(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met Wednesday morning in the Council’s Chambers at the City Hall, in Harlan. In his minutes of the meeting, Shelby County Auditor Mark L. Maxwell, stated Supervisor Kenkel had reported that the Supervisors along with the Shelby County Attorney, the Assessor and County Engineer are presently working on draft ordinances for windmills, solar farms and hazardous pipelines. The plan is to finalize drafts and bring to BOS for approval within next couple of months.

In other business, the Supervisors held a public hearing on a proposed Urban Renewal Plan amendment. Hearing no public comments, and having received no related correspondence, the hearing was closed and a motion was made to suspend further readings of the ordinance and approve the Resolution to ” Declare Necessity and Establish an Urban Renewal Area,” and “Approve [the] Urban Renewal Plan Amendment for the Shelby County Urban Renewal Area.” They adopted the Resolution later in the meeting.

The amendment covers the addition of the Property to the Urban Renewal Area, and authorizes the undertaking of a new urban renewal project in the Urban Renewal Area consisting of using tax increment financing to pay the costs of constructing county road, bridge and culvert improvements for the betterment of transportation infrastructure and the promotion of economic development.  There are multiple bridge and/or culvert projects included in the plan. Mark Maxwell says “It is expected that the completed Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects will cause increased and improved ability of the County to provide adequate transportation infrastructure for the growth and retention of commercial, industrial and agri-business enterprises in the Urban Renewal Area.”

Description of Properties to be Acquired in Connection with the Project: The County will acquire such easement territory and right-of-way as are necessary to successfully undertake the Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects. Description of Use of TIF: It is anticipated that the County will pay for the Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects with either borrowed funds and/or the proceeds of an internal advance of County funds on-hand. In any case, the County’s obligations will be repaid with incremental property tax revenues. It is anticipated that the County’s use of incremental property tax revenues for the Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects will not exceed $2,000,000 plus any interest as may accrue on any credit facilities entered into by the County to finance the Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects.  For further details, please contact the Shelby County Auditor’s Office.

Kaylee Langrell from Turnkey Logistics along with Christopher Hill, representing Summit Pipeline solutions addressed the Supervisors during Wednesday’s meeting. Langrel and Hill were questioned about the claim of $867,390 estimated property tax to be collected by Shelby County annually. They informed the Board and audience, that it was an estimate produced by others. Many questions were ask of Summit Reps on their tax estimates, construction protocol, project benefits to the County, as well as expected communication with our inspector prior to construction. The Board stated they would like to Summit to attend the Board meetings at least every 90 days.