Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Commissioner Snell here. Chairman Shotwell here. We have a quorum. Thank you. This is your first opportunity for public comment. Each individual will state their name, have three minutes to address the board. subject uh matter of yours shall be pertinent to items on the agenda. You may only address the board once under this public comment opportunity and may not yield your time to others. Board members will not debate nor answer questions. Any public comment? Seeing none, entertain a motion for the minutes. Move to approve.

We have a motion and support. Any questions, corrections, or deletions? Seeing nor hearing none. All in favor, please say I. I.

Those opposed? Any unfinished business to come before the board? Seeing nor hearing none, new business, Barry G. Construction status update. Administrator Controller Overton. The floor is yours. want to invite Dick Very from Very Up. Give us an update and the PowerPoint, please. There it is. Where's your stick? Can you turn this screen on over here so I can see what Thank Thank you. Well, good morning. I hope everyone had a blessed and a nice Easter uh weekend this past weekend. Um it's uh we're in the home stretch now. We're we're winding this project down and just want to go through where we are and uh take you through a couple pictures and uh give you a feel for what we've achieved so far together. Um I do want to commend again Mike Overton and um his staff uh especially Blake Upright and Derek and uh Nikki and everybody that um my project manager Chris Doo has worked with. um they've been very helpful. The whole really the whole county has been very helpful as we've tried to put this project in. It wasn't easy uh to put a lot of new uh systems in buildings that are occupied, but they were very understanding and very

accommodating. So, thank you. Next slide, please. So, this is uh the 100% everything that's done. Um, you can see that we've finished all the lighting in the buildings, all the HVAC at the Wesley Jail, North Lawn, J Dot, Youth Center, Airport, J, uh, J Dot, and a human services building. The solar is completed at the event center, um, uh, J Dot, youth center, airport, HSB in the courthouse, and then the building controls are all done as well. Uh the only ones that really need to be finished up is a little bit of work here in the tower building and then the uh geothermal is done at both uh buildings both the human services and courthouse. So and same same with the thing. So, the nice thing here is you can see some overhead shots of the solar uh that's at the courthouse uh there and you and the EV charging stations there and you can see the airport um you know canopy structures there for solar. Next slide, please.

I have a question on that one. Sure. Do you want to take questions while you go through or just finish? Sure, that's fine. Thank you. Just real quick, and I know you've been over this before, so I know you're repeating yourself, so I apologize, but I've had a couple constituents ask this question again. I just want to make sure that I'm telling them correctly. So, is there a mechanism on the solar panels that will clean the snow and debris off? Uh, no. They It's basically the sun as it as it melts, it will just it'll just melt off. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. There's no there's no no mechanism that does that. It's just natural from the sun. And then you can see can you go back to that slide

you the one before that just backwards backwards backwards while he's doing I can add a little bit that um the solar panels are also facial so they actually gain a little bit of light from the bottom as well.

Okay you have to talk in the microphone. Just to add a little bit more to the solar panel question, um the solar panels are bfacial, so they actually um receive light from both sides of them. It's only about 15 to 30% is what you can get from the bottom. Um but it still adds up over time. And for things like snow that um you know the ground being white reflects to the bottom side and so the panel starts to receive some energy and it heats up in that process and actually melts the top of the panel a lot faster than you know just waiting for the snow to naturally melt and slough off and things like dust and pollen would just burn off. Is that what I'm hearing? Um the rain cleans them off. Yeah, they're all at an angle. Um so as as it rains, it pretty much just washes the dust and pollen off.

Perfect. Thank you. Nothing further. Commissioner Williams, I just wanted to show you as you can see on these both of these uh pictures, you can see the tilt um so that it will, you know, eventually melt off. So, okay. Yep. Next slide, please. So, this is the basically 99% at the courthouse. It's a picture of the where the new subb geothermal pumps are on the left there um that we installed with the drives on those. And then you see the uh duct work on the roof um for the rooftop units. That's the only thing that has to be completed yet. There's a little bit of duct work that has to be uh finished yet. That's why it's at 99%. Next slide. Jake, is that duct work insulated?

