Interurban transportation system and forwarded the matter to the county council for action. The $56,000 represents a 20-percent match. The transportation system provided 25,000 rides in Jay County last year.

•Were urged by rural Pennville resident Greg Miller to revisit an earlier study of county roads. Miller, who lives on road 500 North west of Indiana 1, questioned the ranking system of the earlier study. “I wish there’s some way individually the three of you could look at these roads,” he said.

•Agreed to hire TJ’s Concrete for repairs on two of the columns on the entry walkways to the courthouse at a cost of $4,000.

•Approved a request by county assessor Diana Stults for a spring 2019 flyover of the county in connection with reassessment at a cost of $49,525.

•Heard concerns from Knox Township trustee Joe Gutshall about the proliferation of confined animal feeding operations in the county. “How many of these are we going to let them build?” he asked, noting there are currently 13 CAFOs in Knox Township, which has an area of 24 square miles. Commissioners were sympathetic but said the CAFOs are abiding by local setback requirements and are regulated by Indiana Department of Environmental Management. “There needs to be something done because they’re getting closer and closer together,” said Gutshall.

•Approved the purchase of additional computer equipment and software to provide adequate backup of county files. Cost of the purchase from Guardian Network Solutions of Fort Worth, Texas, is $14,536.66.