City Council - Regular Meeting

good evening and welcome to the city council meeting before mayor parker calls a meeting to order we ask that you please be seated and silence all electronic devices city council meetings are conducted for the official business of the city council and to receive input from residents Members of the public attending the meeting shall observe rules of decorum and shall not engage in conduct that interferes with the ability of those present to observe or to participate in the meeting without disruption or fear of intimidation, threats, or hostility. An individual engaging in disruptive conduct may be removed from the chamber and could be arrested for disruption of a meeting. Speakers who engage in disruptive conduct could have their mic muted and may be removed from the chamber and arrested for disruption of a meeting. Disruptive conduct includes yelling, screaming, clapping, or other noise creating acts. For those of you who have requested to speak, when your name is called, please come forward to the center podium. The countdown clock is displayed on the left monitor and will indicate how much time is remaining. A bell will sound when you have 30 seconds remaining. Before you begin your comments, please state your name. Thank you.

Thank you, Jeanette, and good evening, and welcome to your Fort Worth City Council meeting. Today is Tuesday, August 11th, and today we have a very special guest, Ms. Hollis Whitaker, who is our mayor for the day and is going to call our meeting to order and gavel us in. Hollis, the gavel's yours. Meeting is now called to order, and I'm gonna call on my colleague, Councilmember Elizabeth Beck, who Hollis is very close to, to tell us a little bit more about this lovely young lady.

Thank you, Mayor. Hollis is a Fort Worth native. She was born right here in Fort Worth in Council District 5. She unfortunately moved away to Ohio, but has come back for the week to experience her hometown. So we've got to visit the zoo, Cook Children's, the fire department, the police department. And she's a great little girl, super fabulous at golf. I think she's going to challenge our city manager to a round of golf that he might lose. She's an avid soccer player and is currently in her cowgirl era.

And she has the boots on this evening. You can't see them. They look fantastic. Please give Ms. Hollis a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, thank you. Jeanette, please continue.

Tonight's invocation will be provided by Reverend Wallace Hall. Please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the Pledges of Allegiance.

Good evening, Mayor Parker, council members. Let us bow. Heavenly Father, today we pause to say thank you. Thank you for the gift of life, for your grace, your mercy, and for the countless blessings you have poured into our lives. Thank you for allowing us to gather here today and for the privilege of coming before you in prayer, seeking your wisdom and guidance. We also recognize that we are blessed not because of our goodness, but because of your amazing grace. Lord, we lift up our mayor, our city manager, every member of this city council, our first responders, and the dedicated employees who faithfully serve our city. Grant them wisdom to make sound decisions, courage to do what is right, and hearts committed to serving the people of Fort Worth with integrity and compassion. We also thank you for the incredible citizens who call Fort Worth home. We are a city rich in diversity, filled with different experiences, perspectives, cultures, and ideas. Though we may come from different backgrounds and hold different perspectives, remind us that our shared purpose is greater than our differences. Help us to listen with understanding, lead with humility, and work together to build a stronger, safer, and more united city. As this meeting begins, may every conversation be guided by respect, every decision by wisdom, every action by a genuine desire to serve the common good. May we never rely solely on our own understanding, but seek your guidance in all that we do. And Lord, let this be our commitment to you today, that elected leaders and citizens alike will work together, trust one another, and trust you as we continue building a Fort Worth where every person has the opportunity to thrive. In your holy and precious name we pray, amen.

Is Commander Williams in the building? Not yet. I know he's on his way, so I'm making sure he hasn't arrived yet. Jeanette, you haven't heard from him, have you? No, no, okay. I think at this time the council is gonna recess into executive session. I believe our speakers were all notified beforehand. We just have a few logistics to make sure council's clear on for as many items as we have tonight. We'll get back to you as soon as possible. And that first item would be the present recognition honoring Commander Williams and then our special presentation by Council Member Nettles with Reverend Elisha as well. So at this point we'll convene into executive session. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Today, I have the honor to stand before you to recognize a dedicated public servant, a true son of Fort Worth, Commander Antoine Williams. Antoine, do you want to come up? And then we'll invite your guests up. I want to tell you a little bit about Commander Williams. Throughout his 27-year career, Commander Williams has worn many hats, patrol officer, mentor, tactical leader, and champion for the community. Whether the Whether he was pioneering himself on initiatives that provided safety in the community or partnering and leading compassionate efforts through the community alliance division or keeping our neighbors safe with public safety compliance operations, Commander Williams has always led from the front. But beyond the ranks, the promotions and the impressive operations, his true legacy lives is, I'm sorry, his true legacy lies in the lives he has touched. The young officers he mentored into confident professionals, the colleagues he rallied around in their darkest hours of need, and the citizens of Fort Worth who he protected every single day with honor, humility, and heart. Commander Williams, thank you for your dedication, your visionary leadership, and your commitment to our city. And so I'm gonna read this special recognition into the record. And then if you'd like to say a few words. Commander Williams, the City of Fort Worth Special Recognition presented you for 27 years of dedicated service to the City of Fort Worth, whereas Commander Anton Williams, a proud Fort Worth native, has devoted years of his life to his community, his country, and the Fort Worth Police Department. first serving in the US Army from 1994 to 1998, where he achieved the rank of sergeant before returning home to graduate from the Fort Worth Police Department Training Academy on July 6, 1999. And whereas throughout his 27-year tenure, Commander Williams demonstrated versatility and leadership across numerous assignments serving in traffic investigations, community alliance division, gang unit, vice unit, property crime, and intelligence unit, where he provided protective detail for General Colin Powell and President George W. Bush. And whereas Commander Williams strengthened community partnership by overseeing the Homeless Outreach Program and Enforcement Team and creating Fort Worth's nationally recognized Handle With Care Program, an innovative trauma-informed initiative partnering law enforcement with local schools to ensure children exposed to traumatic events receive support. And whereas in a remarkable full circle journey, Commander Williams concluded his distinguished career by serving as Commander of East Division Patrol, the very community where he was born and first answered the call to service as a young patrol officer. Now, therefore, the City of Fort Worth extends their gratitude and highest praise to Commander Antoine Williams for his 27 years of service, leadership, and unwavering dedication to the City of Fort Worth presented this 11th day of August, 2026. Yeah.

First and foremost, my apologies for the tardiness earlier. First of all, good evening to all council members, City Manager Mr. Chapa and Mayor Mattie Parker. I just want to say thank you to everyone who's played a role in shaping me into the officer and serving leader that I am. To all of my East Division family, thank you all for all of your hard work, dedication, and professionalism while serving our citizens to ensure that the Eastside remains safe. To my wife, Katie, and my children, Lena, Jayden, and also my beautiful granddaughter, Halo, thank you all for your sacrifices and lending me to the police department for all these years and allowing me to chase my dreams. It has been an honor to serve this city. To end my career in the community where I was born and raised and spent the majority of my career has been truly a blessing and a storybook ending for me. To Councilwoman Martinez, Deborah Peoples, it's been a pleasure to have served with you over the years and the milestones that we accomplished together over in the Eastside, to all of the citizens that touched my life while serving over there that welcomed me with opening arms. I appreciate all of your help, your resiliency, your being persistent with issues that you had in the community and making sure that those issues were addressed and i hope i did a service to you as well as my officers we tried to provide professionalism at all times everybody knew my expectations over there on the east side so and i hope that legacy continues with the next commander whoever steps in that place but again i can't Forget about Mayor Pro Tem Gina Bivens. May she rest in heaven. She was very instrumental when I was trying to put in for this position as commander. She gave me her blessing. She wanted me to be the commander in the east side. So whenever that time came, she was a person that actually championed me and vouched for me. So that helped me out to get the position as well. But again, this has been a storybook ending for me. I'm too young to just totally retire, so I know that there's going to be something further down the line, but right now I'm enjoying some peaceful time, no phones ringing, no text messages at 2 in the morning. So I'm loving life right now. So again, thank y'all for this honor, and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. Thank y'all.

So I'd like to invite Councilman Peebles and Councilman Nettles. I know that East Division touched both your districts. And to Commander Williams' friends and family and colleagues, if you'd like to also join us. Anybody from the community? I think Cindy is here. Yeah. Y'all want to come down?

Mayor and Council, that gets us to items to be continued or withdrawn.

Jeanette, I think I have a presentation. That's okay.

I'm moving on.

Real quick, I have a recognition, a special recognition for Mr. Reverend Vernon Elijah, if you will come. Yeah, you stand right there. have a special recognition to talk about his youth and family community outreach for growing the future leaders. And I'll just give one note here. This was my, yes, Michael Corrine, my peewee football coach when I was playing, when I was a football star back for TCU Bulldogs.

Yeah, somebody said star, yes.

That was me. Tell them coach. That's right. All right. And so... But he has been doing work in the community since I was a little boy. And so whereas the recognition, organization, education, athlete program are designed to empower youth by encouraging participation, personal growth, achievements, and providing essential skills in areas such as life skills development, character building, leadership preparation, teamwork, and public speaking to strengthen confidence and self-esteem. Whereas through this unwavering dedication, the youth and family community outreach continues to inspire, mentor, and uplift the next generation by creating pathways for youth to reach their fullest potential and becoming the leaders of tomorrow. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, the city of Fort Worth, proudly recognize this youth and family community outreaching for its outstanding commitment to the youth development, education, mentorship, and community service to Mr. Reverend Vernon Elijah.

First, I want to say thank God.

No matter what you receive, you always give God all the praises and all the glory. And I want to say to Chris, he played football for me. He should have been playing in the NFL somewhere because he was that good. Well, anyway, I want to say thank him for honoring me, for recognizing what I have done over the many, many years. But not only to him, but to all of you sitting here, Jeanette, who have supported my organization, Michael Crane, I thank you all. You know, you give praise to those while you can because you never know what tomorrow might be. But as I take my seat, I want to thank all my people that came out. But I want to recognize and thank Ms. KG, because K was Fort Worth. I worked in her campaign when she first ran for mayor. And one thing I like about Kay, she changed the community. She brought city councilors all together. They were all in one accord. And that's what I want to see. I want to see Fort Worth come back to that all-American city. Because that's what Kay would want us to do. Fight together, stand together, and run together. So let us pay tribute to Kay and give her hope with just dues. I probably wouldn't be standing here doing what I'm doing this long if it had not been for a lady like KG. And I called her KG even then because that's who she represented. She represented Fort Worth. And I say to Maddie, to all the city council, let us get back to being what we was, the all-American city.

Thank you.

Next will be items to be continued or withdrawn.

