Commission - Regular Meeting

Hot mic. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Tuesday, June 2nd edition of the Augusta-Richmond County Commission meeting. Madam Clerk, it's 2.07. Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for our tardiness. We're having some audio issues, but as I understand, we're up and running. The live stream is running. Madam Clerk, it appears we have a quorum, and I call this meeting to order.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, we will have our invocation shared with us by Pastor Stephen Hardy, St. Paul Church of Lincolnton, after which we would like to ask Mr. Tyrone Butler of the Augusta Mini Theater if he would please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Would you please stand?

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for having me here this afternoon to open you in prayer. So it means a lot and it's an honor. So thank you. Let's bow our heads. Father, we come before you today with humble and grateful hearts. We thank you for this great country, the United States of America, which we live in. Thank you, Father, for our great state of Georgia. And I thank you for Augusta, Richmond County. a special city that I have called home, and I have many loved ones that call home as well. Father, please continue to bless this city and the beautiful people that live here. Lord, at this time, I want to lift up every elected official that's before us today, and I pray that you will give them the wisdom and discernment to lead well and to do what's in the best interest of the people that they represent. But most importantly, Lord, I pray that they will do your will. Father, I pray for unity among these leaders. I pray that you will be honored and glorified by what happens here today and in every meeting moving forward. Father, let us please experience your peace, your power, and your presence here with us today. And again, I pray that your will is done, and I pray that you will continue to protect, to guide, and provide for this city, and that it will be a blessing for all that call it home. And Father, we ask all these things in the holy and beautiful and precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Pastor Steve, would you please stand? By these presents, be it known that Pastor Stephen Hardy, pastor of the St. Paul Church of Lincolnton, is chaplain of the day. May your spiritual guidance and unwavering leadership continue to bring strength and blessings to the citizens of Augusta. Given under my hand this day, second day of June, 2026, Garnett L. Johnson, mayor. And thank you so very much.

Pastor Hardy, thank you so much for that prayer. Thank you for being here today, and we appreciate everything that you do. Thank you. Madam Clerk, I'm going to use a point of personal privilege before we move forward to recognize somebody that has been a staple in our community, that has provided so many memories through music and through the arts that I just can't describe enough. any further than that. Most people know him. Just on Saturday, we celebrated 54 years of outstanding service and music to this community. Some know him by Rufus Brett Jr. The other one knows him as the Mighty Peanut. The Mighty Peanut. Solid gold Sundays for decades. So Madam Clerk, if you don't mind, we're going to read a proclamation on Mighty Peanut's behalf, and we're going to have him come up while we have you read this proclamation, if you don't mind.

Just turn around so everybody can watch you.

The city of Augusta, Georgia, proclamation in recognition of Mr. Rufus Britt Jr., the Mighty Peanut. Whereas for more than half a century, Mr. Rufus the Mighty Peanut Britt Jr. has been a soundtrack storyteller and spirit of Augusta. What began in 1972 as a young man hanging around a radio station, eager to learn about broadcasting, turned into an extraordinary 54-year career that has touched countless lives. And whereas too many, Mr. Rufus Britt Jr. is more than a personality. He's a friend, a mentor, a community advocate, and a trusted voice. Through dedication, authenticity, and unwavering love for radio, he became one of Augusta's most beloved and recognizable voices. He has been a constant presence with the community, always willing to lend its time, talent, and platform to support others. Countless broadcasters and community leaders credit him with helping shape Augusta's radio culture and inspiring future generations to pursue their dreams. and whereas Mr. Rufus Britt Jr.'s commitment to service was not limited to broadcasting. He dedicated 35 years to the Savannah River Site Fire Department, serving as a firefighter, fire testing group inspector, and fire captain before retiring. Whether protecting lives or uplifting spirits through music and conversation, service has always been at the center of who he is. And whereas throughout his remarkable career, Mr. Rufus Britt Jr., has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Ed Cooke Award for Community Service in 1993, recognizing his outstanding work with local schools and community projects. In 2022, he was honored with the Georgia African American Broadcasters Award presented by Senator Ed Harbison in recognition of his outstanding contributions to broadcasting. And whereas Mr. Rufus Brits, Jr., a proud graduate of T.W. Josie High School, class of 1970. Won't hold it against you, I'm a Wildcat. has remained deeply connected to Augusta and his people. Alongside fellow radio legend Minnesota Fats, he continues to entertain listeners on 96.3 Kiss FM, proving that true passion never retires. Whereas Mr. Rufus Britt Jr. is a devoted family man, He is married to his wife, Deborah, who love and support has been a constant throughout his journey. After 54 extraordinary years of service, he now enters into a well-earned retirement, leaving behind a legacy defined by friendship, excellence, and unwavering commitment to Augusta. He is a living piece of its history, a champion of its people, and one of its true hometown treasures. And now, therefore, it be resolved that I, Garnett L. Johnson, Mayor of the City of Augusta, do hereby recognize and honor Mr. Rufus Britt, Jr. for his outstanding service and dedication to the residents of Augusta. and do commend him on the occasion of his retirement, effective June 2nd, 2026, given under my hand the second day of June, 2026, Garnett L. Johnson, Mayor.

Thank you all so much for being here. To all of my friends who came near and far, thank you all so much. And I'd like to thank Ivy Elam, our marketing president for iHeartMedia, Augusta, Minnesota Fats, Cher, Sharon, and everybody with the station. Thank you all so much for the love. 54 years, never expected, never expected it. And we have traveled so many journeys and met so many people, but what means the most to me is the people. The stars is fine, but I'm not star-studded like that, even if I was inducted into the LeBert family. But anyway, I want to thank everybody for coming out today. Mayor, thank you so much. You have made my day. The commission, thank you all so much. Always remember, put God first. Don't give up. Have a plan. People that said, you'll never make it. Guess what? Look at me now.

Look at me now.

Thank y'all so much. I love Augusta. That's why I'm still here.

Madam Clerk, I'm a little bit nervous. I thought I wasn't going to have no more Solid Gold Sunday. Talking about the temptation, the spinners, Rick James, there's so many, the Commodores. I know, I know. For those of you that want to hear good music every Sunday at noon on 96.3 Kiss FM, tune in and listen to the Mighty Peanut. It'll make you dance, it'll make you smile, sometimes it'll make you cry, but it's good music that reminds us of great times and I can't thank you enough for that. You know, I've been listening to you my entire life, my mighty peanut, and continue to do what you do, and I'm glad you're going to be around. And thank you so much to the KISS FM family, the Fats and Cher and Ivy Elam and all of your team. Thank you so very much. Appreciate you being here today. Now, you're more than welcome to stay because it's going to be an action-packed day. And you're more than welcome to leave, too. Madam Clerk, I think that takes us on to the delegation.

Our recognitions.

I understand the recognitions. They're not here today. Okay. So we're going to move forward with the delegations, please.

Okay. Our first delegation, item B, Mr. Clint Bryant, discussion of the 30th annual Nike Peach Jam.

Either one. Good. I'm fine, sir.

Coach, thank you so much for being here. For those of you who don't know, Coach is having withdrawals. He serves on our Charter Review Committee, and I know he knows these chambers well. Thank you for being here, sir.

Well, Mr. Mayor, first of all, I'm not having withdrawals. I'm having a little relief. But I will say, first of all, Clint Bryant. I live 2506 Willow Ridge Drive, Augusta, Georgia. Currently displaced by Hurricane Helene. So we live 738 Camden Circle. Appreciate your time. I know I've got five minutes to do what I need to do. But I'm here to recognize something that we did in this community 30 years ago. In 1996, we brought the Peach Jam Nike basketball tournament to Augusta, and it's been a great success for our community. It's the largest economic impact in our community behind the Masters. It is the number one basketball event in the country, and we're so very proud to host it along with our colleagues across the river in North Augusta. In 1996, as you all know, that was the year that we had the Olympics in Atlanta. We weren't sure if we were even going to have any hotel rooms because the Olympic Committee, if some of you remember, if you're old as I am, they had booked up every hotel in a two-hour radius from Atlanta. And we didn't find out until two weeks before the tournament that we were going to even have hotel rooms. And that first tournament brought over 500 coaches from Dean Smith to Bobby Knight to John Thompson, John Chaney, George Raveling, and others. We had over 500 coaches that first year. The idea was to see if Nike wanted to take a tournament to Myrtle Beach. And I was called. And I said, why Myrtle Beach? Because they kept talking about, well, coaches love to play golf. And I said, well, there's no better place to play than Augusta. And we had just moved into the new facility at Augusta University, and we actually played the first championship game of Peach Jam at that. And so we've settled on North Augusta, and it's been a great venue, the best in the country. I call it the masters of basketball. We are... THE MAIN STATE. THERE'S NOT A HOTEL ROOM THERE'S NOT A HOTEL ROOM THERE'S NOT A HOTEL ROOM AVAILABLE THE FIRST OF JULY, AVAILABLE THE FIRST OF JULY, AVAILABLE THE FIRST OF JULY, AND FROM GREENSBURG, GEORGIA, AND FROM GREENSBURG, GEORGIA, AND FROM GREENSBURG, GEORGIA, TO LEXINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. TO LEXINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. TO LEXINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA. EVERY HOTEL, EVERY AIRBNB, EVERY HOTEL, EVERY AIRBNB, EVERY HOTEL, EVERY AIRBNB, HAS GOTTEN SO POPULAR HAS GOTTEN SO POPULAR HAS GOTTEN SO POPULAR THAT WE EVEN NOW HAVE People are using the Masters list to book homes and rooms. Some of the NBA players that have participated in the Nike Youth Basketball League in the Peach Jam, Derek DeWhiskey, Yao Ming, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Jason Tatum, Trey Young, Bradley Beal, Anthony Davis, Jabal Burry, Cooper Flagg, number one draft pick, Thielen Hopper, and others. But here locally, Ricky Moore from Westside, William Avery from Westside, Von Teagle Cummins from Thompson, Donald Little from Hephzibah, Rod Hall from Laney and Antonio Grant from North Augusta, along with Dominique Archie from Josie, all got their exposure here at the Nike Peach Jam. So it's been good to us in Augusta. Right now, The Nike Peach Jam games are televised on the NBA.com. Matter of fact, the NBA.com just offered Nike $44 million rights to do the Peach Jam, and they declined. But we're very fortunate to have that in this area, and we want it to stay here another 30 years. So this year, we're going to have the anniversary celebration. And Mr. Mayor, I've asked your office to provide a proclamation. I understand that you will, and thank you so very much. and we'll make sure that you guys are part of the festivities that week. The Augusta Sports Council on our side of the river is handling things for us. Thank you for your support of the Augusta Sports Council, something that Billy Morris thought about in the early 1990s, and we made it for real. And so we're really excited about that. So we're going to... The 1st of July, we will have a celebration. We'll have the proclamations read for both North Augusta and Augusta. We'll also have an event by the Augusta Sports Council. And we'll have at least 30 to 40 former NBA and current NBA players who have played in the Peach Jam. They'll be here in Augusta that week. NO, NOBODY THOUGHT 30 YEARS, YOU KNOW, AFTER 30 YEARS OF THE MASTERS THAT IT WOULD BECOME WHAT IT HAS BECOME. BUT WE CAN TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN WHAT THIS HAS BROUGHT TO OUR COMMUNITY AND WHAT IT MEANS TO THE CITIZENS OF OUR COMMUNITY. ONE OF THE THINGS I COULD SAY, WE HAD, AND LAST YEAR, WE HAD OVER 260 NIKE EYBL TEAMS PARTICIPATE IN THE NIKE INVITATION, NIKE JUNIOR PEACH JAM, 144 OFFICIALS, OVER 500 NCAA COACHES, 8,000, ALMOST 9,000 ATTENDEES AT THE EVENT, AND IT BROUGHT CLOSE TO $20 MILLION OF ECONOMIC IMPACT TO AUGUSTA. AND SO WE CAN BE VERY PROUD OF THAT, AND I APPRECIATE the city's support of that event, and let's keep it here another 30 years. So thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. If there are any questions at this time, I'd be glad to answer yours or any of the commissioners.