Yes.

This is the tower building. You can see the first picture there on the left. This is also at 99%. You can see that the air handlers are inside those doors. Those are the new air handlers that are actually bringing in outside air because you didn't have units that had outside air capability. those that have outside air. They have a cooling coil from the chillers that are out here on the roof uh you know on this level and um a heating coil from the boilers. You see the new boiler plant in the middle that was installed and all the piping and insulation and pumps associated with that. That's completed. And then you can see um the pipe uh chase for the uh you know um the systems there that are right there. That's I think that might be done now. I have to go back and look at it, but I I think this is almost done. Block blocked in. So that's just about completed as well. Next slide. Okay. So, um, this is the this has been the one that the county has been very patient on and Far has been patient as well trying to get the state to um give the land ownership over uh from the landfill and they uh it's like a football that just keeps bouncing. It's it's just not making any progress. So, um, we're still right where we were the last time I gave a meeting, uh, update. I think it was in January. Um, no no progress has been made on that. So, um, you're going to see something here shortly where we're recommending that you utilize that money that was there for that instead of waiting and letting, you know, kind of waiting for the state to decide whatever they're going to do because it's been over a couple years

now. um utilize that money to go for the Channer Jail solar. You'll recall that when we did the Channer Jail, there was uh we were told not to like do anything there because you were in the midst of trying to get uh some bonds passed or millages approved to do some renovation work there. So, they didn't want to they didn't want to complicate everything with that. So, we really didn't do anything with uh solar at the jail. That's one of the highest energy users in the county. It's a 24 occupied, you know, 24-hour occupied facility. Uh so obviously that's that's a big opportunity to do solar. So we're going to recommend that. Next slide.

Question on that. Sure. Slide. Sure.

Which slide? Yeah, it's the one with a landfill slide on the landfill 20% solar 20% done.

Yeah, it's less recommending that we it's less than 20

It's less than 20% done. So what would what we did is we ordered we got all the solar panels and the inverters and everything to put the solar in, but we could not start constructing anything until the deed the land ownership was deed back to the county. So we've just been hanging on to that and so we haven't done that. So all the engineering is done, all the permitting is done through Eagle. Everything was has been ready to go now for a over a year. It's been two years since we were on a meeting um with the people from the state both real estate uh their uh attorney general's uh assistant attorney general was on there and they said it would take 45 days to 60 days and that was like July of 2024 and here it is. Here it is now. We're still waiting and um you know that money that that was that was uh lent by Bank of America has just been sitting there. The good news is I got them to extend the escrow earnings. So you're earning you know money on that. But you know they they have to close that out pretty soon here. And so we're just recommending to use that money that all that design is ready and very would still love to do that project if you know if the state ever gives you the the land but we can't do any construction on their land until it's actually deed over to you.

Right. I understand the problems for the state and the ownership of the land but that landfill project is an important project. That's why it was added to this overall project to begin with. Yeah. They're still pumping what? 5,000 gallons a day. Yeah. Um then we must still be using the hazardous waste hauling contractor to put this leech into tankers. Yes.

Drive it off site and dispose of it at a hazardous waste landfill. And maybe you know the number. I'm I tried to look it up this morning. I didn't find it. Your original documents said that we are spending it was either 9,000 a month or 90,000 a month to haul this leech away. Do you recall that exact number?

Yeah, it was it was 9,000. It was a little over $100,000 a year that you and that was a couple years ago. So, I don't know what today's costs because I'm assuming that those costs are going up with gas cost and you know um the uh all the regulations with the EPA with wastewater plants and how they have to dispose of it now. Um I'm sure that cost is up now. So, that would be a better question to ask Mike. he might know exactly what there what it's been, but it's been, you know, four years ago was when we got that information that it was like $9,000 a month.

