Commissioners discuss current wind turbine construction

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At Tuesday's meeting, the Wayne County Commissioners discussed many things but mainly focused on some complaints about the wind turbine construction. Steve Muir from Elkhorn Valley Insurance talked about the renewal of their United Healthcare policy. Muir explained that they are asking for a 4.3% increase from the previous year. They also have a high deductible plan already that saves money. He talked about how there was no notable change from last year and this year from COVID-19. The renewal was approved.

After Nic Kemnitz gave an update on the Emergency Management. He went into detail on how they will be handling the upcoming county fair. Kemnitz outlined the exits and entrances for parking that they are planning to implement as well as shuttling from the high school. He explained the concerns they may face in regards to missing children during the fair. They are hoping to have extra people there to help if something like this were to happen. Kemnitz said there will be a radio system that multiple people at the fairground will have access to so they can communicate with one another for these situations as well.

Finally, the commissioners discussed the concerns from residents that have been brought to them about the wind turbine construction.

One of the main concerns was over concrete being taken to a site at 4 a.m. This concern has come from multiple residents. Another concern was some of the roads were left in bad condition after construction drivers have used it. Tim Praska and Christ Nyhuf from Bradley Construction Management were in attendance to answer these concerns.

Nyhuf explained that before the construction had started, it was understood that concrete would be laid at night due to temperature issues. This falls outside of the agreement of working during daylight hours. Nyhuf said that if they limit putting down concrete from sunup to sundown, it would cause them trouble and would lose concrete from the temperature. The final decision was that they would continue to lay concrete at night but will notify residents when they do this. They will create a map of what roads will be used when they are going to lay the concrete.

The Wayne County Board of Commissioners will next meet in regular session on Tuesday, July 20 at 9 a.m. in the Wayne County Courthouse.