At Monday night’s Taylorville City Council Meeting, there was some discussion on Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).

Taylorville Mayor Bruce Barry and the council held a discussion and made a motion to add Chapter 17 to Title 10 of the Taylorville City Code.  This would provide a special use permit and regulations for BESS. Taylorville City Attorney, Rocci Romano, had some comments for the council.

According to Romano, the Taylorville Fire Department Chief Matthew Adermann has had contacts with some officials involved with the ordinance, and the only concern from them was the fencing requirement. Romano said that Chief Aderman has added some verbiage to the ordinance to reflect those concerns.

 Romano also stated that Chief Adermann added into the ordinance that the special use permit would carry a fee of 500 dollars. After City Attorney Romano finished with his comment, the council began the vote to approve this ordinance. Alderwoman Megan Bryant voted no, rendering the ordinance with a 8-1 approval. 

Another big topic of discussion was a motion to approve a proposal from Benton Engineering to provide grant activity delivery services for the city’s route 48 water main improvement project, in accordance with the Department of Commerce and Economic Development (DCEO) Community Development Block Grant Program. 

More details on the DCEO discussion will be posted to taylorvilledailynews.com on Friday. 

Check taylorvilledailynews.com at the end of the week for details on other city council discussions and keep following along every day for all of your local news, weather, sports, and more!