Austin Dowdall’s J347 Blog

By Austin Dowdall

Tuesday night county board supervisors met at the Jefferson County Courthouse, to discuss the possibility of solar power. The project being called Crawfish River Solar is set to be constructed a mile West of the city of Jefferson. It will be located just South of Highway 18, and will East of County Road G.

The facility will generate 75-megawatts for the county of Jefferson. This facility will be owned and operated by Alliant Energy as soon as construction is completed. The facility will be on 500 acres that was offered by the farmers.

This project will be right next to the Badger State Solar project, and are even using sights that were being considered for Badger State. This is a benefit for Crawfish River, now they don’t have to complete a technical analysis. They will have to provide their own local and state permits.

The solar panels for this project will not be taller than corn stocks, they will rotate with the sun to optimize sunlight. The panels will start and finish each day at a 30 degree incline in order to get the sun rise and the sun set. It will lay flare during the sun’s peak in order to absorb the most sunlight.

This project will prove to be lucrative for everyone, The city of Jefferson is expected to receive 125,000 in shared revenues, While the county of Jefferson is expected to receive 175,000. The farmers will also get paid for the use of their land, and this will help preserve land.

Destroyed Mailbox

Jefferson County citizen John Ebbot sent a complaint about a plow destroying his mailbox this Winter. The county replayed that they are not liable for the destruction of the mailbox.

Ebbot took the stand during the public comment section, he was not very pleased about having to pay for the replacement of the mailbox. “I don’t know why this has to happen, The drivers should know how to operate their machines, why do I pay taxes for a driver who whips out my mailbox.” Ebbot was hoping to be reimbursed by the county because he had to replace his mailbox.

The county indicated that a plow blade did not destroy but the snow did, and the highway committee also claimed that the post was not sturdy enough. It was indicated that the county is not at fault and his mailbox required repair prior to the snowstorm. 

Also on Tuesday

• Dwayne Morris head of the Alcohol safety board discussed how the program has been successful since it has been started. Since December 2020 119 people have gone through the program and 85 percent have graduated. Supervisors were hoping to start the program at fewer DUI, but Morris explained there isn’t enough reward for it.
• Supervisors discussed the idea of renovating the capital, Jim Braugler was against the cost that would come with it, “I’m in favor of the renovations, but I’m against the cost.” The vote for the renovations passed at 26-1 on Tuesday.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2021 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.