By: Nathan Bloechl — nathanb@977thebolt.com
Dakota City, Iowa — The on-going struggle for a direction on where the county wants to go in terms of their windmill ordinance is finally starting to take shape.
Monday the supervisors introduced their first ordinance on windmills before several in attendance at the county courthouse.
The debate — which has been red-hot since December — stems from whether or not patrons believe windmills are good for the county or not.
County Attorney Jon Beatty has said several times to the board that the issue on hand is very black and white — meaning he can craft the ordinance in a way where windmills are accepted or prohibited.
The first step Monday proved that at least three of the supervisors believe that they should be allowed in the county. Those were Carl Mattes, Rick Pedersen and Dave Lee. Erik Underberg was the lone supervisor who was not in favor of the ordinance.
In lamens terms, the ordinance is crafted much like that of Webster County, which is relatively light on constraints, but still provides security and legitimate framework for the county.
While Mattes, Lee, and Pedersen all said the ordinance written for Monday wasn’t perfect, they did seem to find most of it agreeable.
The board announced Monday that Beatty will be in attendance next week to discuss further changes needed. Bruce Reimers spoke to KHBT following the meeting, you can listen to the full story below.