Well, Coach, I want to thank you for being a part of that great tournament and that, you know, people often see these young, tall men, tall women walking along our corridors, along Washington Road to eat and, you know, playing throughout the community. But Augusta in this region has great basketball, and I attribute it to that tournament. Did you realize one year we had a local team to actually win? These are the best basketball players, I would say, in the world, definitely in the country. And we fielded a team from this region to actually win one of those tournaments out of the 30 years.

Well, we did, Mr. Mayor. We didn't win the tournament, but we won the initial game. And what happened is that we didn't have any competition. And so there was an international, there was an international team that came here with Yao Ming and Derek Vissowitz and all that. And we played them the first game. And the local team won. And a kid from Richmond Academy named Antoine Dent had 38 points. Wow. And we won. And the world was shocked. And so we don't have the local team anymore, but the spirit moves on. And the Augusta Sports Council has played a tremendous amount of role. The 100 black men of Augusta played a role as well.

That's amazing.

And we will continue to do that. It's all about the kids. And now we're going to use this event to help raise money for scholarships for kids in this community in this area.

That is amazing. Can you remind us of those dates so the public will be ready?

Well, right now it's going to be July 15th through the 21st. But they will start playing games as early as July 7th. Here, preliminary games. Our convention center down at the Marriott hosts these games as well. So it's a great time for this community. I mean, if you go to Waffle House or McDonald's, you can't find anything. You can't find anything. People are everywhere. Kids are everywhere. And people have came here for that tournament that now live in this community.

That's right. Thank you, Coach. Appreciate you. Thank you so much for being here.

All right. Thank you.

All right, Madam Clerk.

Our next delegation C, Mr. Rich Forzano, regarding presentation by Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Augusta, Georgia, regarding youth bedlessness initiatives in Richmond County.

Mr. Forzano, thank you so much for being here, sir. For the record, if you don't mind stating your name and address, please.

Yes, my name is Rich Forzano. I live at 847 Goodale Drive.

Thank you, sir, and you have the floor in five minutes.

Thank you very much. Thank you for the invitation to come speak, Mayor. I had the opportunity to meet the mayor, happened chance last week at the hockey announcement, the hockey name announcement ceremony, and he invited me to come to speak to the commission. So I'm with Sleep in Heavenly Peace. We're a national charity, and we're starting up a local chapter here in Augusta, Georgia. Presently, we estimate there's 15,000, I'll say that again, 15,000 kids sleeping on the floor in Augusta. Those are kids who don't have beds. Maybe they're sharing couches. Maybe they're sharing a bed with... a sibling or somebody else, you know, an adult. So our mission is to build beds for kids and deliver beds for kids. That's what our focus is. We're a 501 charity. We're completely volunteer-led at the local level. And we basically do three things. We build beds, and I'll talk about that a little bit in more detail in a minute. So three things, build beds, deliver beds, and we build community. So when we build beds, we deploy a mobile factory. It's like a little assembly line into somebody's parking lot. or into somebody's warehouse. So think of a business, a church, a government organization, a civic group, or something like that, somebody who wants to sponsor the build. We set up and build somewhere between 20 and 50 beds in the course of three hours. And then we break down everything. And then over the course of the following weeks and months, we start delivering beds. We have our first official build tentatively scheduled for 25 July in Evans, Georgia, based off of a sponsor that we have right now. So a couple things about the build. It's an assembly line, and so everybody who is involved, all the volunteers, none of them have to have any experience with tools. We basically teach people how to conduct their little portion of the assembly line, whether it's sanding, whether it's measuring, whether it's cutting, whether it's assembly at the end. I mentioned that we deliver beds. I've had the opportunity to, I've been working around meeting with other chapter presidents in the region. There's 22 chapters in the state of Georgia. None are within two hours of Augusta. There's six chapters in South Carolina, none within two hours of Augusta. So right now, like this is our first public announcement of this organization. So there's some people who have never heard of us before. So when we deliver, we deliver into a child's home, we give them a brand new bed, brand new mattress, brand new pillow, and brand new sheets. And then I also mentioned our community. So we are built on completely volunteer work and we take volunteers from everywhere. It might be a business decides to sponsor us so they get the opportunity to give their employees volunteer time, volunteer hours and satisfy that requirement that maybe that business has for their employees. We also, like I said, we do churches, civic organizations, and the like. And so you'll see people building together. You'll see maybe a six-year-old kid next to a 90-year-old granny both working together at one of our builds. PRESENTLY WE PLAN ON SERVICING INITIALLY THREE ZIP CODES IN THE AUGUSTA AREA, BUT AS WE CONTINUE TO GROW AND EXPAND, WE WANT TO EXPAND ACROSS THE ENTIRE CSRA. THE THREE ZIP CODES ARE 30904, 30907 AND 30909. ONE MINUTE. THANK YOU. Like really one of the things I'd like to do is start getting the word out to social services and people who know people who need beds. Starting in July after we build our first bed, then our website goes active and people can start applying for beds. To apply for beds or to contact us in any way, all you have to do is search. I've got handouts and things, but all you have to do is do a Google search for sleep and heavenly peace. and Augusta. And you'll find us, you'll find our Facebook page, our chapter page and everything. I'll go ahead and stop there. So if there's any questions.

Mr. Ferzano, really appreciate your passion in providing beds for those who need it. And just know that the community is here to help in any way we can. And we appreciate you passing on that information. And if you have any handouts, I would ask that you put them on that back table for the public to get if they want to help in any way. But we thank you for being here today.

Sounds good. Thank you very much. Thanks for your time.

Have a great day. Madam Clerk, next delegation item, please.

Our next delegation, item number D. And at the risk of butchering your name, Ms. Walker, I'll have you introduce yourself regarding the data center concerns.

Good afternoon, Ms. Walker. Thank you for being here.

Absolutely, thank you for having me.

For the record, please state your name. I am.

My name is Suzetra Walker. and I am a resident of this community. Thank you all for the opportunity to speak. I'm here because I have concerns about the proposed data center, particularly regarding stewardship of our shared resources and the long-term accountability associated with the project of this scale. My concern is not simply whether a data center can be built, but it is whether we have enough information to determine it can be built responsibly and sustainably, and whether the public will have meaningful ways to verify that the commitments being made today are honored in the future. We often speak about stewardship, but stewardship requires more than good intentions. It requires transparency, measurement, and accountability. If this project affects our air quality, water resources, energy consumption, or overall environmental health, how will those impacts be independently monitored and reported over time? And these are rhetorical questions for now, but questions that I would absolutely appreciate if you all could reflect upon. How will residents know whether projected impacts match actual impacts? So those are some questions. I'm also concerned about who's going to be responsible for verifying the information that's going to be provided to the public. What mechanisms will exist for independent oversight? If projections prove inaccurate or if impacts exceed what was expected, what remedies will be available for this community? Data centers are rapidly expanding industry, and while many promises are made regarding efficiency and mitigation, some long-term environmental impacts are still being studied. So right now, we still don't know. So with that uncertainty, I believe it is reasonable to ask not only what is being promised, but how will those promises be measured, verified, and enforced? Therefore, my request is that this commission require clear enforceable measures for transparency and accountability before we move forward with this project. Specifically, I ask that any approval include independent monitoring of environmental impacts, regular public reporting of these findings, and clearly defined mechanisms for addressing any significant differences between projected and actual resources for the use of environmental effects. If we're being asked to trust projections made today, then the community should also be given a reliable way to verify those projections tomorrow. Again, stewardship requires not only planning for success, but preparing for accountability if expectations are not met. My hope is that any decision regarding this project reflects careful stewardship of our natural resources, transparency in the way it's reported, and accountability Thank you very much for your time today.

Ms. Walker, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate your statement. Madam Clerk, that takes us to the next delegation item, please.

Item E, Ms. Chastanee Cherry, presentation on public supportive data center moratorium recommended by planning and development.

Today, Ms. Cherry, if you will, for the record, please state your name.

Hi, I'm Chastanee Cherry.

And where you reside?

Yes, I'm at 3243 Ramsgate Road in Augusta.

Thank you, Ms. Cherry, for being here. Thank you. We're going to give you a couple minutes to get set up here and just let us know when you're ready. Do you need to show that on the screen?

If I can, that would be great.

All right, we're going. Just give us just a second. We've had some audio challenges today. Let's see if we can get you on the video here.

I have it plugged in. It is, but not what I need to see.

It's okay, I can keep on going.

Yeah, it's fine.

It is. OK.

It's totally fine if not.

Where was it?

The other one.

Sorry about that.

Yep, there we go. Outstanding. And then how do you start? Yeah, right up here. Perfect. Thank you. You're welcome.

All right, Ms. Cherry.

Thank you all.

Start in your five minutes.

