Conflict allegations challenged
Staff writer
Planning and zoning commissioner David Mueller lashed out Monday at commissioner Clarke Dirks and former commissioner Dianne Novak.
Mueller has been criticized for taking part in a planning and zoning discussion of wind farms Jan. 29.
Mueller addressed a letter to the editor in the Marion County Record that Dirks sent to all county commissioners and planning commissioners about reasons Mueller should have recused himself from a discussion about wind farms.
“First, I’m not a widely known paid spokesman for wind energy,” Mueller told commissioners.
He was a landowner liaison for the Diamond Vista project in northern Marion County in 2018 to 2019.
“My job was to work with landowners and make sure their concerns were fully addressed by the company,” he said.
He accused wind farm opponents of wanting to stack the planning and zoning commission with fellow wind farm opponents.
“I am here because of bullying, the intimidation and the unethical behavior of Mr. Dirks,” he said.
He said “harassment” of zoning director Sharon Olmstead and zoning commission chairman Derek Belton was “unwarranted and an embarrassment to Marion County,.”
Immediately after Mueller finished his comments, Novak called him uninformed.
She said a claim Mueller made about her having land with wind farm leases was not true. Her husband does.
“I don’t own any land,” she said. “I don’t have any turbines. I never have.”
She sent an email to county counselor Brad Jantz explaining.
“I have a signed waiver from Diamond Vista saying that I have no interest,” she said. “It’s notarized. It’s legal. I have no, no.. part in that wind farm at all, and I don’t get a dime. As far as being unethical, give me a break.”
When Novak was a county commissioner, she said, she recused herself when Diamond Vista was on the agenda, even though she was not receiving anything from the wind farm.
Novak has a copy of the minutes from that county commissioner meeting where she left the room and did not participate.
“So, what David Mueller said is half true,” she said. “He doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.”
She reiterated that Mueller should have left the room during discussion Jan. 29 on the wind farms.
Jantz asked her for the documents so he could look review the conflict of interest allegations at Novak’s urging.
Dirks said No More Big Wind LLC, of which he is the president, was formed to “educate”people on wind energy development.
“We have $150 in the bank, and I have spent $5,000 of my own money, so I get no financial benefit for what I do,” he said. “I am not making any money off of it.”