Pattern Files Land Agent List Weeks Late; Landowner Says Rumors Falsely Put Him Under Lease

Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee Meeting | July 6, 2026

Article Summary: The Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee on Monday, July 6, 2026, reviewed a list of 11 land agents Pattern Energy filed with the County Clerk on June 25 — a filing Committee Chair Chad Ruppert said came after the 30 days required by county resolution — and heard Ruppert read a letter from Butler Grove Township landowner John Rundquist, who says false rumors are circulating that he signed with the company. No motion was made and no vote was taken.

Pattern Energy Land Agent Filing Key Points:

• Pattern’s letter, dated June 11, 2026, and stamped filed by County Clerk Sandy Leitheiser on June 25, 2026, names 11 individuals — employees and subcontractors — who might engage with the public in Montgomery County.
• Ruppert noted the filing came after the 30 days required by county resolution, and expressed disappointment that no action has been taken on a required “do not contact” list.
• Rundquist’s July 6 letter says he has been a firm “no” to Pattern on any lease, option or easement, and ties the rumors to what he describes as the company’s decision to stop recording leases publicly after March 25, 2026.
• The letter is the first document in the county’s record to state a connection between Pattern and The Shoals Renewables: Pattern says the 11 individuals work across departments to support that project’s development.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Eleven names, a rubber stamp reading June 25, and a landowner’s letter about a lease he says he never signed occupied the Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee for the last stretch of its meeting on Monday, July 6, 2026.

The committee reviewed the list of Pattern land agents filed in the County Clerk’s office on June 25, 2026. Committee Chair Chad Ruppert noted the filing was after the 30 days required by county resolution, and expressed disappointment that no action has been taken on a required “do not contact” list.

The list itself is in the committee’s handouts. It takes the form of a one-page letter on Pattern letterhead, dated June 11, 2026, addressed to whom it may concern, and carrying the County Clerk’s filing stamp — FILED JUN 25 2026, signed by Sandy Leitheiser — in the right margin. Two weeks separate the date on the letter from the date on the stamp. The minutes do not explain the gap, and neither does the letter.

The letter describes itself as a current list of every individual who might engage with members of the public in Montgomery County, comprising both Pattern employees and subcontractors, working across departments to support development of The Shoals Renewables. Every individual on the list, the letter states, has been briefed on the applicable Code of Conduct and instructed to conform. If additional individuals join the Pattern team, it says, their names will be submitted to Montgomery County as soon as possible.

The 11 named are Jack Blickensderfer, Diogo Botelho, Karen Castleberry, Jon Fife, Michelle Lyons, Jordan Majors, Joe Osuch, Maggie Poteau, Katharine Rumble, John Sullivan and Sunny Vandegriff. The letter gives a single point of contact for all of them: a toll-free number, (855) 746-2575, or in person at 103 E. Broad Street in Raymond.

Poteau’s is the only name with a prior appearance in the county’s record; she represented Pattern before a county committee on June 1, 2026.

The Resolution Behind the Filing

The document Ruppert measured the filing against is the county’s Code of Conduct resolution, adopted in May 2026 and formally titled the Resolution Establishing A County-Wide Code of Conduct For Land Agents And Energy Project Representatives.

Its text has never been obtained by this newspaper, and it is not among the committee’s July 6 handouts. What the county’s own record contains is Ruppert’s account of what it requires. At the full County Board’s June 9, 2026, meeting, Ruppert reported that contact information for land agents should have been filed within 30 days under the resolution and that none had been received to date. On July 6, with a list in hand, he said the filing was late.

Both statements are the committee chairman’s characterizations of a document the public record does not otherwise describe. The minutes do not record the resolution’s number, its adoption date, or the date from which its 30 days run.

The Letter From Butler Grove Township

Ruppert then read a letter from county resident and landowner John Rundquist expressing frustration with the misinformation that he had signed a lease with Pattern, according to the minutes.

The letter, dated the same day as the meeting and copied to all County Board members, is in the handouts. Rundquist identifies himself as a Montgomery County landowner in Butler Grove Township who has been, in his words, a firm “no” to Pattern Energy on any lease, option or easement for The Shoals Renewables project. He says he has consistently told the company’s land agents he will not participate.

False rumors are now circulating that he signed, the letter states, and he describes the claims as untrue and as a source of division among neighbors at a time when clear facts are needed.

Rundquist attributes the problem to a specific decision on a specific date: Pattern’s choice, as he describes it, to stop recording leases publicly after March 25, 2026. By holding leases privately rather than recording them at the courthouse, he writes, the company has created a lack of transparency that makes it impossible for landowners and residents to verify information — and fuels exactly the kind of rumor he is writing about.

He asks the board to take three actions: require full public disclosure of all leased and optioned parcels, recorded or not; enforce the land agent Code of Conduct; and restore transparency. His rural community, he writes, deserves better.

The minutes do not record any response from the committee to the letter, nor any discussion following the reading. No motion was made on the Pattern item. The item was titled “Update/Approval,” a formulation this county applies to items that receive no motion as often as to items that do.

The committee is a recommending body. Nothing it does on this subject takes effect, binds anyone, or changes any obligation of any developer until the full County Board acts.