On Thursday, June 18, the Clark County Board met at the courthouse in Neillsville at 7 p.m. The meeting started with the Pledge of Allegiance, then they took roll call with 25 present and 4 absent. After that they appointed Natalie Erpenbach and Jim Mankowski to the Human Services Board, Jerome Krempasky to replace Carl Kallberg on the Northwoods Rail Transit Commission, and Joe Waichulis to the Mead Lake District Association.
The next item on the agenda was the Health Department Annual Report for 2025 presented by Director Brittany Mews. She talked about what the department does, their staff, and the programs that they run. Some of the programs include their 0-3, babysitting classes, life jackets for swim beaches, working with emergency preparedness, working with the jail, and dental work for the area schools. She mentioned that their primary goal is to prevent problems before they start and welcomed any feedback from the community, positive or negative.
After that, the board approved the sale of county land in the town of Worden. They then approved to participate in the dam removal grant program for the removal and abandonment of Dam Clark County #16. Kallberg asked where this dam was located, and it was replied that it was in the middle of the county forest to the west of Greenwood. There were a few questions on why it was built and why it needs to come down. This dam was built back in the 1930s as part of a larger scale program in hopes to try and manipulate the water table. The dams across the state are routinely inspected and this one was inspected in 2022. The dam serves no real purpose anymore and the DNR told the county that they needed to fix it or remove it. And the cheaper option is to remove it. The resolution was passed.
The next item was a disallowance of a claim put forward by Kenneth Rench in regard to an accident that he had outside of the Courthouse. There were a few questions about clarification on the accident and if the insurance company did a proper investigation before the disallowance was passed. After that was a resolution to approve the submission of grant applications for 2026-2027 Motorized Recreation Trail Maintenance and Capital Improvement Projects which was passed with a motion by Waichulis, and seconded by Jeff Kolzow.
The next part of the meeting was focused on ordinances. The first two were interconnected and explained by the zoning administrator, Derek Weyer. Weyer said that the County needed to adopt new amendments in regard to their shoreline and wetland ordinances to match the language at the state level. It primarily affects the lot size of sewered and unsewered lots. Leonard Stoecker asked if this was strictly by the command of Madison since the county’s ordinances were much more restrictive. Weyer explained that it was, that they were required to match the language that was at the state level. There was a vote on suspending the rules about a second reading on both amendments which passed. The two amendments were passed.
The last major item on the agenda was adopting two new ordinances in regard to Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Data Centers. The Board first voted to suspend the rules on a second reading for the new ordinance since the moratorium runs out on June 30. Weyer doesn’t believe that there is anybody currently looking to build BESS or Data Centers in Clark County. He had a presentation that explained both aspects. Both ordinances are under the same heading as renewable energy resources. The application fee for both is a minimum $10,000 with a 3.5-mile radius for a land survey to determine the impact on all buildings, water sources, and soil to determine the impact of the project and for any future compensation. Part of the ordinance states that the BESS needs approval from local EMS and that they have to follow township, county, and state policies. The permit does not transfer with ownership. There was a concern that the 25-foot setback for BESS was not enough and that they could extend it. Hasz had a question on the definition of what ‘useful life’ was in the ordinance. Weyer said that it had to be non-operational for a year. There was also talk about adding language to force the companies to buy the necessary additional equipment for local EMS. Weyer said that he and the rest of Zoning and Planning are well aware that there will be many amendments to this ordinance in the future, but that it was important to get something down to force the companies to have a conversation with the county first, rather than the county having to react afterwards. There was some additional concern about some of the wording in regard to the EMS training part of the ordinance and an amendment to add the wording “at owners expense” was added for the EMS training. Kallberg wanted to know if any conversation was had with Clark Electric. Weyer said that the standard reply was to wait until the ordinances passed. Stoecker had concerns on if the setback of 25 feet was enough. He first recommended a 100 foo setbackt. Hasz then recommended it to be 200 feet to match the setback on the data centers. Johnson didn’t think that fire was going to be as big of a deal as what everyone thinks it was going to be. A motion to suspend the rules for a second reading passed and the ordinance was accepted.
The second ordinance in regard to Data Centers, will not be applicable to municipalities within the county, just townships. It has similar restrictions to the BESS ordinance in that the data centers will also have a 3.5-mile radius for a land survey for residents, buildings, water and soil studies and for any future compensation that may have to happen along with a $10,000 application fee. The primary concerns with the data centers are the water usage and the electric rate increases. The ordinance does have contingencies in place for both of those. The next issue is the potential pollution into the groundwater. Again, Weyer assured everyone that there are contingencies in the ordinance to hold the companies responsible for any damage that they do to the people or the land. Part of the application for the data centers asks for an estimate on how many full-time employees would be hired. Stoecker made a comment that he wants something in writing that no member of the government should enter into a non-disclosure agreement about a data center, that everything should be public and that it doesn’t have to be limited to data centers. A motion to suspend the rules for a second reading passed and the ordinance was accepted. Any questions on the BESS or Data Center ordinances can be addressed to the Department of Zoning and Planning.
After last month’s minutes were approved, the floor was opened to public comment and Tom Wilcox spoke, thanking the County Board for protecting the county in regard to Data Centers and BESS. Stoecker also spoke up, saying that he doesn’t want to be the bad guy against everything, he’s just against last minute amendments and suspending rules when the Board hasn’t been given enough time to go over information. The meeting adjourned.