City Council - Regular Meeting

and exceed Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Hey, heat. Hey, heat. We'll get started. I'm going to read an opening statement and then uh kind of lay the ground rules and then we will proceed. If I can find where I put everything. Oh, he's good. He's

Felicia or let's see. Shana, can I see you for a second, please?

I have Good evening and thank you all for being here. We are here tonight to listen to your thoughts, questions, and concerns about the proposed data center. Anything new and this large will bring questions and concerns and as a community, we need to thoughtfully discuss those concerns. A project this size naturally raises questions. It is appropriate for the community to discuss those questions thoroughly and we recognize that many of the concerns being shared are important and sincerely held. It is important to understand that any potential data center development in Conway will not happen quickly. The next steps for this proposed project will be measured in quarters and years, not months and weeks. Like all major economic development projects, this ear this early in the development process, this project is still speculative. economic conditions, the availability of power, etc. could cause the project to be delayed indefinitely. No public action related to project stratus has been taken in private. The process has followed the public procedures required for economic development projects, including public planning commissions and meetings with the city council last spring. That information is sitting on the table out front. It includes the FAQ, theou and documents from past past planning commission and city council meetings. Before this project or any project similar in scale can move forward, multiple public actions will be required. The actions will follow the same public process required for other ordinances, including public meetings and votes. Public input is important part of the process. We encourage residents to stay informed, attend public meetings when they are available, and share feedback through the appropriate channels. your city council or my office in uh to be consider the

appropriate channels so it can be considered as discussions move forward. I know a major concern surrounds water. Brett Carol from Conway Corporation is here tonight and Brett can address the water and electric. No one spends more time thinking about the future of Conway's water than Brett. From the first conversations about the project, Conway Corporation has been adamant that Conway's drinking water would not be used to cool this or any other large-scale data centers. This is still the case. We ask everyone to be respectful of each speaker, even when opinions differ. The goal tonight is to make sure people have a fair opportunity to be heard. Thank you again for being here and taking the time to participate. Now, here's how we're going to do this. Uh, these are the guidelines for tonight to give residents a fair opportunity to be heard while allowing the meeting to proceed in an orderly fashion. State your name and address for the record. Public comment is limited to Conway residents. This allows residents of Conway the opportunity to share their input. Comments are limited to three minutes per speaker. If you would please avoid repeating comments that have already been made. If another has already addressed your point, please consider briefly stating your agreement and moving on to any new information you would like to share. Keep comments respectful and courteous. Uh personal attacks, threats, vulgar language, and disruptive behavior will not be allowed. Please refrain from applause, booing, clapping, or other disruption so everyone has the opportunity to be heard. The public comment period is for receiving input. It is not intended to be debated or or question answering session with the officials. Speakers should not address individuals, individual members of the body, staff, or the audience directly. And comments should relate to the meeting agenda. And that took me five minutes. So, we will go to 605. First person up, please state your name and address for the record, please. And be sure you're a Conway resident.

Hi, my legal name is Whitney Mallerie. I go by Chris Mallerie. Um, my address is 1816 Hogan Lane, apartment6003, Conway, Arkansas. I represent the group um, Central Arkansas Citizens Against AI Data Centers, and I am the owner of the petition to end the construction of AI data centers in Central Arkansas. As I'm sure you can gather, our end goal is to have the proposed data center here in Conway canceled due to valid concerns regarding the negative impacts an AI data center would have on our community. A broad overview of these negative impacts would include, but are not limit but are not limited to a significant strain on our water supply, the existence of forever chemicals that would potentially contaminate water going back into the atmosphere, the river, or our tap water, the creation of a heat island, which could significantly raise temperatures within up to a six mile radius of the data center. sound and light pollution which would be overwhelming to residents who live close to the site and a potential increase in utility rates for customers of energy and Conway Corp. All of the affforementioned issues are well doumented real life examples of how communities all over the country have been impacted by data center builds often as in our case passed by city councils without the consent of citizens. Arkansas prides itself on being the natural state, a state that in theory has enough natural resources to provide for itself without imported goods. How can we remain the natural state if our representatives are signing away our natural resources to multi-billion dollar tech companies? At what point do we realize that so-called progress is taking us in a dangerous direction? We are currently in a global water bankruptcy largely due to rapidly expanding AI infrastructure. We are sacrificing drinkable water which we require to live for artificial intelligence which we did just fine

without just four years ago. I would like to end my introduction with a few questions for the council to consider. Now I do not expect you guys to answer these but I would like for you to keep them in mind in regards to the future of the pro project. We do have someone keeping questions. Thank you.

Yes. My first concern is that given that Arkansas, especially here in Faulner County, is a notoriously dry state, how can you expect our water supply to be able to accommodate for a hyperscale AI data center? We live in a town that produces on a generous average based on the math that the average person produces up to 8 million gallons of waste water a day, while a large AI data center will often consume up to 25 million gallons a day. What is your or the company's plan for when that math no longer adds up? Two, how much research did the council as a whole conduct before approving the construction of a massive AI data center? And what is your reasoning for justifying that amount of research as sufficient? And finally, three, a public vote was held for the potential construction of a casino in Conway, but not for the potential construction of a massive AI data center. Why one and not the other? I'm going to conclude by mentioning my petition, which over 1,000 citizens of Conway have already signed to end the construction of AI data centers in central Arkansas. Knowing this, it is now up to you to decide who you are loyal to, the people you represent, or an undisclosed multi-billion dollar tech company. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Chris. Would uh Spencer Clawson, would you let uh Mr. Carol and Mr. uh from Conway Corporation and Mr. Gates from the CDC inn. Please there knock outside. Yes, ma'am.

Hello. My name is Jerry Hill. I live at 313 Oliver Street in Conway. I've lived in Conway in Mayflower my whole life. My parents own land and property up on Round Mountain have for the last 20 plus years which because they've worked hard to have that so they could retire there peacefully. I will be permanently residing there in six months. My dad and I have already started growing a really great garden by the way and the wildlife has run rampant through there. We feed them. The grandkids walked grew up watching the same wildlife and I that if these data centers come in that will all be taken away and within 14 years time anything in that vicinity will be ruined because of the forever chemicals. We cannot eat or drink data. We have stolen enough of our children's future that why are we taking the nature out of the natural state? Start putting profits over be quit putting profits over people. We matter.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jerry.

Good evening, council. Good evening.

