New rules OK’d, moratorium over

With a new ordinance in place, the moratorium on construction of wind farms in Jay County has officially been lifted.   

Jay County Commissioners voted Monday to approve the updated wind farm ordinance, overruling disagreement from Jay County Plan Commission about setbacks. 

Chuck Huffman, president of the commissioners, also announced that 2020 will be his last year in office, as he will not be running for reelection. 

There has been a moratorium on wind farm construction since summer 2018, with local officials taking the time and the public’s input to update its ordinance. A final version was submitted by plan commission to commissioners earlier this year. 

Commissioners took issue with several set-backs in the proposed ordinance, which includes regulations for both wind and solar farms. They suggested scaling back the wind turbine setback of 1,640 feet to 1,500 feet from residential dwellings of non-participating landowners. They also recommended reducing setbacks for solar farms, including changing the setback from county roads to 50 feet from 150 feet and access driveways’ setback from property lines to 50 feet from 300 feet. 

Plan commission members disagreed with the amendments to the wind farm setbacks with a 3-2 vote on Dec. 12. They did not take issue with the solar farm changes. 

According to state statute, the commissioners have the final say as long as they voted again within 45 days. They exercised that right Monday with a unanimous vote to adopt the updated ordinance with the reduced setbacks in place for both wind and solar farms. 

Commissioner Chad Aker noted that the ordinance contained compromises from both sides of the wind farm debate. 

“It’s been a give and take, so there’s things in here that both sides wanted,” Aker said. “So it wasn’t all one-sided, one way or the other.”

Also on Monday, commissioners Mike Leonhard, Aker and Huffman expressed support for a task force as it continues to study consolidating animal control in Jay County. 

Julie Forcum, chair of the animal control task force , told commissioners the group is working towards its goal of creating a plan for a central facility for animal care and control in the county.

“If we do nothing, there is no contingency plan and area municipalities are no better off today than they were last October when we began this initiative,” Forcum said. 

She explained that every municipality in Jay County has requested to be included in the updated plan. Local officials and residents from Redkey, Dunkirk, Pennville and Salamonia all spoke up at the meeting expressing their support. 

But questions about funding, location, long-term plans and the leadership of the facility remain. 

Forcum told commissioners that a similar venture in Blackford County had a budget of $150,000 for 2019. However, she warned, Jay County’s cost will likely be larger. She anticipated having a capital campaign for the building, contributions from participating municipalities and continued private donations to sustain the facility. 

At the very end of Monday’s meeting, Huffman announced that 2020 would be his last year in office. 

Huffman said the combination of his duties as commissioner and the demands of his job at First Merchants Bank are stretching his time thin. He has decided he will not be running for reelection when his seat as representative of Jay County’s south district is up for election this coming year. 

“I have very much appreciated serving in this capacity and I know I will miss it very much, but I know it’s something I must do,” Huffman said. “I look forward to working with the residents of Jay County over the next year as I complete my term and I very much continue to appreciate the opportunity.”

In other business, commissioners: 

•Discussed the theft of 12 televisions from the Jay County Retirement Center. While a police report has been filed, it is unclear who took them or when they went missing. Other items that have come up missing recently are meat, an antenna and a blood pressure cuff. Options to prevent future thefts include restricting access to storage rooms and installing security cameras. 

•Acting as the drainage board, opened bids for a new excavator from RPM Machinery for $225,589 and McCallister Machinery for $219,740.49, both after trade-in. The bids, along with another from McCallister for a higher-grade excavator, were taken under advisement. 

•Voted to turn the part-time job of health and human sciences educator into a full-time position at the Purdue Extension office. Jay County Council said it would look into fully funding the position for 2021. In the meantime, commissioners will pay the $30,000 extra cost with economic development income tax (EDIT) funds.

•Purchased a spray truck from Moser Motors for the street department for $21,800. While it wasn’t the lowest bid, the truck has an aluminum body that will resist rust. Also for the street department, commissioners selected another bid from Moser Motors for a Ford F250 pickup truck and accepted three bids from Stone Co., U.S. Aggregates and IMI for stone. 

•Accepted a $10,000 donation from Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition for the coroner’s office. The money will be used to purchase iPads and equipment as the office transitions to a paperless system. Also accepted a $1,190 donation from Red Gold for the Jay County Retirement Center. 

•Selected Atlas Building’s bid of $134,773 for maintenance to the exterior of Jay County Courthouse, including tuck-pointing, cleaning and waterproofing. 

•Purchased a copier for the Clerk’s Office from Perry ProTech for $4,032.32. 

•Approved a series of expenditures: $53,019 to W.A. Jones Truck Bodies and Equipment for work on county vehicles; retainer fees for 2019 to Hinkle, Racster and Schemenaur; $21,866 to Motorola for the 911 phone system; payments of $13,775 and $1,430.52 for the regional sewer district; $264,000 lease payment for Jay County Jail; $537.30 for Superior Court law books; a disbursement of $159,939.54 in TIF money to Portland Redevelopment Commission; and moving $9,859.40 from the LIT fund to the county general account. 

•Discussed options for wind farm money that was earmarked as matching funds if Jay County won the Stellar Communities designation this year. Commissioners will hold off on any decisions about the money until after a meeting early next year with the Office of Community and Rural Affairs to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the county’s application.