Attorney to represent Logan County in wind farm road use agreements

 

[January 18, 2019] 

LINCOLN 

On Tuesday, January 15, the Logan County Board held its Regular monthly board meeting to vote on motions resolutions and discuss committee updates. One focus of discussion was the legal representation for various wind farm road agreements.

Members present were Board Chairman Emily Davenport, Vice chairman Scott Schaffenacker, Kevin Bateman, Janet Estill, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Steve Jenness, Gene Rohlfs and Bob Sanders. Dave Blankenship, Chuck Ruben and Annette Welch were absent.

Road and Bridge Committee update

Road and Bridge Committee Chairman Bob Farmer made a motion for a resolution to approve an authorization for the transfer of a Legal Representation Agreement for various wind farm road agreements.

Bateman made a motion to send the resolution back the Road and Bridge Committee because he feels the restrictions we are putting on the projects are “extremely jeopardizing” to these projects.

Logan County Highway Engineer Bret Aukamp said the attorney they have been using for HillTopper’s road use agreement will also be used for the Sugar Creek and Whitney Hill Wind Farm road use agreements. She has sold her law firms and merged with another law firm, so the transfer of legal representation allows the county to use her with the new law firm.

Schaffenacker said she is one of only two attorneys in the state that works with these wind farm agreements.

Bateman asked if the attorney was on retainer for all wind farm projects. He said with the Railsplitter Wind Farm, an attorney was not used and there were no complaints about the road use agreement. With HillTopper, an attorney was used and Bateman said there had been nothing but problems moving forward and trying to get cooperation, and it slowed the whole process down.

Bateman finds it harder to do business in the county using these tactics.

Hepler said he had heard some of the same things and was not comfortable voting for the attorney, adding that she is “a little bit more user friendly” than the people trying to construct these projects.

Davenport asked whether the board must ultimately approve what the attorney has negotiated.

Aukamp said, yes, and as he moves through negotiations with road use agreements, he welcomes more input from the board on agreements since the board is the one signing off on it.

Davenport asked why there was not an attorney on the first wind farm project.

Aukamp said with the road use agreement for the first project about 10 years, he used Mclean County’s road use agreement and crafted one like it, which worked well. Aukamp is willing to talk about problems at HillTopper to make sure they do not happen again.

Sanders is more concerned about the public and county than the companies because he said the public and county could get “run over” by the companies with no attorney for the road use agreements. He wants more ability to enforce the agreements and feels it would be foolish not to have an attorney.

Bateman said he was not saying it is foolish to have an attorney, but it is foolish to have this one because of all the delays. He called finalizing an agreement in July and August during the construction season and expecting them to get everything done “ridiculous.”

Bateman’s motion to table the agreement and send it back to committee failed 6-3.

Farmer, Jenness, Rohlfs, Sanders, Schaffenacker and Davenport voted no.

Hepler, Bateman and Estill voted yes.

The main motion for the authorization to transfer the legal representation agreement for various wind farm road agreements passed 6-3.

Farmer, Jenness, Rohlfs, Sanders, Schaffenacker and Davenport voted yes.

Hepler, Bateman and Estill voted no.

Finance Committee update

The board unanimously approved Finance Committee Vice Chairman Rohlfs’ motion to approve a resolution for the Tax Anticipation Warrant.

The resolution must be approved every year. It allows the county to borrow against anticipated property tax revenues that come in at the end of the fiscal year.

At Thursday’s board Workshop, Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas said the amount is usually around $600,000 and the interest is between 1.25 and 1.4 percent. Last year, $700,000 was borrowed and the year before, $800,000 was borrowed. Thomas said the county gets a line of credit for the warrant.

Last month, the board approved the State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutor’s salary, another item the board must approve each fiscal year. Newly appointed State’s Attorney Brad Hauge said, “The State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutor’s Office assists counties in a number of ways. Their Office handles all cases that are being appealed and also assists counties with conflicts of interest cases, as well as general assistance with special cases.”

Hauge said, “For this service, Logan County pays the Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, which is built into [the county] budget. This is a state-wide program in which every county that I know of participates. There are five Appellate Prosecutor District Office’s and Logan County is part of the fourth district. Thirty counties share this office and their resources.”

The next Regular Logan County Board meeting will be Tuesday, February 19 at 7 p.m. at the Logan County Courthouse.

[Angela Reiners]