Clark County Tables Solar, Wind Ordinance Amendments After Union Warning

Clark County Board Meeting | April 17, 2026

Article Summary: The Clark County Board on Friday, April 17, 2026, took no action on amended solar and wind ordinances, tabling both after the county’s outside attorney recommended adopting them at a public hearing following the board’s next meeting. The tabling came the same morning a union representative urged the board to keep union language in the ordinances and a developer announced a new solar application is coming within the month.

Solar and Wind Ordinance Key Points:

• Both the amended solar ordinance and the amended wind ordinance — listed on the agenda as Ordinance 2026-01 and Ordinance 2026-02 — were tabled. The minutes record no motion and no vote on either.
• Attorney Andrew Keyt advised the board to adopt the amended ordinances at a short public hearing held after the next board meeting, saying it would give the public a chance to comment and guard against later challenges.
• Jerry Woodfall of IBEW 725 told the board union wording in the ordinances matters, and said he was told a solar project at Walnut Prairie would not go forward if it had to work with unions.
• Mark Desmond told the board his company, RWE Americas, will submit a special use application for a Clark County solar project within the next month.

CLARK COUNTY — The Clark County Board on Friday, April 17, 2026, tabled amended solar and wind ordinances after hearing from an outside attorney who recommended the county adopt them at a public hearing following its next regular meeting.

Both items — carried on the agenda as “Adopt Amended Solar Ordinance 2026-01” and “Adopt Amended Wind Ordinance 2026-02” — appear in the minutes with a single line each: the item was tabled. No motion, second, or vote is recorded for either.

Andrew Keyt, identified in the minutes as the attorney representing Clark County on wind and solar ordinances and projects, advised the board that the amended ordinances be approved at a short public hearing after the next board meeting so that no one could come back and create issues, and to give the public the opportunity to offer feedback. Keyt also told the board there are court cases currently ongoing about union wording in the ordinances, and that wording can be added to address the Tri-Trades agreement.

The minutes do not record which provisions of either ordinance were amended, what the Tri-Trades agreement is, or which court cases Keyt referred to.

Union Representative Presses the Board on Wording

The union language Keyt raised had already come before the board that morning during public comments. Jerry Woodfall, appearing for IBEW 725, told the board about the importance of having the union wording in the ordinances. Woodfall said there is a solar farm going in at Walnut Prairie, and that he was told that if they had to work with unions, they would not do the project — something he said is happening at other solar projects in the area.

The minutes do not record any board response to Woodfall’s comments, and do not identify the company behind the Walnut Prairie project.

A New Application Is Coming

Also during public comments, Mark Desmond introduced himself as being with RWE Americas and informed the board that his company will be submitting a special use application within the next month for a solar project in Clark County. The minutes record no location, size, or other detail about that project, and no board discussion of it.

Woodfall and Desmond both appear on the meeting’s attendance list, Woodfall for IBEW 725 and Desmond for RWE. Also listed in attendance were Jack Tomson of Repsol Energy, Josh McElvary of Laborer’s 159, and Kevin Buenker of INOE 841. The minutes record no comments from those three.

Renewable energy ran through much of the rest of the meeting. The board separately approved a decommissioning agreement for the Moonshine Solar project, and the county engineer reported that road repairs tied to that project were about to begin. The minutes do not describe any relationship among the Moonshine project, the Walnut Prairie project, RWE Americas’ forthcoming application, or Repsol Energy, and this report draws none.

The next regular meeting of the Clark County Board is set for Friday, May 15, 2026, at 8 a.m., per the board’s own adjournment motion — the meeting after which Keyt recommended the ordinance hearing be held. The minutes do not record whether the board accepted that recommendation or set a hearing date.