Yes, sir. So good afternoon, everybody. My name is Chastanay Cherry, and I'm presenting today not in opposition to technology or economic development, but in support of responsible growth, transparency, and long-term community sustainability. I am speaking today in support of Planning and Development's proposal of a data center moratorium, a moratorium which will allow the department to complete our city's new zoning ordinances. A zoning ordinance which includes the definition of a data center So applicants coming to our area are aware that a structure built for the purpose of holding cloud computing and AI storage, running 24-7 operations, and requires massive electrical capacity and infrastructure cooling systems is not a technology center. It is a data center. A zoning ordinance which includes stronger public notice standards like multiple mandated community meetings, tangible in-mail notifications, environmental disclosures, and plain language project summaries so that communities are engaged and informed transparently on prospective development, potential utility impacts, property tax implications, water usage, electricity demand, and project expansions. A zoning ordinance which includes environmental protection standards, ensuring air quality monitoring for generator emissions, storm water mitigation strategies to reduce flooding, and groundwater assessments confirming that the implementation of a closed loop system is truly not impacting our water like the closed loop system built for our neighbors in Fayetteville. A zoning ordinance which includes the development of a community benefits agreement, a legally binding agreement that outlines infrastructure reinvestment for all of Augusta, Richmond County, and not just the proposed acreage on the application, guaranteeing the cost of upgrades and improvements are not shifted to residents. workforce development partnerships, allowing students from Augusta University, Payne College, and Augusta Tech to be trained in the jobs that are advertised by applicants, allowing those residents to stay in Augusta, creating a vibrant young professional population which can contribute to the basic development needs like the building of a grocery store downtown. utility assistance so that the cost of utility impacts faced by small businesses like mine and residents are offset by a community resilience fund and not absorbed by our bottom line while developers benefit from tax breaks. And lastly, the creation of a community oversight committee, an independent quality assurance board composed of environmental experts, utility representatives, planning officials, public health representatives, neighborhood leaders, and government officials that are responsible for annual compliance reviews, public reporting, environmental compliance monitoring, and complaint intake. While this may seem daunting, it is doable, and just like the technological innovation, it is happening. Communities in Iowa and Wisconsin have negotiated community benefits agreements tied to infrastructure and workforce development, ensuring all jobs created stay local. In Arizona, government officials implemented stricter water usage regulations to protect their communities against water scarcity. Augusta has the golden opportunity to set the precedent and lead Georgia in how to properly grow their economy with a community-centered approach. Realistic development, implementation, and adoption of these components is possible within 12 months, which is why a moratorium is so critical. The moratorium is designed not to stop innovation in our community, but rather safeguard it by allowing the critical and necessary work of new ordinances to get completed. The development of new community-centered zoning ordinances for data centers transforms applicants from simple investors to strategic partners helping to grow Augusta, accelerate Augusta, and elevate Augusta so that we may truly be the Augusta of tomorrow. I ask you to vote in support of a 12-month data center moratorium so that we can be steadfast in keeping Augusta Thank you all so much for your time, your leadership, and your consideration. God bless. Thank you again. Oh, okay. I wasn't sure.

Five minutes and two seconds. How many times did you practice that? You did good. Very good. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you all. All right.

Madam Clerk. Delegation, Ms. Zakia Mabry, discussion regarding the proposed data center moratorium and zoning ordinance sequencing. Thank you so much.

Ms. Bramey, you know the drill. Name and county residence, please.

My name is Zakiya Mabry, and I'm a resident in District 3. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Madam. You have the floor in five minutes.

Okay, I appreciate it. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm glad to see such a nice crowd today. Well, yes, I'm going to be talking about the moratorium. Today I'm asking for clarity regarding the decision-making, consistency, transparency, public engagement processes. The question before us is not who gets credit or who gets fault. The question is whether the public has received complete information, meaningful opportunities for engagement, and answers to legitimate concerns before additional approvals move forward. In 2022, Records indicate planning and staff recommended approval for a substantially smaller area than their approximately 211 acre rezoning ultimately approved by the commission then. In 2026, Planning and Development, just last week, recommended a temporary moratorium on new data center applications until Augusta adapts appropriate regulations. Please let the public record reflect this body is composed of different members from then in 2022. We acknowledge that. If we need to hear from former commissioners to better understand the basis for the decisions in 2022, what is the process for doing so? And when can that occur within the next two weeks? We need timely response. As a resident, I'm trying to understand the weight planning and development recommendations carry on the commission's decision-making processes. Under what circumstances do you actually listen to them and rely upon their expertise? Many of them have master's degrees. And under what situations do you disregard their recommendations? If staff expertise was not persuasive in 2022, what's the basis for approving the larger request? Help me understand. I'm trying to seek greater transparency regarding public notice, signs such as this, Public notice, it says nothing up there about a data center. Can Augusta Richmond County provide a complete record of all public notices, publications mailing with metadata? What has the outreach reasonably calculated to make an impact so residents were aware of a project of this significant magnitude? Come on now, did the public have significant information in a timely manner Results talking to the community says, no, they have not. Polls that we conducted says they did not see the sign. Even that sign being posted doesn't say anything about the data center. I'm also here seeking clarification regarding statements made publicly by a representative associated with Bill Beasley, a developer who developed the homes in Haines Station, one I live in. At a February 11th meeting publicly, it was stated they had no idea about the data centers. They were just alerted just then. But last week, something else was said by the same individual he found out years ago. Now, I ain't going to call nobody a LIE, but I'm saying it's conflicting information. Can staff help reconcile those statements? What information was known, by whom, and when? We need answers. Additionally, what obligations, if any, do developers or builders have to disclose the existence of a proposed large-scale industrial development? We would have never built our house there purchase the house if we knew a data center was coming. And this fine, the first fine that we were given that talked about a hearing, we didn't close on our house until I believe July. There are a lot of people in here from hanging station and neighboring communities. Additionally, what obligation is any for the HOA to tell us? I would also like clarification regarding the proposed moratorium itself. Can staff or legal counsel clarify whether the proposed moratorium would also apply to the QCS Eisenhower Data Center off of Augusta Highway?

One minute.

Thank you. I respectfully, therefore, ask each commissioner, do you support a one-year moratorium on all data center projects in Augusta, including the Eisenhower QTS until the city of Augusta adopts clear data center regulations, and completes the necessary infrastructure, environmental, and public engagement assessment, and make them publicly available to the citizens that live in Augusta. Thank you for your time. And I know I had a lot of questions. Mine are not rhetorical. So I'm going to pass them out so that you have a chance to look over them and provide timely answers. Thank you. Ms. Ravey, thank you so much for being here.

Ms. McFarland, if you would get those questions for Ms. Mabry, that will be, yes, thank you. And Ms. Mabry, as you know, this agenda item is on today's agenda for discussion. So if any of your group would like to remain behind as we discuss it.

Thank you, sir.

You are welcome to do so. Thank you. All right, Madam Clerk.

Let's move on to item G. Item G. Mr. Dan Scott. support of proposed data center moratorium and requesting that the commissioners consider consulting with their soil and water conservation district on the topic.

Mr. Scott, welcome, sir. If you will, for the record, please state your name.

Dan Scott.

Thank you, sir. And where you reside?

I opted out, given my address.

Okay.

I stand at Glendale.

Thank you so much, sir. You have the floor and five minutes.

I have a question. When it comes to data centers breaking ground, what department do they reach out to to get their erosion and settlement control plans approved? Is that the plan in the zoning?

I would say yes. And we're going to discuss that detail. Okay.

What I've seen is that there's a lack of, uh, activity with your soil and water conservation districts when it comes to breaking, uh, when it comes to, uh, addressing data centers. And I'm concerned is why the commission is not more involved with their soil and water conservation districts who are there to, uh, to regulate, uh, situations like that. And, um, I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVE COMMITTEES, SEPARATE COMMITTEES THAT WORK WITH DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE GOVERNMENT. WHICH COMMITTEE WORKS WITH YOUR SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT?

ENGINEERING SERVICES.

ENGINEERING SERVICES. SO I KNOW THAT YOUR SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT ALSO, DO THEY TRAIN YOUR PLANNERS, YOUR CITY PLANNERS? WHO DO YOUR CITY PLANNERS GET THEIR TRAINING FROM WHEN IT COMES TO ENS control plan, the Rosen Settlement control plan.

Well, you're asking a lot of detailed questions. If you want to expand your five minutes, I can have the director come up and, or you could come up and answer a question. Somebody from planning and zoning? Or engineering. Let's get both of them over. Dr. Malik, if you're outside, can you come in, please? There you go. There he is. So I'm gonna have our team to come over on this side right here, Ms. Cameron, so as he has questions. All right, your first question regarding soil and erosion.

Yes, Dr. Malik, could you explain what is the relationship between Engineering Services Department and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts?

SO ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT REPRESENTATIVE CITY OF AUGUSTA, WE HAVE DELEGATED AUTHORITY FROM THE STATE TO REVIEW AND APPROVE sbs salary and plans and also we are the location authority on the opposite city as a department and we inspect those development development still has to meet the state and pds permit requirements and they are regulated under that permit so ANY COMPLAINT THAT COMES BEING A LOCAL ISSUING AUTHORITY IS ROUTED TO GUSTS ENGINEERING. THEN WE REPORT BACK TO THE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DIVISION TO RESOLVE IT. AND WE HAVE SEVERAL STEPS FROM VERBAL MARGIN TO NOTICE OF DEFICIENCIES IN ORDER OF VIOLATION TO STOP WORK ORDER.

Okay. So is there a particular group? I know Mr. Chastanet that came up before said that we need to form a public group to address this issue. Is there any type of group that you guys already have that the public should be engaged in when working with soil and water conservation districts, like local work groups that are supposed to be addressing issues like this? What groups do you have that the public can attend and be more involved when it comes to this because the lack of information and knowledge our people perish for lack of activity in these soil and water conservation districts and there are some individuals that know this so um that's what i'm just saying how do we how do we uh participate with this so that's the engineering has i'm gonna use um

With the site composition, they say Briar Creek. We have an MOU with River Keepers.

You said Briar Creek?

Yeah, that's where we fall. Briar Creek. Yeah. We have an MOU with River Keepers. We have an MOU with the Finley Center for all that. We have an MOU for our local universities. We all work with them on different aspects of, you know, basically water quality. That's what it is.