Yes. Now, the potential change order that you're talking about. We're going to fund some of that from the escrow fund, which currently has a million or more in it. I would personally I would like to see this Dalton landfill wastewater treatment plant completed. Um we shouldn't just leave that leech in the ground pumping it out as we can. Um, and I understand adding the solar panels to the Chanter Road facility. If I know it's been a couple years since you put this original estimate together, how much would the cost be your best guess at this time to finish that landfill wastewater treatment facility? We the last meeting I came in January, we gave what was originally anticipated to be change order number three uh anticipating that the state would give approval um which they haven't yet. Um and that was like another 1.2 million if I remember correctly to because costs have went up and then remember a tornado hit the building last last spring and wiped the building out. So the building has to be rebuilt as well and that so that's part of the reason why the cost went up and everything's you know went up since like three years ago when we originally did the project. Uh so um what we're suggesting to do is it's it's a more fiscally responsible decision to take the money that's there and actually let it work for you to actually generate

savings because you're going to actually generate about $20,000 more per year of savings than what the leech hauling savings was. And that's going to over the life cycle of that uh solar system it over you know a 30 the the 35 year life of those panels it it's it's going to way out produce you know uh you know what what the leech well maybe not way out produce but it's going to it's going to produce significant savings and you can get them now and you can also still get the investment tax credit that's available on that solar which is sun setting with a one big beautiful bill that got passed uh by President Trump.

Well, I would like to see some way that we can add the solar panels to the Am I disturbing somebody? Yeah, you're carrying on about something that we have no effect on. Of course, we have effect on it. We don't. Board of Commissioners have nothing to do with it. Then why we even Then why are we even talking about it? I don't know. You're talking about it. Why is this even on our agenda if we don't have any impact on this? We're talking about the landfill we have no impact on. We could move on if you don't mind.

You know, I'm almost done. And if if other people are impatient, I guess I don't care. I would like to see a way we can finish the Dalton landfill wastewater treatment facility because that is necessary and add these solar panels out at the Changer Road. I'm not willing yet to to vote yes in in favor of deleting that landfill wastewater treatment facility. Yeah. I mean that that's that's up to the the board to decide. Um, just to be clear, just to be clear,

Varigy wants to do that project. We wanted to do it. That is an exciting project. It's going to help make environmentally, you know, safe for the ground and for the people of Jackson County, not having, you know, PAS go into ground that could potentially cause, you know, cancer and stuff like that. So, it's a not only is it a savings thing, it's a it's an environmentally responsible thing to do, but unfortunately, we're we have our hands tied. We can't do anything until Lancing approves it. So, we think that it's more fiscally responsible to use that money now and actually get this additional savings that can be done at the jail, which is really, really good. And then once that get does get approved, we can, you know, complete the landfill as well at that time.

So could you do we still have over a million in our escrow fund? Yep. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Next slide, please. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I guess my my question goes to how do we cut the Gordian knot? Um the the risk of proceeding without having title is on us or on someone else. That's on us. It's a risk that we can decide to take if we choose.

What? Well, I want to I want to investigate what the risks are. and whether they're acceptable for us to take even if we don't have title.

Well, we one we we can't physically do that because the contractors won't work on property we do not own. They're taking a risk as well and no contractor is going to go build something on property we do do not own. Uh the state has talked a good game, but it's like Dick said, it's been years. Uh most recent conversation, it is still not moved at all. uh once it was tiebarred to the Livingston County um legislation bill and uh from what I understand that bill is a little more uh dicey and controversial. It may not come forward anytime soon. Uh there's a whole lot of other variables involved in the funding itself. Uh as Dick alluded to, the the tax credit ends in July. So, we come to a point where we have to pivot if we want to bring in an extra half million dollars. It's $493,000 uh into this into a project. Otherwise, that just goes away. Why leave money on a table is the point.

