ERIE — Neosho County commissioners on Monday worked through signature cards again, this time for the county clerk’s office. A change in county treasurer prompted similar actions before.
Former County Clerk Heather Elsworth left office officially as of Monday. Elsworth lost in the August primary election to challenger Dey-Leigh Umbarger of Thayer. Umbarger was to take office this week but decided not to because of personal reasons. She sent an email to the clerk’s office after working hours on Jan. 9. The email wasn’t seen until Jan. 10. Now the Neosho County Republican Central Committee will have to choose a replacement in the coming weeks. A date for that meeting has not been set.
On Monday, after a closed session to discuss non-elected personnel, commissioners approved Deputy Clerk Cat Diel and Chasity Foreaker to have signatures on file at banks used by the county. Commissioners also agreed to remove Elsworth’s signatures from the same accounts and from having online access.
Diel is the interim county clerk and Foreaker is deputy county clerk.
Wind farm noise
Commissioners also discussed the process needed to measure the noise created by the Neosho Ridge Wind farm and see if the noise exceeds the levels listed in the original agreement with the county. Commissioners received complaints about the noise during the recent cold spell and snowstorm when ice formed on the blades and made the turbine operation loud.
Commissioner Gail Klaassen said a committee needs to meet with wind farm operators to determine the best way to measure the sound to see if it’s exceeding the value in the county’s agreement. She said this was the first time this has happened in four years and the noise was “very intense.”
“When the ice storm started, there was enough ice on there that it slowed them down. It was when the ice started to melt but it was cold enough that the ice didn’t fall off. And so then it got very noisy when they would speed up. … So it was one whole night of that until basically the next afternoon the ice did melt,” Klaassen said.
She said the sound is different for participants and non-participants in the project. She said the noise issue could come again next week when the cold snap is supposed to hit, or it could go another four years.
Commissioners agreed to work toward a resolution of the issue.
See COUNTY, Page 2.
In other matters, commissioners: — Agreed to discuss a wind farm moratorium at the April 8 meeting. The moratorium is to expire in July.
— Heard a suggestion from Tom Giefer during public comments to have policies in place when an elected official or department heads leaves so the commission doesn’t have to work through so many issues when it happens related to bank access and signatures. Commissioners also agreed with his suggestion to automatically have a forensic department audit triggered when the elected official or department head leaves.
— Agreed to place $113,950 in the county’s equipment reserve fund once the check is sent to the county. The Road and Bridge Department sold some equipment on Purple Wave, the online auction.
— Agreed to pay $288,472.12 to Bridges Inc. for work on the Neosho River bridge on Elk Road east of Chanute. The money will come from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.
— Agreed to pay Cook, Flatt and Strobel Engineers $37,430, $92,300 and $18,902.33 for inspections done on various county projects (70th Road overlay, Grady Road overlay, Elk Road bridge project). The money for one of the projects comes out of the special highway fund, the payment in lieu of taxes fund the county receives from the Neosho Ridge Wind farm. The county receives just over $1 million a year from the wind development. The final project is paid for with ARPA funds.