Yeah. Okay. So thank you. Mayor Gardner-Johnson, I just want to confirm that Engineering Services Committee is pretty much a department where most of the community needs to be involved in when it comes to these situations like data centers and things.

Yes, sir.

I was just trying to confirm that.

All right. You got it. You have about 15 seconds. Is there anything additional you'd like to add?

No, sir.

Okay. Well, thank you so much for being here. And I'm glad we're able to get your questions asked. And if you have any additional for Dr. Meek to directly, feel free to reach out to him either after this meeting or between meetings, okay?

Okay, thank you.

Thank you so much. Madam Clerk, next item, please.

That will be Delegation H, Mr. Charles Zabel, regarding QTS data centers and surrounding areas affected by the placement between expanding subdivisions.

Mr. Zabel, welcome, sir. If you will, for the record, please state your name and where you reside.

My name is Charles Zabel, and I reside in the Haines Station neighborhood.

Thank you, sir, you have five minutes.

All right, sir. We are the residents who live next to this site. We are the people who live in the consequences of the approval long after this meeting is over. This is not a small project, six buildings, 2.15 million square feet, 45 generators per building. That's 270 generators total. Industrial scale cooling 24 hours a day. At other meetings, comparisons were made to minimize the scale. One generator at the commission building compared to 270 generators. Fort Gordon is not comparable either. Fort Gordon spans approximately 55,000 acres. This site spans 211 acres with as little as 100 to 200 feet heavy industrial infrastructure separating residential subdivisions. That difference matters. Buffers, distance, and density matter. It was also stated that planting trees will block the sound and absorb pollutants. While trees provide visual screening, they do not make the noise less, they make the noise feel less intrusive but psychologically quieter is not physically quieter. Right now our neighborhood is quiet. Gordon Highway traffic is intermittent and nearby railroad corridors is existing background noise. Not constant interstate noise like Atlanta most days, Haines Station is peaceful. Adding industrial cooling system generators, fuel storage, and 24-hour data center operations would fundamentally change that character. That piece has economic value. Industrial adjacency changes that. Buyers consider noise emissions at proximity to large-scale infrastructure. Even modest drop in home values is a real financial loss for many of us as our home is our largest asset. Now consider pollution. These generators emit nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and hazardous ale pollutants such as formaldehyde when operating. Under emergency conditions, those emissions would occur at a simultaneous time. This is not a neighborhood level impact. This is a concentrated industrial emission source. Closed loop cooling systems contain glycol measures, glycol mixtures, and corrosion inhibitors. Systems leak. MAINTENANCE IS REQUIRED, DRAINING AND REFUELING SO CONTAMINANT LIQUID MUST BE HANDLED PROPERLY. YET YOUR D.I.R.I. 4171 INDICATES NO HAZARDOUS WASTE WILL BE GENERATED FROM THIS PLACE. DIESEL FUEL, USED OIL, SPENT COOLANT MIXTURES AND CONTAMINATED ABSORBENTS ARE REGULATED WASTE STREAMS. A CAMPUS OF THIS SCALE WILL GENERATE REGULATED WASTE. AND WITH THAT SCALE COMES FIRE RISK. This site has large volumes of diesel fuel that operate hundreds of generators, electrical systems, and support infrastructure. A major fire would not be routine structural fire. It would be an industrial scale emergency. It would require significant water flow, specialized equipment, trained personnel, foam suppression, and large multi-unit response. Multiple buildings, generators, fuel systems become involved. The incident could quickly exceed local capacity and require mutual aid from surrounding jurisdictions. Fire protection from a facility of this scale is not theoretical. It is a public safety planning requirement. That requirement should be fully addressed before approval. Water pressure rates and power rates also matter. Georgia Power's current rate structure extends through 2028. Full build out of this project runs through 2033. Large-scale industrial demands long-term grid planning. Given that either the Georgia communities are using moratoriums and zoning restrictions to pause data center development until power, water, public safety, and neighborhood impacts are fully understood, will this commission implement the moratorium or pause on this data center until those independently studied and addressed are on record? These are not emotional concerns. They are engineering, environmental, public safety, and economic realities. We were told we ought to have a voice in this. So far, we have not had a meaningful voice in this discussion. This is that voice. This is where we live. We invested here. We live and bear the impact here. Representation does not mean protecting a project later after approval. Representation means protecting the people who already call this place home. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Abel. Appreciate you being here. Madam Clerk, next item, please.

Item I, Dr. Gayla Kesey, regarding transparency, accountability, cornerstones of good governance.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Dr. Kesey, thank you so much for being here. For the record, please state your name and your residence, please.

My name is Gayla Kesey. I am co-president of the League of Women Voters of the CSRA. I live in District 10.

Thank you, ma'am. You have the floor in five minutes.

I'm in District 9 because people live out, they forget that the super districts are there. I'm in District 5 and District 9.

Five and nine. You have the floor, ma'am, in five minutes.

I am here today because the public needs more transparency and more information before Augusta allows data center development to keep moving forward. The proposed moratorium on future data centers is a good step, but I don't think it goes far enough. Augusta is in the middle of rewriting its zoning ordinance. That rewrite matters because our current ordinances were not written with data centers in mind. They do not give us the guidance we need for projects that can affect water, land use, power infrastructure, stormwater, noise, emergency services that we've just talked about and the surrounding neighborhoods. So if we're saying as the Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended that Augusta needs a moratorium until these new zoning rules are complete, then we also need to look at the data center that is moving forward under those old rules, and that is my concern. It does not make sense to pause future data centers because we need better standards, but then allow this one to continue without the same level of review, monitoring, and public accountability. The public should be able to see and understand what is happening before the project moves further. We should know how much water is expected to be used, where that water is coming from, what happens during drought conditions like we're experiencing now, what power infrastructure is needed, what impact there may be on nearby residents, and what monitoring and reporting will be required. These questions should not be considered side issues. They go directly to whether this project is appropriate under current conditions and whether Augusta has the tools in place to protect the public. This is not about being against economic development. It's about making sure development is responsible, transparent, and accountable. When a project has long-term consequences for land, water, infrastructure, and nearby communities, public input needs to happen early enough to matter. Documents need to be easy to find. Impact information needs to be available. And the Commission should not be asked to move forward without clear standards in place. A moratorium should give Augusta time to get this right. That means finishing the zoning rewrite, identifying what guardrails are needed and making sure those guardrails apply before data center development continues. I urge the commission to support a moratorium for at least a year on future developments and on the current data center. Address those moving forward under the old rules. That's what you need to do. If Augusta now understands and I'm hoping they do, that data centers need clearer standards before the next one moves forward, then we need clear standards, monitoring, and transparency before the current one moves forward. Thank you.

Dr. Kesey, thank you again for being here. Madam Clerk, we're moving right along with these. Let's move on to item number I, please. I'm sorry, Jay.

Jay, Mr. Calvin L. Stevenson, moratorium on data centering South Augusta.

Mr. Stevenson, you up here talking about something other than pickleball today? I hate pickleball.

Welcome, sir. I think, well, I ain't going to talk. You brought that subject up.

Okay, all right, let's stay on topic.

For the record, please state your name and where you reside, please. My name is Calvin Stevenson. I'm the vice president of Manchester Homeowners Association and also a member of the Augusta-Richmond County Association Alliance. And so I'm... very involved in what's happening in South Augusta.

Yes, sir.

And so on last week, we had a zoning and planning, uh, group come and discuss, you know, the rewrite for zoning in Augusta and Richmond County. And I see that they started in 2024 and, uh, That was the kickoff event. Then they had the stakeholders focus group. That was in February 2025. And then a public engagement survey in May of 25. And then a stakeholders focus group, May of 3025. What I'm saying is, finally they came to South Augusta. And that gave me a little pause and concern because As they're moving on, I see a data center's plan for Haines Station. And now that they've come discussing their rewrite, I wonder is the data center plan for South Augusta? That's my concern. And I've been speaking to local residents and in some forums that has been held by some of the city officials, I've been trying to get a restaurant, a movie theater, things that we can do, not a bowling alley, but a swimming pool, an emphasize pool. And I was told that, well, it was water issue and also a drainage issue. And also we need more homes built. So for the past two years, I've been seeing homes go up. All across South Augusta, I've seen apartments go up. I've seen traffic increase. I've seen gas stations being built. I see Dollar Generals being built. And so... But still nothing that we can be proud of, that we can go out and have a nice meal in South Augusta. And so... My concern of moratorium, if there is a possible discussion of a data center coming to South Augusta, I would ask that a moratorium of a year or two, and that we have transparency and accountability. Thank you.

Mr. Stephenson, thank you so much for being here, sir. Your attendance... To these chambers is always welcome. And I saw Mr. Cliff from Cliffism said there are places in South Richmond County. I saw you raise your hand there, Cliff. All right. All right. Madam Clerk, let's take on the next delegation item, please.

Delegation K, Ms. Deborah Estep regarding the new commission's rule changes.

Ms. Estep, welcome. For the record, please state your name and where you reside.

Deborah Estep, local Richmond County.