I uh stood in front of the mirror and did this 100 times. The fastest I get was 3 minutes and 45 seconds. So, I'm going to try to get it close to three for you. All right. My name is Jeremy Ross. I live at 1350 Li Road. I will be the closest resident to the proposed data center site living approximately 500 ft away. It has now been over a year since I stood at this podium asking questions about this project. And to this day, I still did not have real answers. I've emailed each of you directly, yet only a couple responded, and those responses were very vague and generic. The response we continue to hear is we are not far enough along in the process to answer those questions. Yet apparently we are far enough along to spend millions of dollars purchasing the land, create a city ordinance over two years ago specifically for data centers before the public even knew this was being proposed. Far enough along to quickly purchase and reszone multiple parcels to I3 to accommodate this project. But somehow we are still not far enough along to provide residents with basic information. To this day, I've not seen a single independent health study, environmental study, noise study, light pollution study, or traffic impact study showing the effects this project could have on the people living around it. The city also still cannot provide residents with a comparable site we can visit to better understand what living next to this facility may actually look and sound like. I want to be clear. I'm not asking any of you to violate your NDA, but I think I do think it is reasonable to provide example of similar facilities for residents uh to go view so they can have informed opinions. Another issue I'd like to address involves an email uncovered through a foyer request submitted by another Conway citizen. Following a chamber meeting that I spoke at where nearby residents voiced concerns, Mr. Jamie Gates emailed this board stating, and I quote, "Last night's meeting could couldn't have gone any better, mainly because I was able to meet with several area residents afterwards and talk productively through their issues. That statement does not reflect reality. Yes, we spoke with Mr. Gates after that meeting. We brought up

numerous concerns and questions regarding noise impacts, transparencies, proximity to our homes, but once again, no meaningful information or answers were provided. In fact, the response many of us received, which we still are receiving, was essentially, "This is the best neighbor you're going to get. You should be happy this is a Fortune 100 company." No one left that conversation feeling reassured or informed. So, for that interaction to be later categorized to this board as some overwhelming success was simply not truthful. The same missile, the same email also stated the nearest residential area was over a mile and a half away from the proposed site. But that statement conveniently ignores the fact that there are numerous numerous A1 residential properties with single family homes located far closer than that, including my home, which is approximately 500 ft away. I do not understand why Mr. Gates felt the need to include that statement, knowing it could not have been further from the truth. While there are more than 20 homes in the area, I have provided maps. I'll pass them out. Y'all can have them, keep them. Um, I provided maps showing just 20 homes located within 2500 ft of the pro proposed site and their distances from it. The email also stated that adjacent properties were already zoned I3. That may have been true in certain areas, but is not true for at least two neighboring A1 properties north of my home that were not adjacent to I I3 zoning prior to this process. Yet, those properties were ultimately reszoned anyway. This level of deceit does not give residents any comfort, especially given the lack of overall transparency surrounding this project. Quite honestly, it makes the board difficult to trust and the chamber even harder to trust. In my opinion, the city has done no real homework on this project, which is shocking considering the size and development of the amount of money involved. I believe a good starting point would be for the city to fully address the foyer requests I submitted last year. The responses were vague, lack substance, and lacked substance, and raised serious concerns.

For example, the city claims to have no records of appendix A referenced directly in theou, no economic or environmental studies, no documentation identifying comparable projects elsewhere in the country. For a project this scale, that is deeply concerning. Whether people support this project or oppose it, its residents deserve transparency, honest answers, and real due diligence, especially those of us who will be directly impacted by living next to it. Lastly, I understand this project may not be stopped at the city level. It appears the city has already invested too much time, money, and political capital to easily turn back now. But if anyone sitting on this board tonight has even an ounce of concern about this project, I urge you to read the email I sent you last year with examples of similar projects across the country and the problems residents have faced after the fact. Please do your homework. Seek out and read the abundance of horror stories being reported by nearby residents across the United States. They are not hard to find. The Aaron Brochovich has created a website dedicated to these stories. Look past the financial gain. Look past the sales pitch and consider the people who actually have to live next to this thing every single day.

Thank you.

Thank you, council. Um, my name is Josh Harden, 5503 Donald Ridge Road. I'm here representing Mr. Bats, Dan Spats, and the uh the whole Spats heart and family. Uh over a hundred years in the Loy Bottoms farming continuously. Um I'm representing Healthy Flavors Arkansas, the fresh network where Fresh stands for farmers reaching every school with health. We're a farm and a food hub located in the lolly bottoms west of Conway. Um our property touches the property line of this uh facility. We grow vegetables, working hard to get those life-giving, nutritious products into Arkansas schools in all four corners of our state. Uh the proposed data center would be our neighbor across the Donald Ridge Road from the Healthy Flavors operation. Um in a strong community, it's important, I believe, to know your neighbor. I've had a few conversations with some of you in this room. Again, this beyond behalf of Dan. um those who are representing Conway in these conversations um they are purportedly inviting to be our neighbor this unknown anonymous billiondoll operation that we've never met that has no face here in our community um since our farmland would be across from this road data center I'd hope for this more visibility involvement and basic information about what's going on the information has been scarce we've only learned through the rumor mill from various friends and people who are connected to the goings on uh to me that's unfortunate and we were all trying to be a good neighbor by reaching out and engaging positively from the beginning of this project. So with that context here's my perspective. I encourage the citizens of Conway, their elected representatives and those who represent this city but who are not elected to take account of the extractive nature of these data centers with regards to the community and societal resources that they consume. The Healthy Flavors Arkansas mission is to be resource generative, which is entirely possible in agriculture and always has been. We can do better when we make conscious and intentional

choices as a society based on known outcomes. I purport that we do not know what the outcomes of a hungry data center will be. In the Lai Bottoms, we're blessed to find water at 70 ft below the surface. Uh that's the depth of our wells from which we get plenty of water. This has been the case for the last 40 to 50 years. And that irrigation has been increasingly utilized on our farm to maintain our crops. But what happened in California is what will happen here eventually as 40 foot wells have now become 1,800 foot wells that come up dry. And we don't want to live there. Do we need another industry in Conway competing for our precious water resources? And what happens to the farmers in the loy bottoms when the high water demands of a data center drown the water table? And I know there's talk of how much water is going to be used from the wastewater plant, but it's not clear that that is even close to what the real water demands are. And we are using the water today and we need it to feed our state. Uh I employers employ the powers to be to invest in resource generative policies and practices in all respects to how we use limited resources in our community. We've all become enthralled by our smartphones and the miracle of what an AI query can return to its creative capacity. But I ask, if you knew, you pulled out your phone and you put in a query and a farmer disappeared, would you still make that query to your AI? Um, does Conway want to be the guinea pig for an industry that we know learn that we now learn extracts a high toll on our resources and relative to the benefit it provides to us? Will it be too late? When will it be too late to undo the damages these facilities will inflict on our surrounding ecosystems? As farmers, why not be patient and challenge our smart scientists and engineers to create energy source that is generative versus extractive? Why not challenge our school kids and graduates to build processor chips that are less hungry? Um, do we aspire to be creative, seek challenging work, and achieve personal

