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SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times
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Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Volume 141 Edition 21
Lawsuit questions several facets of solar zoning ordinance By Trisha L. Lopez A group of Posey County residents has filed a lawsuit against the Posey County Board of Commissioners and the Posey County Area Plan Commission seeking to reverse the county’s solar ordinance and stop the application process for the Posey Solar Project. Kendra Bisesi, Vince Frazier, Tammy Frazier, Graham K. Draughon, Dr. Katherine A. Draughon, Joyce Culley, Mark Kissel, Susan Denise Kissel, John Hanebutt, Judy Hanebutt, Gary Lindauer, Kathy Lindauer, Phil Seifert, Helen Seifert, Monica Kittinger, Phillip Kittinger and Paul Beste are listed as plaintiffs on the Complaint for Declaratory Judgment and
Other Relief, filed with Posey County Superior Court at 5:18 p.m., on Thursday. They are represented by Michael DiRienzo, an attorney with the law office of Kahn, Dees, Donovan and Kahn in Evansville. “The willful and unreasonable actions of the defendants with respect to improper communications between Tenaska and members of the APC, Board (of commissioners) and their legal counsel regarding the adopted solar ordinance and proposed ordinance amendment, as well as the self interest and conflicts of interests of Board Members (Bill) Collins and (Carl) Schmitz, should be reviewed by this court,” according to suit documents.
The suit calls for the court to render the decisions of the commissioners and APC members void due to “misconduct.” “Plaintiffs, by counsel, request the court to enter a judgement declaring the defendants’ decisions and final actions on the adopted solar ordinance and proposed ordinance amendment void, enjoin consideration of pending (solar energy conversion systems) applications and receipt and consideration of future SECS applications and grant such other and further relief as is just and proper,” according to suit documents. Among issues cited in court documents: The first draft of the original wind and solar ordinance called for setbacks of no less than
1,000 from any non-participating landowner and solar panels and a landscaping plan with a minimum 25-feet wide planted buffer of trees and bushes. Documents associated with the suit claim no mention was made of changing either condition at the November 20, 2019 APC public hearing. A special APC meeting was held on Nov. 25, 2019 to consider evidence from the earlier hearing. “Upon information and belief, the APC does not have records that notice of this meeting was posted” as required. “By motion from Heather Allyn, the APC voted to reduce setbacks’’ from the 1,000 feet stated in the initial
Town Board makes effort to keep farm animals out
Dan’s Comp property may be new office of MSDMV By Lois Mittino Gray Negotiations are currently underway to possibly get a new school administration building, complete with spacious storage, and an indoor sports facility. Members of the Mount Vernon School Board passed a resolution at its May 17 meeting appointing Dr. Charles Seifert as the Purchasing Agent for the property. The property parcel is known as 1 Competition Way or the “Bike Land Property,” the former site of Dan’s Competition on Highway 62. It is a one-story building, built in 19982000, sitting on seven acres zoned commercial. It has 37,560 square feet with a one to four ratio of office space to warehouse. The area would support six offices, a conference room, board meeting room, a records storage room, and has five loading garage doors with much storage space. The rear would be an indoor sports facility. The property is owned by Dan Duckworth, Bike Land, LLC. The current asking price is slightly under $1.5 million. “Dan is a local person willing to give us a lease to own contract over three years, so we do not have to put so much money up front. We can make three payments of approximately $390,000 for three years,” explained School Superintendent Matt Thompson. “We are still early in the negotiating stage of the process. We appointed a purchaser, who will look to see if it makes sense for us.” “We needed three facilities and this would be a solution to combine all three. First, school offices would be up front that are ADA compliant (handicap accessible), the middle section would be used for centralized storage, and the back would be a temporary
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Mount Vernon Junior High School performed Willy Wonka Jr., front row left to right (oompa loompas): Wyatt Scates, Maddux Henson, Sophia Reese, Kar-Leigh Virtue, Alyssa Nobles, and Natalie Kuhn. Sitting in the middle left to right: Veronica Baker, Alana Bredemeier, and Kaleb Westerman. Back row standing left to right: Kloee Miller, Miranda Slaton, Delaney Biggerstaff, Emma Elderkin, Lillian Payne, Michael Hile, Gracie Simpson, Megan Osborne, Amelia Leach, Madisyn Moles, and Ryan Hess.
