Harvest Gold and its solar farm parent company Swift Current have agreed to make the county whole when it comes to repairs to roads that were damaged during the construction of the panels last year in the Boyer-Steiner area.
The county board of supervisors voted this past Tuesday to authorize the release of a $500,000 bond that was held by the company for such repairs, and the total amount the company has agreed to give the county toward road repairs is $515,000, according to Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams.
Also during the meeting, Harvest Gold presented a request to the board to approve them depositing $1 million in cash until they are able to secure another bond related to the potential future decommissioning of the project.
The county required the company to hold a $1 million bond in case the farm is decommissioned at some point in the future.
McWilliams said, “What they want me to ask the board is, will you approve until they get their bond in place? Will you approve them putting up on deposit with us $1 million in cash as their bond?”
This will ensure that they comply with all of their contractual obligations, McWilliams said.
Board President and District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson asked, “They are going to give us $1 million in our bank account?”
McWilliams said, “I said yeah, you can do that. I didn’t think the board would have much problem with that. We can’t use it for anything. It has to be in a separate account. It has to be where you can’t touch it.”
McWilliams told the board that he discussed the request with Harvest Gold and let them know that he would present it.
The board approved the decommissioning bond.