You got it. You have five minutes, ma'am.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. My subject is the Commission's rule changes, that you provide them in full and in writing, define in writing what on topic means, and recognize that an argument built on evidence is not a violation of it. After you posted that changes were made following my last appearance, I asked the clerk in Reading twice for the complete rules. The Augusta Press reported changes that went further than the posted brief. New enforcement, the summary never mentioned, and I'm not assuming anything was hidden. I'm asking that the full rules be on record. And they also asked whether tonight's subject was off topic and your legal team said it was fine. You did not answer the rest and I renew it now. A rule a citizen can be removed from breaking has to be written down and given to them before they speak. Right now, on topic lives in the chair's discretion. On May 5th, I was told three times I was off topic and removed. The officer, who was professional, I don't fault him, but he could not tell me which rule I had broken. And said he wasn't sure of the rules himself. The person sent to enforce the rule did not know it. That is proof it was not written down correctly. He asked me, can you tell me what that was about? And I told him the truth. Citizens have always had to make this government work despite itself. An election is a pressure point. When we tell you to fix what we left broken, you're reminded we can replace you. Under that pressure, things this body avoided for years has finally moved. What I do here is accountability. I anchor every concern to a documented problem on the public record. I CITE THE REPORT, SHOW THE HISTORY OF FAILURES BEHIND IT, AND I TIE IT TO THE AGENDA, IF YOU LET ME FINISH. THAT IS AN ARGUMENT BUILT THE WAY A TEACHER EXPLAINS WHY A BRIDGE FALLS. SHE DOESN'T SAY IT FELL. SHE SHOWS THE LOAD IT CARRIED, THE STEEL, THE WIND THAT DAY, THE INSPECTOR WHO SIGNED OFF SIX MONTHS EARLIER, EACH A DIFFERENT SUBJECT. AND YOU CANNOT REMOVE ONE AND STILL UNDERSTAND THE COLLAPSE. A BRIDGE BUILDER WORKS IN REVERSE. He joins separate parts into one structure strong enough to hold the weight, pull a piece out of it, and call it off topic, and the structure falls. That is the topic. If off topic can be decided at the diocese whim, then personal attack cannot be invented at the diocese whim either. Holding an elected official to the job they were elected to do is not an attack, and asking for investigation is not disrespect. The more effective I've become, the more the rules change right after I finish. If you do not want the job, you can resign. If you do, keep improving until you meet your people's needs. I have non-epileptic seizures triggered by formal government spaces, and your officers have known for months. I have other ways to reach you, but I come anyway because this is my life's work. These meetings are at 2 o'clock on a Tuesday in a city whose voters skew over 60, a schedule that shuts out working families. That is yours to solve. On the record, I'm asking three things. One, the complete written rule changes adopted after my last appearance in full. Two, a written definition of on topic with examples. Three, a statement tonight, the context tied to a stated subject is not a violation of decorum. It is not disrespectful to act a representative to represent us, to listen, to investigate, and to stop spending public money on the facade of representation. I am asking for the rules, all of them in writing, and I'll be back until I have them. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Huston.

We live in the best democracy on the planet and your voice is more than welcome to be heard in these chambers so long as you remain relevant on topic and within decorum and outside of politics. We don't politic in these chambers. So thank you so much for being here. Madam Clerk. I think that concludes our delegation portion of this meeting. Before we move forward, I'm gonna take another point of personal privilege to extend our condolences to one of our colleagues, Commissioner Catherine Smith Rice, on the loss of her mother. As you know, her mother was married to a former commissioner, Commissioner Grady Smith. So on behalf of this commission and on this community, we are praying for you and your family. We're here for you, for you and your sister Ashley and Will, and we thank you for being here today because it's mighty tough for you to be here today, undergoing what you're undergoing. So can we have a moment of silence, Madam Clerk? Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. All right, I think that takes us to the consent agenda portion of this meeting.

Are there any additions or deletions?

Okay, if there are none, are there any public service announcements that need to be made prior to us going through this consent portion?

to alcohol petitions that needs to be read and see if there are any objectors. Call your attention to item number one under the consent portion of our agenda. If there are any objectives to our alcohol petitions, would you please signify your objection by raising your hand once the petition is read. Call your attention to item number one is for an existing location requesting a consumption on-premise liquor, beer and wine license to be used in connection with the location at 722 Broad Street. Are there any objectors?

722 Broad Street, any objectors? Madam Clerk, hearing or seeing none, let's move on to the next one.

Item number two is an existing location, new ownership, retail package, beer and wine license for location at 2443 Peach Orchard Road. Are there any objectors? 2443 Peach Orchard Road.

Any objectors? Madam Clerk, I don't see or hear any. Okay.

Mr. Mayor and members of the commission, number three, we have three. Oh, a hybrid? Okay, thank you. Item number three is an existing location at 2416 Windsor Spring Road for a hybrid license. Are there any objectors?

Any objectors to 2413 for a hybrid license? Madam Clerk, I don't see or hear any, and that's for Cliff Visions Sports Bar, who serves great food out in South Richmond County. Thank you. And he has a food truck that serves his community. All right.

All right, Madam Clerk. Okay. Okay. Our consent agenda consists of items 1 through 16 with no objectors to our alcohol petitions. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Colleagues, let's get to it.

Ladies and gentlemen, while I'm waiting on our colleagues, you know June is Pride Month. And in Augusta, we have a great Pride Festival that's going to be held at the Augusta Exchange Club Fairgrounds. I think it's June 26th. So we're going to celebrate Pride Month and Augusta Pride. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the 2nd, Commissioner Stacey Pulliam.

I'd like to pull item number 19. I need more discussion.

It's on the regular agenda. It's on the regular agenda. It's not on consent.

Sorry, y'all. No, you're fine. All right. Seeing as how you guys are, Commissioner Don Clark from the 5th.

Motion to approve the consent agenda as.

Second. Madam Clerk, I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as stated with a proper second from Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Guilfoyle. Before we vote, Commissioner Lonnie Wimberly from the 4th, you have the floor, sir. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to add item 18 to the consent agenda. Madam Clerk, there's been a request to add item number 18 to the consent agenda. Is there any objection? I don't see or hear any objection to add an 18 to the consent agenda. Thank you, Commissioner Lani Wembley. Chair recognizes Commissioner Stacy Pulliam. I'm sorry, you're out of the queue. All right, Commissioner Wembley, you good? All right. Colleagues, the only changes we have is number 18 was considered to be added to the consent agenda and there was no objection to that. Madam Clerk, I think we are, All right, Madam Clerk, the Commissioner from the Second has requested that we remove item 19 from today's agenda. Commissioner from the Second, do you want to move that to another commission meeting or committee meeting or you just want to remove it from today's agenda?

I want to remove it from today's agenda.

You got it. Madam Clerk, it has been requested that we remove item 19 from today's agenda.

All right, team.

Is there any objection to that?

Well, we can add it to the consent agenda. We can just add it to the consent agenda.

All right. All right. That's item number 18 and 19 added, but otherwise the consent is as stated. Yes, sir. All right. Colleagues, any other discussion before we vote? Seeing no one in the queue, Madam Clerk, we're prepared to vote.

Ms. Pulliam? Mr. Johnson? Mr. Garrett's out. That motion.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Mr. Garrett out. All right, Cliffism, thank you so much for being here. Your item passed on consent. Adam Clark, we're going to give them just a second to clear out of here.

All right.

You know why we're still here? We have this extra mic time while they're exiting the chambers. We got June 19th coming up. Juneteenth. June 19th. At, again, the Augusta Exchange Club Fairgrounds. As I understand, we got some great entertainment by Young Jock. But come on out. All right, Madam Clerk, I think they're gone now. I think we're ready to move forward. And we're going to, let's stay on the topic of data centers. I think that's the next item on the agenda. And while it's fresh on everybody's memory from the delegation, we're going to move on to item 17, please.

Item number 17. Currently, the Augusta, Georgia government does not have a policy requirement for data centers. The Planning and Development Department recommends the adoption of a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, review, and approval of applications for new data centers until the new zoning ordinance has been adopted.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Commissioner, from the first, Commissioner George Johnson, this is your item, sir, and you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I requested that this item was placed back on the agenda last week after the conversation was tabled, and I wanted to still have the conversation because clearly there's an appetite from the community for the commission to address this. and we have an opportunity to really include them in our decision-making processes. I wanted to ask a few questions of the planning department. So if the director or representative could come up, that would be helpful. Director Cameron, please. Okay. Ms. Cameron. Yes, sir. Can you share with us any information Well, let's go, let's start here. What is the intention of the moratorium that your department suggested last week at our commission meeting?

Yes, sir. So before I came, I did run across some information that this body had requested information from that department. And so getting involved in the rewrite and then just providing information, it was just to provide a revision of what has been written up for this body to review. So my intentions were to provide a time period to get a document to you so that you can review it for the existing comprehensive zoning ordinance that you have now.

Okay. For General Counsel and Ms. Bonner, just for my clarification, this body This body voted to create an ordinance to address data centers, is that correct? Did we vote to create an ordinance for data center regulation or something along those lines? Is that addressed to me? To our parliamentarian or to our clerk, if I'm not mistaken. Did we do that a few months ago?

I believe it was part of the overall zoning. I'm not entirely sure, sir. I could go back and check the records, and my memory's just not clear on that.

Okay, all right. So, Ms. Cameron, you wanted to give us an opportunity to see what was already worked on. How much progress have we made just on the data center conversation, the data center piece in general? I mean, the data center piece specifically?

We have a revision that we have been working on. And I just wanted to backtrack. As you are aware, last week there was a great discussion that came from our very own Chamber of Commerce at the convention center last week. So there's been a lot of information that we have been getting. We have a document that we are presenting to our engineering department, our utilities, to make sure that that component is in tune with what the zoning districts are requiring. We also want to get that to our fire department to make sure that we are all cohesive in that document. And then we will be presenting it to our general counsel, also to this governing body, our administrators. And then based on the go-ahead from you guys, then we can have it posted to the general public. And we can have that in about 45 days.

45 days for the revised ordinance to be placed online?

Yes, sir. And that would be, it would be an amendment to the existing zoning ordinance.

Sure. How much time... would you suggest for a moratorium if this body were to agree to one?

The pause that I asked for is around the very same time. So at most, I would say 60 days, but we're looking to get that to you within 45 days. Now, that's going to be based on my general counsel ensuring that I'm giving the correct dates because as the charter reads, it has to go before the planning commission first. And then we want to make sure that we give it in a timely manner for this body to for the readings and then also for the approval. And so we just we do have questions about that 45 day turnaround time. And I'll let general counsel speak to that.

Mr. Johnson, my understanding is the next meeting of the Planning Commission is in July. I think it's July 6th. So the process is that the Planning Department would draft with the aid of legal and advice from the other departments that she mentioned. That would go on the Planning Commission agenda. That has to be noticed in advance. There's a minimum of 15 days. Typically, when something gets approved at the Planning Commission level, or arguably Yeah, not approved it comes to the next committee cycle And then from that committee cycle it would come to the full commission based on what I understand the The agendas to be is it would be July 6 and then we would Aimed, it would be, I think it is, there's a July 8th date that we have to get everything into the queue and then it would be on the meeting of the 14th for the typical discussion at that point in time and obviously, you know, community input. And then if that was moved forward, it would go on the 21st. So a little more than 45 days, but not an inordinate amount of time.

When we're talking about enforcement of whatever's in the proposed ordinance, how are we looking at addressing that? I mean, a lot of the folks who spoke today had concerns about water usage, the environmental concerns. I mean, we heard concerns about plants in South Augusta in each direction. We've heard this stuff a lot. What are we planning to do as far as enforcing whatever ordinances are coming back to us? And have we gotten any information from this current company about their anticipated water usage, their infrastructure needs, the safety measures? Have we gotten any kind of information like that from this company that's already coming through?