We have some items to be continued or withdrawn from the agenda. MNC 26-054 will be withdrawn from the consent agenda, so Councilmember Karain may abstain from voting. MNC 26-0606 will be withdrawn from consent agenda so that the MNC can move forward without a park name that'll be amended so that a park name can be considered through a community process. MNC ZC 26-017 will be continued to October 13th at the request of the applicant and ZC 26-082 will be continued to September 15th at the applicant's request.

And council on consent item 7.1.2 on page five MNC 26-0560. The approval of that item includes the approval of the updated attachments that you were provided late this afternoon. Mayor that gets us to the consent agenda speakers.

Thanks Jeanette. Our first speaker is Bob Willoughby followed by Cindy Bolling.

We'll play the video. You're not going to do anything about it. You're not going to dispute the evidence. And you're going to run from the camera. Mr. Soar, that is a sign of guilt if I've ever seen it. Thank you. Now, we've been ripped off for the last several years on these CCDB tons. And what it is, I blocked out some of the organizations that got money, but I put six up there that got more than what they're supposed to. In the rules, they said only 300,000. Well, the ISD got over a million. Rodney got almost a million. And another group got over a million, something that, and you can't get an audit on these people. This is our money. And Phil Soares, now the documents on his desk, our Tarrant County DA's desk, they're there. They're undisputable documents for what they are. And what we need Phil Soares to do is invoke the Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers said they'll do an audit. But we had to have Phil Soares to invoke them. And he won't do it. He runs from the camera because he knows how guilty they are. See, Maddie Parker sits on that board and he is protecting her because if we get an audit on this stuff here, City of Fort Worth is going to make some news, I promise you. Crane can laugh about it all he wants, and these other council members can, but I know them. And I know what I'm saying is true, because if it wasn't true, they wouldn't be running. Now, fortunately, in 2033, we may get voter education taught in elementary schools so that kids will know the signs and not be as dumb as the people I grew up around now, this generation. Oh, that's kind of neat. What is that? But anyway, have I said something wrong? Is that something new? Okay. Well, anyway, the... Kids need to learn that. This generation doesn't understand that. All they care about is their bubble. They don't look at the overall picture. But if you saw the overall picture, you know how important it is, like moving our comment meeting from the bottom or speaking from the bottom to the top of General Manager Park. I'm going to do that. But nevertheless, this is about CCPD funds. It should be stopped. You know what they've done? They've changed the rules, too. They open it up now, and they can get more money out, more money. So, and these people they give it to are not audited. They don't know what to do with it. They don't, we have no record. And these people run away. You know, Council Member Carlos runs away. He's a chair. The DA runs away. He won't vote the Rangers to do an audit. I grant you, Maddie's sitting on that board, and that's why these people won't do this stuff. They're protecting her. Because you're a crook, Maddie, and you're a two-faced liar. And I can say that, and I won't get slandered against me because it's true. If it wasn't true, you could slander me. But it's 100% true. And to have a mayor that's a liar, and these people don't do anything about it, we need voter education in school bad, badly. That's dumb to have a mayor that lies.

Our next speaker is Cindy Bolling, followed by Barbara Carty.

I just had cataract surgery and I'm a little dizzy. Thank you, my name is Cindy Bowling and I live in Central Meadowbrook and I am speaking in favor of the Parks and Recreation purchasing the property on Watson to build our very first and only community park in Central Meadowbrook. I'm speaking as president of Central Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association, where the land is located, and personally for myself and Mark. We're all very excited to see this on the acquisition agenda. With the purchase of the land and development into a neighborhood park, our Central Meadowbrook neighborhood will finally have its very own park. We envision access to our park to be walkable and inviting to our entire neighborhood. I give a special recognition to Josh Friend, the president of our Greater Meadowbrook Alliance, who worked endlessly to show Parks and Recreation that we have available land in Central Meadowbrook that would make an amazing park. And They listened and I thank Council Member Martinez for supporting this and being with us and helping us to create this first time event for our Central Meadowbrook neighborhood. Thank you very much, please vote yes.

Our next speaker is Barbara Crotty followed by Adrian Smith. Is Barbara present? Hi Barbara, come on down.

I was expecting to be speaking on one of the topics later. Which item was that? I think it's 7.3, 3.1, something like that, about water and wastewater.

Yes, it is on this. It's just because it's on the consent agenda. Yes, ma'am.

Oh, so, okay. I didn't think I was coming up so soon.

Okay.

Well, my name's Barbara Crotty. I live in Fairmount in District 9, as well as a member of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club. which is a longstanding American conservation organization. And this was with regard to the plans for regulations around data centers and water usage. And I just wanted to emphasize that technological progress must not come at the expense of essential needs like fresh water. We're going to have water supply issues even if, as is stated, a closed loop cooling system is used. And not just water quantity, but water quality, because they have to dump that out someplace and it will have PFAS in it. Also, if the data centers are going to have diesel power generators, they should not be classified as light industrial, but as heavy industrial. The air pollution that they would cause is unacceptable. Fort Worth should really require the data centers to implement measures to support renewable energy generation to minimize their impact on our energy demand. If they must use fossil fuels, then they should meet the EPA's Tier 4 standards. That's all.

Our next speaker is Adrian Smith, followed by Armando Hernandez.

Adrian Smith, District 9. I am one with the people. So considering we are facing a $77 million budget shortfall, these mayor and council communications I stand to speak to have dollar amounts attached to them that I have questions about. The first one being Mayor and Council Communication 26-0561 for the Environmental Services Department. And my question is, it's a $400,000 four-year term contract to provide solid waste consultant services for the Environmental Services Department. I would like to ask someone from that particular department why this is necessary considering back in 2021, we gave waste management a $479 million contract for a 12-year span. I thought this is something that they specialize in considering they are waste management and they have a lot of the taxpayer dollars. Couldn't we not find someone from waste management to take on this particular project? Second agenda item, 26-0652. This speaks to the Financial Management Service Department. Adopt appropriation ordinance increasing appropriations in the risk financing fund in the amount of $2,200,000 from available net position for repairs to multiple city facilities damaged during the April 2026 hailstorm. So to anybody from that particular department, what facilities were damaged? $2,200,000. $2,200,000 is a lot of hell damage that somebody apparently appraised was the amount needed to fix whatever was wrong. So my question is, what city property, what was damaged? Are we able to put any of this on hold? so we can have, as a general public know, and have a presentation as to what actually was damaged. Because I thought with this $300 million facility we are in now, Mayor Parker, that all departments were in this one building. So, hey, maybe I'm mistaken again. I just have questions about how we're spending money. And then closing my last 30 seconds, Mayor Parker, you all had the entire month of July off. Why did you wait until the start of this meeting to go into an executive session when you all had all day to go into an executive session. Again, you seem like you're thumbing your noses up at the people. You're thumbing your noses up at the people as if our time isn't important. Six o'clock is our time, not your time. Remember, you work for us, we don't work for you.

Our next speaker is Armando Hernandez. Armando?

Good evening. My name is Armando Hernandez. I live on Watson Street. I'm here to just echo Cindy's support for the park on Watson Street. And just thank you to our council person and to the Parks and Recreation Department for coming out to the community and listening to us. And we're very excited and we hope you vote for it. Thank you.

Mayor and council, that concludes the consent agenda speakers. We can have a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Got a motion and a second. Council, any other discussion? Please vote. Motion carries.

That gets us to items removed from the consent agenda, with the first one being 7.1.8, MNC 260564.

Thank you. And before I entertain a motion, I believe Councilmember Crane needs to recuse on this item.

Mayor, thank you. This deals with the HUD Community Development Block Grant. And due to my wife's former employment at Child Care Associates, I'll be abstaining from this vote.

Motion to second. Neither discussion.

Please vote.

Motion carries.

Next is MNC 26-0606. Councilman Martinez.

Thank you for pulling this agenda item and I just wanna thank the Parks and Rec Department for making this possible and also Josh Friend who did have the idea of placing this park here and the support that we've gotten from the community and the opportunity for the community to have the ability to also name this park. So I motion to approve.

Got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Council, that gets us to the non-consent agenda speakers other than those on the data center items. And Mary, I believe we have four.

We do. Our first would be Adrian Smith, followed by EJ Carrion.

So regarding the non-consent, and thank you, Secretary, for giving me guidance on this particular agenda item. It's a council proposal that's due to come up here soon. And the council proposal that's coming before us, let me just read into record. Hold on. Let me begin by doing this. All right. So the council proposal that's coming up, it only serves one purpose, and that purpose isn't to honor neither remember the life of the late Tatiana Jefferson. The former disgraceful police officer, Aaron Dean, already lost two criminal appeals and will do the entirety of his sentence. So one must ask the purpose this council proposal really serves. I have my reasonings for it that I would like to share. The previous vote was 10 to 1 regarding the funding of legal representation, continued legal funding for representation for the disgraced Fort Worth police officer, Aaron Dean. It was 10 to 1. From prior observation, it's clear no one read the previous council agenda. And we saw everybody kind of, they had a good run at it in July when you were all, social media was lit. But it's apparent nobody read the previous council agenda that currently will be represented tonight as a council proposal. Now let me remind everybody, the check has already been written. $200,000 to be exact. So what they voted on back in, it wasn't July, prior to July, it's done. That check is already written. So what are we really doing here? I began by stating that I have some reservations as to what this council proposal really serves, but I'm gonna leave it to the council person who brought this forward to give his say on it, because it's really a waste of time, you know? I mean, you can't undo what you've already done. And I wanna say to District 5 representative, thank you. You were the only one who knew what was before you. And you were the lone council person that voted against it. Other council members, you know, you go with law enforcement regardless of good or bad. So we know how some of you all vote. It's just obvious. Good or bad, you're going to go with law enforcement. And no one is against law enforcement. But we are against bad law enforcement, OK? We are against bad law enforcement. Aaron Dean is not coming home. He's going to do every bit of that 10 years. We need to stop this day, no more funding of his legal representation.

EJ Carrion will be followed by Justin Wells.

