A proposed tour of a New York wind farm could help City Council learn more about a similar project pitched for the community.

Interim City Manager Edward Somppi, at Monday's regular meeting, said he is trying to arrange a tour of a wind farm near Lowville, N.Y., a town of about 3,250 people northeast of Syracuse.

Council is deciding whether to sell 159 acres within the publicly owned East Conneaut Industrial Park to SGR Site Associates of Willoughby. SGR believes the property, when combined with privately owned land north and south of the city parcel, could be home to as many as 50 gigantic wind turbines.

SGR plans to conduct feasibility and impact studies that would take at least two years to complete. If results are encouraging, the company would market the land to utility companies.

Somppi said he believed council would benefit by visiting a wind farm and asking questions of the operators and government officials. Lowville's farm contains more than 150 turbines, council learned, many more than what has been proposed for the Conneaut site.

The city property targeted by SGR includes land north and south of Route 20 near the Pennsylvania line. The municipal land is needed to create a 2,500-acre tract, officials learned at an informational meeting last week.

Council members generally have no problem with the wind farm concept, especially since the property in question is primarily wetlands with little commercial value. However, some believe the price SGR is willing to pay, believed to be between $2,000 and $2,500 per acre, is too low.

Negotiations are continuing, officials are said. It's believed the proposed pact would set a performance deadlines to ensure the land is bottled up for an unreasonable length of time. The agreement may also allow the city to reclaim the land if no turbines are built and buy back unused land for possible development if the turbine project proceeds.

Ward 2 Councilman Charles Lewis said he firmly believes the city would be financially ahead if it leases - not sells - the park property to SGR. Some communities with wind farms earn thousands of dollars annually per turbine, he said.

Somppi said he understood land leasing is used when the property is privately owned. His research has yet to uncover a case involving publicly owned land used for a wind farm.

In other business, council unanimously approved an amended ordinance that will appropriate $5,000 to pay a portion of Law Director Lori Lamer's salary once financed by Ashtabula County.

County officials recently notified the city it no longer will make the $5,000 contribution to Lamer's salary it had provided for many years. The county is not legally obliged to make the payment, and is stopping the practice to cut costs, officials have said.

A similar payment from the county to Ashtabula's law office has also been rescinded, officials have said.

Council approved an amended ordinance that picks up the $5,000 cost, but also adjusts the figure should the county have a change of heart in the future and make a donation. Whatever sum the county should decide to contribution would be automatically deducted from the city budget, members agreed.

The county had made the contribution in recognition of the state cases handled by the local law office.