MadWood asks Madison County for bond flexibility; board says ordinance change required

MadWood asked the Madison County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 14 to consider alternatives to the county's required performance security for erosion-and-sediment-control (e.g., an alternate legal arrangement instead of an irrevocable letter of credit or surety bond) to avoid tying up large amounts of bank credit for a multi-million-dollar expansion.

County staff explained state code allows "a combination thereof or another legal arrangement acceptable to the agency," but Madison County's ordinance (section 14-28) currently authorizes only a performance bond with surety, cash escrow, or an irrevocable letter of credit acceptable to the administrator. The county administrator said, "So we don't have that other provision ... I cannot operate outside of the ordinance," and added that adopting another legal arrangement would require an ordinance amendment and the associated advertisement and public-hearing timeline.

Board members expressed support for helping local employers but also concern for the county's financial protection if a project were not completed. One supervisor noted the scale of MadWood's planned investment and urged the company's legal team to propose a concrete alternative. The board's consensus was to stick with the current ordinance unless MadWood's attorneys propose a legally acceptable arrangement that county counsel and finance staff could vet; any change would require an advertised amendment and public hearing, a process staff estimated would take roughly 45-60 days.

MadWood representatives were asked to return with specific legal language or collateral options for staff and county counsel to review. The record shows a bond figure discussed in the meeting (approximately $409,000) as the security amount MadWood hoped to avoid, which staff cited when describing the scope of the request.