Recurring topics

Familiar issues resurfaced Monday for Jay County Commissioners:

•Proposed new requirements for wind farms and solar farms are heading back to Jay County Plan Commission for revision.

•Farmers unhappy with truck restrictions on county roads want commissioners to revisit the ordinance changes approved earlier this year.

•And the fiscal viability of Jay County Retirement Center continues to be a subject of debate.

Commissioners will ask the plan commission to significantly scale back proposed setbacks for solar arrays and make a modest change in the setbacks for new wind farms.

Solar farms had been proposed to have a minimum setback of 150 feet from property lines, but commissioners Monday suggested that be revised to 25 feet. A proposed requirement for solar farm access driveways to be a minimum of 300 feet from any non-participating landowner’s property was suggested to be scaled back to 50 feet.

While the plan commission had proposed increasing the setback for wind turbines from 1,000 feet to 1,640 feet, Jay County Commissioners suggested that be changed to 1,500.

Meanwhile a delegation from Jay County Farm Bureau told commissioners that the new no-truck restrictions on a number of county roads impose a burden on agriculture producers.

Commissioners had struggled with the no-truck rules through several meetings over a period of months earlier this year. But the impact of the rules hit home during harvest.

“It would be difficult” to exempt agriculture, said commissioner Chuck Huffman.

“There’s not a real quick solution to it,” added commissioner Mike Leonhard.

But commissioner Chad Aker said he’d be willing to meet with Farm Bureau representatives, accompanied by county engineer Dan Watson, in an attempt to “come up with a happy medium.”

“When we wrote this ordinance, we knew things were going to change,” said Aker.

A number of Jay County farmers have been in contact with State Rep. J.D. Prescott about the matter.

“There’s a lot of concern about it,” said Barry Miller, a member of the Farm Bureau group. “That’s why we’re here.”

Later in Monday’s meeting, Watson said, “We try to work with the farmers as much as possible. … We have to strike a balance somewhere.”

On a split vote — with Huffman dissenting — commissioners approved accepting a new resident at Jay County Retirement Center coming from the Muncie Mission.

“I’m still against the out of county,” said Huffman.

But retirement center director Hope Confer said she had extensively interviewed the man to make sure he would be a good fit and noted that he will be a full-pay resident.

“I wouldn’t just take anybody off the street,” said Confer.

Huffman reiterated his question of whether there is a need for the retirement center and suggested that taking out of county residents was “masking the lack of need.”

“I think you’re fooling yourself,” he said. “The operation of the center is in the red at full-pay.”

But retirement center financial consultant Melodi Haley told commissioners she believes the center can be self-sustaining.

“We need 33 (residents) to break even,” said Haley, noting that there would be no need for additional staff at that occupancy level

“I’d have to see the figures,” said Huffman.

In other business, commissioners:

•Authorized the purchase of a new Total Patcher T-7500 from Equipment Marketing Co. for the Jay County Highway Department at a total cost of $70,100. Of that amount, $32,400 will come from proceeds of a recent used equipment auction held by the county. The balance will come from the department’s equipment budget.

•Approved an elevator maintenance service contract for the retirement center at a cost of $160 per month with Thyssen-Krupp, Fort Wayne.

•Learned that there had been problems with the installation of a new water heater for the center purchased from Suburban Propane. Aker-Taylor Plumbing, Portland, is working to correct the problems.