So I didn't focus on the existing because my proposal is only for new. The existing is already approved and I'm not really sure what was prior to my employment, but my proposal is only for the new. And I do want to say the reason why the policy was provided is so that we can all plan well together. I'm not against data centers and I'll just say Ms. Cherry did a great job in her presentation. She presented to us and a lot of her information is in the proposed zoning ordinance. Our job is to make sure that we safeguard the community and our commercial and industrial areas. And I'll give you an example. Yesterday, I was in a planning commission meeting, and there was a project that will be brought to you guys as well. And one of the things that I found out is that there is a split zoning on one parcel of land. These are the things that needs to be corrected so that we don't have problems that your constituents are concerned about. So this is the reason why we were proposing to put a policy in place with those requirements. So based on what you've heard today, that's the policy. And that's what we're working on to get to this body.

Okay. I have other questions, but I have other colleagues in the queue I won't take up all the time, but I want to be completely clear and just open when I say this, that I do support a moratorium on data centers for our communities. I think that We need to take our time and be thoughtful in how we address this issue in our communities. You see what happened in Newton County with the META Center. You've seen what's happened all over this country with data centers when cities are not thoughtful and when they're not intentional about what they do where data centers are concerned. And I think one of the biggest issues that I have about even this current data center is that, I know it's not an excuse, but we didn't really know what that zoning required, what that zoning was leading to. And I think that the community didn't either. And not only did the community did not know that, they're going to be the ones paying the price for it. There's still so many unanswered questions about energy consumption. There's so many questions about how much folks are going to be charged. You know, in some counties, you've seen research talk about how their water ran dry. I'm already getting concerns from residents in that area that the water pressure is already, you know, not up to par, not where it should be. So if this government isn't willing to take those baby steps, I don't even call them massive steps because we're going to continue to have to deal with this as data centers pop up around our county. If this government isn't willing to take those baby steps to be thoughtful in how we plan out data centers across our community, I mean, I think that that's just a cry in shame when it's not saying we just don't want this data center, we don't want this particular company. I don't think anyone is saying that. I think what is specifically being said is Let's figure out what we want first. When we talk about moratoriums, I think we've had a moratorium discussion on apartments. We've had moratorium discussions on dollar generals and liquor stores. And I think that this data center probably has more implications than an apartment complex in your neighborhood or a liquor store on the corner of the street from your house. We've listened to the public on issues that are much lighter than this issue. So I would just hope that in this conversation, I know there's going to be plenty of it, that the commission considers what the department is recommending, the department that we're paying MARA at, that we hear what they're saying and we use our legislative influence, our legislative ability to give them the ability to do their jobs. You know, I don't, she already said it's not going to, you know, mess with the current data center in place. So we don't have to be worried about that, right? If that's what a concern is. I think that the big concern right now is that if a data center is coming into our community before the moratorium expires, or if we don't have a moratorium, or if a data center wants to come into our community before policy is written, what is this commission going to do? Like, are we just going to approve again? So that's really what the focus of why I wanted to put this back on the agenda is because I think we need to have that conversation publicly and we need to be thoughtful in how we do it. But I'll come back after other questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Johnson. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the Fifth, Commissioner Don Clark.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I applaud my colleague from the first, number one, for just having the foresight of bringing this up. It's an important issue for the community as a whole. It's a new issue for all of us. Throughout the state and nationwide, there is a boom trend going on with the data centers. It's one of those inevitabilities that we're all dealing with at this point in time. The more data that we all utilize for our phones, our computers, for our daily living and everything, it's not just limited to one specific thing. This is the inevitability of where we are. Our technological uses and benefits are tied to this boom. But it's also our responsibility to ensure that we're responsible and safeguarding our community. It's also ensure it's important that we listen to the needs, but more importantly, that we carry the balance of what this means. Augusta is a city and county that is growing and it's developing. And with the introduction of the cyber center years ago, these are steps that are continuously going to follow on with the growth of technology. We benefit from the experience and knowledge of having a new planning zoning director who's been in different municipalities where this has already happened years prior to now. Ms. Cameron brings experience from working in other municipalities that have seen this in 2022, as early as 2022, I believe, correct? So the biggest thing that we need to do, and I want to make sure that everyone understands, because this is a new zoning ordinance, or ordinance that's gonna be added to our existing code, it doesn't exist today. So that means we have to put something in place to cover all of us involved. And this isn't a, hey, I don't live in Haines Station. Hey, I don't live here. This is for the community to ensure that we have the safeguards in place to encompass the growth of this technology throughout our county and throughout this nation. This is not a Augusta issue. This is a national worldwide issue that everyone is having to deal with and everyone's having to come to grips with how we govern this and how we manage this, but also how we safeguard our community. So fortunately, we have the benefit of having Director Cameron and her team, Dr. Malik and his team, West Binds and Utilities, and of course our other components, and led by our administrator, they've been working this in the background this entire time. So as we've been having these community issues, our team's been putting in the work to ensure that we get something in place. So I want to ask our administrator, Mr. Mayor, if I can, if she can kind of, you know, expand upon, you know, what the team's been working on and what, you know, the thoughts and recommendations are from her as well.

Thank you, Commissioner. From the fifth, Administrator Allen.

Yes, sir. First of all, Mr. Mayor, Governor Boddy, if it's appropriate for me to Say hello to all of the people that came and participated in our meeting on the 27th. It is good to see everybody here again today. I even had the opportunity to hear Ms. Cherry do a presentation through Changemakers and I was impressed. I had no idea this topic was coming up, but she had the foresight to start thinking about it. So as I had the opportunity, and I thank Commissioner Johnson for that, of being a panelist on that, it was a great discussion, and she had done a lot of research. On May 27th, of course, we had the opportunity to go out in the community and discuss the zoning ordinance rewrite. As many of you may know, that ordinance has not been rewritten since 1963. We have had amendments to it, but it has not been a total rewrite since 1963. We realize also that a number of our constituents were not involved in that process or had no idea that this process was ongoing. So that was one of the things, the initial thing that Ms. Cameron and her team had in discussion with the administration is we need to make sure that our constituents are aware of what's going on. Let me let the people in the room as well as the people that are tuning in know that we heard them. We heard them loud and clear. And as I told them, I was happy and I think many of them were surprised to see the passion because that means we're getting somewhere. We're having those discussions. And we heard each and every one of them from Dr. Kesey's dance in the middle of the floor. to the respective requests that we have to streamline some of the data being found on our planning and development website page.

Did we take care of that?

All right, so I shouldn't have answered that. But we have been working with our constituents and we want you to know that. And I also had the opportunity to attend the data center meeting that the Chamber of Commerce hosted and it was a great meeting. But what we do also recognize that in February, I think it was, the governing body asked us to look at a data center ordinance. We realize and recognize that the communities are, I mean, it's just now a part of the day-to-day for data centers to be a part and coexist in communities. But we also know the importance of making sure that our citizens' well-being is number one. That is the number one agenda. i cannot speak to 2022 and what happened when the first data like many of you can't um the approval of the initial data center because of course that was prior to my time as well but i will say we have heard the voices of the constituents in regards to the data center i did reach out to miss cameron to see if we can pull out this piece to see how quickly we can come up with a respective ordinance to cover our data centers. It is important. As many of you know, my background is technology. So I do understand the importance of having guidelines and guardrails in place when you do something of this caliber. Many of our, as Commissioner Johnson has mentioned, many of... Various agencies or communities have done the same thing. So I do believe in having a plan in place before you continue to do these things. I do agree with Ms. Cameron's recommendation. She says that she can have something drafted. and within 45 days to bring back to the governing body, I would ask that we give her that 45 days to bring back that information. I also would say that I recommend that everything is transparent. We continue to hear transparency, right, Dr. Kesey? We continue to hear it. Our goal is to make sure whatever draft we come up with, that draft is accessible on our website, and we'll have to make sure it's a direct link On the site so that everybody will be able to see what we're looking at we want to make sure as I hopefully told and confirmed to our citizens the fact of the governing body as well as administration has a major interest in making sure that that our constituents' voices are heard. And we're going to continue to do whatever we can to ensure that transparency is with this process as well as with the remaining zoning ordinance process. So with that, Commissioners, based on the various meetings, based on the input that you heard today, I do agree with Planning and Development Director I think we not necessarily, you know, I hate to say the word moratorium. It sounds a little hard, but I would say more of a pause in what we're doing until we have some guardrails in place.

Thank you, Madam Administrator. Commissioner Clark, you see the other floor, sir.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Madam Administrator, Director Cameron, and everyone involved in this process. Listen, this is an important step in Augusta, taking steps to get it right. We can say all day long, we can point all day long about what's wrong, unless you're bringing solutions to the table. then we're just complaining. And the solutions that we're hearing from the community, all will be taken in consideration with the zoning process. This will be a public process. This will not be a behind closed door opportunity for any new addition to our existing code. Because remember, there is no existing ordinance that governs data centers. This will be the first that Augusta, Richmond County is having to engage in, just like our community members in Columbia County and surrounding areas, and again, throughout the state and the country. This is here and it's upon us. and it is our responsibility to ensure that we do it as responsible as possible, but we also think about all of the different considerations. Sir, you brought up a great point about the soil aspect. You all are bringing up great points about the power, the water, and we're all hearing all the different stories about this. I think another piece of this that needs to be included is continuous education throughout our community. I work in IT myself, and there's still a lot I don't fully understand about how they engage and interact within our communities. One thing I'm absolutely standing firm on is we need to protect our living spaces. If these are detrimental, as some reports state, then we need to ensure that we have something that protects them accordingly. So I want to make a motion. We've heard from our administrator, we've heard from our director, and we hear the response that the team is going forward with. And I want to make sure that we stand firm on supporting our community, protecting our environments, but more importantly, that we get it right. So I want to make a motion for a temporary pause, which essentially is leading to a limited term moratorium of ensuring that we get a zoning ordinance in place. Director Cameron and Administrator, if you all can verify, this would include three public readings of this as well, is that correct?

I would have to defer to legal just to confirm that that is something that's necessary.

Thank you. So there would be a notice for a hearing that would be the 15th, 15 days before planning commission.

Okay.

Then it would be on the agenda. For the committee? For the regular committee. Yes, sir. And then it would be on the regular commission meeting. And then it would be whether or not you wish to waive your second reading or it would go to the following meeting. All right. So ordinances do that. And I know not to be... overly lawyerly but we I've heard the number 45 but the 21st of July is 49 days so I don't want to have a look like a bait and switch that things happen before that meeting date so specifics matter so 49 is is the day that falls in line July 21st right and it's 40 you said it's 49 days Yes, sir.

