During Wednesday night’s White County Board meeting, another developer with Pivot Energy was in attendance to express their desire to continue with their solar project. The community’s concerns and feedback were a crucial part of the discussion, leading to changes in the proposal, including a $10,000 donation to Pets at Risk as part of their community give back.
“I would like to summarize the changes to our fully compliant project that has been provided based on the August 20th project public hearing and the September meeting.
The most significant change is that Pivot is going to forego plans to the immediate west of the closest neighbor, who is located adjacent to the north of the proposed project, and preserve the western views.
I want to emphasize that, in addition to the vegetation screening required by White County and included in our application, further Pivot setbacks are already more than three times the requirement of 150 feet for non-participating residences under the county’s solar ordinance. This project is already set back over 475 feet from the nearest neighbor.
In addition to making the voluntary changes to our project because we want to go above and beyond and working with the community, Pivot is pledging its community investment donation of $10,000 for this project to Pets at Risk.”
Neighbors of the proposed project were in attendance again, after what felt like a victory at the September meeting; they were wary of Pivot Energy being back on the county board’s agenda for October. A neighbor asked if the new proposed project outline helped his situation, but it still does not.
When the time came for the board to either approve or deny the solar project, board member David South voted no to allow the solar project to exist, with Ken Usery as a second, and all the remaining board members, minus Chairwoman Cassie Pigg, who was not in attendance, to veto the project once again.
Another item on the agenda centered around using the opioid fund to purchase a new squad car for the White County Sheriff’s Department. The board members discussed using the funds at an earlier meeting, with the State’s Attorney, Chris Neal, having already received approval.
Treasurer Mike Baxley shared with the board the potential negative implications of a future audit if the board continues with its plan.
“I spoke with the auditor, they don’t really like the language we are using as far as using it for a police vehicle. But if it comes back from the Attorney General’s office that those funds are not supposed to be used for that, then it could be a negative comment in a future audit. So I just wanted to make that known.”
A county nuisance ordinance was approved for creation by the board members. Neal and the Bellwether representative explained which situations would be best for individuals to call about, but realized other instances might be reported to the Sheriff’s Department and are out of their control.
“I mean, a lot of times there’s a clear cut, like, hey, this house burnt down and they haven’t torn it down yet. That’s obviously a hazard, because kids are gonna see it as an attractive nuisance and want to play in it. And then there’s gonna be a guy that maybe is fixing his car and his lawn and it’s taking him too long for what the neighbors think. So it’s gonna be a judgment call that’s probably gonna put Jordan in some awkward situation or his deputies.”
The remaining items on the agenda for the White County board were approved. These items involved the display of the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which will be available for public viewing for at least 15 days before the board can make any decisions on the matter, and the State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutor’s Act.