Aside from the big news coming from Dec. 23’s Henderson County Fiscal Court meeting, including approvals to start the processes to set a cap on the number of acres of solar farms in the county and placing a one-year moratorium on any new applications for battery energy storage systems, several other noteworthy items were discussed.
Here’s a roundup of many of the discussion points coming from the nearly four-hour meeting.
- Habitat For Humanity of Henderson Chief Operations Officer Matt Reynolds asked the fiscal court if his organization could use approved funding to build another home in Corydon. In a funding agreement that started this fiscal year, county government agreed to give $200,000 to build homes in Robards or Corydon. Habitat recently dedicated a home the organization built in Corydon, the first it has built outside the city limits of Henderson in eight years. According to Reynolds, though, finding a suitable location to build in Robards has not yet been accomplished. With all the connections Habitat has made in Corydon, as well as learning of available lots, Reynolds said he believes it could quickly find another location in Corydon. Magistrates all gave nods of approval to Habitat building another in Corydon because the agreement uses “or,” indicating the money can be used for building in either town. Reynolds said even if Habitat builds another home in Corydon, he will continue to look for suitable spots to build in Robards.
- Henderson County Water District Superintendent Mark Julian reported the district’s water loss for November was 26%. That’s down from the 43-44% water loss the district was suffering in the summer when HCWD’s plan to fix the old and leaky system began, Julian said. Still, November’s percentage was not as good as October’s, when the system saw a 22% water loss. That might be because of a major leak on a line that runs under the new bridge that spans over the Green River in Spottsville, according to Julian. In the days before officials learned of the leak, it was losing 53,000-plus gallons per day, Julian said. During repairs of the line, HCWD bought water from Daviess County to supply water to 270 customers who live in the Reed area, Julian said.
- The fiscal court approved a measure that will officially end the Tri-County Recycling Alliance, which includes the county as well as the city of Henderson, Webster County and Union County. The alliance has not been actively doing anything for years, and Judge-Executive Brad Schneider said he’s received word from a state agency that it needs the alliance to officially close, which will also require votes from the city of Henderson and the other two counties. This will have no effect on the county’s recycling center on Sam Ball Way.
- County Engineer Nick Stallings pitched a plan in which contractors would bid on the types of small jobs that arise when dealing with flooding in the county’s creeks and ditches. He said the bidding would occur at the beginning of the fiscal year and when a job arises, the winning contractor can be notified and asked to complete the job more quickly. The fiscal court was in favor of the plan and asked Stallings to compile bid specifications for the different types of jobs to be included.
- The fiscal court tabled talk of a solar panel drainage study. The study is estimated to be $164,000 on the high end, said Schneider. Discussion of the study was listed on the meeting agenda but after the item was introduced, Magistrate Taylor Tompkins made a motion that the county cap the total number of acres for solar farms in the county at 6,050 acres. After the fiscal court approved to begin the process for creating the cap on acres for solar farms, the court returned to the solar panel drainage study item and voted to table it in light of the solar farm cap vote that had occurred moments before.
- County Attorney Steve Gold said he has had discussions with Harold “Mac” Johns, an attorney who works for law firm English Lucas Priest & Owsley, about representing the county should a lawsuit concerning renewable energy be brought against the county. Gold said there will likely come a time when the county will be facing a lawsuit regarding green energy, and “Mac is a specialist in the area.” Gold said he will present a letter of engagement pertaining to Johns to the fiscal court in the future.
- Nic Womack, owner of WW Seeds, criticized tabling the solar panel drainage study. He said adjacent landowners are having problems with water running across their farms. “I think they deserve to move forward on that study because that’s not going to stop,” Womack said.
- Niagara resident Sherri Alderson said selected matters get on the fiscal court’s meeting quickly, while other matters take months to be put on the agenda or never get on the agenda. She mentioned the Farmer & Frenchman’s recent proposal for a text amendment to change the county’s zoning ordinance to include “small farm winery farmstays” in the zoning. She said that got on the agenda quickly and the issue is now before the Henderson City-County Planning Commission.
- Steve Roehm asked if the fiscal court would consider setting a 1.75% cap for the total percentage of land that can be used for renewable energy in the county. He said the fiscal court’s approval to start the process to cap the total number of acres for solar projects at 6,050 acres would put a solar cap at 1.69% of the total land. The 1.75% proposed cap would be for solar in addition to other projects, Roehm said. Magistrates said it would take some time to study. “We can’t just snap our fingers right now and make it happen,” Magistrate Tim Southard said. Roehm later acknowledged that because of legal questions discussed by Gold he understood moving forward on a percentage wouldn’t occur during the meeting, but said he’d reach out to magistrates individually to discuss further.
