CRAWFORD COUNTY - At their December 19 meeting, the Crawford County Highway Committee voted unanimously to move a cost-saving solar project forward. The project will be undertaken by Olson Solar Energy, and panels will be installed on the Highway Department Shop at their facility just south of Seneca.
The plan is for a 57-panel, 25.08-kilowatt system, to be mounted on the south face of the shop building. The estimated yearly energy production of the system is 35,015 kilowatt-hours (a unit of energy that measures the total amount of electricity used or the capacity to use it).
The Crawford County Highway Department’s currently monthly utility bill from Alliant Energy is $1,265 (at the rate of $0.162 per kilowatt-hour). With a solar array in place, the department would have no monthly payment for the energy it generates, and the monthly bill with Alliant Energy is estimated at $798 per month. Over the course of 25 years, the department’s savings in energy costs are estimated at $190,826. Solar would offset 37% of the department’s energy use.
The net cost of the system to the county would by $29,944. The total $42,634.40 cost of the system would be offset by a federal tax credit of $13,090.32, a Focus on Energy Rural Bonus rebate of $300, and another Focus on Energy rebate of another $300.
Tavern Road
Committee members learned that in the process of a county-led assessor’s plat for properties in Clayton Township, there was a discrepancy with property owned by the county.
“The county owns the road, but Clayton Township collects the road aid for Tavern Road and performs the maintenance,” County Highway Commissioner Kyle Kozelka told the committee. “Surveyor Richard Marks has recommended that the plat be changed to show the Town of Clayton as the owner.”
The committee voted unanimously to change the plat to show the Town of Clayton as the owner of Tavern Road.
Lynxville shop
Kozelka brought existing problems with the building the county leases in Lynxville to the attention of the committee. The county’s 10-year lease for the property will extend for seven more years.
“The building is in bad shape – it’s too small, is not property ventilated, and it needs insulation,” Kozelka told the committee. “The improvements need to be made, but its hard to justify the expense for leased property.”
Kozelka reported that his department was working on obtaining bids to determine what the cost of the work would be.
“If we’ve got seven more years on our lease, then I say we should fix it up,” Supervisor Gerald Krachey said.
The committee voted unanimously to pursue making the needed upgrades to the Lynxville facility. Kozelka said he hoped to bring costs for the project to the committee at their next meeting.
In other business
In other business, the committee:
• accepted a bid from Team for $82,600 for a project on Highway 179 involving 7.3 miles of milling over five bridges
• learned that the State Trunk Highways team had been cutting brush, performing winter maintenance, picking up rocks along Highway 35, and fixing a few manholes that have been catching the plows since the last meeting
• learned that the County Trunk Highways team had been performing tree removal and winter maintenance since the last meeting
• tabled discussion of an amendment to the county’s ATV/UTV ordinance to a future meeting
• learned that the County S bridge replacement project was let in November, had come in under the low construction amount, and would take place in the summer of 2025
• discussed ongoing problems with the county’s generators, efforts to troubleshoot whether the problems were at the county’s end, and learned that Kozelka believes the problems are a “workmanship issue”
• learned that John Gorski had requested that the county create an access road from County E to Kneeland Cemetery, including the part of the road across private land, and create a larger area for parking - Kozelka observed that working for private citizens would “open up a can of worms.”