Hello, EJ with District 11. I agree with Adrian Smith. I would like to know, has that $200,000 have been checked and sent over to Aaron Dean's lawyers? But I also acknowledge when we make a mistake. So I also understand if this is authentic. I really would have liked to see you guys do this and have a majority vote at minimum against what you guys voted and not allow Deborah Peoples to be the only one stand on the right side of justice. Aaron Dean murdered Tatiana Jefferson. And I know that many of you on this dais are backed by the police association, which the POA is the most toxic part about policing. You ask police officers what they hate, it isn't the community or the things that happens in the streets, it's the politics. And because the POA funds so many of you, you all are not be able to make the decision. So I hope, I don't know what's happening. I know a lot of changes has happened around this situation in the last 24 hours, but I would like to see a vote because who is actually going to stand for the people and those who believe they're rerunning for office backed by POA money. I believe every single one of you who do have POA money should have someone else in the community running against you regardless of your political affiliation. We have the police currently is 40% of the city's budget. That means if we were all building a house today and we wanted to remodel our house, you have $100,000 to do so. Would you spend $40,000 on simply protecting it or would you actually update the kitchen and update the bathroom? And so what's happening here is y'all are picking the people who literally HQ right across the street, the POA. And we're watching what you guys are doing. And regardless if this was a mistake, Nettles, what we want to see from all of you, are you actually going to be able to keep police accountable and the politics in policing? I think all of you should be standing if you're going to be running again for your seats for May 2027. should be asking and pitting out that we get policing out of community. We don't allow teachers to do this. Why do we allow police? Why do we allow firefighters? And we know why. Because the firefighters endorsed Leah Wamsgans, which we talked about earlier during the Taylor-Rumet race. She was a union person, which I find funny. And instead, they endorse the lady who's you know, burning books literally by getting them out of our Fort Worth ISD schools. So what you guys are doing right now is politics. We are concerned community members around who's actually gonna stand up for community rather than back the police association who continues to put hundreds of thousands of dollars into your pockets to fund your races. We need you guys to be standing up against them because the politics in policing, that is the problem. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Justin Wells, followed by Lauren Cheong.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Justin Wells. I'm a Dunaway Associate, 550 Bailey Avenue. I am speaking on item 10.1.2, MNC 26-0589. On behalf of Cook Children's Medical Center, This item in particular is for a easement encroachment agreement for a bridge. This will cross West Terrell Avenue and will be a direct connection from the new parking garage, which is under construction, to the new west tower, which is also under construction. This will allow a more immediate covered from weather and elements pathway for families and staff to go immediately from where they park in the garage to the new tower. Just encourage approval and if you do have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Lauren Cheong.

Thank you for having me, allowing this opportunity to speak today. I've signed up for multiple items, so would this be about the data center piece?

No, this is actually regarding the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court considered alternatives to reduction polling places.

Thank you so much, okay. That's clear now. Okay. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today. You are going to vote on a proposal requesting the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court consider alternatives to the reduction of polling locations. While I'm thrilled and grateful that this is on the agenda, the proposal does not go far enough. The time has come for City Council to censor or formally reprimand Tim O'Hare for the authoritarian manner with which he conducts the Commissioner's Court and its impact on the public speaker's right to free speech. Speaking of First Amendment rights, you'll remember two years ago when the city of Fort Worth removed its anti-discrimination paragraphs from its facilities rental policy when the extremist group, the True Texas Project, rented space for its conference at the Botanic Gardens. It was the True Texas Project's First Amendment right to rent space in spite of the public's grave concerns that the True Texas Project has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. I'm extremely concerned that Tim O'Hare participated as an MC at a True Texas project event a few days ago on August 1st. Tim O'Hare's association with the True Texas project is not acceptable for the leader of Tarrant County. The True Texas Project is essentially a neo-Nazi group that argues for the superiority of the white race while couching it in a facetious manner on its website with questions like what's wrong with being white and arguing in favor of conspiracy theories like the Great Replacement Theory. I'm sure that Mr. O'Hare would argue that it's his First Amendment right to support and celebrate the True Texas Project, yet he brings Gestapo tactics into his own court where he's a petty tyrant and does everything in his power to squash the free speech and First Amendment rights of the public speakers. While I commend the Council for its efforts to stop O'Hare's massive voter suppression effort, I suggest you change your request to the Commissioner's Court about the voter suppression effort to a censure or reprimand of Tim O'Hare for gross misconduct, unethical behavior, and his repeated attempts to smother free speech. Thank you.

Council, that concludes all of the non-consent speakers other than those on the data center items. So we will move to approval for Council Proposal CP-341.

And Council, it's my understanding we're going to take one vote first that concerns CP 341, CP 342, and CP 343 only pertaining to the rule. We would like to suspend the rules to take up each of these CPs tonight. We're gonna do that in one vote. At this moment, unless there's any need for clarification, I can take a motion and a second. Motion and a second, please vote. Motion carries. At this time now, we're moved to CP341, and I believe that Council Member Nettles would like the floor.

Thank you, Mayor. This CP is regarding the revote on the MNC 26-0525. I do understand we have to take two votes here. And so the first vote is a vote for us to actually revote on the agenda item. Do you want to add any clarification on that, Leigh Ann?

Yeah, the first vote, according to the council rules or procedure, has to be a unanimous vote to agree to reconsider the item. If that passes, then the second vote will be the actual reconsideration of the MNC.

Thank you. So during that agenda item, I mistakenly voted to approve legal fees for police officer Aaron Dean. In my voting history on this council, I have not ever supported any type of funding, and so I would like the opportunity to correct my votes. I'm asking this council if they will allow me to correct my vote, and it's going to happen if this council votes unanimously. So I move to approve. Second.

Got a motion and a second. Council Member Martinez?

So this is for us to reconsider?

The first vote is a motion for reconsideration that requires unanimous approval and then we'll actually move to reapprove the MNC.

Okay, so the next one's to approve the MNC.

MNC, yes ma'am. So I've got a motion and a second for reconsideration on MNC 26-0525. This time please vote. Motion carries. Now we can move to motion. I can entertain a motion to approve MNC 26-0525. Council Member Nettles. Yes.

Thank you, Mayor.

Well, I'm not going to make a motion or speak to that.

Yeah, I'm just going to speak to the item. And I do understand the state statute, and I talked to our legal team in Anazimi about what we are required as a city to do. And I even wrote into a press release that these are issues that we need to get fixed at our state legislature, that when someone does something outside the course of action and murders someone, we should not be paying for their legal fees. And so today I'm going to correct my vote and not support this MNC to pay any more money to police officer Aaron Dean legal fees.

Yeah, no, it's not. I don't think the- No, we need a motion to- Okay, so I need a motion to approve.

Do you want a motion? I also have comment. Yeah, go ahead, please, Jeanette. So I too wanna thank my colleagues for allowing this agenda item to be reconsidered. I just have some comments. So at the June 23rd meeting, I based my vote on my understanding of council's legal obligation to the state. I've since reflected a lot on that vote and upholding my commitment to social services. I've had the honor of serving on the board of directors of the Community Healing and Mental Health Project, better known as CHAMP Texas. CHAMP was founded in 2021 to provide quality mental health services and educational resources for marginalized communities following the murder of Tatiana Jefferson. As a CHAMP board member and advocate for expanding access to social services, my focus is on protecting the community that has been affected by the tragic loss of Ms. Jefferson. So today I must vote with my heart and my conscience, and that is why my vote today will be a no.

Thank you, Jeanette. Any other questions or comments from council? Thank you. This time, can I entertain a motion? Anyone want a motion? Got a motion? A motion and a second. Any other discussion? Please vote. Motion carries. We're now moving to MNC, excuse me, CP342. And I believe council member or Dr. Hall has a few comments on this item.

Okay, Mayor, I know that this isn't at REERS, but I'd like to approve, well, have support in approving the waiving of permit fees for the annual Lake Como 4th of July parade. Second.

Motion and a second. Please vote. Motion carries.

Next will be CP-343.

Thank you, and Dr. Hall?

Sorry, I was reading where it was listed. Okay, um, I'm recommending that the City adopt this Council proposal requesting that the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court consider alternatives to the reduction of polling locations.

I have comments. Sure, thank you, Mayor. I appreciate the opportunity to get to vote on this particular item today. The reason why I think it's so important that this council, while we might not get to dictate what our colleagues over at the Commissioner's Court do on a daily basis, I think it's important that we use our positions here in the community to make sure that we're advocating for our residents. Voting is a fundamental right we have here in the United States. It is the bedrock of our democracy. And at all points in this process, we should be working to make that activity easier. We should be promoting the activity of voting and civic engagement, not making it harder to vote. And what this proposal by the county would do would make it harder for our residents of Fort Worth and Tarrant County to vote in the upcoming November 3rd election. Elections have consequences. They are incredibly important. And it is our job to make sure that we get as many people to the polls as we can to have their voices heard. And that's why I think it's important we send a message to the county today that we want to make sure that we keep our elections as free and open as possible to our residents.

Oh, it's not on? I'm on now. So Mayor, I'd like to make an amendment to this motion because it's not just the reduction of polling locations, but it is where the polling locations are. We have to be very careful. So in this last iteration, they took out the polling location, for example, in Diamond Hill. We have to guard against just reducing the number of polling locations. We have to look at where they are and how it would affect the citizens. So I'd like to amend this to say not only consider alternatives to the reduction of polling locations, but also the placement of polling locations.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll second that motion, Councilman Peoples. The right to vote is one of our cornerstones of our democracy. Every eligible resident should have the responsibility and the access to vote and cast their ballot. While election officials must manage resources and ensure secure elections, the goal must always be to make sure that every person gets the opportunity to vote. Fort Worth is the largest city in Tarrant County, and how We run the city, they run the county. But when you are duly elected, at some point, we have to call on other elected officials to do what is right. And so today, this is what you're seeing, what democracy is, that when we hear of something that's not right, that affects our forward resonance, we have to do something. This is maybe minute to some people, maybe minute to the commission's court, but we're standing today to say we want to make sure they have access to vote, make sure you have access. And I agree wholeheartedly with you, Deborah Peoples, because during the March election cycle, one of the biggest voting polls in District 8 was the Senate. That's okay. Was the Southside Community Center. And there was a lot of confusion on why it was closed, how long it was going to be closed. And so this is important today. And I hope our colleagues will join us by sending a message to the commission court not to reduce the number of pollings and not to reduce the places where people can poll so the access is equal around the city of Fort Worth.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll keep my comments short because my colleagues shared really well thought comments, but I just want to thank Councilwoman Hall for leading the staffer and ultimately on what is ultimately a blatant attempt to voter suppression. Councilman Flores.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to go and say that I support the CP and the comments made. Voting turnout's already at a historic low, and it continues to show that. Convenient and also well-equipped polling locations is necessary to ensure that we get as much turnout as possible. So I'm supportive of getting those polling locations that have not been used before to be used again. and ensure that they're also well equipped. Diamond Hill is in my district. I wanna go on record that I did speak with county commissioners that time and advocated for keeping our polling locations open in district two.