Personnel shifts, additions OK’d at NP By Lois Mittino Gray Personnel additions and changes were the primary focus of the May 10, meeting of the MSD of North Posey School Board held at North Elementary School. Two newly created positions of Elementary School Counselor and Transportation/Maintenance Secretary, four retirements, ten resignations, and nine new hires were approved by the busy board. As an additional highlight, School Superintendent Michael Galvin presented a report on uses for the ESSER II and ESSER III funds that will give the school system quite a windfall. The ESSER II funds, called the Trump funds, are for $386,000 and must be spent by May 15. The ES-
SER III funds, called the Biden funds, are for $850,000 and must be spent by June. “This is a large chunk of money. It’s the most we’ve received at once,” he explained. “It will help us get several things done while protecting local school funds.” The money will be used to fund the new Elementary School Counselor position created at the meeting. This will be a certified position with a 186-day contract and will be shared between North and South Terrace Elementary Schools. Twenty percent of ESSER monies are to be devoted to learning loss during COVID, and the social-emotion-
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Interest in additional solar land peaks By Trisha L. Lopez The number of landowners opting to join the Posey Solar Project has been listed at around 65 since an abatement request was filed with the Posey County Council in January, however that number may be growing according to a representative for project developer Tenaska. A rezoning request recommendation approved at the May 13 Area Plan Commission meeting to shift about 41 acres from residential zoning to an agriculture district opened the door for Kent and Melissa Rexing of Haubstadt to be included in the project. “Our land leasing activities are winding down, but there is the possibility that more land could be added to the project. Additional land would provide some flexibility on things such as setbacks and placement of equipment,”
said Tenaska Rep Timberly Ross. “There are no plans to expand the project beyond 300 MW.” Information posted on the project’s website said that 85-plus landowners were associated with the project, but Ross said that was a typo and the number has since been changed to 65-plus. “We have 50 land leases with 65 landowners,” Ross said. “There just may have been some confusion about what wording we used to convey this.” The Rexing land rezoning request came almost a month after Tenaska began the land use permit application process with the APC. No mention was made of Tenaska or the Posey Solar Project by name in the APC agenda prior to the meeting, but Mary Solada, an attorney that has rep-
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By Trisha L. Lopez Ordinance and rules revisions were again a main topic at Tuesday’s New Harmony Town Council meeting. Council members examined wording on a current city ordinance banning the possession of chickens on property in town limits. Council President Alvin Blaylock said he’d been approached by a resident interested in getting chickens and he thought the wording on the ordinance needed clarified. “We’ve had some requests recently and two or three years ago we had the same situation,” Blaylock said before going over the current nuisance ordinance. “‘Keeping of hogs, chickens or other animals and fowl (are) prohibited.’ There’s a recommendation in the middle of this paragraph, I’d like to make.‘No owner or occupier of any lot or parcel of real estate within the town of New Harmony shall own, keep or possess or permit to be kept hogs, chickens or other animals or fowl on such lot or parcel of real estate in such numbers.’ My recommendation is to take ‘in such numbers’ out of that paragraph.” The ordinance goes on to state that the keeping of such animals is deemed “detrimental to public health and sanitation.” “I think with that in there, ‘in such numbers,’ that some people might think three is a good number. Others might think 10 or one or whatever. The goal is livestock, chickens, poultry, etc., not permitted within the town limits,” Blaylock said. Council members voted to approve the change, but added language to allow an exception for permitted special events or temporary festivals.
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Moving up the ranks Strong work ethic allows Ahrens to do two jobs he enjoys
Austin Ahrens
(USPS 439-500)
By Lois Gray When young children are asked what they would like to be when they grow up, a fireman and a railroad worker are often mentioned. Austin Ahrens of Poseyville is one grown up who gets to be both. He is the current Fire Chief of the Poseyville Fire Department and a full-time Conductor with the Norfolk Southern Railway. Both positions are “on call,” so the 24-year-old employee needs to be ready to hop on the fire truck or to ride the rails. “I always have my phone with me, but I also have a pager for the railroad job in case I don’t hear the phone while I’m sleeping,” he said. Austin says he always wanted to work on a train. “I was very interested in them as a kid. The railroad tracks ran through Poseyville and I liked to watch them. I was fortunate that my
grandmother knew someone up in the railroad and she vouched for me, so I got the job,” he recalled. He started with them in September of 2017 and works as a conductor on the Princeton to Saint Louis freight route. He explained he’s not the kind of conductor who punches tickets, like on passenger trains. Instead, he does radio communications and throws switches to ensure safety and smooth rides. “I work a lot, but the time varies, that is why I am on call for six days with two days off. I work about 25 days a month, on 12 hour shifts.” When Austin was 15 years old and a member of the North Posey High School Class of 2015, the teenaged Viking started his firefighting career as a junior cadet. He became a certified firefighter at age 18. He moved quickly through the ranks a few years later as a Lieutenant, then a designat-
ed Captain, and Assistant Fire Chief. Now, he has the honor of Chief, voted on by his peers for a two-year term, at such a young age. Ahrens said he “likes a job like this where you get to help people. I like living in a small town where we all know each other. I know many of the people on my runs and I think it is comforting to them to see a familiar face when they are under stress,” he observed. “We do fires and many medical runs.” The Chief was nominated to be this week’s “Heros Among Us” by Poseyville’s Town Marshal Charles Carter. “Austin is a young guy, but he has taken over and is doing a lot of great things for the fire department. I admire his dedication and his willingness to devote so much time to this responsibility,” Marshal Carter said. Austin is a recent newlywed, mar-
ried last August to Riley. The couple has no children, but would like to in the future. In the meantime, they have one “spoiled” Beagle mix rescue dog, Teddy. Austin likes to go Jeepin’ with Teddy and Riley out in the country in his spare time, which he said is often very hard to come by. Austin and Riley also like to travel when he’s not working and they plan to go on vacation to Daytona Beach, Florida in June. He also likes to do some fishing in down time. They are members of Poseyville Christian Church. Ahrens is a wonderful role model for young people who want to make a difference in the community and give back some of that young energy and drive. He is ready to fight a fire and go, especially when he has been “working on the railroad all the livelong day.”