independence? Or is our value set more focused on entertainment, pacifism, and dependency that these current data centers imply? Finally, back to community. I asked Mr. Mayor Castleberry, how would Tyler and Lauren feel if this data center was being proposed as your neighbor in Greenbryer next to your beautiful and noble Berkeley farms? Thank you all. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Summers Pickard. Um, I live at 3345 Pebble Beach Road, apartment 7, which is like about 3 miles away from this proposed data center site. Um, and I have done a little bit of homework and so I'm just going to share some of this information that I have found out. Um the first thing that I want to point out is that um in an article it says that this data center will use about 10 medical watts um an hour and then so but that is a lot of electricity and a lot of power to the point that 10 megawatt powers about 10,000 homes. So, it's not the same um amount as a regular size building, but to power that much, a lot of the data centers have gas turbines that of course um create a lot of pollution into the air. So, and um for one megawatt, the gas turbines use about 2500 uh cubic square feet. So for 10, you just multiply that by 10. It's about 25,000. So with the 10 megawws, the carbon dioxide that is being put in the atmosphere for um an hour is about 4.48 tons or about 9876 pounds an hour. Um and then that causes a lot of uh long-term health issues. Um which is chronic diseases, you know, risk for cancer. The short term is reduced lung function, asthma, and heart problems. So, and it also puts out sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and all of these are over the EPA levels of what we're

supposed to be inhaling. I'm going to move on to uh the water pollution that I found. I know that Chris has touched on the uh PFAS, so I won't go too far into that. Um other than those actually cause kidney um issues and cancer and can lower your immune system to where you're sick all the time. Um it also puts uh ethanine glycol in it, which is uh used in anifreeze. And um I don't know if y'all uh have ever watched murder shows because my mom made me, but a lot of people use that when they kill their husbands. Um so they uh they can trigger muscle spasms, seizures, uh they can change your heartthium um to where and then it also creates these big crystals that can destroy the uh tubes at your kidneys uh filter out stuff. Um and then the last thing is it also um has it puts out heavy metals which can damage your kidney, liver, lungs, brain, heart, and if you're pregnant, it's going to uh cause harsh pregnancy or worse. Now, a lot of these um and I know that you said we're not ingesting this water, but you can actually absorb these chemicals and stuff through your pores when you take showers and you will if it uh if you sh take hot showers like most people do, you can actually inhale these. So, these are still being ingested into our bodies. So, and then I also found where Harvard stated uh one of a PhD guy uh did a lot of research in Virginia about because Virginia is a data center alley and they found that uh the pollution from the data centers cause 3.5 to 6.5 mure uh premature deaths a year along with multiple pe people being in hospitals

and their health premiums increasing. because they live in that area. I also found an article recently where the um NERC which is the electric regulated company um it says that a data cre data centers are increasing the risk of power outages and black blackouts. Um and they have put uh where you where uh power grid companies have to put out some statement that says that they can moderate this to where we don't have blackouts. Um so the other thing in Georgia in Fateville, Georgia recently a data center stole 29 million uh dollars without paying for it because they put in an extra like water line and stuff that they weren't supposed to. in the city. I'm at five. Okay, I'm almost done. Um that CNI did not know about and they they used it and whatnot. And the story about that is that afterwards they told all the residents that they could that they had to halt their water usage because the uh data center drained all their water. I do have one more thing. One more thing, I promise. Um so four so usually a 5,000 CPU cover about 10,000 square foot and it's 1.8 liter to c to uh cool each CPU. Um and so with all that calculation uh with the water it equals out to about 17 1.47 million gallons per day to cool a 300,000 foot data center. There we go. That's all I have.

Thank you. Thank you. Hi, thank you all for the opportunity to speak and I hope you guys are taking notes. Um, it's being recorded. It will be.

I know. I'm just joking. Yes. Uh, Jenny McNolte, 1724 Robinson Avenue. Recently, talking points about the data center were put on Facebook from the chamber. In response, I brought up several environmental concerns that have already been raised, including that data centers raise ground temps in surrounding areas as much as 16 degrees. A chamber staff member then made a very valid point that a conversation about temperature impact should not just be focused on this one project, that previous projects had similar impact. I appreciate his perspective. He made me think not simply about this one data center project, but about growth in Conway as a whole. We have long known that industrial growth negatively impacts the environment, raising ground temperatures, creating air pollution, taking away resources for wildlife and pollinators, wiping out native plants that help control rainwater and flooding. The list goes on. I am also not naive to the fact that we cannot simply stop building. We have created a human population currently dependent on modern means. I struggle with that balance in my life every day. But my questions to you are this. First, what is enough for Conway? Do you anticipate that Conway will continue to grow and add more large infrastructure, more manufacturing plants until there is no more room? Is that what you want for Conway? Is that what the citizens want for Conway? Next, I'm curious. With all the research out there about the negative impacts of data centers, what would it take for you to say no to a project like this? Third, how do you measure positive economic impact against the health of the natural world around us? The world that quite literally feeds and sustains us. I get that there will always be change. That's inevitable. But change and expansion don't have to be the same thing. Conway has long set an example in many ways for

other communities. Our chamber has been recognized nationally. Our downtown has been a focus of revitalization and beautifification long before other towns of our size. We have invested in parks, bike trails, sidewalks, and of course, the muchbeloved roundabout. I would ask, can we now set an example for how to grow and build a city in a more environmentally sustainable way? Can the city craft regulations that require all future projects to mitigate damage to the local environment? perhaps require companies to plant natives trees on a certain percentage of their lots. Perhaps require a certain amount of energy to come from solar power built on top of their vast structures and not in vacant lots beside them. Add a nature tax to all new construction projects that can be used to build and maintain natural habitats throughout the city to offset these negative impacts. Many of you spend your days asking, "How can we further develop this city?" And I'm wondering what it would look like if we also asked, "How can we further protect our city?" What would it look like if more land owned by the city was allocated as protected land was invested in a different way, one that looks 100 years out and not just 10. In closing, I think of a former neighbor, Travis White. In his 90s, he planted trees in his front yard. You must wonder why a man at the end of his days would plant a sapling he would never see grow to fruition. But Travis didn't spend his life thinking about himself or about today. He was thinking about his neighbors. He was thinking about my kids. He was thinking about our collective future. We all know the proverb, the best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago. But the second best time is now. It seems the best time to have had this conversation was before an agreement was signed for this data center. But the next best time is now.

Thank you.

Hi. Hi.

My name is Christopher Crook. I live at 1212 Winfield Street. I'm also a computer scientist as a resident of Conway. Prior to the AI boom, data center growth was typically pretty steady. It kept up with grid demand and was primarily used for cloud storage. Things are different now. For one, vacancy rates in data centers are near zero. The uh the demand to build more high-powered rack servers has grown exponentially and the demand on local utilities has exploded. Data centers are resource hungry, especially those that run AI algorithms because the power demand is greater. Not only do they need power, they also need water for their cooling systems due to the heat generated by the CPU demand. For comparison, a typical American household consumes an average of roughly 11,000 kilwatt hours per year and an average of about 109,000 gallons of water per year. A modest 100 megawatt data center uses over 400 million gallons of water a year and the equivalent electrical consumption of over 80,000 homes. Even the use of waste treated water doesn't alleviate the water loss due to evaporation in the cooling systems. Also, the last time I checked, the water supply in Conway was low and households are actively being asked to reduce their water usage. To add insult to injury, many local and state governments have been changing laws to allow data data centers to qualify for tax abatements. The LLC sponsoring this data center is already projected to get a 65% tax abatement for 30 years, all based on the promise of creating 50 jobs. Many in the scientific community have come forth in recent years warning of the existential threat a the AI boom poses to humanity. Even the US government accountability office acknowledges the threat to the environment. But sadly, no one yet has had the courage to vote on legislation to regulate the the growing expansion. The reason for this money. AI is profitable right now and what's usually good for the environment and the middle class taxpayer doesn't sit well

for companies like Amazon and Google who hide behind nameless LLC's like Forge Light to get these projects done. There is nothing wrong with investing in projects that have the potential to put people to work and generate more revenue for the city, county, and the state. However, care should be taken to ensure that those projects benefit the community rather than take advantage of it. Therefore, I advise this council to go back to Forge Light Ventures and tell them if they want to destroy a town at the at the expense of the taxpayers, they can do it somewhere else besides Conway. Thank you.