Okay.

So if someone was saying they wanted to do this pause for 45 days, it would be more appropriate 49 or the date certain, July 21st. All right.

So I'm making a motion to adopt a temporary moratorium on new data center-related applications and approvals. for 49 days to allow Augusta-Richmond County to adopt a data center ordinance, which comes first. But this is about responsible growth, it's about transparency, but more importantly, it's about safeguarding our community and it's making sure that we do the right thing. Second. I want to make sure that the community understands these will be public meetings, they will be posted, everyone is open and allowed to come in and there'll be opportunities for feedback to be provided during those times as well. But again, folks, this is our chance as a county and as a community to get this right. Is it gonna be perfect? Nope, it's not. But at the end of the day, we have to ensure that we're leading with the right approach intentions, and more importantly, that we're working collectively together to get this right. That's my motion.

I'll second it. Thank you, Commissioner Clark. Madam Clerk, I heard a second toward Commissioner Clark's motion. We have a few other colleagues in the queue. We're going to go through it. Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Guilford. Is that Commissioner Rice? Commissioner Rice has a second.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would like to thank Ms. Sherry for doing her presentation and during the delegation portion as well as everybody else that came before us. It did not fall on deaf ears. And Director Cameron I would like to thank you and your staff because after the data center meeting that we had over there at the Bell Elementary School, we had put it on the agenda for the planning zone to come up with the ordinance. Fortunately, it passed unanimously by this entire body, but y'all did not sit still on it. Y'all moved on it. Madam Administrator, thank you for keeping the ball rolling. So... With your experience, I was not aware that you had years of experience with the data center. I just learned that as of today. Some of the things that we're gonna have to make sure in this ordinance that we do is protect our environment. We have to look at the impact of the environment that it causes. The matrix of the byproduct of that data center, okay? One thing we can do is require a closed-loop system. That way it takes the extinguish any kind of concerns about depleting a water supply. I actually had a gentleman send me a private message last week as far as the brown water in Madison, Georgia. I did a little research in Madison, Georgia. That was the wells. That was not contributed to the data center because the brown water was problems prior to that. So there's some misinformation. There's some information out there that we need to know. that we need to get a better understanding on. The buffers and boundaries of the data centers, we need to make it as wide as possible to where it doesn't affect anybody, out of sight, out of mind mentality. The decibel impact, we gotta make sure that it's low as possible. their quality, the byproduct again, environmental. We have to make sure that that's addressed. Also, for each and everybody who's either watching or listening or just They'll get a better understanding if we need least impact to the taxpayer to where it's a requirement or the developer or the data center owners to build our own stuff. Larger signs. When we do a data center, let's go ahead, instead of using that little unique small sign I had mentioned in that prior, let's go ahead and make it to where it's reasonable where people can see it from 200 feet away. Yes, sir. Kind of like what we're seeing on these signs that everybody's campaigning on. And last and final, we should not be doing tax abatements for data centers. We shouldn't have to, you know. do that to attract when you know people say well our power bill is going to go up our stuff but if you look at it if they build a data center 100 miles away from here still georgia power is still governed by the public service commission but we'll be impacted for something to happen 100 200 300 miles away from here so we have to be considerate of that if um And last but not least, this is a question for the attorney, Mr. Mayor.

Yes, sir, proceed, Attorney Plunkett.

Attorney Plunkett, I'm getting, I've seen in these interviews, et cetera, and discussions points as far as putting a moratorium on the data center that's currently being, the land being cleared for on Gordon Highway, the Eisenhower data center. What is the impact or what would be the repercussions for even thinking about pursuing that?

I think there's two things. One is that the first is that to rescind that zoning, you cannot rescind something that has already been passed and relied upon. And I believe that developer spent a fair amount of money in anticipation of that. If you were to just say, we're just not going to approve it. And the word we probably use is arbitrarily and capriciously their plans and things of that nature, then you probably would end up in fairly expensive litigation and I don't want to predetermine the results of that but it would be a very if we were not successful it would be a probably fairly costly experience.

So we could actually be charged with a reverse condemnation, is that correct?

The phrase is called an inverse condemnation. It's where the government basically precludes you from handling or using your property in a legal manner so you've effectively taken their property. It would be some measures of damages. It would not be that that property could not be used for anything, but there would be some If I was the plaintiff's attorney, that's one thing I certainly would be alleging. And so it would be very difficult to stop that current project is the short answer. That's right.

Okay. I just wanted to make sure to clear the air on that issue. Again, staff, we're going to listen to your recommendation. That was advised from some of the people that got up and spoke. I appreciate your experience on the data centers, ma'am. Thank you.

I just want to say that this body rocks.

Don't go nowhere. We're not done yet. We've got a few other colleagues in the queue. We ain't rocking yet. Too soon. That's right. All right. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the second, Commissioner Stacey Pulley.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. I echo my colleagues' sentiments for everything that has gone forth thus far and the passion from the community showing up. We greatly appreciate that. When you all show up, you really, really show up. So thank you all so much for doing that. My question is for Director Cameron, Mayor Johnson.

Yes, ma'am, proceed.

Okay. In our research and as we're coming up with the new ordinance, what background work have we done as far as visiting other counties? I know Ms. Cherry mentioned some of the places in her presentation. I do recall when Columbia County was considering everything that they were going to do, they did make a trip to Loudoun County and Loudoun County, Virginia. I know myself and about four of my colleagues, three of my colleagues, when we were at NACO, I guess it was about a year ago, we actually met the supervisor, the county supervisor, Miss Sylvia Glass, and Loudoun County was one of the first data centers and so they were just talking about the you know pros and cons and things they should have thought about beforehand but Columbia County took that tour so what are we doing to be proactive in those measures which places have we gone to visit have we talked to have we discussed things with

So that's a great question. So we have not had to travel there because there has been so many trips. Last year, DeKalb County that was writing their ordinance for data centers also went to Virginia. But we've researched places like those areas. Clayton County, that is one of the consultants that's working with our team now. They are also doing it in Clayton County. We looked at Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. They are the triangle of the tech. investments, we looked heavily there. As a matter of fact, a lot of the language that you'll see is from their data centers because they have a very rich and, as you know, very heavy investment in tech data centers. We also looked at Wisconsin. So a lot of what Ms. Sherry had presented, we looked at that information. Wisconsin actually has, and I believe it's between Madison and Sparta, they have a data center corridor, and that's one of the things that you'll see in the information that we'll send you. So we've kind of piggybacked off of what has already been done, because like Commissioner Clark said, and many of you have already said, done your homework, we've done the research. We really didn't have to go out and we really don't have to reinvent the wheel because a great deal of that has already been done. And so the research has been heavy. And so what we put together and what the reason why Dr. Malik and utility has to look at it first is to make sure that it's right for Augusta. Augusta, as we know, is on the crest of doing wonderful things and great things, and we just want to make sure that we have a product that is going to be enticing for those other areas. And that's the reason why we're putting this in place, because they're coming. They're coming. And we want their business. We just want to make sure that we are great partners.

My follow-up question, and thank you for that. My follow-up question is, what has our conversation been with our Public Service Commission?

Now when you say public service commission.

Our public service commissioner on a state level.

That's a great question. We have not. I have not introduced myself independently, but I was looking at those constituents the other night and I would really love to reach out to them, but I didn't want to do that without asking my administrator first and then also getting that information from you guys.

Mayor Johnson, may I direct my question to Administrator Allen? Yes, ma'am, you may. Thank you. Administrator Allen, what is our conversation or plans of having conversations with our Public Service Commission?

We have not had any direct conversations with them at this time. However, during the development or revision of what they currently have as a draft, they will involve getting some feedback from them as well.

Okay. And I don't know if that needs to be added to because I know we are doing the moratorium, but I definitely want to make sure that we're including our Public Service Commission in decisions that we're making. That way we can get their input to see... paths forward because they've seen the good, the bad, the ugly.

Absolutely. Thank you. And I'll get their information from Administrative Allen.

Okay.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Commissioner Pulliam. Chair recognizes Commissioner from the First. Commissioner Jordan-Johnson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have two questions of the department. The first is, so you said that the ordinance that's being drafted now would not apply to the current data center?

So the draft that I am proposing, yes, it would be an amendment to the current ordinance.

So whatever safeguards are entered into this ordinance, would they have to follow those same safeguards? Absolutely. Every new one that would come about. Yes, sir. Okay. So I'm just going to throw a question out.

I'm sorry. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, you're out of order. Commissioner Johnson, readdress your question, please.

Thank you. I'm not trying to make a mistake, y'all. No. Hit me now. All right, no. So my question is, the current data center is being built on- Oh, the current data center. The current data center. Gotcha. Would they have to adhere to the same rules and regulations that the new ordinance would bring forward?

No, sir, because they're existing. This will only apply to new applications and new data centers that are coming in.

Okay, what would be... Hey, sir, you are out of order. In these chambers... Hold on, Dan, Dan, Dan. Dan, hold on, Dan. Mr. Mayor, if I can ask that he not be removed. Hold on, hold on. Hold on. Mr. Mayor, if I can ask if Dan could stay in. I mean, it's, you know, he just doesn't understand what we're asking.

Dan can watch from outside.

Okay, well, let me make sure that we understand what's been asked here. Right. Okay. My question is, and the passion is here because we're being told that this is inevitable, they're coming to Augusta. They're not inevitable. Savannah has said no data centers, period. Other communities have said that. So I think the passion here is that people are, people have their concerns and I think that should be understood.

Right.

All right. So, but in our situation, the current data center, if we say in our new ordinance that, you know, the decibels should be X amount or the emissions should be X amount and they don't adhere to it, I mean, what would be the process, I guess, now of making sure that this data center adheres to the regulations that this new ordinance is going to be putting out? I mean, it's not going to stop them from being able to function or being able to open. But if we're talking about quality for every other part of town, what excludes the Haynes Station and that West Augusta side of town from having that same quality?

So it would be like a grandfathered in? Anything that existed before your new amendments would be grandfathered in?

Does this body, and I guess this is for the legislature, for general counsel, does this body have the ability to just make sure they adhere to the same rules and regulations?

