Heather Knebel.

Harvest is in full swing for my family and parents. I’m proud to be a 4th Generation Farmer. My main role is trucking grain to town and the grain bins in a semi, combining, and picking up repair parts. I’m thankful to have a small family farm and the opportunity to be a part of it.

The month of September for the Board of Supervisors primarily consisted of the Salt Creek Wind II Development agreement topic. We held one public hearing in the morning and one public forum in the evening to gather input from the public. There were proponents and opponents of the agreement. Supervisors Mark Doland and David Turner were negotiating the development agreement and put in several hours meeting with Salt Creek Wind II. At our September 15 Board of Supervisors meeting, Sean Roberts, owner of Salt Creek Wind II, was invited to negotiate with all the Supervisors. I had several items that I negotiated with Sean and he implemented the majority of the changes I requested. The main issue that some of the Supervisors and I had with approving this agreement was that it bypassed the Board of Adjustment. Per Iowa Code 335 and our Tama County Ordinance in Section 1900, the Board of Adjustment shall hear and decide all cases where an application has been filed with the Administrative Officer for any Conditional Uses. I understand that we have County Home Rule powers in Iowa Code 331, but we have to follow Iowa Law and our ordinances. Due to this reason, I voted no to this agreement, as well as the Road Use Agreement and Decommissioning Plan at this meeting. The next step was for the Board of Adjustment to have a hearing on the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) application.

I spent the next day strategically brainstorming as to how we might lock in the agreements that have already been negotiated but also have the Board of Adjustment have a hearing on the Conditional Use Permit. I decided to reach out to Sean Roberts myself to see if he would approve adding language to the Development Agreement to say, “contingent on Board of Adjustment approval of the Conditional Use Permit.” Sean spoke with his team and was willing to add this language to the agreement. At the next Board of Supervisors meeting, we unanimously approved the Development Agreement, Decommissioning Agreement, Road Use Agreement, and Resolution with Salt Creek Wind II.

The Board of Adjustment will have a hearing on the Salt Creek Wind II Conditional Use Permit application on October 14 at 6 p.m., at the Reinig Civic Center in Toledo. The Board of Adjustment can approve the CUP, approve the CUP with conditions, or deny the CUP. If the CUP is approved, the county will receive $1.3 million in addition to taxes, a decommissioning bond, road use agreement, noise limit restrictions, shadow flicker limitations, and several other concessions. If the CUP is denied, the agreements will all be terminated. If there would be a challenge to the CUP being approved or rejected, the agreements will not become effective until after the challenge is dropped or decided. The Board of Adjustment was appointed to ensure our ordinances are upheld and make decisions as a judge. I respect whatever decision they make.

This month the state has been working on a project on Highway 8 east of Traer which required temporary closure of the highway. Because of the current dry conditions, we were able to get dust control applied to the gravel roads on the detours to ensure safety of vehicles bypassing the highway. Highway E66 is closed between Highway 30 and Highway 21 for resurfacing. The project is expected to take about three months, so please plan ahead and use alternate routes. The speed limit was reduced on K Ave. while a culvert was replaced on E43. We had concerns from citizens of the dust on K Ave. due to the detour so this was the recommended fix during construction.

The Board of Supervisors are still working on the large-scale solar ordinance. We are meeting with the Zoning Commission in October to jointly discuss the agreement.

Economic Development is a continued focus of mine. The University of Northern Iowa Institute for Decision Making is doing a presentation on Understanding Strategic Economic Development in Tama County in October to elected officials and business leaders. If you are interested in being a part of the re-development of Economic Development in Tama County, please reach out to me.

South Central Workforce Development will remain separate until July 1, 2026, but has started merger steps with Mississippi Valley Workforce Development. The new name will be Eastern Iowa Workforce Development. More to come on updates to the merged Workforce Development.

Decategorization (DECAT) is another board I serve on. The purpose of DECAT is to redirect child welfare and juvenile funding to services which are more preventive, family centered, and community-based in order to reduce use of restrictive approaches that rely on institutional, out-of-home and out-of-community care. The Newton Cluster includes the three county DECAT area of Jasper, Poweshiek, and Tama counties. FY26 DECAT Funded Programs total $79,160. For Tama County, $11,000 is approved for Child Abuse Prevention for Meskwaki.

Have a safe harvest and a terrific fall! As usual, please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Supervisor Heather Knebel (R-Traer), the first elected female supervisor in Tama County history, represents District 3, including the townships of Spring Creek, Crystal, Perry, and parts of far northern Carlton (excluding Garwin) and Howard. She can be reached at 641-481-2532 or hknebel@tamacounty.org.