Mindful, thank you guys for coming and letting us voice our concerns tonight. I know none of you have an easy job and I doubt you woke up this morning thinking, "Man, I can't wait to get in front of an angry crowd this evening." My name is Leam Moretti. I'm at 155 Chapel Creek Drive, Conway, Arkansas. I'm about a little under three miles from this site. While proximity is a big concern for most of us, this is going to be a huge concern for all of us eventually, possibly, right? This hyper scale data center will sit on a lot as big as 300 football fields and will disrupt the entire ecosystem that it's on in ways that most of us can't comprehend and won't until it's too late. Mr. Mayor, council members, that affects all of us, even you. I'm part of a group that is concerned about what lies ahead while understanding, like many have stated tonight, that growth is happening with or without us. We are calling for a commitment to full transparency and a process that is enforcable. We are asking for more than a handshake, more of a trust me, bro. Our team has outline specific concerns and requests in the memo in front of you. The document covers environmental assessments, restrictions, citizen aligned financial impact reports, water and energy, all spoken about tonight. We seek to understand, as my 10-year-old asked me on the way here, what are we getting for this? What are how are we benefiting from this? Because it doesn't look like we're benefiting very much as it stands. We're not asking you to manage this outside body alone. We're just asking you to establish an independent body to provide essential feedback missing from your first evaluation and to outline necessary steps for the city to move forward with

this project in an equitable way. I know none of you want us to be the next national news story about how this unnamed corporation did us dirty and quite literally hung us out to dry. I know all of us want the natural state to stay natural.

Thank you. I'm Steve Cohen. I leave live at 2310 Charlie Air Drive. I'm a retired computer scientist, master's degrees in computer science and information technology. I've got to tell you that the term data center to me has no meaning. It's such a broad term. It could mean anything. It could mean a storage center like an Amazon AWS which is mostly disc drives or it could mean an AI center which is computing or it could mean a generator of Bitcoin which is really CPU intensive data center to me has no meaning with the objections that I hear coming from the citizens here. It's also clear to me that the board has done a pretty lousy job of informing us to let us know exactly what's going on. A lot of this is um conspira conspirator conspiratorial stuff. A lot of it is very good stuff. I don't know if the board has gone to the depths that some of these people have with their statistics. That's because the board, as far as I can tell, hasn't been forthcoming in revealing what it has studied. As a used computer, excuse me, a retired computer scientist, um I'm not really opposed to a data center, but I am opposed to the obfiscation and the lack of knowledge that I have with which I can make a better decision. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. I'm Dr. Emily Lane and I teach environmental health courses at UCA. I've also lived in Conway for more than two decades now and I want to talk a little bit about the environmental and public health implications of this proposed data center. Theou clearly outlines major infrastructure tied to this project. We've got water cooling systems, wastewater reuse, uh pipelines discharging directly into the Arkansas River, expanded electrical infrastructure, and options for future expansion. These are indicators of a project with very significant environmental impacts. And so what I did is I wanted to un better understand the actual conditions on this proposed site already pre- data center. So I analyzed EPA data for communities within a 6.2 mile radius of the site because as has previously been stated, heat impacts from large AI data centers may extend that far out. That same research showed that surrounding temperatures increased an average of 3.6 6° with some areas seeing increases as high as 16.4 degrees. 53,000 people live inside this area. My analysis showed that already pre-data center. This area has toxic air releases in the 98th percentile nationally and 11 times higher than the national average. There are 19 major air polluters. There are 12 toxic release facilities and 119 discharge facilities. There are also 10% of adults living with asthma. 11% have disabilities and 20% of households live below the poverty line. So plainly I need you to understand that environmental burdens are cumulative and this community is already carrying a heavy burden. People also live and learn near this site. Carolyn Lewis Elementary is just

two and a half miles away. There are businesses, there are churches, there are neighborhoods that have been established for decades, and there are brand new housing developments right near this site. So, when we discuss heat, noise, air, light pollution, water impacts, strain on our infrastructure, what we're actually talking about is impacts on children and families. And you're part of this community, too. We all know that. So, we're asking you to consider something beyond economic projections and incentive packages. We're asking you, is it worth it? That's it. Is it worth it? And our last ask is, how will this leadership body ensure that the unnamed company will excuse me will minimize its strain on our water resources and our electrical infrastructure and minimize light, noise, and air pollution. Thank you.

Thank you, Doc. Hi, my name is Emily Railsback and this is my daughter, Chloe Quinn. We live at three Sunrise Drive. I can barely see her. How are you, young lady? We are so glad you're here tonight.

Uh we live at 3 Sunrise Drive, uh Conway. I also teach at UCA. I'm a film professor. Uh I actually first became aware of the water crisis because of a film called the big short. Uh it predicted the well Michael Bur predicted the subprime mortgage crisis. Uh and this this film is about that uh process. And uh he he rightly predicted that there would be a financial crash of 2008. And at the end of this film there is a uh just a little bit of of of message in text that says his next concern is the water crisis. uh and that was back in 2015 before AI was even uh booming at this rate uh needing so much water. Uh so I then a year ago I thought this was a very distant like far-off situation that people in other countries were dealing with water crisis when I garden and I grow food in my my front yard. So I it didn't seem like this really affected me. Uh then a year ago I read an article about rice farmers here in Arkansas who actually don't have enough water anymore to grow their crops. uh and so suddenly this bigger issue became closer to to home for me. And so when I see this uh data center with AI taking up gray water, I think it's a great thing to as leaders to want to use gray water in the first place. Um but I also have the question of at what point in our future will we need to use gray water for crops and for growing food for us? Um so my question is have we really done enough research on the water for the future and uh will we need to use gray water for something different besides just technology. Um I also ask you what do you think innovation is because AI is the future there like there's no totally stopping this situation. Um I work in film and I see it changing education changing my way of life all the time. Um there's obvious environmental and health concerns which everyone has shared

already. Um but there are also ways that people are being innovative and are tying things back to the community in Sweden. Uh what Sweden is doing is to counteract the heat zones. They're actually taking the heat that is offset from these data centers and plugging it back into the power grid. So all of the homes in Stockholm right now are are receiving free heat because data centers produce so much heat. Um in China, people are building data centers in the water in the ocean so that they are naturally cooled and so that you don't need to have high-powered um air conditioners running them. So, a lot of these concerns that we have, maybe there could be a a way to use innovation to uh maybe challenge or regulate what what these big companies are doing. I think uh obviously I don't know how far along this deal is with this company, but I would ask you to push back and I would ask you to ask for regulation. Uh and I think Chloe wants to say something.