Thank you, Carlos. Any other questions or comments from council? If not, just for clarity, we have a motion now on Council Member Peoples made a motion to amend the original CP language by Dr. Hall and other council members. It was seconded by Council Member Nettles, so that is currently the motion on the floor. Any questions regarding this? If not, you may vote. Motion carries.

Mayor, we should go back and clear off the original motion, technically.

Okay.

So we should vote on Councilman Hall's.

Maybe Dr. Hall withdraws her motion, or how do you want to do that? It's a substitute motion.

If you want to clarify that Councilmember Peebles was a substitute.

I think I made that clear, but maybe not in my comments, no?

Yeah, I think we can note it for the record. Okay. I think that was the intent.

Okay, thank you, Jeanette. So we don't need to dispose on anything else on this at this time? Okay, thank you. Okay, we're now gonna move on to 10.1.1, MNC 26-0631, the smoke-free ordinance. A motion and a second. Any other discussion? Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Next will be MNC 26-0589.

Thank you, Jeanette. And due to my employment at Cook Children's, I'm going to abstain from this item. I can entertain a motion. Second. Motion and a second. Please vote. Motion carries.

Next is 26-6050. Motion and a second. Please vote.

Motion carries.

Next is 26-6051.

Motion and a second. Please vote. Motion carries.

Next is 26-6056.

Motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is 26-6061.

Motion and a second. Please vote. Motion carries.

Next is 26-6063.

Council Member Flores, you want this one?

To approve.

Motion and a second, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is 26-6067.

Entertain a motion, council. Second. Motion and a second, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is 26-6068.

Thank you. Entertain a motion, council. Got a motion and a second, please vote. Motion carries.

Next, we will move to public hearing 11.1, MNC 26-26-0800. And Mayor, we have one speaker.

Thank you, and we do have staff available if council has any questions. Tracy Walton, our speaker is David Martinez. Is Mr. Martinez present?

Okay.

Got a motion and a second. Council Member Crane.

Can you hear me? Yes. Yeah, thanks. This is also a HUD Community Development Block Grant, and due to my wife's previous employment at Child Care Associates, I will be abstaining from this vote.

I do have a motion and a second on the floor. Council, any other discussion? If not, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is MNC 26-0701. Thank you. Mayor, we have one speaker.

Yep, Adrian Smith is our speaker, and staff available, Brianna Brown is present if we have questions. Mr. Smith?

Yes, so this resolution, it says a resolution directing the city manager to establish the Fort Worth Data Center and infrastructure.

Now, Mr. Smith, we're on 11.2. Oh, my bad, my bad. Thank you, thank you.

So this particular agenda item, it speaks to tax abatements to a particular company that's wanting to build in the northern part of Fort Worth, Mock Industries. Its valuation is $1.8 billion. It has a total workforce of 350. and its current headquarters is Huntington Beach, California. This company operates for the purpose of creating weapons of mass destruction. You know, the things that were falsely access to the Iraqi region, you know, for that, quote-unquote, misflagged war. But this particular company, the city is due to, you all are due to give tax abatements to. You know, they operate in weapons of mass destruction. There's a lot of language attached to it, but what I wanted to ask was, the obligations that you all are putting forth to this particular company, and it's regarding the amount of employment that you all are asking this company to bring forth should you all approve this 10-year tax abatement. It says, the company must provide a minimum of total cumulative amount of 1,000 new four-time jobs at the project site with an average salary of at least $67,000. $470 annually. So, I'm sure you all are going to approve this for this particular company. My question is, it says 1,000 employees, it's over a span of the project's term. Who's going to ensure that this company follows through with this because it currently only has 350 employees at its headquarters in California. So what makes us believe that in the span of this particular project that they're going to get this 1,000 employee fulfillment that you all are obligated to? Who's going to ensure that this company does this? Again, like I said, it's a lot of language in it. I can't go through all of it because I only have three minutes, but hopefully someone who's ever responsible for overseeing this project ensures this company follows through with its obligations, okay? Again, it's a company that I feel is unnecessary. Weapons of mass destruction, you know, things they use for war, you know, things that kill people, et cetera, et cetera. Thank you.

Council is the only speaker on this item. This time I can entertain a motion to close the public hearing. I've got a motion and a second, please vote. Motion carries.

Next will be ZC-26-053. Mayor, we have one speaker, but only if there's opposition, and there's none.

Thank you, Mr. Ojeski. You good? Okay. Council Member Nettles. Got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is SP-26-008. We have two speakers, one only if needed.

Thank you. Adrian Smith is our speaker. Councilman Martinez?

Yes, Councilwoman Martinez. I truly stand in opposition of this particular zoning case, and I know that the zoning commission voted 11-0. I've stated in previous meetings that you all really control the zoning commission because regardless of how the zoning commission votes, you all have the power to override their decisions. So it wasn't a unanimous, I believe, 11-0. zero, whatever, whatever, in support of this. But my question to the applicant, what ensures the community that this particular site will not become a nuisance to the community? Considering we do have a, this particular site has a tire shop right to the left of it. It has a tire shop that's operational. They do good business. But what they're proposing here is like a auto repair shop. So what ensures the community that this particular site will not become a car graveyard? And what do I mean by a car graveyard? You know, where you take on too many projects that you can't fix. So now you just have vehicles on your property sitting idle, not being fixed, but it's an eyesore to those in the community who have to pass by. Also, to the right of this particular site is a It used to be in, it was Councilmember Netto's district at the time until they redrew the maps, but it's in your district now, Ms. Martinez. The store to the right of it, it's a nuisance. It has been a trouble spot for years upon years upon years. Many people have lost their lives at this particular uh service station question is why is it still open why is this the operational i don't know again to the applicant uh hopefully you are you will be a good applicant you ensure that those vehicles if if this council approved this that they will get on your lot they will get fixed and get pushed off of it We don't need it to be just an eyesore, just something you all doing to be a hangout spot, et cetera, et cetera. That's typically what happens in our communities. These spots become hangout spots, you know? So again, don't allow it to become a car graveyard. Make sure that the business that you are setting out to do gets done. and make sure you open and close when you're supposed to. It doesn't become a nuisance. We shouldn't have to spend taxpayer dollars sending law enforcement out to fix any problems that might arise from whatever happens on your property if you cannot control what happens on your property. Again, the Zoning Commission spoke. You all have the power to override the Zoning Commission. It's happened in the past. That's why I stand on it. Thank you.

Senator Martinez, the conclusion of our speakers on this item.

Mayor, Mr. Smith, I want to ensure you that the property owner actually has committed to submitting a business affidavit with PD to trespass folks after hours. If you look at the site plan, there will be a fence around the perimeter and it will be closed so that we don't have folks partying in the vacant property. outside of the business hours. And we did meet twice with three different neighborhoods surrounding neighborhood associations, Fairhaven, Eastland, and Village Creek. And we made changes as a community to that site plan. So to zoning, I just have a really quick question. If somebody's here. Mr. Petriot, I think we're good. I just wanted to make sure that the- I just want to let you know that I was here.

I put a note in the applicant that I might not be able to make it, but I'm here to answer any questions.

I saw you in the back. Thank you. Dave, I just wanted for peace of mind that the site plan that we are going to be voting on today has the change to the hours of operation and removing the car wash component that would also remove the one bay included in the original site plan, correct?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, a motion to approve.

Second. Motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is ZC-26-062. We have one speaker, only if there's opposition.

Council Member Flores.

There we go. Okay. Before I move to approval, just want to acknowledge that Ray Ojeski here is here representing the applicant. And Mr. Ojeski, thank you for making the necessary outreach. I know you engaged with Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD and other stakeholders to seek their support, which you provided copies to for staff. So move for approval.

Got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is ZC-26-060.

Council Member Flores.

Move for approval.

Got a motion and a second. Please vote. Motion carries.

Next is ZC-26-066.

Council Member Peeples, we have one speaker on this item, Randall Johnson.

Mayor and council members, I'm Randall Johnson, Fort Worth residents. I am an attorney. I have represented the Dan Clark family for over 15 years. They have fully support this request to change this totally light industrial. As you can tell, it's been a number of zoning there, and this will facilitate better use in the future, I think, by the family and those successors.

Council Member Peebles?

And I agree and so I move to approve.

Got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

Next is ZC-26-069. Council Member Peebles?

So we don't have a speaker on this one, but I move to approve. This is, we need more single family houses, and I am appreciative of this applicant, so move to approve.

Motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is ZC-26-075.

Councilor Nettles, we have one speaker on this item, Adrienne Smith.

Lutes approve.

Motion. Hold your horses, soldier. All right, so this particular site, I stand, well, I thought it was a denial at first, but I stand in support of considering the properties to the left and the right of it don't meet the criteria that's outlined for that particular area. So, yeah, I stand in support of it. Mr. Nettles? Thank you. Hold on. Y'all on my time. All right. Now, when I get up there, y'all can second and all that, but I'm down here. Y'all on my time. So, again, I stand to approve, although hopefully going forward. You know, we won't run into these issues as it relates to zoning. We know sometimes we pick and choose who we allow to do certain things in certain communities. But to the applicant, kudos to you. Hopefully this project serves the families that will be calling it home even though duplexes are supposed to be temporarily living um but hopefully the families that will be utilizing these uh places will be able to make the best of their lives thank you mr nettles for being in such a rush the inclusion of our speakers councilman nettles i made my motion got a motion on the floor second please vote

Motion carries.

Next is ZC-26-077. Council Member Peebles.

So, Mayor, before I move to approve, and I will move to approve, I would like to recognize Reverend Bruce Datcher, who is in the audience this evening, and to talk about the benefits of true partnership and working together. And so, Reverend Datcher, I thank you for bringing me in early. I thank you for including me in the discussions that you've had, and I look forward to seeing some really nice residential homes there, and so I just wanna thank you for doing all the things the right way. So, and I move to approve.

Second. Got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is ZC-26-080.

Council Member Beck, we have one speaker on this item, only if there's opposition. And a motion and a second, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is ZC-26-081. Council Member Peoples.

of partnering with my office and working to benefit the citizens of District 5, and I'm just grateful and move to approve.

Got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Next is SP-26-009. Council Member Hall.

Got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

Council, that gets us back to the data center items. We will have a brief overview by ACM McCachran, followed by the speakers. And speakers will be given three minutes per council rules on all three items, or however many of the three items that they registered to speak on. So a total of three minutes for all of the items.

Jess, the floor is yours, thank you.

