Logan County Board
September Regular Board Meeting

[September 22, 2025]  On Tuesday, September 16th, the Logan County Board met for their regular board meeting. The meeting was held in the second floor courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse starting at 6:00 p.m. All but one of the board members were present for the meeting, the missing member being Gil Turner. Present members included Chairman JR Glenn, Vice Chairman Dale Nelson, Lance Conahan, Michael DeRoss, Kevin Knauer, Joseph Kuhlman, Keenan Leesman, Bob Sanders, Kathy Schmidt, Jim Wessbecher, and Hannah Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick and Glenn both arrived shortly after the meeting had started.

Of the items discussed at this meeting, the biggest one was for the siting permit of a new solar farm around the current Sugar Creek wind farm in Sheridan and Cowin Townships. For information on the discussion on that item, and how the board ultimately voted, please read LDN’s other article on the topic.

After an invocation was given and the Pledge of Allegiance recited, Nelson, who started off leading the meeting in Glenn’s absence, moved to approve the consent agenda. Conahan mentioned that he wanted a few details changed regarding the minutes for the Building and Grounds committee meeting. The amendment was approved, and then the consent agenda itself.

Next were public comments. There was one public comment, with that being from a representative on behalf of REV Renewables, the company looking to build the new aforementioned solar farm. The representative presented the pros of solar energy, such as being able to restore agricultural land to its original state at the end of the project. She continued, saying that they want to continue to work with the county on this project. She ended by sharing that these projects provide a lot of tax money for local schools and infrastructure.

This then led the meeting to the action items from each of the committees. The first committee addressed was Building and Grounds, whose chairman is Conahan. There were three items he presented, the first being a $182,710 improvement to the exterior elevator of the courthouse to keep it from breaking down. This motion was passed unanimously.

The second item was also an upgrade to the courthouse, that being a $374,470 improvement to the base of the dome. Nelson asked if a schedule was ever provided. Conahan read what he had received from project manager Bill Walter, but no specific dates were provided, something Nelson stated that he was looking for. He shared that he wants to be able to keep the contractors doing work like this accountable, hence wanting to have an end date for their work to have them uphold. This item was also unanimously approved.

The final item was to approve Jaytech Water Solutions to come and upkeep the geothermal system under the courthouse for $3,500 for the year. This motion was also approved unanimously.

The Executive and Personnel committee was the next one up. There were two action items on their agenda, both appointments. The first appointment was for David Welch to Union Drainage District number 1. The second appointment was for Randy Awe to Broadwell Special Drainage District number 1. Both appointments were approved unanimously.

The next committee was Finance, and there were many action items brought forth. The first of their nine items was a motion to hire Bellwether in the amount of $12,000 to assist the county in making a budget for the next fiscal year. This was approved unanimously, as was the next item, a motion to approve a $6,500 donation for Workcamp for Lincoln from the Community Benefit Fund. Nelson had a question about this item, asking if it was for members of the county or simply Lincoln. Schmidt and Conahan informed him that it was for anyone in Logan County. Leesman wanted to know how other places in the county were going to get informed and engaged on this event. Conahan shared that they had asked the representative from the organization to send them something that they could push out to the other towns and cities around the county. Knauer also made the clarification that there is no income requirement for someone to apply to have their house worked on.

The next item was for a predictable fee schedule. Glenn informed the board and those in attendance that this would be for things such as recording deeds and easements. With no discussion on the matter, it was approved unanimously. The three items after that were all tax sales, which were approved unanimously.

The seventh and eighth items on the agenda were for salary increases for the Public Defender and Sheriff respectively. These items were set by the state, and the majority of the funds to cover these salary increases comes from state funding. Both of these were approved unanimously.

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The final item was regarding broadband, something the county has not discussed in great detail in some time. The action item read “motion to approve RFP for Broadband.” DeRoss pointed out that the county does not yet have an RFP (request for proposal) and proposed an amendment that would change it to say that the county would write and issue an RFP for the project.

Glenn then gave a brief history on broadband and how it ended up here. He said that while they did have a commercial partner previously, that partner pulled out of the project. LDN can confirm that this previous partner, while not named at the meeting, was WANRack. The state money for the project, however, is still available and will be so long as the project is finished by the end of the year in 2026. The county’s two options are to take out another bond or find another commercial partner who will help with the cost.

Leesman then provided some details on the specifics of the project. According to him, the goal of broadband would be to expand fiber optics and internet access to all places in the county. It would be open for anyone to build onto once it was completed, that way no one company would be the one to benefit. The county would receive a percentage of the profits this project brings in, with more people using it resulting in greater profits. The amendment was voted on, then the motion as amended. Both were also approved unanimously.

The next committee was Safety, with three action items. The first two items were regarding the Logan County Paramedic Association (LCPA). Committee Chairman Knauer introduced the first item, a $100,000 payment to LCPA. According to Knauer, they would make three separate payments of that amount rather than paying $300,000 all at once. This motion was approved unanimously. The second item was to approve an updated contract with LCPA, which was also approved unanimously. For the final item, Knauer deferred to Glenn, as the motion involved Knauer himself. The motion was to approve Knauer to the Logan County Emergency Telephone System Board. This motion was approved 10-0, with Knauer voting in abstention.

Transportation was next, with Wessbecher being the Chairman of that committee. The only action item brought forth was to approve an agreement with “Hanson Professional Services to design the final section of the 5th Street Road Project.” This was approved unanimously.

The final committee addressed was the Zoning and Economic Development committee. The first item ended up being the most contentious item of the evening. The details of this item, the siting approval for the new Sugar Creek solar farm, can be read about in LDN’s other article.

When the solar farm discussions finally came to an end, committee Chairman DeRoss introduced the second item. This item was to change the permit fees for new solar and wind farms. The current permit fees are based on height (for wind turbines) and amount of land used (for solar farms). This new permit fee system would change the amount charged to $4,000 per megawatt of energy generated by the project. Zoning and Economic Development Officer Al Green shared that this would keep permit fees around the same amount for wind turbines as they were when the fees were first implemented but would increase for solar panels. The reason a larger number was not decided on was that it would make it harder for others to argue that Logan County is trying to price people out and prevent them from creating solar and wind farms, something that is illegal to do by state law. This item was passed unanimously.

The final item from Zoning and Economic Development was to approve PIVOT energy. With no discussion, this item was approved 10-1, with Schmidt being the only one to vote no.

The final item of the night was the Chair’s Report. Glenn only had to share that there were some inquiries recently into building data centers in the county. Circuit Clerk Kelly Elias also asked to share, saying that Logan County is hosting this year’s Circuit Clerk Conference. She stated that 86 out of 102 county Circuit Clerks are participating, the highest turnout in the last 23 years of the conference. Glenn thanked her for sharing and then the meeting was adjourned.

[Matt Boutcher]
 

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