The Wright County Board of Supervisors’ chambers were full during Monday’s meeting, with Chairman Rasmussen and Supervisor Kluss present and Supervisor Helgevold attending via Zoom.
During the open forum, representatives from the Belmond Community Apartments and Linebach Center common area made a request for $138,000-$183,000 in ARPA money to purchase a portable generator for the 92 individuals living in the apartments to be placed in the common area to provide heating, cooling, and electricity for necessities during storms or other outages. Because the request was not on the agenda, there was no vote, but the Supervisors will investigate further and take appropriate action based on requirements for funding and relevant laws and regulations.
Kaylee Langrell, who provides Public Relations services for Summit Carbon Solutions then asked to switch the order of agenda, placing the 10a.m. Summit’s presentation and question and answer period before agenda item to vote by the Board of Supervisors to intervene on the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline. A motion was made to amend the agenda for this change, which passed with all ayes.
Jeremy Abbas presented a request to review and act on updating the Wright County Comprehensive Plan. Supervisor Kluss made a motion to hire MIDAS to complete the update for a cost of $6,200. A committee will be formed to give input on the work, which all parties agree is necessary for the future sustaining and growth of Wright County. The motion carried.
County Engineer Adam W. Clemons gave the Secondary Roads update, which included 41 completed work orders. Mowing of grass along gravel roads will begin in October and will take around a month to complete.
The meeting then went to recess until 10:00 when Kaylee Langrell, PR, and Bill Sullivan, Client Project Manager, gave an update on the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline. The duo presented handouts providing overviews of items related to safety, proposed routes, investors, and other anticipated questions and concerns. During the presentation, several landowners and farmers intelligently and mostly respectfully voiced concerns about soil boring, tile repair, possible pipeline ruptures, taxes, structure of easements, and investors. Ms. Langrell and Mr. Sullivan addressed questions to the best of their ability and agreed to follow up and make connections between landowners and other representatives of Summit Carbon Solutions. The Wright County Board of Supervisors, with Supervisor Kluss speaking on behalf of the group, voiced concerns about the potential use of eminent domain and fairness of easements, as well as long-term effects on the safety of the pipeline and the quality of soil for farming.
After a lengthy discussion, the group moved on to the agenda item to review, act on, and approve petition docket # 2021-0001 to intervene on the Summit Carbon Solutions Pipeline. The petition, which was approved with all ayes, authorizes the Supervisors to be able to participate in the approval process by submitting filings, pleadings, briefs, exhibits and testimony of concerns to the Iowa Utilities Board on behalf of the Supervisors and the affected landowners in Wright County. Supervisor Kluss added that the updates to the Wright County Comprehensive Plan approved earlier in the meeting also will come into play regarding Wright County’s reaction to, and handling of, the proposed pipeline.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:01 a.m.