So, I'm I'm not suggesting any of the things that I'm talking about. I just want to understand the risks that are involved. Even if we were to indemnify a contractor and order them to go to work on the property, you're suggesting they would be well, I guess the c the question is what's the cost of the risk of doing that? And no contractor probably would do that is what it's just money. The cost is money, guys. That's all it really is. Risk. We are not talking about people going to jail. We're talking about money. That's all it is. and and the risk

uh it would be a political risk. The state would say, "Oh my god, what are you doing on our property? We'd say,"Well, we're doing what we told you we were going to do, but you can't get off dead center and get this title thing fixed." Uh it's a that's a political risk that I I think works in our benefit doesn't work to the state's benefit. But at the same time, we would be putting perhaps a financial risk upon our citizens that's unacceptable for us to do. That's what I that's where I think we are. Yeah.

In other words, we can't just kind of blunder forward as I might have suggested. did not have a a better alternative for the money and for uh uh energy savings and so forth. Uh perhaps maybe that's a risk we should entertain. But frankly, we do have a better alternative. We can divert the money towards the the jail out there and offset their what is it 9,000 89,000 a month in electrical costs. Um, and uh, the the the landfill was originally it's one of our first projects. It's what kind of got going got this thing going because we were spending up to $100,000 a year and hauling and all that stuff. Every time it rains, that's more water we have to haul away ultimately. But at the same time, we have done it for forever for 20 plus years. You know, it's one of those things that's going to continue to happen. uh and I really can't control it. It's not a savings. It's a savings, but it's not a simple savings as solar, you know, is simple putting solar out there. Um so yeah, um it'd been nice if uh it would have worked out, but unfortunately uh at some point you got to just stop and say we need to move forward. Thanks, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to investigate these options. Mr. I believe John Willis would like to speak.

Yes, thank you. My question is to the to the administrator. So make reference to the tiebar. Is the tie bar that's holding this down or my understanding is that this passed through the Senate unanimously? The tiebar was by Veronica Kleinfeld, but the problem is we can't get it to the floor for a vote in the House is what my understanding. Is that correct? The way I understand, yeah, we we I went up and testified twice. Both committees passed you uh out of committee unanimously. Uh and it was ready to uh go to the governor pretty much pretty close except on the floor. It got tiebarred and um Well, the the tiebar passed unanimously in the Senate. That pass tie it, you mean? Yeah. No, no, no. For for it to pass to the House.

It has passed in the Senate. I'm not sure. Pardon me. I thought the House passed. No, the house the house hasn't brought it to the floor for a vote. All I really know is that brought it to the floor for a vote in 24 when we asked. Senate took it up in 25. They tiebared it. It is now and passed by the Senate with the tie bar. It is now resting in the House. Well, it's resting in the negotiating committee is really where it's resting because you have two different bills that have got to be married together. Okay. because my understanding of it after a lot of research is that it's waiting to get a vote in the house

as of brought to the floor. It's um in the Senate uh Senate Bill 478 is referred to the committee on appropriations according to the Michigan legislature.

Yeah. Well, in my conversation most recent within the last month or so um was with was with Rep. Representative Lightner and she's uh obviously frustrated by the whole thing and it's it's tied up and not moving forward and she doesn't see it moving forward at this point anytime soon which um leaves us on a pickle because at the end of the day the tax credit will go away in July whether we do anything or not and that leaves like I say closer to a half million dollars that we would have forgone. Thank you. My previous words, nothing I said implied that we should proceed with construction without the title transfer. I didn't imply that. Didn't say that anywhere. Don't misconstrue that so you can poke arrows at me. It would be foolish for us to proceed with the construction before the land is legally transferred into our ownership. What I'm saying is that we should not take the Daltton landfill project off of our Verigy project and we should not spend all of our money so that we can't come back to it once the land is legally transferred into our name into the county ownership. So don't twist around what I said. So you can poke fingers at me. Um

Mr. Chair, sorry. I don't have anything, but I don't think John was quite finished yet. No, I was just looking at that because what I'm looking at is that that the bill in the Senate we spoke about passed Deb and in November of 25 um according to the legislative website, legislature.gov, Um the bill for Livingston County which is tie bar to ours. Yeah. The tie bar bill which became 4135.

