KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- County officials continue to work toward bringing a nearly 60,000 acre wind farm to the Heartland.

The proposed Shuteye Creek wind farm would span Sullivan, Adair and Putnam counties. The Adair County Commission met with representatives from TradeWind Energy on Tuesday to discuss creating an enhanced enterprise zone in the county. An enhanced enterprise zone, or EEZ, is an area in which new or expanding businesses in certain industries receive tax credits.

The project has the potential to bring in over $800,000 dollars a year in tax revenue for Adair County.

TradeWind says Adair County needs to create an enhanced enterprise zone in order for the Shuteye Creek wind energy project to move forward.  Sullivan County has already set up an enhanced enterprise zone.

“So the ball is really now in your alls court to take and pursue and draw the enterprise zone boundaries based on the communication you now have with all the taxing entities in the entire county,” said TradeWind Energy Project Manager Rod Northway.

Representatives from the Novinger School District also attended Tuesday’s meeting.  The district is one of the largest taxing entities that would impacted by the creation of an EEZ.

Superintendent Bill Lake and several members of the school board voiced their support for the creation of an enhanced enterprise zone and for the project as a whole. However there's some concern that members of the Kirksville School Board and some Kirksvilel residents are against creating an enhanced enterprise zone.

“What we're telling you now is if they don't want to participate we can move forward with the full-blown site plan that we've presented to you with the benefits of that and the same tax revenues without them. So that's your all's call,” Northway said.

Presiding Commissioner Gary Jones says unless they receive any extreme opposition, the commission will move forward with the paperwork to make the entire county an enhanced enterprise zone. The commissioners say including the entire county could make it a more attractive location for other businesses in the future.

Jones says he thinks once the Kirksville school board members and other Kirksville residents hear from TradeWind and the Missouri Department of Economic Development at the community meeting they will support the project. He said he can see no reason not to move forward with it.

The county commission plans to hold a community meeting with the Northeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission, county residents and all the taxing entities in the county in the near future. An exact date has not yet been set.

For more information on the Shuteye Creek wind project click here.