The Henry County Board of Supervisors met on Thursday morning, August 8th, for their monthly department head meeting. During an update from Joe Buffington, Planning and Zoning Director, the topic of windmills once again was brought up. A moratorium was placed on the rezoning of land to the Alternative Energy Overlay District in April, which is set to expire in March 2025.
The supervisors have compiled remarks from citizens of the county regarding turbines, and plan to send those all to Joe Buffington. He will then take that information to the Planning and Zoning Commission, and they will begin to compile a plan that is right for the county to present to the Board of Supervisors. Recently, one supervisor from Lee County has asked Henry County for a copy of the moratorium that was placed on alternative energy.
One citizen in attendance made it clear that she would like to see opportunities for the public to still voice their opinions and concerns.
Steve Detrick, who won the primary election in June and is all but set to be a county supervisor for the next term, asked if more information could be shared from department head’s during the meetings. He quoted some department heads saying “business as usual” during their brief reports, and failing to share more details.
At recent meetings, although chatter fills the hallway and makes the speakers difficult to hear, according to some constituents, the door to the office has been required to stay open. With a particularly noisy discussion in the foyer today, the door was allowed to be shut halfway. Citizens urged the board to speak up when the noise in the hallway is too loud, and Steve Detrick brought up Iowa Code, saying that there is no law in place prohibiting the door from remaining shut. The Assistant County Attorney said that lawyers would “love to bring up a lawsuit” if they saw that the door was shut all the way.
During the Sheriff’s report, Rich McNamee mentioned that the jail has been holding in the 70s for population recently and is now approaching the 3 million dollar mark in revenue. Inappropriate uses of using 911 have been reported, with a call to 911 asking “what time is it” and another asking for a phone number. The Sheriff’s office is going to focus on informing the public about the do’s and don’ts of 911 in the coming months.
The outgoing county auditor, Shelly Barber, spoke about the upcoming special election on September 10th. Early voting will begin on August 21st. The special election polling places will be as usual. A list of the locations is provided on KILJ.com under the news tab. General election absentee ballots can be requested starting on August 27th.