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Elkhart County Council rejects $16,000 consulting payment tied to dam relicensing effort
Summary
A proposal to appropriate $16,000 from the general fund to extend a consulting contract with RJL Solutions for work on the Elkhart Dam relicensing and advocacy failed on a 4-3 roll call after commissioners and the public discussed lobbyist work, regulatory complexity and prior spending.
Elkhart County Council members voted down a request to appropriate $16,000 from the county general fund to extend a consulting agreement with RJL Solutions, a firm the county hired to aid in advocacy and regulatory work around the Elkhart Dam relicensing.
The request was presented by County Administrator Jeff Taylor and Commissioner Susie Weir, who said the county hired RJL earlier in the year to coordinate advocacy with the dam owner, American Electric Power (AEP), and with state and federal regulators including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. "We are very hopeful," Weir said of AEP's public statements about performing permanent repairs to stabilize the dam.
Weir described two tracks of work by RJL: encouraging AEP to submit a relicensing application and supporting the county through a complex regulatory process that could include filings to FERC and the IURC. She said the contractor has helped create conversations that led to a public announcement from AEP that it plans to stabilize the structure by driving piles into the riverbed. Weir said the extra $16,000 would cover RJL's work through the end of the year while the county pursues additional advocacy with the governor's office and federal regulators.
Council members pressed staff about the contract's costs and duration. Taylor said the contract rate was $6,000 per month and that portions of the agreement had already run. Some council members said lobbying is an appropriate tool to manage complicated state and federal rules for water infrastructure; others said the county should restrict outlays while assessing results and alternative uses of funds. The council held a public hearing on the appropriation and received no comments from the audience before the roll call.
A roll call produced a 4-3 vote against the appropriation. The clerk recorded the votes as: Mister Bioski: No; Mister Clark: No; Mister Graham: No; Mister s: Yes; Mister Reitzacker: No; Mister Young: Yes; Mister Stone: Yes. The motion failed 4 to 3.
The commissioner's presentation emphasized the potential financial and property-value impacts should the dam be decommissioned, and noted earlier work RJL helped the county accomplish, including guidance on state legislation that added due-process protections for removal of elected officials. The county's next steps on the dam were not changed by the vote; Weir said advocacy and regulatory processes will continue but with no additional funds approved at this meeting.
