Floyd County OK’s communications system purchase contract, hears new wind farm proposal overview

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors at its Monday morning meeting officially approved the contract to build a new emergency communications system in the county, that it had previously approved financing for more than $5 million.

Also at the meeting, the board heard an update on a proposed wind energy project in the western part of the county from the proposed project’s manager.

The board approved a contract with Motorola Solutions for $4.35 million to purchase hundreds of handheld and vehicle-mounted mobile radios for law enforcement, fire departments and other emergency responders in the county, along with building a new radio tower near Rockford and updating the existing radio tower at the Charles City Police Station at City Hall.

All of the equipment will be part of the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications System (ISICS) that the Iowa State Patrol and many other counties are part of.

The Board of Supervisors had previously approved issuing $4.83 million in general obligation emergency communications bonds to pay for the project. Because the bonds are being sold at a premium, the actual amount raised will be $5.13 million. After bonding costs and setting aside money for the first debt service payment, the total available for the project will be about $4.87 million.

In addition to the contract with Motorola Solutions, the program proposes to purchase 173 pagers for county volunteer firefighters to carry.

Included in the project are handheld, mobile and base station radios for the fire departments in Charles City, Colwell, Floyd, Marble Rock, Nora Springs, Rockford and Rudd, as well as Floyd County Search and Rescue.

Handheld and mobile radios will also be purchased for the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, Charles City Police Department and the Nora Springs Police Department.

A Motorola Solutions representative has said the new radios could begin arriving within a couple of months and will be operable off existing area radio towers that are already part of the ISICS system. Building the new tower near Rockford – including acquiring land if a spot can’t be found at the Floyd County Fossil and Prairie Park – could take up to two years, she said.

County Auditor Gloria Carr said that County Attorney Todd Prichard had reviewed the contract and said it was OK to approve it.

Part of the proposed contract included the possibility of a “maintenance and lifecycle support services” contract through Motorola Solutions that would run from $235,550 in the second year the system is operating to $274,272 in the sixth year. The first year is covered under warranty.

The supervisors did not include the service contract as part of the system approved Monday.

Ben Chatfield, the Floyd Fire Department chief who has taken a leading role in helping design and advocating for the system, said he and several others would be contacting area departments that have similar communications systems to find out where the potential problems occur so they can decide what service agreements would be appropriate after the warranty period expires.

Also at the meeting, the board heard from Thomas Treharne, senior project manager for NextEra Energy Resources, which is proposing building a wind energy farm north of the Rudd area in the northwest corner of the county.

He said the company is proposing a 300 megawatt project that would include up to 100 turbines.

He said the company has begun contacting landowners to gauge interest in easement agreements, but any construction was still several years away, possibly beginning in 2028, and there were many environmental studies, bird counts, wetland studies, wildlife studies and others that would be done before the company would apply for a permit.

“There’s just a whole host of things that we have to be very cognizant on before we even move forward with the project,” he said, adding that a wind farm is typically designed to last 30 to 50 years, with the potential for generator updates during that time.

Asked about the height of the towers being considered for this project, he said the highest they would go would be 599 feet to the tip of the blades, but most would probably be about 500 feet.

Treharne said NextEra has 13 existing projects in Iowa, the nearest in Cerro Gordo County, and it has invested $3.4 billion so far, and would like to double or triple that investment in the state.

The company currently pays $13 million annually in property taxes and $8 million annually in easement payments to Iowa property owners, he said.

Alluding to the proposed carbon dioxide pipeline projects, Treharne said the company uses only voluntary easements.

“We’re not out to badger or threaten people,” he said. “If they’re not interested we move on” to other properties in the area.

He also said he was aware that Floyd County was looking at making changes in its current wind power ordinance, and his company would be happy to be part of that process.

Also at the meeting, the board:

• Approved the specifications for a drainage ditch renovation project in Floyd County Drainage District No. 3 and set the bid due date on the project as 10 a.m. Sept. 14. Drainage District 3 is located west and southwest of Floyd, and the supervisors are trustees for the district. The cost of the project – estimated at about $800,000 – will be assessed against all the property owners in the district based on a formula that includes the number of acres they own and the relative benefit each parcel receives from the district.

Many areas of the ditch are overgrown with trees or have other problems that restrict the water flow, and no major work on the entire length of the ditch had been done since the district was established in 1917.

• Delayed for another week or two a planned “accounting and reporting” on the Floyd County Law Enforcement Center and courthouse update project.

Supervisor Chair Mark Kuhn said he “can’t remember a project that has changed the course of Floyd County’s future more than the Law Enforcement Center and courthouse update,” and so it deserves more than just a review of the expenses but also needs a review of the events and decisions that led up to the project and that have been made during it’s time.

• Decided to not have a board meeting the week of Labor Day.