The Greene County Board of Supervisors met Monday in regular session.
The Board approved forms for General Assistance, the County Sheriff’s quarterly report of fees of $42,306 for April through June, the County Treasurer’s investment report of $4,348,116 for July and issuing 195 driver’s licenses last month and two bridge replacement projects on County Road N-65 and E-39.
The Board held two public hearings for proposed hog confinements. The first one was for Mitch and Jill Stream in section 28 of Highland Township. Greene County Farm Bureau President John McCormick began the hearing with some figures. He said that according to the 2012 agricultural census, 8.2 percent of the jobs in the county were from the livestock industry. He also reported hogs made $99.4 million in sales for the county and over 1 million bushels of corn were used for the hog industry.
Chris Henning brought up a concern of water quality and the water table in regards to the amount of nitrites that might be flushed downstream from the hog confinement. She wanted to bring awareness of testing water quality and watching what was coming downstream from the confinements.
The expansion exceeded the Department of Natural Resources minimum requirement on the master matrix of 440 with 450.
Another hog confinement public hearing was held for Lynn and Travis Hardin in section 23 of Bristol Township. The project is a new construction and had a master matrix score of 480. Jane Alexander said there are going to be 20 hog buildings in Bristol Township and she had a concern that Bristol Township is going to reach its maximum capacity for hog confinements, according to state law. She requested the Board to reflect on their decision to deny a hog confinement to the DNR from last week and they them to join with other County Boards of Supervisors and concerned citizens to discuss with state legislators to change the master matrix scoring.
Pete Lowe then addressed the Board. He was frustrated that he wasn’t told about the project, but instead had to be at the public hearing to voice his concerns. He thought the Board could do something about denying hog confinement by setting up a number from the matrix that they would allow for approval and anything else below that number would be for a denial. However, the Board said they are regulated by the DNR on what is and is not allowed for approval. A quality of life issue was also brought up by a concerned citizen who is allergic to hogs.
After both hearings, the Board recommended approval to the DNR for both projects, citing the negative comments from citizens.
The Board then set September 12th at 9am for a public hearing for a hog confinement that the Board previously approved for Eric Chrystal in section 5 of Franklin Township. Chrystal made a change in the master matrix that he will no longer use composite, but will install landscaping instead.