Perfect, quick question. Jeanette, how do I move the slides? One second. Excellent. All right. Well, we have a lot of great interest in these three items, as you can see. And we thought it would be a really good idea, both for council and for the public, to walk through first what the three items are on your agenda, what each of them do, and what just the background on them are. So the three items, we have two resolutions followed by an ordinance. The first resolution is to initiate a 90-day moratorium on data center developments. The second resolution is to create a Fort Worth Data Center and Infrastructure Commission. And the third ordinance is going to be Chapter 14 amendment of our Code of Ordinances to adopt a permit application requirement for all data center developments. So let's jump into these. The very first item, which is the resolution directing the city manager to initiate a 90-day moratorium on accepting, processing, and approving new applications or rezonings for data centers. I just want to reiterate, this is to initiate the process to adopt a moratorium. This does not put the moratorium on today. The moratorium process has to follow all of the steps that are outlined in Chapter 212 of the Texas Local Government Code before you can vote on actually enacting that moratorium. Under this resolution, it will direct the city to undertake a regulatory review of data centers during that moratorium period. We will specifically look at the noise impacts, evaluate municipal supply water impacts, coordinate with our regional electric utility providers. We will evaluate land use compatibility, our building scale of these kinds of development and mechanical infrastructure, and also look to develop amendments to our zoning ordinance, our city code, and our water manual. And just a reminder, you all know this, but the water manual was actually on tonight's City Council agenda, so you have adopted that water manual. We can make changes to it in the future if we need to, but it did include at least the requirement for the closed-loop cooling technology and the wastewater non-significant industrial permit that we previously talked about in the June 2nd work session. We brought that forward to you anyway despite the hold on everything else because that manual had been in the works for several years and includes a number of really important changes for the water utility as a whole. So it was really time to move that forward and not hold on that one. This next slide that you see here is really an outline of Chapter 212 of the Texas Local Government Code and what it says about the moratorium process and the moratorium purpose. So under this specific state law, a moratorium will allow the city to temporarily pause certain types of development while the city prepares regulations to address a specific concern. On the left side of your screen, you see the list of requirements to adopt a moratorium. Number one, under state law, there are very specific notice and public hearing requirements. So following the timeline that is set forth in this chapter of the Texas Local Government Code, we will hold two public hearings, followed by two readings of the proposed ordinance, and then finally, you will act and adopt that proposed ordinance. The vote today is just a simple majority to adopt this resolution to initiate the process, but to actually adopt the moratorium at the end of this public notice, public hearing process, it does require a super majority vote of city council. Under state law, the initial period of that moratorium is 90 days. Now at the conclusion of 90 days, if you are not quite ready, you can adopt another resolution with specific findings in order to extend that moratorium for one additional 90 day period. Under the state law though, the moratorium has an absolute maximum time limit of 180 days. We cannot extend beyond that. And at the conclusion of that moratorium, we must adopt the development regulations. On the right side of the screen is just a list of limitations, again, directly from state law, things that we need to know as we go into this process. Number one, we still cannot regulate any issue that is outside of the city's regulatory authority. We covered that list of what's under the state regulatory authority and what's under the city regulatory authority on June 2nd in that work session presentation. We cannot prohibit a lawful land use through the moratorium process. Also, we've said it before but it's worth saying again because I think this is a really important part to know, the moratorium by state law will not apply to vested projects, to approved projects or to those that have zoning applications already submitted. So know that all of those developments, a lot of the developments that we already know are at various stages of progress that we talked about on June 2nd, those are not halted by the moratorium. They can continue to move forward in the development process regardless. And then lastly, if we adopt the moratorium, then for a period of two years after, we cannot adopt another moratorium. We can still amend our regulations at any time because they are within our local control, but we cannot use a moratorium process to put another stay on development. The second item in this grouping is a resolution directing the city manager to establish the Fort Worth Data Center and Infrastructure Commission. This would assemble an expert commission to study the specific issues surrounding data centers and to provide back to council a report and recommendations, and we're recommending that that report come back to you at your work session on November 3rd. The areas of study that we would assign to this commission include four areas listed on this screen. Number one is electricity and energy. Now again, I just said we can't regulate anything that's outside of our control, and that includes electricity and energy. However, we are asking that the commission would look at it through the lens of the impact of any additional loads on the grid, the impact that it would have on Fort Worth rate payers. We would also ask the commission to look at this from the lens of Under, I think it was SB6, where new data centers have to bring their own power, what does that possibly look like for the city of Fort Worth as well? We would ask the commission to look at water use and local resources. Again, we've already adopted the policy now to require closed-loop cooling technology, but we know that the field is ever-changing and so we'll still have the commission take a look at that and see, did we adopt the right rule or do we need to make an additional recommendation in the future? We will ask the commission to look at land use, at siding, at the neighborhood impacts. Again, the primary concerns that we've heard over and over are the distance to residential communities, the impacts of noise on lighting. So under this section, they would look at all of those types of development standards that would be appropriate for development in Fort Worth. And lastly, we would ask the commission that they look at the economic development and fiscal impacts opportunities of data centers and also recommend transparency criteria. Under the proposal that you have in front of you, this would be directed by Dr. Mike Slattery, who is the director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at Texas Christian University. The proposal that is before you is for Dr. Slattery to select 11 members to serve on a commission, although that resolution that you have states that the selection would be made with input from the city council. The representation on this commission would be at least one person with an economic development business sector background, one person with a data center operations background, one person with an environmental or natural resource management background, one person from a local electric provider, one person from Tarrant Regional Water District, a person from an environmental advocacy organization, and three community members that would be selected from a list of qualified Fort Worth residents put forward by the city council. Now the last two spots, there's two additional spots that are not reserved for any specific type of background, so those are just open seats on the commission. The one thing that you will see in the resolution though is we do include that all of these members should be Fort Worth residents where feasible. I will serve as the ex-officio member on this commission and will provide staff support to Dr. Slattery. But Dr. Slattery will act independently of our staff and he will run this commission, scheduling their meetings, coordinating their topics, pulling everything together in order to assist the commission to come to their final report and recommendation to the council. And again, that will be brought back to you on November 3rd. And lastly, the little disclaimer on the bottom left-hand side, every recommendation that's in that report can only pertain to areas that are within city regulatory authority. We're asking them to look at a very broad range of topics, but the recommendations that come back are things that we can control and weigh in on. So council, I was asked and our city attorney's office was asked to look at a timeline that put the commission's work and the moratorium process together. And that put the moratorium public hearings starting immediately following the receipt of the report for the commission so that you and the public have an opportunity to see what the final report is and the recommendations from that commission. And then everybody has an opportunity to weigh in and comment on that report during the public hearing. So this timeline that you see here would account for that. Of course, we can make any adjustments that you deem appropriate so long as we fit the schedule that is set out again in state law in that Chapter 212. So starting in the green box for August 11th, that is today. You can adopt the resolution to initiate the moratorium process today. You can adopt the resolution to assemble the commission today. This would all start and then over the next few months, August, September, October, heavily, the commission is going to do their work, conducting academic research, also looking at every public comment that we've received so far. We will turn all of that over. The 1600 survey responses, we will provide all of that to the committee. On October 9th, again, this is a proposed schedule that we can adjust, but on October 9th, we staff would publish in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, our official newspaper, the notice of that first public hearing. On November 3rd, the commission will present their report and recommendations to you. On November 10th, we propose that you would hold your first public hearing, that's a regular council meeting night. That same week, on that Friday, our staff will send the second notice of public hearing to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for publication. Now this, you see, is a little bit stretched out because then we bump up against the holiday time. So we would propose that we hold that second public hearing on January 5th. And then the first reading of the proposed ordinance, which has to be very close to that second public hearing, would fall on January 22nd, one of your regular posted council meetings. The second reading of that proposed ordinance would occur on February 16th, and on that same night, you could then adopt the ordinance enacting the moratorium. In bold there, you see just a reminder. I said it already, but I'll say it again. The moratorium does require a supermajority vote of council in order to go into effect. If adopted by council, that moratorium would start immediately, and the first 90 days would end on May 17th. Again, you do have the opportunity for one 90-day extension if you still needed a little bit more time. And so if you called that one extension, the moratorium would completely terminate and expire on August 15th. Council, at any point during the process when you feel you have what you need to adopt regulations though, you can adopt those regulations. So you can wait through the entire moratorium. If halfway through the moratorium you decide you're ready, again, you can adopt those regulations at any point in time. The gray bar up at the top is very important. It's just a disclaimer. It's just a reminder that I want you all to know during this process, all vested projects are exempt from the moratorium and any new project that comes in along the way until you have new regulations adopted, they vest. And all that means is that they secure the right to develop under today's regulations. OK, they do not have to then follow the new regulations that are adopted. Now, most developers that we've talked to have indicated their desire to follow your new rules once they're enacted. But I do just want to make that clear that under state law, they have the right to choose either to develop under today's standards or they can voluntarily to develop to the higher standards, whatever those end up being. The third item on the agenda is an ordinance that would amend chapter 14 of our city code in order to adopt a new application filing requirement. This would require that any data center development provide proof of approval from either the Public Utilities Commission or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, who regulates the grid, in order to show the city that they have approval for that interconnection to the grid. This would apply under the draft ordinance that you have in your packet to pre-development conferences, to platting, to replatting, to building permits, to infrastructure plan review. It does not apply though to annexation or pre-annexation requests. The logic being we would rather a development still want to come into the city where we can then apply our development regulations versus a development occurring in the ATJ or even just outside our city limits that is pulling from the same water resources we are, but where we would have no development authority to regulate setbacks, noise, lighting, etc. So we do have that one exemption in here. This ordinance was drafted, as we talked about last week, to be in line with the governor's directive that was issued to the Public Utilities Commission and to ERCOT last Monday, where he directed the PUC and ERCOT to conduct a comprehensive audit of all data center projects that are currently working through the interconnection process. And specifically, Governor Abbott is asking the PUC and ERCOT to look at these five items that are listed on your screen. being financial aspects, the electricity demand, the water demand, development ownership or interests, controlling interests, and then also the neighborhood property impacts. Okay, so to recap, three individual items. You can act on all three of these today. On the resolution directing the city manager to initiate the moratorium, you do need to let us know the date that you desire to hold that first public hearing. Again, there is 30-day notice period, so the date that you direct us to do that, we will then work that schedule off of. But as a reminder, this is one potential schedule that you could work from. And at that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

One point of clarification, Jess, if you go back to number three in the ordinance, does the passage of this ordinance prevent the vesting issue that you'd mentioned previous to this slide?

I'm going to defer to the city attorney's office, but no, I believe the answer is it does not. They can still submit an application. which lets us know that there's a plan in the works. We could not accept an application that is incomplete. We could not approve an application that is incomplete.

