Floyd County supervisors will hire mediator to seek wind energy ordinance compromise

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The chair of the Floyd County Supervisors presented “A new way forward” at the board’s regular meeting Monday morning, Nov. 4, offering a plan to use a mediator to try to find consensus regarding a new county commercial wind energy ordinance.

Supervisor Chair Mark Kuhn suggested the county hire a mediator and create a working group to work confidentially to try to come up with a compromise regarding the ordinance. That compromise could then be brought back to the Board of Supervisors for discussion and possible action.

Currently, a proposed Floyd County commercial wind energy and battery storage ordinance has been tabled in the third reading stage. The proposal has been heavily amended on mostly 2-1 votes with Supervisors Jim Jorgensen and Dennis Keifer in favor of the amendments and Kuhn opposed.

Many county residents have applauded the changes and said they would better protect county residents’ health and safety and protect resources and wildlife.

But the advocates in favor of commercial wind energy, including companies trying to build new wind projects and landowners who want turbines on their property, say the ordinance as it is currently amended would not allow commercial wind projects in the county and would preclude the millions of dollars in property tax payments to the county and millions of dollars in easement payments to landowners that could come from such projects.

Those amendments include a limit of 70 total turbines in the county (including the 50 existing turbines), a limit on turbine height of 450 feet, and a sound decibel limit at occupied structures of no more than 40 decibels, as well as increased setback requirements.

“It appears to me that the Board of Supervisors itself in an open meeting cannot resolve this issue,” Kuhn said. “How do you expect someone to resolve an issue that is this contentious in an open meeting with this side over here, this side over here?”

Kuhn said the solution might be to hire a mediator and to create a small group of people representing various sides of the issue who could meet together, hopefully come up with a compromise proposal, then present that compromise to the full Board of Supervisors for consideration.

“The working group I’m going to propose is a confidential process that creates a safe and secure environment for all parties to resolve the dispute, Kuhn said, and suggested Louis Lavorato as the mediator.

Lavorato served as a justice on the Iowa Supreme Court for 20 years, including chief justice for six years, after having served seven years as a district court judge, according to his resume. He has handled more than 1,000 mediations since 2007 involving a wide array of issues.

Kuhn said Lavorato has all the necessary qualities essential to a mediator, including being neutral, an excellent communicator, showing empathy and providing a supportive environment while understanding the emotional aspects of a dispute, respecting all the parties and treating everyone with dignity and respecting confidentiality.

Kuhn said the mediator would charge $250 per hour plus $200 for travel, although he would also be available to attend meetings remotely, and that he would be available as needed.

Kuhn said he checked with the Iowa Public Information Board, and as long as only one supervisor is a member of the group there would be no violation of the Iowa Open Meetings Law to have the group meetings closed to the public.

He proposed the members of the board be:

• Lavorato.
• John Robbins, the North Iowa Area Council of Governments (NIACOG) consultant who the county hired to help develop the proposed ordinance.
• County Attorney Todd Prichard.
• A representative from Invenergy, the company that is furthest along in developing a wind energy project in Floyd County.
• A member of the Board of Supervisors. Kuhn suggested Boyd Campbell, who is running unopposed in the Nov. 5 election and is almost certainly going to be elected to fill the appointed position currently held by Jorgensen. Campbell could take office as early as Nov. 13, after the election results are certified and he is sworn in.

Jorgensen also suggested that Thomas Reavely be a member. Reavely is a private attorney who Jorgensen and Keifer approved hiring to give a second opinion on the impact of a Worth County District Court ruling regarding that county’s wind energy ordinance and how it might apply to Floyd County.

Kuhn said he wasn’t opposed to Reavely being a member, but said he was a little concerned that the attorney was charging $350 an hour plus travel time and his involvement could get expensive.

Jorgensen also suggested that county residents representing the two sides of the controversy be appointed, but later he and others agreed that the board might be getting too large to be effective or to allow meeting scheduling, and they backed off that suggestion.

A special meeting of the Board of Supervisors will likely be called for Thursday to finalize the formation of the group and approve agreements with those persons who will be paid by the county for their participation, including Lavorato, Robbins and Reavely.

The board also discussed a couple of other aspects of the wind energy ordinance at its meeting Monday morning, including how setback requirements could be affected by landowners signing voluntary easements to reduce the setback on their property, how setback for eagle nests should be determined and how different setback distances would effect the available locations for wind turbines, and continued discussion of how the Worth County District Court decision on that county’s wind ordinance might be relevant to the actions being taken in Floyd County.