A soybean field in Tama County pictured in late June of 2022. The disturbance photographed was part of apparent excavation work at the time by Salt Creek Wind LLC for a concrete mud pad for an eventual wind turbine foundation. Since 2022, Tama County, as a defendant, has dealt with a plethora of civil petitions/lawsuits – several ongoing – related to the Salt Creek project and commercial wind energy development in general. As of presstime, no Salt Creek wind turbines have been constructed in Tama County. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TOLEDO – Since 2022, wind energy has been one of the main topics of concern among citizens in attendance at the weekly meetings of the Tama County Board of Supervisors. And now, according to information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, it appears that the same controversial topic has also consumed a significant amount of the county’s annual budgeted legal fees.

“Historically, the supervisors usually budget $20,000 a year for legal fees, and it is unusual for them to spend that much yearly,” longtime Tama County Auditor Laura Kopsa told the newspaper via email in late July.

Kopsa was asked to comment on how the county’s legal spending has changed since 2022 when a local coalition known as Tama County Against Turbines (TCAT) roared onto the landscape following news that a third proposed wind farm, Apex Clean Energy’s now-defunct Winding Stairs Wind project, was in development in the county.

Kopsa reported that in the last five years, the supervisors have spent $12,074.00, $8,4610.00, $7,836.00, $10,437.00 and last year $57,274.00 on legal fees.

While not all of those expenditures can be tied to the county defending itself against civil lawsuits related to wind energy development, a good portion is, to the tune of nearly $89,000, Kopsa said, between Oct. 2021 and July 23, 2024.

According to information obtained by the newspaper, Tama County’s legal defense fees related to an ongoing lawsuit involving TCAT amount to $1,102.50 paid by the county outright and $17,527.50 paid by Tama County Risk Insurance Company. Plaintiffs in the case include Tama County Against Turbines, LLC, Heather M Knebel, Kathy Harkema, Janet Wilson, Christopher Ernest Behrens, Richard Wilhelm Arp, and Jon Winkelpleck – all the individuals listed are Tama County residents except for Harkema who is listed in court documents as a resident of Poweshiek County.

The county has also racked up legal fees totaling $20,951.35 as part of a 2022 petition filed by Arp, a TCAT member, against the supervisors concerning the board’s decision to ‘reaffirm’ the county’s wind energy conversion system (WECS) ordinance during a May 16, 2022 meeting.

In his petition, Arp alleged the board did not follow both Iowa Code and the county’s policies when members voted 3-0 to reaffirm the 2010 Tama County Zoning Ordinance VI.I Amendment No. 1 – which includes the WECS ordinance – “as is” after only one posting of the agenda item at least 24 hours prior and following no opportunity for public input.

Tama County’s WECS ordinance dates back to 2010, when it was added to the county’s 1998 set of zoning ordinances by amendment.

According to reporting by Iowa Capital Dispatch, the county, through its attorney, disputed Arp’s claims and argued that the lawsuit was not filed within a required 30-day window following the May 16 vote. The court ultimately ruled against Arp in early October of 2022, dismissing the case without prejudice.

In addition to the lawsuits involving TCAT and Arp, the county has fought or is currently fighting several lawsuits filed by Heather Knebel, a resident of rural Traer, including a civil petition filed in August of 2022 and voluntarily dismissed without prejudice by Knebel in Oct. of 2022.

Knebel, a member of TCAT, is the Republican nominee for Tama County Supervisor District 3, a race for which she is running in the Nov. 5 general election unopposed.

Knebel’s Aug. 2022 petition sought a declaration that the conditional use permits (CUPs) issued by the county’s board of adjustment to Salt Creek Wind LLC – 10 limited scope CUPs approved on Oct. 21, 2020, and 60 CUPs approved on Dec. 8, 2020 – were illegal and void.

Salt Creek submitted the permit applications in late 2020 to construct and operate a proposed wind energy project encompassing some 25,000 acres in central Tama County.

“My family and I live within the footprint. Salt Creek proposes to put at least two commercial wind turbines only 1,500 feet of my family’s rural home,” Knebel said as part of her original filing.