So yes, to answer the question, adoption of this ordinance this evening would not stop a project specifically from becoming vested. There's other ways a property owner or developer could put the city on notice of their project. even though this ordinance is passed.

Thank you. Any other questions for Jess at this time? Yeah, sorry, my screen went away. I'll fix it. Council Member Flores and Council Member Martinez.

Jess, I think I understand what you meant to say, but can you elaborate a little more when you say complete?

Complete, exactly. So when we get an application in for any type of development, we're going to do the review. Does it meet all of the city's codes? Does it meet the building code? Does it meet our infrastructure standards, etc. ? If an application is received that doesn't meet those requirements, it's rejected, it's just not accepted. Now they can resubmit, they can clarify. Another example of being incomplete is that For example, if you're going to need water utilities, almost everything does, you have to submit the water loading study that we talked about at the June 2nd work session. If we get an application for development that does not include all of those requirements, it's just not complete, and we cannot then process that application for development. So instead, the comments are made on that application of what is all missing or what is incomplete, and it's given back to the applicant.

All right, thank you. Council Member Martinez, and then Council Member Beck.

Thank you, Mayor. So my comments and question is on the Data Center and Infrastructure Commission. Yes. And preface that I'm comfortable with the makeup of the commission. However, I'd like to discuss changing the wording on the resolution that would require all voting committee members to live in Fort Worth. Um, this I feel would, uh, those individuals would have, have a vested interest in the city. Um, and it would go in line with all our other city boards and commissions, not including TIFs because I know some of those are county appointees. Um, so Jess, I know you spoke to several council members who also question residency. Uh, can you speak to the reasoning of the wording, uh, where feasible?

Yes, absolutely. So part of the makeup of this commission that will be led by Dr. Slattery is also to have a broad range of people with expertise and true knowledge in the field. And when I say in the field, I don't necessarily mean data center field. I mean noise. I mean water usage and consumption, electricity, etc. So Dr. Slattery, I know, is starting to already look at potential candidates that meet the subject matter expertise of some of these positions. And so I think in some of the academic side that he's looking at, there are professors that are all affiliated with our local universities here, but potentially, you know, maybe they live in Arlington, or maybe they live just down the road from you. I don't know specifically. I don't know who those people are. But I think it was just preserving the ability to still focus very heavily on Fort Worth residency, but where there is somebody identified that is the best of the best in terms of expertise, it would give him that latitude to make that selection. But we do understand the desire to have a Fort Worth focus.

I would also be comfortable if the best of the best was academia. And if it's just one person, then I would be okay with that. But, you know, I really want to make sure that almost everybody else lives in Fort Worth. And so I thank you and I just want us to be as transparent as possible. Understood. Absolutely. Thank you.

Council Member Beck and then Council Member Peeples.

At this juncture, I just really want to address what Councilmember Martinez brought up about the makeup of the committee. I'll have some more comments, I think, when we're ready to vote on the moratorium. But I hear her reasoning. We want people from Fort Worth because people from Fort Worth inherently have a love and a desire to care for their city. What gives me pause in that is that this particular area is so fast moving. And it is so new. When you ask an expert about a data center, you get two experts. You're going to get three different responses about what they are, what they're not, what they can and can't do. And And given that, I wanna make sure that we have the best and the brightest minds available to us on this commission. And I recognize that some of that expertise might not be in the city. It might be city adjacent or regional. And I think we owe it to the residents of Fort Worth to make sure that we pick a well-rounded, committee to go forward and do this research for us. And so with that being said, I'm comfortable with where feasible being, maintaining the where feasible language, because I think we can, as a body and as a community, as a community, we can decide if we feel that someone's expertise is worthwhile enough to include them in that process. And I don't want to inadvertently exclude someone who might be the preeminent water scholar on water usage or electricity usage just because they're geographically not located within our borders. So those are my comments on that.

Thank you, Council Member Peebles.

So Mayor and Council and Jess, I wanted to talk about the community members. And I would tell you that I have fallen on my sword many times and said I am not an expert on data centers. I don't know. But we have had extraordinary citizens who have stepped up to that podium who have a wealth of knowledge and information that they would like to share. So I would like to know how, and I think you already raised your hand for this, if we know these individuals that we think would be amazing representatives for our city, can they get their resumes to you? And so that we could make sure that Dr. Slattery knows that it is the council's, or my wish on the council, that we try to pick some of the best and the brightest that have come to us to serve on that committee. And I think that would inject some of the feelings that Fort Worth citizens would know they'd be well represented.

Absolutely. I think to make it easier, what I would suggest is if you've got those names of people that you really want connected, send them my way. I think what would also be helpful to Dr. Slattery is send a little bit of their background or why you feel they would be the best one. I've also had a number of people reach out to me ever since seeing the announcement about the consideration for this commission. So I've got all of those names and told Dr. Slattery we would share that with him as well. Council Member Nettles.

I just want clarification on the community members. I think the presentation said we will send the names of the three Or will we send him names of 20 and he choose out of the?

So how the resolution reads right now is that the three community representatives shall be selected from qualified persons submitted by the council. So I take that to mean, again, exactly as what we just said. If you've got people that you want for sure, send those over to me. We've got three spaces on the commission that are required to be those community members selected. that are selected from the qualified list that council members put forward. There's still the additional two members that are open. So I think any other names or people that have expressed interest, I intend to just give all of that to Dr. Slattery. And then again, he can make the final decisions on the rest.

Well, it kind of sounds like that we'll have a broader conversation once those names are submitted as a group as we do for Trinity Metro and others. Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Any other questions for Jess at this time?

and ask a lot of questions and spend a lot of time sending you emails and demanding answers and you have been very good about responding and I just want to thank you for that. This is a very complex, emotional issue and as I told you, I get texts from my family all the time that don't want data centers and I get some that want them and I want to do it the right way for our citizens. Oh, that's exactly right.

Mayor and council, our team is still very invested in this project. We are right alongside with you. We want to get it right. And whatever that looks like to get us there, we're on board.

You and the entire team have been excellent professionals in this process, so we're very thankful. Thank you.

Okay. Well, I'm right over here if y'all need anything else, as well as Rich in our city attorney's office, too.

Thank you, Jess. Appreciate that. Okay. Council Member Martinez, excuse me.

Mayor, just clarification, so we're going to vote on each of these individually?

We will, but we're going to go to public comment at this time. We're going to do all public comment before we do any voting.

Is there any way we could vote on them as a group?

Oh, I see what you, no, because there's a few things, like there's one particular, we need to pull some stuff out so that Councilman Winkle, it's complicated, yeah, okay. The first speaker we have is Vicki Goodwin, followed by Nathan Chase.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. I am State Representative Vicki Goodwin. I'm from Austin. I know you're probably thinking, why are you here talking to the Fort Worth City Council? But I want to start by saying that I am supportive of a moratorium. Listening to the presentation, it always strikes me how slow government works. A moratorium passed by the Fort Worth City Council would send a signal to the state legislature and maybe even to the governor and lieutenant governor. So I am one of the representatives who has called the governor to call a special session so that the legislature can come back and set some regulation. As I have been traveling around the state, I have been hearing from so many people about all the issues and concerns around data centers. Originally, I thought it was mainly about water and electricity, but it's so much more. And I think it behooves the legislature to put in place some regulation. Transparency of energy and water use making sure that the data center companies that are building them aren't pushing those costs for new transmission of energy and water onto households, and looking at the incentives that we passed in 2013, which added up to a billion dollars worth of sales tax exemptions in 2025 and will increase to three and a half billion in the coming two years. As I have been traveling around the state, I've been hearing more, though, about the closed-loop systems that the data center companies are saying it won't use as much water. However, that does use Forever Chemicals PFAS, and what about the discharge of that? I'm not an expert. I don't know. What about the noise, the vibrations affecting livestock, etc., animals and insects, all the implications of AI on job loss? These are really big, important issues that the legislature should take up. And again, I know you're not the legislature. But anything that city councils do tends to send a signal to the legislature. So again, I think it's really important, and I hope that you will strongly consider voting in favor of the moratorium. Thank you. Thank you.

I believe we have two members of the legislature here tonight. We have Representative Goodwin and Representative Rosenthal as well. So it's nice to see you both. Our next speaker is Nathan Chase, followed by Lauren Chong.

Good evening, members of the City Council. Today I'll be talking about two items. It will be the Infrastructure Commission and then the Ordinance. I've sent in written comments about the moratorium. So I'd like to state that for the Commission, I do agree that there is a necessity for it. However, I have reservations about the language used in the proposal. Firstly, the language concerning members being from Fort Worth comes with the added qualifier, where feasible. I think being a resident should be a requirement, not a preference. Our city is the 10th largest in the United States, so I find it difficult to believe that qualified residents cannot be found here. And if it truly does become unfeasible, the resolution should clearly define the circumstances to justify this exception. Second, the resolution does not explicitly require that the final report be voted by the committee for approval. Having a formal vote helps provide accountability and makes it clear that the report is representative of the committee as a whole. And then finally, I am concerned about the three month timeline for this committee. In that short time span, this committee is supposed to have selected its members, gathered testimony from experts, deliberated and drafted a final report with meaningful recommendations. I believe that community issues with a lot at stake, such as data centers, need more time to deliver impactful results. A dedicated committee on the data centers could give the community a chance to set the course on this issue. But to live up to that promise, it needs strong requirements for community representation, mechanisms of accountability, and more time. On the subject of the ordinances, I'll be speaking in favor of them. I believe this ordinance is a step in the right direction because it prevents the data center projects from bypassing the ERCOT audit required by the statewide moratorium by relying on independent generators for their power. Without the requirement, projects can continue forward by using fossil fuel generators as their power source, thus causing harmful environmental impacts to the community and more broadly. This ordinance ensures that all projects going forward are put under the same level of scrutiny regardless of how they plan to power them. Thank you.

Lauren Chong will be followed by Lydia Faith.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak again. I wanted to speak to the data center committee task force first. I'm in favor of having a data center task force. My hope would be that there would be a citizen task force. I'm concerned about the city manager having appointed a chair without community input. I'm concerned about... The low community representation on the task force and would suggest because of the huge impact of data centers on our community that each council member have the opportunity to select a resident from their district for the task force. The timeframe for the committee to do its work is too short. With the report due November 3rd, after which time the committee would be disbanded. With the critical impact on public land, hyperscale data centers present an environmental challenge like no other. In consideration of the open spaces that we have left here in Fort Worth, we need time for environmental impact studies. The results of which the data center committee would be able to utilize for the recommendations in its final report. There are no environmental federal or state regulations on data centers, so policy at the local level is more important than ever. Therefore, I respectfully suggest that the committee extends significantly the timeframe for the data center committee to do its important work. Regarding the next one I'd like to speak to is the moratorium, which I am very much in favor of. Thank you for putting that forward for a vote today. Regarding the moratorium, I'm very concerned about preserving the open spaces that are so central to the Texas identity. I don't want us just to have to look on our phone in the future at an image generated by AI to recall what our wide open spaces used to look like because hyperscale data centers have destroyed these landscapes. As a part of the data center considerations, I would like to see a plan for the preservation of open spaces. I would like to see that included. They really are irreplaceable and fundamental to the character of Fort Worth and Texas. Thank you.

