Daviess County Fiscal Court
Meeting of September 3, 2025
Daviess County Fiscal Court Work Session September 3, 2025
Summary
The Daviess County Fiscal Court held a work session in which magistrates and the county judge questioned representatives of NextEra Energy Resources about its proposed 150 MW solar facility, Owensboro Solar LLC. The questions had been submitted in advance by residents and a citizens' group. No votes were taken.
NextEra's representatives said their approach is to comply with whatever state (Kentucky State Siting Board) and local requirements apply. Many questions were answered that way, with several others deferred to later written follow-up. These included hiring percentages, labor costs, property-value data, claims against bonds, hail ratings, and where lease memoranda are recorded. The company said it has not decommissioned any solar sites, though it has repowered some. It said it has about five landowner agreements covering roughly 1,000 to 1,200 acres.
A central issue was the county's 1,000-foot setback, adopted through the moratorium and zoning amendments. The company said the project will not work with that setback on its available land and asked the court to reconsider it. Officials noted the previous ordinance setbacks were much smaller (for example 75 ft from property lines and 150 ft from residences). Several court members expressed disappointment that data was not provided despite weeks of notice.
Other topics were stormwater and flooding, fire safety and emergency response, weed control and vegetative buffers, decommissioning bonds and ownership transfers, nondisclosure provisions in leases, and how the power reaches the grid. The company said its leases contain a financial-confidentiality provision and that lease memoranda are recorded publicly. It said the project would be viable without federal subsidies.
The company will email follow-up answers and documents to all four court members. The judge said he would consider whether any movement on the 1,000-foot setback is possible. The session adjourned without any formal action.
Agenda (19)
- 0:01
Call to order, prayer and pledge
Judge opened the work session and led a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
- 1:22
Ground rules and introductions
Judge explained that only the four court members would ask the submitted questions and introduced the commissioners. NextEra was invited to introduce its team.
- 3:24
NextEra opening statement
Lester Morales described the 150 MW proposal and explained that the state siting board and county permits are both required. He said many answers would defer to local and state requirements.
- 9:15
Company background, decommissioning, NDAs and bonds
Questions on NextEra's portfolio, decommissioning and repowering, panel sourcing, batteries, nondisclosure agreements and bond claims.
- 16:23
Property values and setbacks
Discussion of the 1,000-foot setback, peer-reviewed property value studies, and the company's statement that the project does not work with the current setback.
- 30:02
Jobs and local hiring
Questions on local and union hiring, labor costs, and community benefit agreements. The company deferred to its construction contractor and said it would follow requirements.
- 41:31
Environmental, wildlife and panel materials
Questions on panel type, recycling, hazardous materials, hail ratings, insurance, environmental studies, dust and erosion.
- 49:53
Water, flooding and roads
Stormwater permits, civil design packages, hydrology reviews and road use agreements.
- 57:51
Fire safety and emergency response
Questions on fire risk, monitoring, emergency action plans, training of local fire departments, and hydrants.
- 1:12:39
Agriculture, buffers and farmland restoration
Vegetative buffers, agricultural impact, farmland restoration after decommissioning and plans for the land.
- 1:21:22
Energy output, grid and ownership transfer
Where the power goes, merchant plant status, and what happens to bonds and obligations if the project is sold.
- 1:29:45
Recess
The court recessed about 15 minutes to locate the remaining questions.
- 1:30:23
Resident questions: stormwater, weeds, contracts and siting board status
After the break, NextEra clarified that its leases contain a financial confidentiality provision and addressed stormwater, weed control, signed acreage and the closed siting board case file.
- 1:49:31
Leases, recording and federal incentives
Discussion of where lease memoranda are recorded, how option agreements work, and whether the project is viable without federal tax credits.
- 2:05:50
Bankruptcy, decommissioning, zoning and contaminants
Questions on bankruptcy and bonds, zoning remaining agricultural with a conditional use permit, flood zone placement and contaminants.
- 2:23:04
Notification, merchant plant and community engagement
How neighbors were notified, how power is sold into the MISO grid, and NextEra's community sponsorships.
- 2:37:36
Land use, acreage and setbacks
Prime farmland limits, total acres leased, typical setbacks in other places, and visual buffers.
- 2:57:20
Commissioner follow-ups and discussion of answers
Questions about bond claims, tax revenue, panel types and base energy. Commissioners expressed frustration over unanswered questions and NextEra explained its approach.
- 3:07:44
Closing comments and adjournment
NextEra asked the court to reconsider the 1,000-foot setback and promised follow-up emails. Commissioner Condor said he would recuse himself on any project with which he has a relationship. The judge thanked the company and adjourned.
