Supervisor tells jail design consultant one of his references never heard of the firm
~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
“We don’t want solar farms tying up our land,” was a message delivered to the Greene County board of supervisors during open forum at the regular meeting on July 12 by Howard and Mary Ellen Holz representing 13 county residents.
“Let’s control our own destiny,” said Howard Holz.
The Holzes presented a petition to the board requesting implementation of “a one-year moratorium to halt any actions or rulings related to the National Grid Renewables solar project. This will allow the Greene County board of supervisors to have the time to study, evaluate, and make necessary rules and regulations.”
National Grid Renewables, based in Minneapolis, spoke to the board on May 17 about a proposed solar farm of 700 acres to be located south of Grand Junction. The representatives said they would lease farmland from landowners for the 25 to 30 year life of the project.
According to Chuck Wenthold, county environmental department, approval from the Iowa Utilities Board is necessary. In May, the representatives anticipated submitting a plan to the Greene County board of supervisors in July and estimated a completion date of December, 2023, for the proposed project.
The Holzes said there is concern among neighbors about “what is going on,” and spoke of some landowners being offered “options” on their land. This is reportedly happening before the board has received a proposed plan.
Howard Holz said, “There are no rules or regulations in Greene County or the State of Iowa (for solar farms) like there are for animals. If one solar company comes in with no rules, other companies will come in, too. They’ll all think Greene County is open for business.”
Mary Ellen Holz said, “LeSueur County, Minnesota, had so many applications (for solar farms) the county had to call a moratorium. The county needs to be protected.”
“We recognize we should start asking questions,” said chair John Muir. “Landowners do have rights (to sell or lease to solar farms), but how much does it affect others?”
No board action was taken on the petition presented by the Holzes.
Also during open forum, ISG representative Nick Frederiksen, sheriff Jack Williams, and the board again discussed possible architectural services from ISG in planning and constructing a new jail.
Muir acknowledged the pro bono design and consultation service so far provided by ISG recently, and in previous years with sheriff Williams, and he asked what the fees would be if the county did not go with ISG for the current jail project.
The board also expressed some frustration with not being able to get information from other counties who had, according to ISG, used ISG in jail design.
Supervisor Peter Bardole asked if ISG had used another business name in the past, saying, “Howard County didn’t know who you were.”
Supervisor Dawn Rudolph said, “We want to be organized and prepared for public comment.”
“We want to be successful and be able to answer questions,” Muir said. “We didn’t get bad reports (on ISG), but we just got no reports.”
Frederiksen did not respond to Muir’s question about charges for prior services if ISG were dropped as a design firm for the new jail. He did explain that some of ISG’s work had been on office space in law enforcement centers and not actually on jail design.
“I’ll get a list of actual contacts to you,” Frederiksen said. “The actual people to talk to.”
On Tuesday, Frederiksen spoke with GCNO by telephone in response to messages left requesting information.
GCNO asked why there seemed to be difficulty for the board to get information about previous work done by ISG.
Frederiksen said, “I sent the information to Jack (Williams) and he didn’t get it to them right away.”
GCNO then asked about ISG representatives’ comment at the May 17 meeting concerning “swamp water” testing for $8,250.
Frederiksen did not recall the phrase “swamp water” from that meeting but did say ground water run-off studies are standard procedures when designing buildings.
“There won’t be a basement (in the proposed design for the jail),” he said. “Putting a concrete floor in can change the patterns of water run-off,” he said. “We will want to control the rainwater run-off into city storm drains.”
Frederiksen said run-off from the cemetery will be tested through “ground borings.”
“We want to build it right the first time,” said Frederiksen. “Build it big enough so capacity won’t have to be increased later and you’ll wish you’d done it when it was built.”
In other business, county attorney Thomas Laehn reported a $25 million settlement was reached between Perdue Pharma and the State of Iowa over opioids.
“The money will be distributed among all the counties regardless of whether a county was part of the litigation,” Laehn said.
He said Greene County had not joined the lawsuit but will still realize part of the settlement.
Muir asked about allowed uses of the money.
“It’s defined broadly,” Laehn said, “as directed toward the abatement of opioid problems.”
Also under brief discussion was the topic of voting machine security. Discussion of specifics was quickly stopped by Jane Heun, Greene County auditor and commissioner of elections, who admonished the board from talking about voting security measures in a public meeting.
Mike Palmer, Jefferson city administrator, reported on Jefferson projects in progress. These included finishing the former Pizza Ranch, an entrance sign on the east side of the city, parking lot behind Arch Alley, the animal shelter, and a disk golf course. All projects continue toward completion.
Palmer reported possible buyer interest in buildings for sale currently and in the future.
The board unanimously approved a temporary funds transfer of $150,000 from the county’s general fund to the debt service fund to make the first payment on the Midland Power Cooperative building and grounds. This building will be used as the new law enforcement center for the county and for the Jefferson police department.
The money will be repaid to the general fund when taxes are collected.
The board also unanimously approved business property tax credit changes as presented by real estate coordinator Pam Olerich. According to Olerich, these allow businesses to have credits which they can put back into their businesses.
