Wells County Council approves Heartland REMC CF-1 filings and waives abatement noncompliance

Wells County Council members unanimously approved five CF-1 compliance documents from Heartland REMC and passed a resolution waiving noncompliance for a related tax-deduction abatement at a special session on June 12, 2024.

The filings were presented to the council by William Dye, chief financial officer of Heartland REMC, who said the documents — covering Rock Creek, Union, Jefferson, Liberty and Lancaster townships — were submitted late. The CF-1s were due May 15; Wells County contacted Heartland on May 20, and the documents were filed with the county on May 28. Dye said he is new to the position and “had the submission deadline noted as May 31st,” attributing the delay to clerical and scheduling errors.

The council voted 6-0 to approve the five CF-1 compliance filings. Council member Steve Huggins moved to approve the filings and Scott Elzey seconded; the vote included President Seth Whicker, Vice President Vicki Andrews, Huggins, Elzey, Brandon Harnish and Brian Lambert.

Following the filings, the council considered Resolution 2024-05, a measure to waive noncompliance that would allow Heartland REMC to retain the tax-deduction abatement despite the late CF-1 submissions. Scott Elzey moved to adopt the resolution and Vicki Andrews seconded; the council approved the resolution 6-0.

Dye told the council that through 2023 Heartland REMC had installed about 6.6 million (units described in the filing as “6.6M”) of broadband infrastructure in Wells County and expects the current project to be completed in roughly 18 months with a planned $10 million investment. Council discussion did not record further conditions attached to the waiver; the council approved the filings and the waiver as presented.

The special session lasted approximately 11 minutes and adjourned at 5:41 PM. No additional follow-up tasks or reporting deadlines were specified during the recorded proceedings.