May Meeting

Very long night last night, meeting ended at about 11:00. Two main issues last night was the Windfarm Zoning Ordinance and the restructuring of committees. I voted in favor of the Windfarm Ordinance and against the restructuring of the committees.

The windfarms are a reality (look to the west) and they are going to continue to go up with or without us. Ford County, Vermillion County and Douglas County are all going forward with it and we can sit here and watch the money go somewhere else or get in the game. The dollars that this will mean to the schools in our area are huge. So this was really a pretty easy vote.

I voted against the restructuring of the committees for a few reasons. When Mr. Beckett introduced the first draft I was in favor of this because it would have had each board member serve on one committee and there was cost savings attached to that. Like everything else, the ordinance got changed a couple of times and the draft we voted on last night would have merged some committees, but every member would still be on two committees and the committee size would have doubled. Last nights meeting is an example of what the two committee meetings a month would have been like. We went on and on until 11:00, because everyone feels a need to speak two or three times, often repeating what has been said. Also with the final ordinance there was no money savings to the county, so I felt that the way it is set up now is better than where we were going.

Ordinance Number 848- Amending Zoning for Wind Farms

On Thursday night we will be voting on Ordinance 848, which would authorize the County Board to approve Special Use Permits and to change the requirements for development of wind farms to a County Board Special Use Permit and a rezoning to the new Wind Farm Overlay District. If you have any thoughts or opinions feel free to discuss.