The issue, what we'd have to look at is whether or not, and I don't know the answer, but I think I understand where you're going. So if you were talking about decibel noise, in general, they would still have to adhere to the current noise requirements in that regard. What I don't know, but I'm more than happy to find out in the next... 49 days, so to speak, is if Augusta imposed a different type of noise ordinance or something like that, would it be applicable or not? What we're looking at is that the zoning issues cannot be changed by virtue of a new ordinance. But we can look at noise issues and water issues and stuff like that. And I will also look with, I believe there's some it's not exactly a community development agreement, but I'll talk with the EDA, because they have an agreement with them and see what we can do in terms of their, what are their POLICING ACTIVITIES IN THAT REGARD SO WE WILL LOOK AT THAT AS WELL RELATIVE TO THE CURRENT ONE AS WELL AS ANY FUTURE ONES.

MY CONCERN IS THAT AGAIN WE ARE TRYING TO PUT IN SAFEGUARDS TO PROTECT COMMUNITIES AND LIVING SPACES AND TRYING TO MAKE SURE OUR COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE WE SHOULDN'T LEAVE THIS pain station section out of that conversation. So if we have the ability to change that, I think we should. And I'm not saying change the zoning or rescind the zoning. I'm not saying that's what we should be doing. But if we have the ability to put everyone on the same playing field, I think that it would be terribly unfair for one side to play by one rule and the other side to play by another.

Commissioner Johnson, if I can add this, only if they do an expansion beyond what would be in the new code is when it would trigger. So there's going to be a threshold that would trigger if there is an expansion. That's when they'll follow up under the new code.

Can I get an update on whether or not we can bring them into compliance with the new ordinance? Yes, sir. We'll be working on that this week. Okay. And 49 days is the time that we're putting on this pause? Yes.

That's the motion.

Okay, is that enough? Are we able to go through the public hearings? Is the commission able to look at the draft and make a decision in 49 days? Or should we amend the language to say until the commission approves the draft?

Mr. Johnson, to be quite honest with you, it's not frequently, but when we have felt that our time was too short, we've asked you for extensions. The planning department has done a lot of work. Part of the legal department has done some of the work. I'll be getting involved in a greater thing. As lawyers, we like... We like deadlines because if you gave us 180 days, somewhere around 165, we're going to really start focusing. So what I'm saying is with the 49, I think what you're going to find is that you're going to have a very detailed work product, very intensely looked at by a number of different parties, mostly because we want to do a good job, but also because there's a lot of citizens that are going to be looking at it.

I guess my question is, is that 49 days... to get to us or is this passage, is passage also included in that 49 days?

It would be going through the, it would be going through planning commission and the committee cycle. But it would be the 49th day would be the regular committee, I mean the regular commission meeting. Okay. So we will be, you know, I think there's time. Personally, I think we can get it done. And I think there's been more work done behind the scenes on a good document than, you know, that it will be done properly. But obviously, if the planning department or the administrator or I thought that the work product is not adequate or it's not going to be, we're going to come back and ask you to extend. We're not above that to say we overpromised. But I think we could meet our promise. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Johnson. Do I recognize this commissioner from the 9th? Commissioner Francine Scott.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. I'd just like to make a comment. I know we're throwing out a number of days to get something done. And in the past, we get documents up here and haven't had adequate time to really look and review. what it's going to be. This is so important and we still have the unknowns with the data center that's here now. And we have not reached out to, I believe her name is Dr. Johnson, the public service commissioner. I had an opportunity to meet with her and I do have her contact information. We did have a brief conversation. So now we're saying, make sure we talk to our public service commission. Also, I believe the attorney Blunkett said EPA or EPD. So those are other levels of people that we need to go to. And yet, I don't know. I believe in the work that the planning and the administrator is doing, but we need to make sure we have expertise. on what we are doing. So although I applaud you all for the work that you're doing, we need to be careful with this and we need to make sure that the community is involved in it. So the Attorney Plunkett said 49 days is good and we're going to have a chance to look at it prior to voting on it, I expect us to actually be able to do that. So those are my comments. Thank you, Mayor Johnson.

Thank you, Commissioner Scott. Madam Clerk, we have a proper motion in the second by Commissioner Catherine Smith-Rice. We're outside of our delegation portion, but ma'am, I did see your hand that you wanted to add, so I'm going to give you a couple minutes if there's something you want to add, okay?

I'm assuming you wanted me over here. Okay.

I need your name and where you reside, please.

Sure. My name is Dorothy Smith. I live in Richmond County, about six miles away from the Hanes Station, the proposed Eisenhower Data Center. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline to be able to speak earlier. I appreciate the opportunity to stand up here and address you. The one thing that I would like to say is... I would rather that our government take their time with this and get as much citizen input into this, because as many people have pointed out, this affects not just us here in Richmond County, but also Columbia County, Aiken County, for a variety of reasons. I don't think when this first arose that there was enough information given to the community, especially Haines Station, which is right there, so that they could field their concerns before it went forward. Everybody keeps saying that it's coming, it's coming, it's coming, we can't do anything about it. Other people today have mentioned that there have been other municipalities that have done something about it. I believe Mr. Guilfoyle said that, or was it you that said Savannah? Or who said Savannah? Somebody said Savannah said none. If we look at what just happened in Festus, Missouri, They tried to drop a $2 million data center in their backyard right before elections. And every, whatever, I don't know what their body was, I'm just gonna say commissioner, could have been a council person, who voted for that got voted out. And the thing that tickled me the most was the 60-year-old man who had never run for anything in his life won the seat by 40 points based on that data center. So it doesn't have to happen this way, right? They're not inevitable. I'm looking at the Brookings Institute. This is from 25, November of 25 at that time. The United States had 5,426 data centers. The next closest is Germany with 529. That's a lot. Thank you, ma'am. And one last thing, please, this is so much greater than just a zoning ordinance. We've already decimated ever how many hundreds of acres that have been clear cut. Please get more community input and increase the time of the moratorium because Pandora's box has been opened. But everything is not out of that box yet. You can still close it.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Madam Clerk. We have a motion and a proper second based on the recommendation from our planning and zoning director and the recommendation of our administrator to put a temporary pause for 49 days and we're going to include public input. We're prepared to vote.

Shenanigans.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Let's move on to the next item. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for being here for the data center. You're more than welcome to stay. We have just a couple more items and we're going to stay in order. Madam Clerk, that takes us to item number 20. Let's stay in order. Let's do item 20, please. Let's give them a second to clear out.

Item 20, discussion and review of the City of Augusta's waste haulers contract. So much, Madam Clerk.

Commissioner from the 6th, this is your item, sir.

Thank you, Mayor Johnson. You know, disappointed is an understatement. When I look at this particular item that I have on the agenda, I've been trying to get some resolution with this for the last three weeks, and it has come to a head. You know, a couple of weeks ago we talked about, I brought this before this body, and we looked at it from a litigious perspective, standpoint, so we paused it, we halted it. We took it to We ended up taking it to legal, and for some reason we did the same thing. I think we were really trying to get ahead of this, but I think now it has actually come to a head. And all we wanted to know was the city's position with this particular contract that we have with our waste hauler. I wanted to know what responsibilities, what areas that the city actually had some input in. And I have Dr. Malik. to be prepared today to actually answer some of these questions that we have. But it's to my understanding now there's been another development, new development in this particular subject matter here from General Counsel here. So I'm going to right now yield to General Counsel and let him or allow him to give us the input on this before we engage in any more conversation or go any further with this particular item.

Thank you, Commissioner Lewis, Intermediate Council.

Mr. Mayor, thank you for your discretion there, Mr. Lewis. I've had some communications yesterday and today. This matter is kind of taking a little bit different complexity. I would prefer the child would only discuss this in an executive session. If the body is willing, at the end of this meeting, if we could go into executive session, probably about a 15-minute update to talk about pending and threatened litigation, that would be my advice to the body.

Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, the commission has been recommended that this item be addressed in executive session. So I think at this point we're going to take the recommendation of our general counsel and move on to the next item. And I would request that you stay behind. We only have one additional item. I would ask that you stay behind so that we would have a quorum for executive session following this meeting. All right, Madam Clerk, let's move on to the next item, please.

Item 21, a motion to approve the fiscal year 2027 budget planning calendar.

All right, thank you so much. It was the administrators taking off. Who's in finance going to be able to provide something to us on this? Anybody in finance? Deputy Director? Charles Jackson, you know anything about this? You got the calendar?

I don't have it in front of me, but if you have a particular question, I can maybe follow up with you.

You want to do it after we come out?

Yeah, we can do it. Let's see. We got three, six. Be back. Be back. All right. It's in the book? It's in the book. We don't need any recommendations from the administrator. Anybody? Motion to approve.

Let's go with it.

All right. Let's go. All right. There's a motion by Commissioner Lonnie Whitman. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Tony Lewis. Madam Clerk, I'm confirmed we have a quorum. Let's vote. Mm-hmm.

That motion carries with Ms. Rice, Mr. Clark, Mr. Guilfoyle, and Mr. Garrett out. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Attorney Plunkett.

Mr. Mayor, we would request a motion to go into closed meeting in order to discuss pending and threatened litigation.

Thank you, Attorney Plunkett. Is there a motion? Motion made by Commissioner from the first. George Johnson, is there a second? Second by Commissioner Tone Lewis. Madam Clerk, seeing no colleagues in the queue, we're prepared to vote.

The motion carries with Ms. Rice and Mr. Clark out. Mr. Garrett absent today.

Madam Clerk, ladies and gentlemen, we're now suspended the executive session. You're more than welcome to wait if you'd like to hear if there's any dialogue as a result of it. But thank you so much for being here today, and we'll see you shortly.

Only need three, but you know. I know.

All right. Good.

Madam Clerk.

Yes, sir.

Call the session back to order. Attorney Plunkett.

Mr. Mayor, we request a motion to authorize you to execute the closed meeting affidavit.

So moved.

There's a motion by Commissioner Don Clark from the 5th. I heard a second by Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Guilfoyle. Madam Clerk, seeing no colleagues in the queue, we're prepared to vote.

Everybody? Yeah, let's see. Garrett's out. Catherine left.

Mr. Johnson, here to get you to That motion carries with Commissioner Rice out. Thank you, Madam Clerk. You back? Okay. All right. That motion carries with Mr. Garrett out. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Attorney Plunkett, are there any motions as a result of our executive session? There are none, sir. There are no motions. Madam Clerk, I think that concludes our business for today. This session is adjourned.

Yes, sir. Ms. Allen, can we direct central service to clean up the chamber?