By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

The Ellis County Commission approved a road maintenance and escrow agreement with NextEra Energy at Monday evening’s meeting.

With the approval of the two agreements, the construction of transmission lines for the Cedar Bluff Wind farm, located in Ness and Trego counties, can go forward in Ellis County.

The road maintenance agreement allows Cedar Bluff to apply for permits to build the transmission line in county right-of-ways and cross county roads.

Construction on the 200-megawatt wind farm is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

In other business:

• The commission heard a presentation on the sewer system at the Ellis County Administrative Center. Recently, employees in the building have reported smelling sewer gases in the building. The maintenance and grounds crews has been working on the issue but have not identified the origin of the smell.

• The commission met in a 15-minute executive session with interim Public Works Director Curt Hoffman to discuss non-elected employee matters – no action was taken.

• The commission also met with County Counselor Bill Jeter in an executive session for 30 minutes for attorney client privileges – no action was taken.