The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday), approved the signing what essentially amounts to a “Letter of Intent” to enter into an $8.5-million Development Agreement with Elite Octane, LLC., with regard to the proposed nearly $200-million ethanol plant on the outskirts of Atlantic. The Board, by a vote of 5-0, passed Resolution “Authorizing Tax Increment Payments and Pledging Certain Tax Increment Revenues, to the Payment of the Agreement.”

Auditor/Board Secretary Dale Sunderman…

Their approval means Snyder and Associates Engineers can continue with the preliminary design and engineering phase of the project.

Before the Board held their vote, Supervisors Frank Waters and Steve Baier, voiced their concerns with the uncertainty over the project, which was all set to fall into place until late last month, when Elite Octane and Atlantic Municipal Utilities failed to come to terms on the rate the company would pay for electricity. Nick Bowdish, who represents Elite Octane, informed the Board earlier this month, that he was pulling out and the deal was dead. Last week, he told the Board “The company has found a path forward with the proposed ethanol project near Atlantic.” Supervisor Frank Waters said that type of waffling and uncertainty over investor interest, is a concern.

Supervisor Steve Baier also expressed his feelings of being concerned the County might be on the hook for all the costs leading up to the finalization of the agreement.

So, the matter now goes back to the attorneys for both Elite Octane and Cass County, to tweak the final Development Agreement and sign-off on it, before it is approved by the Board of Supervisors.  In other business, the Cass County Board of Supervisors re-appointed Bruce Henderson to serve a three-year term as Commissioner for the Southern Iowa Regional Housing Authority (SIRHA), effective April 9th, 2017.