Okay. All right. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Hello, Jacob Mayo from 25508 West Martin Street here in Conway. Now, I'm here to talk about a paper that came out this year. Paper that's called the data heat island effect quantifying the impact of AI data centers in a warming world. Now, I'm not sure how many people know, but a heat island is any are structures such as buildings and roads and other infrastructure. They absorb heat and then remit it throughout the day. It can become so bad that it even happens at night. But um hypers scale data centers like this one, they make their own heat. They're not absorbing anything. The heat from all the computation and from running so many processes is producing heat. And so um these higher temperatures have effects on animals. and above 104° F, which we get pretty close to around here regularly. Um, it can cause die-offs of not just livestock, but any animals still caught outside. And heat also affects freshwater sources, of which we have many. Um, mostly of my concern is harmful algal blooms that will choke out other species and make the water toxic. And so um this data center would affect which has a 6.21 mile radius would affect over 41 44.15 miles of shoreline of the Arkansas River which is roughly 6.23 square miles of river that will actively be constantly heated by this data center. um and other temperature increases such as this increase the cost of utilities of running AC.

And so I came here today based off this paper to provide some numbers. So Centennial Park Soccer Complex sits and borders the proposed data centers land. Now the high for today was around 82.4 degrees, but this close to a data center could increase it up to 16.65 65° F, which would put it at about 99°. Um, but going off of the hottest day of last year, that would put it at about 118°. Nearby, the Arkansas River, which is only 26 miles away, would get roughly 14 degrees of heating constantly. And so on a hot day, that would put anything in the river at around 117 degrees. Now, to for some other things, I know someone mentioned Carolyn Lewis. Um, that would be about 11 degrees outside, which on the hottest day of the year of last year would be 113°. So, I don't really think children could enjoy recess at that point. Um, some other places, my own home, because of the massive heat island that such centers create, I would have a degree in a temperature increase of 5 degrees in my own backyard, even though I live well within just about downtown Conway. The University of Central Arkansas would see also five degree increase, which on the hottest day of the year would put it about of last year would put it at about 107 degrees Fahrenheit. And even Toad Square would not be spared from the heat increase. Now, while the heat tends to taper off when you get further away, it would still be a degree felt from something all the way in Loi. And that's honestly really all I have to say today. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening, council. AJ Register. I'm at 1620 for Alden Hovven. Um, this meeting was requested because the public still has very few details regarding this project. Uh, while some parties have additional information, here's what we know. Proposed data center is roughly a billion dollar development on several hundred acres near Loi Road that will receive a 65% property tax abatement for 30 years and major infrastructure commitments from Conway Corp. And energy related to water and power capacity. Because so much remains unclear publicly due to NDA's speculation has filled the gaps. Much of that speculation is based on documented experiences from other communities where data center projects have been developed. And in many cases, those communities have raised significant concerns. Based on public comments and discussions I've seen so far, there appear appear to be at least five major areas of concern among Conway residents. Those are environmental impacts, strain on the electrical grid and resident subsidized upgrades, large tax abatements for a lightly staff facility backed by Fortune 100 level capital, heavy industrial land use near existing residents, and a lack of transparency. I think there is uh one thing that we can safely assume. Large corporations will quite rationally prioritize profit and shareholder interests. That is their role. Our role as Conway residents and elected officials is to define the standards and protections that will govern this project if it moves forward. So tonight, I would ask the council to consider two proposals. First is to establish a formal citizen advisory commission for this project by ordinance. That commission should consist of Conway

residents who do not have financial or professional ties to the developer, its local partners or organizations that stand to directly benefit financially from the project. And its purpose should be to provide independent oversight, evaluate community impacts, and ensure residents have a meaningful voice in shaping decisions that could affect Conway for decades. Second, give that commission recommendations that commission's recommendations meaningful authority before approving any final ordinances, franchise agreements, bond issuances, major utility commitments, site plans, resoning actions, or building permits related to this project require a written public recommendation from this proposed commission. and if the council chooses to override those recommendations require a public supermajority vote of the council along with a written explanation. This project is as beneficial as it has been presented up to this point. It should easily withstand independent review by the people who will live with these decisions long after construction is complete. I have drafted a public statement in support of forming this commission. Uh for any residents who believe Conway should have independent citizen oversight and meaningful public involvement uh before further approvals move forward, I would invite uh anyone in support of that to sign it. Thank you. Hello, my name is Kim Dodie McCannon. Um, 2013 Tyler Street. Um, my husband and I own a small business here in Conway, Bell Urban Farm. Um, we are really proud to call Conway home to our business and really couldn't imagine it anywhere else.

I just want to make sure that we are laying the groundwork today so that Conway can still be a city we are proud to call home 30, 40, 50 years from now. It's the small businesses that make Conway a great place to live. It's the low cost of living, the educational opportunities, and the close proximity to nature that make families from across the nation move to Conway to raise their family. Every week we have new people come into our store and they tell me they just moved here. They they're coming from California, Texas, Ohio, all across the US. And that's really exciting when I hear them say that they're young families, young children. It makes me really proud. So by laying the groundwork today, I mean saying no to opportunities that seem economically impactful, but they might not serve our citizens in the ways we need. By allowing something like a AI data center to move into our community, I feel like we are opening the door to a whole host of environment environmental issues like people have been talking about tonight. Um strain on our infrastructure. Um that infrastructure was built to serve our community, our citizens, not an unnamed corporation. The proposed location is next to many small farms um many of who we purchase produce from to sell at our farm stand. It would interrupt their operations. It could pollute the waterways um disrupt local habitat.

We need to put our own community members and our own citizens first. Again, not an unnamed corporation. I understand that the data center build could be one of the largest capital investments in the history of Conway. And I will admit that is very exciting. But at what cost to our community? I think by saying no to large corporations and by saying yes to investing in smaller homegrown businesses, Conway will reap the benefits for decades to come and be a better community for it.

Thank you.