Transcript (157 segments)
- 0:01
Good morning. I'd like to call this um work session of the Davis County Fisal Court to order. I think today is September 30, 2025 and we're here at the Davis County Courthouse. Um if you would, I'd like to start with a brief prayer and the pledge. Dear heavenly father, we pause and we thank you for the many blessings you bestowed upon us as a community, as individuals, and as a nation. We ask your guidance as we do the work of the citizens today. We ask you to bless our visitors that are here from out of state. We ask you to just bless all of us, those those who are concerned on both sides of this issue, and just put our hearts at ease. Help us to be to be civil to one another and but help us to get the answers that our citizens seek. We pray these things in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen. [Music] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation indivisible with
- 1:15
all. just for those who are um watching and also those who are present here in the chambers. Um because this is a work session, the way we work work sessions is is the only speakers will be those um the four of us up here that have questions. Uh all the questions were submitted uh to me in advance. I I did my best. uh Brooke and I typed them up and we tried to categorize them and we sent them uh to Next Air and also Heelstone. I believe Hillstone is not present with us today. Um Commissioner Marxbury chose to not submit her questions to me. So whatever she's got, she'll be asking at the end of of the tail end after we go through the prepared questions. Um and Lester, at this point, I'm going to turn it over to you if you don't mind. you said you had an opening comment or statement or whatever. I'll let you do that. If you would also please introduce your team and just real quick, uh I know you know the ones of us up here, but and we've got our names, but I'll go ahead and introduce our team up here, the fiscal
- 2:29
court members. Commissioner Larry Cond, he's central commissioner. myself, Judge Charlie Castlin, Commissioner Marksberry, she's East County uh Commissioner, excuse me, Commissioner Janie Marksberry, and Commissioner Chris Castlin is West County Commissioner. And u so and I, like I said, I believe you've met all of them. I'm not sure your team your team members have. Um for the team members I would ask uh just for the record when you come if you happen to have a speaking part that you come to the mic just state your name and also your position uh relative to the uh the first time not every time um relative to your company and Lester at this time it's you've got the floor. — All right thank you so much for having us this morning. Uh good morning everyone. I am Lester Morales. I am a senior project manager for Next Era Energy Resources. We are proposing a 150 megawatt solar facility here in Davies County um which has been brought forth to the fiscal court on on multiple occasions. Um we were provided the uh questions prior to today's uh work
- 3:43
session which we appreciated it and we're prepared to respond to that. Um I wanted to note just to save us some time along the day uh some of the uh either um common topics common concerns with whether it's from the fiscal core or the community. Uh we noted that there are two common um concerns. Of course, what impact will a solar facility um being brought to the county have on its community members, the adjacent and adjoining land owners, non-participating uh land owners, um the just the community at large. And then secondly, what is the process to allowing something like this to occur at in at the county level? Um, and I want to address uh something uh specific on that second point from a permit process standpoint. We cannot do this without permission. We cannot do this without permission at the state level. We cannot do this with without permission at the county level. Um at the state level there is a con uh Kentucky state sighting board construction certificate
- 4:55
that every solar project every renewable project must uh obtain prior to mobilization. Um in that in that construction certificate they cover a lot of the topics that are being asked in this quest in this uh questionnaire. economic impact reports. You have um economic questions in general um surveys, reports that we as a company would invest in third-party engineers, third party uh experts, professionals that will analyze the uh particulars of the site that we're proposing and uh would be able to provide more accurate numbers. Um, so if I uh respond in a way that is um expecting these surveys to come out, I'm not being dismissive. I am telling you that the application process will make this information public. Um the second point is um the uh conditional uh use permit at the county level. your planning and zoning passed these um the article
- 6:07
8.4.59 uh amendments. Um I I printed them out here for myself for my reference. Um, a lot of the questions in here are whether you we would be willing to do something or next era would be in position to do something in terms of the project. Um, that is up to the municipality, the local municipality. The planning and zoning department dictates the requirements that we would follow and we would comply with. Um, this is no different than the Kentucky State Siding Board releasing mitigation conditions where we would look at the conditions, the requirements, and make sure that all of every aspect of our project is compliant with those conditions. So, if I reference a if I respond in a way that is um yielding to the local municipalities's requirements and regulations, again, I'm not being dismissive. I am explaining how we would approach our development of this project. Um, and then now I would go to
- 7:21
my team here. Um, starting with Jason Andrews. I think they want you to go to the mic and Uh, — no, not not right now. — Okay, we have Sorry. We have uh Jason Andrews, he's our director. We have Sarah Johnson who is our uh marketing communications expert. Uh, and our environmental specialist, Brian Bartles. We have Mike from our Atlanta team. He he deals with um he's our boots on the ground uh guy. Who else do we have here? Meredith. Oh, there she goes. She's our external uh legal counsel uh here locally in in Kentucky. So I think I'm not missing anyone. Am I? — No. Um — Meredith is right. I didn't see her. Sorry. — Brian. — Mike is sitting right behind Brian. So, at any point if a question gets uh pretty much a little too technical, I
- 8:35
would lean on some of my subject matter experts for that expertise. — Sorry about that. Um, so I believe you have the same list of questions that that uh that I gave you a copy of what I'm going to be reading from. And just for our citizens, I'm I'm going to just um read them that and then you can respond. Uh all of these questions pertain to the current holding company. For example, Next Era, which which owns Orangeboro Solar LLC. How many utility scale solar farms has the holding company developed to date? So each project is its own investment for our um in our portfolio. Uh just to give you a glimpse uh next air energy resources is one of America's largest energy infrastructure developers. Uh we have decades rec of records um going you know way back to the beginning of this uh run that we've had for with renewable