41. Yeah. 4135 is the house bill. The senate bill is 478 and that bill 478 in October of 2025 was referred to the appropriations committee according to the legislative website. So it's not in in Matt Hall's office at this time. It this is the Senate bill. So it wouldn't go to Matt Hall. Yeah. But it's sitting in the appropriations committee according to the Senate the Senate version.

Okay. Can you check on the date for of November of 25 because I'm understanding that November 2025 4135 came to the Senate was sent to the House. Yeah. Just for clarity sake, um there's a time frame the money has to be spent or we have to refund it. Correct. Pay down the bonds.

It's we have to use it on our debt service. Um, right now we're in a position of we're going to run over the April deadline and we're going to end up having uh to um extend the escrow. We've asked for that and I've had to speak to legal as well uh about arbitrage, make sure we can get a legal determination that there's not arbitrage. It's against the law basically to to borrow money and then just sit on it for interest purposes, for revenue purposes. So, let me frame it better this way. waiting on regardless if it's in the Senate or the House or the committee could would potentially take it past that deadline. Am I correct in stating that?

Very much. Okay. Thank you. As well as the July deadline, which is the tax credit money. So, according to um the legislative website, House Bill 4135, it was returned from the Senate with amendments, right? Return from the Senate, pass the Senate on November 13th, 2025. Roll call 297360. Yeah. And forward it to the house. Yeah. Return to the House with amendments. Yeah. So they have to deal with So you at the house now, right? Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Could I have the next uh slide, please? Okay, this just gives you an overall summary of all the energy conservation measures and um the stuff uh remaining to be completed. Um so the stuff in red was the stuff we just talked about for the last 10 or 15 minutes of the landfill. Next slide, please. This is the solar layout for the Channer Gel. Uh you can see the solar panels there at the bottom. Um those will be installed and the trees will have to be moved and we'll put a security fence around that a 6ft high uh security fence to uh keep everything safe there. And um this solar is designed to offset up to 110% of the current loads that are on the meters right now uh for that site. Uh part of the reason why we did that is because we understand that there's going to be a potential uh possibly a potential expansion of the morg where you're going to d maybe double the size of it to add some additional refrigeration which takes electricity. So, um, we made sure that we sized it and accommodated the, uh, that for that. And, um, so you have a, you'll have more than enough capacity to do similar things for that site that we're doing now for the youth center. Next slide. Um so overall as far as uh the change order um for uh what we're going to now call this change order three um we we we anticipate that the scope would be installing a 510 kilowatt solar array which will be the largest single array you know that the county has. Um it will

offset 95% of the facility's electrical usage. You can uh see you saw the picture of where it was going to be located. Uh we we originally uh offered a number of things uh a number possible locations and that was the best uh place to put it that where it's anticipated to go. Now it's just like all the other thing. It's a turnkey installation. It will provide a investment tax credit IRA rebate of just under $500,000. um that will pretty much fund most of the additional $645,000 cost. Um and then some of the funding sources to help offset that initially is the million uh of escrow and that million dollars balance was as of November. So I think if Cecilia was to reach out to the bank that might be 1.2 million now or 1 It's probably definitely over up to 1.1 million, but that was as of November uh when she got the last update. So, um that would be there to help fund it. And then two other sources of funding that could could uh potentially do this is we had uh projected construction savings on this job originally. We actually acrewed additional construction savings of uh energy savings of $105,000. um on this project than what we actually uh you know showed in our original cash flow. So that's additional monies that could be used. And then we didn't project any rebates from Consumers Energy uh that you got for putting in the lighting and a lot of the new HVAC systems that we put in. And that was 77,000 that we already processed and you got those checks back from uh consumers. So, that's how the how the thing could

be funded. Um, and then and then obviously the energy savings of almost $2.9 million over the next 20 years that the uh that the solar would uh generate for you. Next slide. So, this is just to give you a frame. If you could go back to that other slide, it's basically the same picture.