Thank you. Hi, my name is Greg Cherry, 340 Castlegate Drive. Uh, I'm a retired technologist with Hulip Packard Enterprise. Back in 2020, I retired. Um, during that tenure that I had with HPE, I was responsible for their hyperscale computing and their AI and what is uh big data. Uh, I've also had about eight years at Axiom in terms of my historical career path. Uh part of that was also building large-scale data warehousing systems which are anything but you know big they're big but they're not big in terms of hypers scale like we see today computing which uses GPUs not CPUs are significantly energy um consuming and it requires significant amount of cooling very exotic designs but as part of that we're concerned about the water source because we've already heard about how much is being depleted and how much temperatures can increase as a result of that. The problem that we have right now is we're hearing through hearsay and in some cases reported facts where people are talking about 30 million gallons of water that have been undisclosed and used like in the suburbs of Atlanta for an AI data center to not be named. But again, that was undisclosed and nobody's paying for it. Somebody's paying for it. It actually lowered the water tables to the point where the water pressure was affected. So we're concerned about that at a time where we see Lake Brewer, Lake Brewer and Gers Ferry, which is our main water source. Those are so low right now I can't even get my boat deployed on either of the docks in Lake Brewer. And if you are a fisherman, you know what I'm talking about. So that's an indicator to me. We have mismanaged what is voluntary that needs to be mandatory you know restrictions but more

importantly what are we doing to basically increase water sources to be able to support not only current needs but well imagine now we have AI data centers that require super cooling whatever exotic methods they use so it's either a it's either heat through you know dissipation or it's through water through super cooling or other methods but either way they tradeoffs. We need to protect ourselves on that. Last thing I would say, I would ask that whoever's involved, most of the people have already said, you know, what's in it for us? What's in it for the citizens? That's the paramount thing. But I also would ask full disclosure, what's in it for everybody else? Who's profiting from this? And where's the transparency on who is benefiting and who will long-term benefit, especially if you're doing 30-year tax abatements. Thank you.

Thank you. Hello, my name is Carmen Cox. My address is 2455 Donnagy Avenue, apartment 5529. I come here today to bring up the true financial impact that this hyperenter would bring to Conway. Many of the benefits that this unnamed company has brought up would be the jobs or addition to jobs and the $1 billion that they would spend to build this. However, this project would only bring in 50 jobs, most of which will only have been temporary work and the rest will have been towards online or online workers who have never stepped foot in the state of Arkansas themselves. And the $1 billion tax invest or investment would have will have lead to personal finances just to build this project and using resources not commonly found here in Arkansas. A typical data center, not a AI or AI hyperenter would typically uses the equivalent energy of 10,000 to 25,000 or as much energy as 10,000 to 25,000 houses. A AI hypercenter however uses equivalent to a 100,000 houses. Now, it doesn't take a mathematician to find out that the average house in Conway spends about tw $214 a day given Conway Cor's average kilowatt hour spending aotment and the average use that a house will use in a day. Which means that a single data center would use approximately $212,400 in one day and as much as $176.6 $6 million in the total of a year. Now, it would require a lot of infrastructure to make sure that this hyperenter gets as much power as it needs. And while this

company does not give us all the information that we need, other cities give a grand example of what Conway could face. Many cities that have AI data centers since 2020 have seen a 267% increase to their electrical bills, which is not great. And some citizens have seen as high as a 20% boost to their electrical bill in the span of just one month. Now, I don't want to have my electric bill electrical bills rising, nor do I want to have a a part of a widespread financial and environmental impact with this data center. This data center would require approximately 1.1 to 5 million gallons of water to cool in a single day. This is equivalent to about as much this city alone uses. Now it is expected that the Tupelo bio wastewater treatment plant who is in charge of our or in charge of the Conway wershed will be overlooking this. However, Conway currently is in the midst of a historic drought. The first time in 15 years we have seen a a a recommendation for water limitations. Now this data center will likely be complete well after this drought has or has passed by. However, droughts will always come back and if we are using the double the amount of the water that we are currently using, this could lead to potentially mandatory water restrictions. In 2023 alone, Google had used approximately 31% of water from wersheds of high scarcity. Twothirds of data centers in the past several years have

been construction in regions that are already water stressed. Right? As of right now, the lower 48 or 48 states in the US have are in drought and these will use approximate all of these data centers will be using between 731 million to 1.125 billion gallons of water in a year which is the equivalent to 6 to 10 million houses. Now it is also estimated that by 2030 the everyday AI data center will also be have produced 24 to 44 metric tons of CO2 annually and this would be the equivalent of 6 to 10 million cars. Now, you did mention that this water would not be from the it won't be from our drinking source, but this water typically does not go back to our wershed. And I would appreciate if y'all have reconsidered this project. Thank you.

Thank you.

How many how many folks do we have in line? Five. Okay, we have five minutes, but since you're in line, we go ahead and let you last five folks speak. I do want to clear up one rumor. We put a firetruck on the agenda tonight in case if you hadn't kept up with it. In the United States, there's a shortage of fire trucks. And so, anytime a firetr is a pre-build and becomes available, we try to jump on it. It came across my desk yesterday that a midmount ladder truck, $2.5 million truck, pre-build, was available. We have to get our name. We've got our name on it. They will only hold it for us so long. I've got to get that signed. If the council approves it, I've got to get that signed and get in the fire chief's hands by tomorrow. Though, this was not part of a ploy. This is just the way it is in America. If you don't believe me, Google or whatever it is, anything firet truck shortage in America, I promise it's eye opener. Anyway, and I'll we'll let the folks that are in line. Thank you.

Okay. My name is Dwight Sutherland. I live at 3404 London Road in Conway. Been a Conway resident for 37 years, I guess, 39 years. Anyway, there's been enough uh presentation here of the economic impact somewhat, the environmental impact, the resource impact. So, I'm not going to reiterate that. I I guess um what I would like to question you all about is all of this information that is being presented. How many how much of that did you know beforehand? Did y'all do your due diligence? That's been that's been questioned. Okay. Now, I've I've read all of the documentation that is available, and it seems to me that you had this meeting where you approved this. What was presented was presented from the Conway Development Corporation, the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Conway Partnership, and Conway Corporation. Those are all private corporations. Those are not you people. Those are not the government that we trust is going to protect us. And that that is the number one job of government is to protect the citizens. Now, I'm not saying there's anything nefarious here, but if you trusted the the research that came from these people, these people are here to make their corporations liquid, valid, and make sure that they continue to progress. not necessarily for the benefit of the of the city of Conway. And what I question you about is going forward because I've also seen a pattern here of projects that have been brought up in this city that all seem to come from from some of the same sources that do that are for the benefit of a narrow focus of businesses, people, and

enterprises in Conway and not necessarily for the city of Conway. So my challenge to you is rather than as the one gentleman came up here and said we need an advisory board, we need a panel. I think there were two people that came up and said that. I think that's a great idea. How come you didn't have that beforehand? We have we are in a city. We have three colleges. Do you realize that we have some very very educated and intelligent people here? And I think everybody who lives here wants to see the city of Conway be a city that everybody would would love to be in, would love to live here. And not just because of the economic opportunities, but because the quality of life. And quality of life cannot be measured in dollars and cents. Dollars and cents are important because you cannot have an economically sound culture without there being something that's economically sound. But that's not all of it. And when that focus gets to the point where that's the the main the main driving uh goal. Then there's a lot of other stuff. There's there are those quality issues of quality of life that get pushed to the side and they get s they get sacrificed. I've looked at all of this information that I could possibly get. every piece, every parcel of property that was sold to Forge Light LLC. So, Forge Light Ventures LLC was sold by the Conway Development Corporation. They purchased it from the original owners and turned around and sold it. How much money did they make? I mean, and and I'm not saying that they did anything nefarious, but what is this relationship that they have with y'all that seems to they are the ones who who didn't come and ask anybody and yet they come to you and say, "Hey, we've done all the due diligence. We've done all the research and so on. This is a great

