Minutes from the March 25, 2026 Bates County Commission meeting
The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Kacie Robey, with the Treasurer’s Office, and Carl, with the Assessor’s Office, came in and spoke to the Commission once more about the software they are trying to get signatures on. They both brought in updated contracts. Kacie highlighted the updates in her contract, which John thought was super helpful.
Jami looked at their contracts and is going to contact Ulrich due to her contract not having the same changes.
Kacie explained that the termination clause was not added, Ulrich told her that a lawyer would have to be involved to make those changes. She has not contacted Gene, with Governmenter, yet. She does not want to stir anything if the Commission doesn’t end up signing the contracts.
Jim explained an NDA that Ulrich updated on the contract for iNetVision, if they don’t sign then Ulrich will not follow through with the County. Jami sent iNetVision her contract when she received it with the updated NDA portion and sent an email to Ulrich when she noticed there wasn’t anything in her contract stating her office would receive training. John thinks that should be in her contract before any signatures are signed.
John asked Kacie and Carl if anyone was going to reach out to Dane Diehl and Hugh Jenkins, since they spoke to them and brought them into the situation. Kacie said no and explained that Hugh never replied to her email. Carl also said no to updating Dane and demanded that the Commission sign the contracts today and stated that this has gone on long enough.
Jim asked Jami to make sure the training gets added to her contract, she stated she will send over an email and get it taken care of. Jim expressed that he is ready to move forward with this, as he feels like Kacie and Carls contracts are good to go.
Kacie and Carl furthermore explained details about Ulrich and ways this is going to help their offices be able to work smoothly and efficiently. Carolyn Lake joined the meeting and said good things, as well.
Jami asked Kacie what she was going to do if this sends her over budget and where she would pull that money from. Kacie told Jami that she will figure that out once Ulrich is confirmed. Jami then asked Carl what his game plan was if he, too, goes over budget. Carl stated “That should all be in my budget. But we’ll just figure it out.” He also made sure to mention that his employees voted to give up their additional performance raise so Carl could pay for this new software. Jami then informed Carl that she was just making sure he had a plan because if he does end up over budget, she cannot sign anymore checks for his office after that point. Carl also mentioned that he spoke to Cooper County, and they told him that the County pays for SB190. John and Jim said they are going to investigate that and find out more information on that.
Jim is certain that this switch is what’s best for the County and John agrees but does not want to sign the contract until everything is corrected.
Things got off topic for a second, mentioning uneven amounts of assessments to which John asked Carl about, but he didn’t answer the question he brought up values from 2020 instead of this year, so Kacie intervened and brought it back to the task at hand. Jim asked what the Commission wanted to do and John stated that he is going to wait to sign until the NDA with iNetVisions is signed and Jami’s contract is updated. Kacie asked Jami to call Ulrich instead of email, as she feels a call would get things moving faster and stated that she isn’t trying to rush to which John stated he feels he is being pushed. Carl then aggressively slammed his fist on the table and exclaimed, “You’ve been dragging your damn feet since the beginning.” Which led Kacie to shout at John as well, stating John has had two weeks to get his concerns figured out while her and Carl have been doing all the research. She then stopped herself, as she was getting worked up. John started gathering his papers to remove himself and informed Kacie that the Commission would get back with her, to which Kacie exclaimed, “And you can quit getting mad because you aren’t getting the answers you want!” John replied, “What is there to be mad about, Kacie?” to which Kacie accused him of throwing a fit. John quickly interrupted and said, “You are in our office, and I do not appreciate being yelled at.” Kacie replied, “Well I don’t appreciate you trying to run my office!” and John continued to remove himself explaining he’s finished with this conversation, as well as Trent and Jim interrupting and putting a halt to the chaos.
Kacie then agreed to contact Ulrich and iNetVisions, Jami stated she will send out her emails as well and call them.
Carolyn explained that she has worked with both software and she is in support of the new software, as she knows the ins and outs of what the Assessor's office deals with. John then told her that if the software is as good and efficient as they say it is, he’s worried about people losing their jobs. Carolyn replied, “I’m retired anyway, I don’t need this job.”
Several individuals from Summit Township, Homer Township, West Point Township and Miami School District joined together and met with the Commission to discuss the Solar Panel Farms that are going to be installed in their areas. Brent Bettels led the meeting, reminding the Commission of concerns he had mentioned in the last meeting he attended over this same topic. He asked several questions about road easements, run off contamination in the water, the abundance of silt in ditches, more ditch maintenance, and a water retention pond. Brent explained these things in reference to what they had to have when the coal mines would work on ground. Jim asked if he had any documents showing how all these things were done, but Brent said that it was so long ago he did not have anything. Brent encouraged Jim to reach out to GilmoreBell about these things.
Brent said that there will be concern from the citizens about these things because of ditch erosion, etc. He also wanted to know how much money this was bringing to Bates County and what determines where it goes. He stated that he was told from a higher position that the money from this operation was not to go into General Revenue. John asked who he spoke with, but Brent wanted to make sure he could share their name first before sharing it in a recorded meeting.
John then went on to explain that the lay of the land does not change, nor does the water ways. He also informed everyone that there is silt fences put in.
Brent spoke on behalf of everyone in the meeting and wanted to make sure that this money was going to be put into schools and back into townships, what percent they were getting and wanted it made certain that it is documented to where the state couldn’t come in and take any funds they felt they were entitled to. He also asked the Commission to put it in writing that the percentage to the schools and townships were kept even long after this generation is gone. Jim said that he was going to check into the Chapter 100 bonds and make sure where these funds were going to end up.
Brent stated that the excess money that will be made from this operation should not go into a “savings account” or something of the sort, but back to the citizens in the townships where these solar panels are located. John was in full agreement and thought that was a great idea.
Brent asked for a ballpark number for how much money this will generate, but the Commission didn’t have a number. He then asked about Clearway Projections since construction is almost underway, but the Commission still didn’t have the answer. Brent asked once more about any conversations with GilmoreBell that they have had because he is worried that 60 days isn’t a long enough time to hash out the details. The Commission did tell him that they received projections, but they did not like them, and there is no contract yet. Brent thinks that since landowners are already being paid for this operation and will continue to be paid, that the Commission should not settle for being paid once it starts generating money, but to be paid something during, like the landowners.
Jim stated that the Solar Company wants to have a town meeting so they can answer questions the citizens may have, but they have not heard anything yet. Jim reassured everyone that once they are given a date the Commission would let everyone know. Brent then stated that he thinks the Commission should take the lead and give the Solar Company dates and the location and let them decide when they can make it. He explained that there isn’t enough time left to keep waiting for them to decide when this will take place. Others spoke up and said that an evening during the week would work, or a Saturday. This would make it possible for the working class to be able to attend. Miami School District has volunteered their school so everyone can meet local.
Lastly, it was mentioned that these solar panels will be an eyesore to the landowners around them, so Brent made a comment that the Solar Company should plant a barrier of greenery to block the view instead. Whether that be trees or bushes, it’s better than staring right at metal and fencing.
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