Yeah, it's bas It's basically the same picture that's right there. That's I just wanted to show you this. This is there. It would be a ground mounted array. You can see the rows of at the youth center there um and fenced in. It'd be the same type of scenario just way way larger uh for the Channer jail. So it would look exactly like that at the youth center. And then the bills would be similar to what if you go to the next slide, you can see that, you know, you've actually been getting a negative uh you're actually generating more than what you're using. So you're getting a credit of like almost $1,000 a month um uh from consumers. You see that's negative. And that's what's similar is going to happen at the jail. So it's really good. you're offsetting everything and you're actually earning money back from consumers. So, that's good. And then the next slide, uh, this is just we we have a what's called a light level dashboard. This is actually

Dick. Yep. To to be clear, you said we're earning money back. Are they cutting us a check? Because I didn't think that's how it worked. No, they're just crediting, you know, your bill electric and then applying it towards other bills. Yep. I brought this up in the chair vice chair meeting and we didn't have an answer for it. Um so let's just say the youth center you took an example of they have the credit there. Yep.

Has anyone explored whether that can be transferred to any of the county buildings that are with consumers or is it specific to that property that the credit can be used? I think that's something that you should talk to your consumer's account rep. But I'm I believe that what will happen is it will it's being transferred to your bills for other uh you know sites because if you're going to continue to have a negative bill, you know that money should be transferred out to your other Yeah. because you never realize it. That's the whole point. So yeah, you got a negative credit, but who cares

if you can't transfer it to a building that is actually paying a bill? I think the way they do it, they call it their distributed energy program. It's called net metering. So when you produce more, they credit it back. And I think what happens is at the end of the year, they I think they might do a true up at at the end of a year or something. That's something you should ask consumers, your consumers rep about. Mike, is that something you can look into, please? You're doing it as we speak. All right. All right. Thank you.

Yep. And so this is uh this is something that's on your uh county website right now. You can see how much energy is being um generated like you know on a per day basis. You see the color the bar graph there the colors and how much kilowatt hours have been generated you know since these arrays have been put in uh place and that's like almost $94,000 um so far that's been generated in savings. So that and we're still in construction. So the way this works is once we finish construction, that's when the guarantee when you sign the delivery and acceptance of the project, that's when the guarantee starts. So this is just banked savings or construction savings that's there. So that's a nice visual. So you can see you could go on this website any day and if you want to know what did we generate today, you can see right there. So, next slide, please. That's pretty much all I have for you today. Um, we we are we do have a change order that we're going to be submitting uh for change order three for the Channer Jail. Um, depending on if the county wanted us to uh still have the landfill open on that project instead of using the money, we we'd be willing to do whatever you want. The way we anticipated, the way we were anticipating writing the change order up is to remove the landfill from the project and then pivot to to have the Channer jail. But then all the engineering and designs and the permitting is done so that when and if the state finally does, you know, give the land over to you, we would love to do that project because for us that's an exciting thing. That was one of the most exciting things. the solar and that for me were the two things I was the most

excited about with this project because having grown up here in Jackson, you know, I was pretty passionate about that. So, I I we'll do it whatever you whatever you want, but right now we were planning on removing the landfill and then adding that whenever you know doing it as a separate project whenever that gets approved by the state. To be clear though, we do not have the money to do both, right? The money we borrowed will be expended on the jail if we move forward.

Uh we'll have granted uh in the end probably a little over a million dollars left from the escrow account and so forth that we would have to apply towards our debt service. It's not like we can use it to pay some other bill with. um it would go back to the debt. If we had an additional project, if we wanted to do um the the landfill at that time, we would use that money as seed and have to borrow more money uh to make that project a viable project financially. Just FYI, and I'm sure the Bank of America would be willing to add more to that. We're a good customer. I'm sure they would too at that time. We pay our bills. So,

but again, the reason we're punting is there's no guarantees with the state. We've been waiting for years now. Uh word I'm hearing up there from Sarah Lightner is that it's going nowhere fast. We do have an expiration on the tax credit in July. Uh we will lose if we don't pivot and do something different. I don't like to leave money laying on the table. Uh and we have a need. uh this uh jail is uh you know it's it varies but it's 9,000 a month an electrical cost that we will offset and the credit for the youth center we're showing a credit but we're already offsetting 100% of the electrical bill there too and a credit so uh again saving money uh at the end of the day. So uh it's in my mind it's the best option at this time given the the uh situation we are in and it's it's lowhanging fruit. Solar office electric is pretty easy to do. Additional questions Commissioner Pleskkey.