economic development opportunity. Would you all please approve it?" And then y'all are carrying this the signature that makes it happen. All I'm saying is talking about transparency. I've asked my representative. I've talked to people and I can't get the information that I want to get. And I've read thisou and I can tell you in thisou it's an open door for this process for them to come in and they've if you sign it, if they go ahead with it, then they have got you over a barrel that they can build absolutely as many data centers as they want to out there. and they've got 762 acres to build it on. So, I'm just asking you going forward, think through the process, make sure that that the city of Conway is is number one on your agenda and not that somebody else is coming in representing the city of Conway who has who who is not the city of Conway. Thank you.

Thank you, these last moments of your time. Um, I'd like to thank the mayor, council, and the residents for holding this together. My name is Derek Webb. I'm a citizen here. I live just been north of UCA on the other side of the tracks at 21105 Hudo. Um, I was uh invited to a local Conway first committee that a couple of previous people have spoken with um AJ and Leah before me a few days ago. So due to my background in similar projects as a systems engineer and data center architect for many large projects for the DoD, many gaming systems and casinos, uh many fintech and banking systems before me and currently a large hotel chain. Um so I'm really coming to this with more of a kind of neutral and practical perspective should it continue. Um because I know we can do this for a right way for Conway because you know we're growing. We want new things to come but we want to do it in a way that we can have a symbiotic relationship between the governance, the residents and the corporations that look to do business with us. A few of the items I had to move forward on were um first the cooling system. A lot of people are concerned about the water. When I read it, it was an openloop evaporative system, but I know there are other systems available like closed loops and other things that I've worked on before and just just traditional radiator type systems that don't need so much water usage per day and those can be kind of hybridized as you know the humidity changes and the energy needs you know wax and wayne. The uh second thing was I wanted to turn tomorrow's equipment into today's educational opportunity. when servers and other data center hardware are decommissioned, instead of um allowing it to go to e-waves to be sold at outside, I would ask that um our schools

and our local um groups and educational systems give um either be donated or have kind of first dibs on this hardware so we can train the next, you know, engineers, the next um leaders in, you know, the tech area. And that can be a symbiotic relationship we have with these data centers coming in should they go forward. On that on that same note, I was going to ask the government um this council if they could reach out to Google to see if a few of us on this council or citizens could get a tour of the closest data center that has been built by this same you know Forge Light LLC. So we know what's coming up. We want we know what to prepare for. we know what questions to ask for residents and you know the governance and future employees of that data center should it go through and third was kind of not to be a bit too controversial on it was um in exchange for the significant infrastructure Conway's committing the water lines the roads the power tie-ins myself and others would uh respectfully ask that the city consider removing the flock cameras um that have been installed that would go greatly to rebuilding the trust between the citizenry and the governance and the corporations that we deal with. And um finally to protect these kinds of infrastructures we see in this community um like a few others before us I was going to say we should build a citizens you know committee oversight committee that's can be they can have a bit of power and oversight to it. That way we can avoid things like you know the um financial ruins from the dotcom bubble and the history before us and a lot of these communities that have um put in these hyperscaler data centers and haven't seen as much business as they need and it has come out and we've been left with a bill for you know the maintenance and everything else that comes with a a failed project to make

sure that that kind of financial commitment and oversight is done you know well. So, for closing, I'm not really here to sway the decision one way or the other. I'm fairly neutral. I know it can be done right. I know a lot of people don't want it. Either way, you're going to have some people that are one way or the other about it. I just want to know that um we do this the right way and have genuine long-term, you know, make sure this is a long-term asset for Conway. Good for the developer, good for the city, good for the citizens, good for our education going forward, good for our employment opportunities going forward. I appreciate your time and your service. I appreciate you putting this all together and hearing us out. I know it can be a drag, but thank you very much.

Thank you.

My name is Bo Turner and I live at 1419 College Avenue. There is not a single Fortune 500 company around today that hasn't taken advantage of and paged resources from states, cities, and most importantly, people across the world. your elected officials representing us. And if you truly believe that this is what the residents wants, put the project up for vote. Let us vote for it. Let us make that decision because obviously it is a difficult one. I understand that and I think everybody does. But if it is something that is truly wanted by us, then let us vote for it. Um, if the addition of a data center will not increase water, sewer, electrical rates for residents, then the city should vote against Conway Corp utility rate increases for the foreseeable future. Um, as long as there's a data center in our backyard, we all know what comes with it. Unfortunately, if that does happen, I expect Conway Corp will raise rates in other areas to offset the these this request. Now, there's not a guaranteed a guaranteed 50 jobs. And if you haven't done any research about guarantees, there was a pact in 1872 jobs act by a Fortune 500 company and those jobs from that city were ripped away from them. So, I hope you do your due diligence and come up with something that's ironclad. So, we're at least 50 jobs are here. Um, it should be more, but it is what it is. If the water being discharged into the Arkansas River is safe, then why are they not recycling that water themselves for future cooling? Um, lastly, I'd like to address the city representative who went on record

stating, "We prefer people to move here for jobs." I ask you formally to resign your position as an elected official because that tells us exactly how you feel about the residents that live here. Thank you. My name is Glover Helping Still and I'm a resident at 6 Manchester Drive. My frustrations and concerns mirror many others who are here and I personally oppose this project. I understand tax abatements, which is legal speak for tax discounts, can be used as economic development tools, but they're supposed to produce a meaningful public benefit. In this case, the project appears to receive a 65% tax discount for 30 years property tax while creating few permanent jobs, creating real utility, water, infrastructure, and environmental concerns. And you're granting them a 65% tax discount to undertake this project. According to theou, alongside the 65% discount, the company is required to donate to a private nonprofit organization. This donation is branded as the regional investment fund and the penalty for lack of public and city compliance is the undisclosed donation to the private entity gets taken away. What impression do you think that gives us? My first request is for full transparency regarding this regional investment fund to prevent what can easily be seen as a conflict of interest. My only question is why are you granting this company a 65% property tax discount when the tax is the only measurable benefit on such a controversial and unwanted project? Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, fellow Fletcher 1361 Davis Conway, Arkansas. You know, as I close, one of the beautiful things about local government is that you get to see the people that represent you on a daily basis, whether it's at Stobies, the coffee shop, Kroger, whatever. And you tend to pretty much like those people because they're your neighbors. Talk about what's going on. Talk about how your kids are, grandkids are, things that you're working on, vacations. But then there are come times when that person that you like and you have a good relationship with, they do something that goes that makes you go and then you got to have that conversation. You know that conversation and that's that conversation we're having right now. I'm agnostic on a data center. But what is bothering me is the and I play with this the seemingly dare I say secret nature unethical almost approach of this whole plan. If we went no further and let's bring this personal. Think about your house and your loved one that you live with and you come home and you say, "Hey, we're about to add on to our house and your loved one says, "Well, okay, what are we getting?" You lay out big facility, pool, all that kind of good stuff. And then your loved one says, "Well, who is doing it?" I can't tell you. Well, we've been in this relationship for this long, 5, 10, 20 years, and you can't tell me who is making additions to my house. Well, somebody came and they said, "Hey,

