Union County to hire outside law firm to review large solar project applications

Union County commissioners voted to engage Krueger Naval law firm to assist county staff in reviewing complex solar project applications and associated road-use agreements. County staff told commissioners that the county recently received an application spanning hundreds of pages with technical diagrams and that legal and technical expertise would be needed to ensure proposals comply with the county’s ordinance. "I was very satisfied with what appeared to be their understanding and involvement in these projects," the staff member said after a phone conference with the firm. The presenter said the firm has worked with multiple Southern Illinois counties and is familiar with the county’s ordinance, and noted that some ordinances allow legal-review costs to be charged to applicants under the terms of the application process. The presenter described the firm’s engagement as a standard hourly retainer and said larger projects would require more review time. Commissioners recorded unanimous approval on the roll call following the presentation (Harville, Pitts, Miller, Bierstadt and Gould voted yes). The meeting record did not specify contract dollar amounts or the exact retainer terms; staff said the county expects some review costs may be recoverable from applicants under the ordinance but that not all costs would necessarily be passed to applicants.