New energy infrastructure may be coming to Allen County.
During this week’s commission meeting, Carl Husling of Ameren Transmission was on-hand to discuss developing systems for more efficiently and cheaply delivering renewable wind energy to residents.
He mentioned that a line of “high voltage big towers” were being proposed for construction from Wolf Creek near Burlington to Blackberry near Pittsburg, and so “any final route is going to have some segment that goes through Allen County.”
“This is almost double the voltage,” Husling said of the proposed system, and added that “we also stay outside of cities and towns,” focusing “more so out in the agricultural areas.”
At this stage Ameren wanted to alert the county as to what was being considered, as well as make them an active partner in the development process. They also wanted to make sure that any economic development projects already underway in the county would not be affected (such as newly proposed projects at the airport).
Husling admitted that “a lot of people don’t like wind turbines,” and likely towers as well, but hinted at the economic benefits to residents in the form of lower energy costs. As he put it, the goal is to “reduce congestion which reduces the overall delivery cost of energy for the whole region.”
If and when the plan moves forward, according the Husling the next steps will involve in-depth community engagement such having public open houses and outreach meetings.
“We’re not going to make everybody happy,” he said. “But the goal is to work with folks.”
Treasurer Darolyn “Cricket” Maley said that the treasurer’s office will no longer process forms on commercial vehicles.
She said that, due to COVID-19, office workers had not received the training necessary to process the forms efficiently, and so “it was causing a lot of friction.”
“It’s not a decision that I made lightly,” she added. “I know there are a few other counties that have dropped it as well.”
She also called the situation “disappointing,” and apologized to the community, but suggested that the situation could change moving forward once the proper training had been made available.
Becky Voorhies and Jessica Thompson, both from Thrive Allen County, were on-hand to discuss specific projects at the nonprofit.
Voorhies presented commissioners with an application from a local salon that was seeking Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, and which they voted to approve.
Recall, CDBG money was devoted to local small businesses and nonprofits that had been adversely affected by COVID-19.
Thompson provided commissioners an update on a pilot transportation grant that had been recently acquired for the county in the amount of $49,418.