The legal fees Tama County has paid thus far in lawsuits involving Knebel as the sole plaintiff including the Aug. 2022 civil petition total $49,217.30 as of July 23.

Watchful citizens may have noticed another wind related lawsuit mentioned in a recent supervisors’ meeting agenda. On July 22, the Tama County Board of Supervisors addressed retaining counsel as part of a lawsuit filed by rural Traer resident Bev Espenscheid.

According to Tama County Assistant Auditor Karen Rohrs, Espenscheid is suing to appeal a May 28, 2024 decision on “zoning certificates to extend [the] time for the construction by Salt Creek Wind.”

At presstime, the Espenscheid case had not yet been taken up by the Court; as of July 23, Tama County had not yet received any billings as part of that case, per Auditor Kopsa.

Both Espenscheid and Knebel were contacted for comment as part of this story. Both declined to respond at this time. Knebel also declined comment on TCAT’s behalf.

Tama County’s response, supervisor salary math

On July 25, the newspaper sent an email to all three members of the Tama County Board of Supervisors – including Chairman Curt Hilmer, Bill Faircloth, and Dan Anderson – seeking comment regarding the attorney fees the county has spent on lawsuits related to TCAT and/or related to commercial wind energy development in the county.

While Chairman Hilmer did not respond to the newspaper’s request, both Faircloth and Anderson did by email through the county’s human resources manager/insurance administrator, Tammy Wise.

“We try to keep budgets the same every year,” Faircloth and Anderson wrote in reply to a question seeking comment on any possible burden such legal fees have had on the county’s annual budget. “We budgeted an additional amount of $10,000.00 FY25 for legal fees. If needed, we can do a budget amendment for those extra costs.”

When asked what effect, if any, the legal fees have had or could have on the county’s taxpayers, Faircloth and Anderson said the lawsuits could lead to an increase in tax levies.

The two supervisors were also asked if they believe the lawsuits have in any way been “good for the county by leading to a positive change in meeting procedures as related to Iowa’s Sunshine Laws.”

“We have always conducted our meetings as required by Chapter 21 of the Iowa Code,” they responded.

Finally, the supervisors were asked how the county’s budget will be affected beginning in January of 2025 following November’s general election, during which voters will elect five new supervisors to replace the current three – a change that came about as a result of a petition circulated by members of TCAT in the summer of 2022 and subsequently put to voters that November. The public measure passed with roughly 63% casting their ballots in support of moving the county from three to five.

“All five supervisors will be paid the same,” Faircloth and Anderson said.

Currently, the annual salary per supervisor is $38,724. According to Faircloth and Anderson, the new cost for two additional supervisors will include $77,458 for wages, $6,133 for payroll taxes, $7,568 for IPERS, $70,962 for health insurance, and $4,000 for mileage reimbursement costs, plus the cost of any possible meeting expenses – totaling $166,111.

“In 10 years, the additional cost will total at least $1,661,111,” Faircloth and Anderson said.

Supervisor wages, however, could soon undergo an adjustment.

“The county runs on a fiscal year basis so our new year starts on July 1 of every year. In December the compensation board meets and makes a recommendation to the supervisors for elected officials’ salaries,” Kopsa told the newspaper in July. “So we won’t know what their new wage for July 1 will be until sometime in January [of 2025].”

As it stands today, Tama County hosts one operating wind farm, the Vienna Wind Farm — which, according to MidAmerican Energy, operates 64 turbines across locations in Marshall and Tama counties. Roughly 30 of those turbines are part of the Gladbrook Fire Department’s territory, per Craig Sash, a lieutenant and training officer with the department.

The Salt Creek Wind Project developed by Conifer Power — completely separate from Vienna Wind Farm — remains in the development stage as best the newspaper can determine.

A trial scheduling conference in the civil lawsuit filed by members of TCAT against Tama County including the county’s Board of Adjustment and Board of Supervisors, as well as Salt Creek Wind LLC, among others, is set for Sept. 5, 2024, beginning at 2 p.m.