Lydia Faith, followed by Gary Hogan.

Hello, my name is Lydia Faith, and I'm part of the Fort Worth Environmental Coalition of Communities. I am for the 90-day moratorium, however, it is not enough time to research and understand both the short-term and long-term impacts of data centers. That is why the extension is important. But I hope you all understand that this is just the first step of many steps you must take to protect our communities, our city resources, and our environment. I also do have one question. Will this moratorium include the Black Mountain Hyperscale Data Center? Regarding the data center committee, I am in favor, but only if it is led by impacted community members. Also, why is the committee being led by Mike, who doesn't even live in Fort Worth? Community members should be the majority, not a small part. Also, what does it mean to be a qualified community member? Impacted community members are the experts and having to submit a resume is also another roadblock and there should be and there is a more inclusive way. It will also be the residents of the neighborhoods where these data centers are being built who have to live with these impacts, but why are they constantly excluded from the conversation? While this data center committee is a step in the right direction, it will be nothing if it isn't led by impacted community members. These are the people who would be living every day with the potential impacts of these data centers to their health, their finances, and homes and more. They should be the ones who inform, develop, and control the process and regulations. It is their tax dollars. It is their lives. They are the stakeholders. The businesses profiting off of these data centers are not the priority. Residents are the priority and it is up to you to put them out the table.

Gary Hogan will be followed by Carla Johnson.

Good evening, Council. I very much appreciate this hearing and for you taking up this cause. I am totally in favor of the moratorium issue on this. It is absolutely necessary that the City of Fort Worth take the time to address this issue and protect our city from the impacts with this investigation and setting up clear guidelines. I also say that I think the committee needs to be made up of the citizens represented from council members' recommendations too. We did this in 2000 and 2008 when we had the task force set up to discuss gas well drilling when it came to our city. So I think we need to have that voice from citizens appointed to this to the maximum number we can put on there, maybe from each city council. That's the way we did it for the gas well drill and we had a representative from each council just for the transparency issue and recommendations from those people working to set this up. The data center ordinance that we turned down at the zoning commission proposal was terrible. 200 feet from residential homes. I don't think there's one person on this city council that would like to have this data center 200 feet from their home, so why impose it on other neighborhoods? So we really need to look at this ordinance to protect the future and livability of our great city, Fort Worth. So I know you've got a lot of voices here to hear tonight. We're all concerned about this coming to our neighborhoods. So we need to protect the livability of our city. WITH A VERY PROTECTIVE ORDINANCE WITH REGULATIONS AND ALSO AN ENFORCEMENT DIVISION LIKE WE HAD WITH GAS DRILLING WHEN WE HAD THE GAS DRILLING INSPECTION OFFICE. WE NEED TO HAVE THAT SPECIAL DEPARTMENT TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON THIS MADE INTO OUR SYSTEM OF OVERSIGHT AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE REGULATIONS THAT WE WILL SET UP. THANK YOU.

Carla Johnson will be followed by Base Migo.

Hi, I'm Carla Johnson. Council, I'm going to speak on 10.2.8, the 90-day moratorium. I'm requesting that you vote yes to start the moratorium process. As you know, and from my understanding, under Texas law, a moratorium can last up to 90 days with the option to only renew once for 90 days for a maximum of 180 total. After that, there is a two-year waiting period before a new one can be started. Time is critical. I want meaningful protection in the interim while the state decides what the regulations will be. Waiting may feel like we are missing out on an opportunity. missing out on growth, waiting does not always mean slowing down the process. It can literally be what thrust Fort Worth towards a more successful, longer-lasting data center. Maybe we, Fort Worth, you, city council, maybe we can be known for the leader of data center regulation while keeping our citizens safe, our mental health positive, and keeping our physical health from being compromised. How about a little fun? Why not be known for doing data center right? Just maybe the social media headlines can be, Fort Worth wins the West in the data center test. 10.2.9, council, I'm seeking a win-win here. We understand that it can be just a win for us. We understand that. It has to be a win for you. I support the idea of a commission, but I'm against the proposed composition. I believe that the commission should be made up of residents, one appointed by each council member. I believe that there should be a subject matter advisors, but they should be non-voting members. Residents should vote. Advisors should inform the residents. In my line of work, we have to avoid the conflicts of interest and I'm asking you to do the same. 10.5.1. Council, I support the filing requirements for data center applications, but filing requirements alone are not enough. You're aware of some of the gaps that we're talking about. One, a much more meaningful setback, at least a thousand feet. Honestly, when I learned of the current amount of time, of feet, I had to make sure I had my glasses on to make sure I read that right. Second, a full seasonal noise baseline study by independent engineer. Please consider this, my mental health is at stake. A tiered regulatory framework based on total power consumptions in megawatts and a decommissioning bond. Thank you for your time.

Base Migo, followed by Caleb Roberts. Mr. Mego, it'll actually be this microphone over, the skinny one, just over to your right. Okay, that's fine. Is it on, Jeanette?

It's on.

Okay, thank you.

No jobs. Not being able to make ends meet. overburdened water systems, taxed out electrical grid. This has all been found by leading expert, Dr. Michael Hicks from Ball State, leading expert of Texas data centers. This is what's gonna happen to us when we have these data centers. It's not job creation. It's job displacement. It's job loss. Farms being decimated. Farmers not knowing what to do. So they work for the data centers. That's not job creation. That's job transfer. The City Council has talked about finding experts to address this issue. I recommend City Council talk to Dr. Michael Hicks with his recent research study. No money coming in. These data centers are supposed to be paying taxes. bringing in money. We're not gonna make ends meet with these tax cuts. Where's the money gonna come from? It's gonna come from us. We have to pick up the slack. We're left with the bill. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Caleb Roberts, followed by Steven Sanchez.

Yeah. Okay, here we go. Good evening, Council. Caleb Roberts, Executive Director of Downwinders at Risk, member of Fort Worth Environmental Coalition of Communities. I am in favor of the moratorium, although I am concerned of the many companies that may try to push their applications in in the meantime. Also, with what the state has done, limiting hookups of some of these data centers, that does not keep in mind some of the other fossil fuels that they can use to run their data centers. And that's something that the city needs to look at as well. And speaking of the committee, I did not think that committee was well thought out. It looks more like a research project. that it does something that the residents can truly abide by. What we're seeing now is that Fort Worth residents do not believe that data centers are something that they want next to them, near them, or close to them. And who else to tell the city how they want to work, how they want that to work, other than the residents themselves. Sometimes we have way too many experts. This is not something, you know, if we wanted more experts, we could ship this out to MIT or Yale or Harvard or something like that and get all the experts in the world. But the people here in Fort Worth are the only ones who can tell you what they're willing to put up with, what they're afraid of, and what they want to see happen. And I think anybody you wanna bring in as an expert can be brought in. They can brief a committee of residents. We don't need the experts to be the voting members of this. We can have the committee be comprised of community members and what they need to be aware of, we can bring people in to do that. So I just don't understand the distinction between the two. And lastly, get into some of the regulations. I do believe this needs to be put into heavy industrial areas. We are going through a comprehensive plan right now, 2050 comprehensive plan. I don't know why this hasn't been discussed in the future land use of this city and to any of the distinctions of that comprehensive plan that's supposed to push us into 2050. Also, we haven't had discussions, like I said before, of fracking, natural gas pumping that are affecting our communities. If these data centers figure out that they won't get connected to the grid, and they decide that diesel fuel, or worse, methane, are gonna be used to generate energy for their data centers, what they're gonna do is build turbines on their sites, use and pump methane into their facilities and spray it out into the Fort Worth air. For example, the Black Mountain in southeastern Fort Worth, if it uses gas turbines, it will blow all that pollution, it goes northwest, pollution goes from southeast to northwest, right into the center of Fort Worth. They travel 30 miles. This is a thing that you need to fight against with all these regulations, thank you.

Stephen Sanchez, followed by Sue Weston.

Hello, I'm Steven Sanchez. I'm a resident in District 2. This is over some of the audio and SPL logs that I have logged over the last couple of weeks. So here we go. Again, everything was captured at 34 dB on my preamp, the MixPre 6. That means it's just at a lower level. The sound is boosted 16 dBFS here in the chamber here, so for playback. Also, the bass lines are recorded low and then boosted as well, so it is the same level. These are mistraceable. Again, this is legally admissible. This is what a normal neighborhood sounds like at 16 dBFS after 34 dB. Here's the crypto mine in District 6. You can hear some electrical noise underneath the power line. I took the rumble out to keep the speakers safe in here. Just so you can see the graphs of what this looks like. and how to interpret that data. I'm using the equivalent continuous sound level because this is a 30 second reading on these graphs here. You can use 50 or 90, but that's really for just more of a longer recording. On the current noise ordinance right now, industrial districts are exempt from all noise limits on the tables that are on there. So where I recorded this, it's actually, I used the ruler that's on the zoning map. So 760 feet-ish from residence on one side, and then on another side it's 1,142. I didn't measure one side just because it was just being blocked by a huge building. There's also some buffer on the other side. I would like to go record that actually. If this was right next to residence, it would be well over ordinance at night, just because since I was recording far away, if I would've got closer, especially if you were at the 200-foot range, you'd probably be hitting that 60 dBA over. This is an industrial area, though, so it's pretty where it's supposed to be. And so for inclusion of all of this, just to show you, I'm in favor of a moratorium, just because, I mean, obviously, There's oversight, right? There's missing oversight. Y'all missed this crypto mine. It's a committee being formed. I'm definitely for it now, but it needs to be done right. As you heard from many citizens already, they have some really great ideas. Yeah, just Prince William County did this already. We don't want that to happen here. So don't do that. I'm in favor of AERCO and Public Utility Commission putting those limits in. So, you know, deliberate.

Our next speaker is Sue Weston, followed by Judy Williams.

