~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
Greene County attorney Thomas Laehn reported at the Sept. 16 meeting of the board of supervisors that he had filed the board’s objections to a permit application by Summit Carbon Solutions for construction of a CO2 capture pipeline with the Iowa Utilities Commission. The board had directed Laehn to file the objections at their Sept. 9 meeting.
Laehn said he filed the objection with the IUC in all 14 dockets. He said the IUC did not object to the board’s filing in dockets other than its own Greene-Guthrie docket.
Board chair John Muir asked if the board would receive any acknowledgement of the objections filed.
“When the IUC makes their final decision on whether to grant a construction permit for a carbon capture pipeline through Iowa, they are required to take into account all the objections they received, but it’s not likely we’ll hear anything before (the final decision,)” Laehn said.
Supervisor Dawn Rudolph reported attending a board of health meeting and receiving applications for a new director of public health. She said interviews will be held soon.
Rudolph also spoke about changes in mental health services and programs in the region (CICS) as mandated by the State. “Some of it’s like reading a foreign language,” she said.
Engineer Wade Weiss updated the board on several road and bridge projects. He said the Dawson project in collaboration with Dallas County is “underway.”
Heidi Kuhl, Northland Securities, attended the meeting as a resource during discussion of the Urban Renewal Program involved in a resolution to issue general obligation urban renewal notes.
Kuhl said copies of the Urban Renewal Program are available in her office.
The board then unanimously approved a resolution setting a public hearing on entering a loan agreement and the issuance of up to $24,750,000 in general obligation capital loan notes. The funds would be used for road projects outlined in an urban renewal plan adopted when the county okayed an urban renewal plan as part of establishing tax increment financing in 2018.
The public hearing will be held Monday, Oct. 7, at 9 am in the board room at the courthouse.
An increase in property taxes would not exceed 92.91 cents (per thousand dollars of taxable valuation).