you'll get this benefit and this benefit and this benefit." That's fine. But who is going to be in my house and working in my house? Well, I can't tell you. We are your loved ones. We have a relationship with one another for a particular amount of time terms and then every so often we can hey we're going to continue this relationship or do we need to go our separate ways? I see each one of y'all know each one of you. But to say that we can't say who the company is, it makes no sense because you represent us. And then the second thing is this and as I close in the 250 years celebration of this nation we are dealing with taxation. Somebody is getting 30 years of not having to pay taxes abatement whatever you want to call it. I'm not getting that. Are they getting that? So why this unnamed company has that privilege? I would simply ask you and this is one of the beautiful things about local government is that you can move slow due diligence. Take your time and do what Thomas Soul says is look at the tradeoffs because there are trade-offs. There are not solutions and listen to the trade-offs. We got a lot of there's some smart people in this

room, ain't they? Like and again from our three colleges that are here in our house and this is our house and we've called each one of you to represent our house with you, sir, being the lead of the house. And there's nothing wrong. There's nothing foolish. There's nothing shameful by telling this unnamed company, you know what? Kick rocks until we figure out what it is that we're going to do with our house. Thank you very much. Thank you all. going to stay for the council meeting because this this meeting is over. We're fixing to move to the city council meeting now. You're welcome to stay if you'd like to. Okay. We proceed each council meeting with a word of prayer and pledge of allegiance. If you'd like to join us, please feel free to do so. Miss Isby, can I get you a word of prayer? We'll wait a second till the room clear. Minute. Give a minute. I give I give him time.

He say go ahead.

I give him time. Our gracious and heavenly father, we thank you Lord for this city that we are stewards of. We thank you Lord for these We thank you Lord for the citizens of this city. We thank you Lord for their input. We just ask Lord going forward that you'll continue to bless us and give us the wisdom and the knowledge that we need to make this the great community that we have. We ask your blessings upon us and everything that our hands and our minds touch. In your name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God. individual liberty and justice for all. All right, I'll now call this meeting to order. Miss herd, would you call the role, please? Yes, sir. Mr. Hawkins here. Mr. Grimes here. Mr. Spurgers here. Miss Mill here. Mr. Lead Better here. Mr. Hawks here. Mr. Jones here. Missby here.

Okay. Thank you everyone. We have one bit of uh business tonight. As you know, uh, Chief Winter told us at the, uh, last meeting that he close

had replaced one ladder truck that this council approved and that he was in need of a second one due to the age and the amount of money being spent on the current ladder. He also thought he was going to get a rescue truck, but someone beat us to the punch on that one. Uh we they actually had a ladder and a rescue. So we were going to try to see if we could go go ahead with both, but another city got the got got in front of us on getting their name on the rescue. But we did get our name on the ladder. Mike was able to do that. And so uh after visiting with Mr. Winningham, what we would like to do if the council approves is to buy this truck and we would pay for it out of the general fund, 2.5 million and some change. And then when we start collecting our revenue, I think April or May, is that correct?

Started in April. Started in then we will reimburse the uh general fund when we get that money back because this truck will have to be paid for up front because it is ready. It'll be 6 months out even that. But if we do not purchase this truck, we're talking about two to three years. and uh the engines that we're going to have to order, if we do not get those on a uh already built basis, city is still going to be two to three years out of those. So, this council will be hearing from Mike here in the very near future on moving forward with the engines. That being said, I'd ask Chief Winter to come up and give the council a overview.

Yes, council. Thank you. This is a duplicate of the aerial midmount ladder truck uh you guys approved for us to purchase a few months ago. That was a demo model. Uh this is identical to it. Uh again, as the mayor said, this is just came up at the first of the month. Uh the typical build, if we order it, is going to be four years. We've already put over $50,000 into our current truck 5 this year. Uh and if if approved, then we hope to have this by October, maybe November. Have you heard anything from the federal government on their look into the what's going on in our firet truck world? We're not the only city having trouble getting them.

No. And and yes, you know, they they did bring all the major manufacturers in for a Senate hearing. They questioned them. I know that Pierce uh the brand that that we use has opened up an additional facility. They have decreased uh their times by at least a year on engines. The aerial apparatus are still taking you four years, but they they have decreased their production time. Okay. Thank you, M. Council. Any questions for the chief? I make a motion to purchase the truck. Second.

Have a motion in a second to purchase this uh midmount aerial apparatus. Any further discussion? You know the police chief's gonna get the next two and a half million, don't you? That's fine. If we can just keep firet trucks on the road. I'm sure you knew that. And Mr. Leadbe, there is an emergency clause with this. Yes. We have a motion and a second to approve this purchase this firetruck along with emergency clause. Any further discussion? Clarification. I think I heard you say. I just want to make sure I understood. We will pay for it now out of the general fund and then reimburse the general fund from the uh capital expense tax once register. Okay. Yes. Yeah.

Is this the second this is the second thing that we've done where we're borrowing from money we don't have yet that we know. I mean it's it's going to come first actually that that we'll be using the new monies for. But uh but didn't we for the police department for those replacement plates a few weeks ago do the same thing? Yeah. Oh yes. Yes. I'm sorry. First fire apparatus. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. Okay. Okay, Miss Hurt, this is uh ordinance 02632. Miss Mill, I Mr. Jones, yes. Mr. Hawks, yes. Mr. Grimes, hi. Mr. Led Better, yes. Mr. Spurgers, I Mr. Hawkins, yes. Miss Zby, yes. And the emergency clause, Miss Hi. Mr. Jones, yes. Mr. Hawks, yes. Mr. Grimes, hi. Mr. Lad Better. Yes. Mr. Spurgers. Hi. Mr. Hawkins, yes. Miss Zby,

yes. Those both pass eight to zero. I got a question. Yes, sir. Mike, do they have uh when will they open up with some more stock units? Is that a monthly? Yes. The first the first day of every month. And these were gone by noon. Yeah. Yeah. I thought we were going to get a rescue, too. And it Yeah. Okay. Day after. Yes, sir.

Um and I just want to say something to Mr. Sperger's point to the council. when y'all approved the u the upgraded body armor for the police department. I've done a lot of homework on this and I cannot stress to you how much you've increased the chances of those men and women going home every night by doing what you did and so I thank you. Anything else council? I'll take a motion to adjourn. Move. We are ajourned.