Uh thanks Mr. Administrator and can we can we back up to the picture of the Channer Jail and the proposed solar array? Sorry I'm I'm sorry this is a challenge. the the question um with respect to that project I you know we see where the solar array would be and the tree line would be moved back I suppose doesn't make much sense to shade a solar array right we're going to remove those trees

so um my question is with respect to security fencing and whether the sheriff is aware of the plan and either agrees that there will be no additional cost of securing the area or that somehow the incremental cost of securing the area is acceptable. That's,

you know, we've had conversations with the sheriff uh uh about the whole thing there and he has no problem with and thinks it's a good idea. Won't adversely affect any potential expansion in the the jail in the future. Uh in fact, we are building such that we could add additional solar array panels uh to increase the load or the amount of electricity if we needed to. uh to do that. I'm just trying to head off a potential argument that oh my goodness, we're somehow subjecting oursel to incremental costs.

No. And it's on the south side of the uh facility, so no one will even know it's there with the trees and the buildings. It's it's again, it's not up by the road or anything like that. The PowerPoint has given us difficulty this morning, but um so the the but the security fence for the jail would go outside the trees or No, it would go around the solar the new solar arrays. It's not a security fence for the jail. It's a security fence. It's the regular fence we put around all solar arrays. Nothing secure. Gotcha. We don't have to have guards and stuff for this. Okay. Well, that's what I'm looking for.

It's outside of that fence. Yes, this will be outside of the existing security fence. So, we aren't changing anything with the existing layout. Um, this will be so the um where you see that kind of concrete walkway is the existing security fence. Got it. Um, we will be on the southern side of that. There'll be the the necessary gap that the sheriff needs to maintain because they have some um sensors around the fence that tells them if there's anyone walking or anything like that. Um and so coordinate that gap that's required with them and then the fence for the solar array itself would start as its own separate fence um you know around where you see those blue panel starting. Thank you for uh tolerating my elementary understanding. Good question. Additional questions.

If not we hope to um bring this to committee and full board. uh that way we can get the ball rolling because if correct me if I'm wrong but we have to commit to or contract with what the the project or solar panels by July ultimately. Yes. To apply for that grant. Yeah. July 3rd if we have to have have build out 5% of the project by then. Okay. In order to safe harbor that for um you know for And you're confident you can do that if we approve the project?

Yes. Okay. questions, concerns. Again, you'll have opportunity at committee as well as full board because I would by then I should have all the additional numbers uh for the project, the change order itself for people to look at. And all that uh and we'll work through that and hopefully on a Tuesday night later this month, we'll be able to move forward.

That's the goal. And again, I wouldn't say that we'll never do the the the the landfill. I'm just saying that we don't have the money with this funding source and timeline to do both. And so I want to go ahead and move forward on this and uh if if if and when we ever have ownership of the property up there, well then we can look for other funding sources. It's still if it's a good project today, it's always going to be a good project to eliminate the hauling of leech um if we can. So with that Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair or Mr. Administrator. Have we tried to send a resolution to the governor's office in regards to this?

We have had all kinds of conversations with the governor's office, with Sarah, you know, this has gone on for years and they all know us. Um, but I'm not sure why, but politics are fickle.

Thank you. I'd like to close and thank the board uh for your support and understanding on this project for the last three years that we've been working on it. And um we're we we've we're doing a good job and we'll continue to do a good job for the county. Thank you. We've arrived at the second opportunity for public comment. If anyone would like to address the board, they are three minutes. Commissioner comments. Any commissioner comments? Seeing none, entertain a motion to adjurnn. questions. All in favor, please say I.

I. Those opposed? Duly carried. Good to see.