VIENNA — Although the Maries County Commission voted earlier this month to end negotiations for a right-of-way agreement with solar energy developers in the county, discussions about solar panels have continued in recent commission meetings.

On June 2, after hearing from residents in support of and opposition to Vichy Solar, a planned 200-megawatt commercial solar farm in the eastern part of the county, the commissioners agreed their months-long bargaining with developers Vesper Energy and Azimuth Renewables should end.

The decision followed a couple of in-person visits by the developers and a few drafts of a right-of-way agreement on which the parties could not concur. The agreement would have allowed the developers to begin design work that would allow them to connect Vichy Solar to the main transmission line by way of county roads. Any plans would require county approval before the developers could enact them. The developers came to the county with the proposal after negotiations stalled with landowners near the project.

The reasons the commissioners cited for nixing the deal included its unpopularity with the majority of county residents, unclear liability during the road work, the developers’ inability to guarantee county specifications when repairing the roads and uncertainty about the amount of revenue the project would generate because questions remained about its taxation and long-term sustainability.

At the June 16 commission meeting, Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said Azimuth Renewables had continued to stay in contact with him despite the commission’s disinterest in reaching an agreement. He told Western District Commissioner Patrick Kleffner to expect calls from the company as it continues to work on another commercial solar project in the southwestern part of the county.

Kleffner said he had heard nothing from the developers about the project in Dixon.

The commission also discussed persistent Facebook conversations among residents in support of the project. Those residents continued to use revenue projections from the developers that the commissioners were not confident would materialize. The commissioners noted that while the revenue from the right-of-way agreement would have been beneficial to Road Two, which would have received the entire payment, the perceived risk was not worth it to them.

Drewel said it seemed like the developers may not seek arbitration from the state to secure the county road right-of-way as he had previously believed. He questioned if the developers’ deadlines meant that route would take too long, which had caused them to double back to the county.

County Clerk Rhonda Rodger read an email from resident Clay McDaniel, who thanked the commissioners for voting against the right-of-way agreement.

“I do not believe that solar farms are the answer for Maries County, nor for the state and/or our country’s power needs,” he wrote. “Thank you for listening, reasoning and learning about the issues. Most importantly, thank you for voting for not letting this company cover our beautiful county with solar panels.”

Drewel said he expected the commission would only hear more opposition to the commercial solar farms. He also said the commissioners could change their minds.

Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said he did not see how connecting to the main transmission line via the county roads was a good option because of limited clearance along the road in several places.

The commission did not meet a second time last week because the courthouse was closed for Juneteenth.