Good evening, council. We've come a long way since last September 30th when y'all rezoned all the land around my historic gardens. And I do appreciate how y'all have come a long way and started to listen to what the community has to say. And most of these people that have been up here speaking, they've been to the garden center and they're very concerned, as I am. They're worried about losing this historic gardens. And I do agree with everything Caleb said and Lydia Rose. They've been very thoughtful. They've thought things through. Please take them seriously at what they say because they've been an inspiration to me. And last September 30th, y'all told me you would find a way to protect the gardens. And I am going to hold you to that. When I look back and see and start to do the research of what is going to happen with the walls a hundred year walls And all we need help out there and we need people that really care about the city I agree there are experts people that can help us and environmentally is just as important as money for the city and But I do commend you all that you've come a long way in saying, yep, let's just do it. And I am in agreement with the moratorium, but I do think we need to listen to especially what Caleb and what Lydia Faith have said and take it seriously. Thank you for your time.

Judy Williams will be followed by Ben Darling.

Good evening, Council. I'm Judy Williams, and I've been a Fort Worth resident since 1983. I'm in District 3. Councilman Crane represents our neighborhood. I am very concerned about the data center committee, the task force. There was a big zoning mess up and a big mistake that happened over a year ago where A sign was posted the day after the zoning hearing and voted on with there being no opposition. That was their conclusion. That was wrong. The sign announcing the meeting The Zoning Commission meeting was done the day after the Zoning Commission meeting. I'm just calling this to your attention because I want you to consider having on this task force a majority of citizens. We're the ones who live near these proposed data centers. The one that's near me is in Southwest Fort Worth. at 2871 and Longview, which is also called, well, Longview and 2871 at I-20. I am a founding member of the 2871 Community Coalition, and I am in favor of the moratorium being started since it's going to take a while to get things underway. I hope you will support that. And we need safeguards put in place to protect health and safety of the residents, the animals, and to protect the quality of life in Fort Worth. I want to mention the regulations and enforcement that need to be done on the ordinance. be sure that that's included in the ordinance and it could be similar to the gas drilling task force that was done in Fort Worth 2006 to 2008. So maybe look at that as a guideline. My other request is Someone please introduce Mike Slattery, Dr. Mike Slattery from TCU who's supposed to be in charge of this data center task force. I would like to meet this person and I think he should be a public, be acknowledged by the public so we know who would be heading up this task force. Thank you very much.

Ben Darling followed by Jacob Franklin.

Hello, City Council. My name is Ben Darling and I live in District 7. I'm here to speak on item number 10.2.9 in support of the idea of a data center committee that's up for discussion. I use the word idea because I think it's key that this committee is comprised of the correct community members. Bare minimum, it is crucial that the majority of voting individuals on this committee are people with an actual stake in the outcome of the current data center debate. In this scenario, an actual stake is not something related to profiting off of data centers in the slightest. Time and time again, we have seen local governments give business interests financial incentives to come set up while actual residents are left behind. It is imperative that this doesn't end up being another situation where the common good is set aside for the people at the top to gain. We need people with genuine regard for the Fort Worth community and residents that will act as proper representation for the people. I don't say this to neglect expertise in the slightest, and I do believe experts on the impact of data centers have a key advisory role to play. Ultimately though, the actual voting power must reside within the residents of the city. Thank you.

Wesley Kirk, excuse me, Jacob Franklin followed by Wesley Kirk.

Hey, I'm Jacob from Woodhaven District four in East Fort Worth. We're here to voice the community's support for the 90 day moratorium, but only with the understanding that it is not nearly enough. This moratorium should really be indefinite until we have significant regulations in place, including a requirement for data centers to be zoned as heavy industrial sites. a bare minimum of a 1,500 foot setback requirement from residentials, and impact studies on the environmental effects on water usage, air pollution, and noise pollution, as well as economic effects on power outages, energy prices for residents, and job growth compared to infrastructure that consistently creates more jobs such as medical, education, and green energy investments, which are desperately needed in our communities. All this information must be evaluated and decided on by a permanent data center committee that is controlled by community members that reside in impacted areas. Subject matter experts must be advisors only and local residents should be the only voting members on the committee. The same should apply to the Data Center Investigation Commission. Organizations and local associations that have fought for years to preserve environmental and health protections such as the Echo Heights, Stop 6 Environmental Coalition, Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, Northside Fort Worth Air, and FWECC must be included and given a prominent voice on these bodies. Only with the community's permission through this committee should these projects be allowed. Any of these demands falling outside the city's regulatory ability does not give any of you a reason for complacency. On the contrary, all of you have a duty as our representatives to escalate these issues to the county, state, and even national levels if needed, and do everything you can to expand your regulatory authority as needed to protect the people, whether it's during, after, or before this moratorium. Especially considering the city council has taken at least $46,000 from the CEO of Black Mountain and Mayor Parker has refused to recuse herself despite her husband being a registered lobbyist. for the Data Center Coalition, representing companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google, and there is no standing ethics committee in Fort Worth. This administration cannot be trusted to preside over these issues, and the community must take direct control. The ruling class of capitalist billionaires cannot be allowed to buy our politicians, pollute and dry up our neighborhoods, especially oppressed black and brown neighborhoods, overload our power grid, and jack up our utility bills while creating relatively few jobs, particularly long-term jobs, just so they can turn around and automate more of the economy, burn our planet, and expand the imperialist US war machine, all while raking in record profits by laying off us workers and ignoring our actual needs.

Wesley Kirk will be followed by Ellis Maxwell.

Hello, my name is Wesley Kirk and I'm here to ask you for a data center moratorium, but also ask that you amend the makeup of the data center committee. It's possible that when you think of a data center, you think of a cloud-based data center that simply stores data on hard drives. But the real concern is AI data centers, aka hyperscalers, which process enormous amounts of information using technology like graphics cards. These are scales of magnitude different in the amount of electricity they use, the heat they create, the water they consume, the noise they produce. but also the air pollution that they put out thanks to generators used to meet their gluttonous energy demands. It's like comparing a scooter to an 18-wheeler. We've already learned from many of the existing hyperscalers around the country that they are harmful to our environment, detrimental to our health, a blight on our neighborhoods, and an existential threat to our future. Not to mention they are a horrible use of space since they are massive boxes that cannot easily be adaptively reused when the AI bubble inevitably bursts. I know you want their property taxes, but it means you're putting way too many eggs in a way too volatile basket. We could reach that same property tax revenue by prioritying lots of dense local businesses in the same footprint, which would be a more sustainable long-term benefit. Given the fact that city council has been woefully under-informed on the subject and the grave severity of allowing data centers to harm Fort Worth should no more be allowed, It is vital that we pause any further development of them and figure out what regulations can best protect us from those harms. A moratorium buys us time to get this right, but until then, we need you to deny any data center until we have regulations in place. which is why we need a data center committee where each city council member appoints one Fort Worth resident as a voting member with a clear history of fighting for their community to represent our city in understanding the situation and recommending any regulations they see fit on the matter. If you want to appoint an environmentalist, great. If you want to appoint a data center lobbyist, we'll take note of that for May 2027. But the majority of the task force cannot be made up of industry shills or people outside of Fort Worth who don't have to suffer the harms caused. If you want subject matter experts, they would be good to consult the committee but not be voting members. This is the best composition to ensure a democratic process and build trust with your constituents. Less than five months ago, my daughter was born. I want my daughter to grow up here in Fort Worth. I want her air to be safe to breathe. I want her water to be safe to drink, her energy to be clean and sustainable, and her city to fight to protect the rights of residents from greedy corporate interests. Everyone in Fort Worth deserves that right.

Ellis Maxwell. Ellis Maxwell will be followed by Marsha McLean.

Good evening. I'm glad that this council is poised to take the step to institute this data center moratorium. I do think it's worth noting that just two months ago city staff downplayed or kind of shrugged off the idea of a moratorium and it was only after significant pressure like we're seeing tonight that the council has changed its tune and begun to advocate for this moratorium. So I want to applaud all those in this room and outside of this room that have pushed for this step and encourage everybody to keep pushing. We definitely know the other side will continue to tip the scales evident in Black Mountain's contribution of thousands upon thousands of dollars to this council. So we know we need to keep this pressure on and we will. During the moratorium, I want to echo some of the asks made by other speakers that all data center projects be zoned under heavy industrial, the most protective designations for our residents, particularly in working class black and brown neighborhoods. where industrial pollution is already a major issue due to predatory rezoning by this council. We also need much higher setbacks from residential areas, ideally a half mile, but a 1500 foot minimum. And we need to make sure as Mr. Roberts said that the massive electricity needs of data centers do not increase pollution in our residential communities. And I don't have much to say on the committee idea other than to echo what others have already argued I can't see a reason why Council would oppose the idea of a fully citizen full citizen makeup of this Committee other than that they would be afraid of what we might say the idea of I think it's a perfectly logical idea that, as others have said, that there are experts who can come advise, who can certainly explain things that many of us who have done so much research still definitely need assistance to understand as this is such a new issue. But I just really want to uplift the word that Mr. Kirk just said, which was democratic. The only way we will have a democratic approach to this data center issue is if the people are in charge. And we also know that without the people being in charge, it's not like no one's in charge, it's corporations, it's the ruling class in charge. So I wanna echo that demand and I can't think of a reason why to oppose a citizen data center committee. Thank you.

Marsha McClain will be followed by Casey Merrifield.

Good afternoon and evening, Council. My name is Marcia McLean. I live on the east side of Fort Worth. I'm in zip code 76103, and I say that because I have to remind myself which district I'm in. That tends to change. I am an audiologist by trade, or I was until I retired, which means I work with sound. hearing aids, people's hearing loss, and I work to make sure that sound enriches their life and does not destroy it. So it really caught my attention when the amount of noise that data centers exude became clear to me, and I'm a late comer. I've only gone to two zoning meetings and this is my first city council meeting. So you've converted me, whether that's good or bad, I don't know. But I agree with the resolution 10.2.8. I agree with 10.2.9. And I didn't know enough about the state reflective ordinance to say yes or no because it was so new. I'm not sure we can actually count on that state support all the time because we kind of see it flip-flop, and it may flip-flop after November. So make sure that you are strong in what you decide to do locally because that state may support you in those areas where you don't have a lot of authority, but there's always a chance it might flip back. I'm concerned that although there may be some control you have over water issues between now and the final report, I'm wondering if that's the case because you have set some things in place that may affect current and the next 180-day applications plus the past vested ones. And then the one at Black Rock has one last zoning meeting, I think in December. Whether there are things that can be looked at that affect that, I have no idea because I think that may just be a plat proposal. I admit that Weston Gardens caught my attention because I've gone there for years. So it wasn't a data center being built next to me, but one affecting an area that I truly valued. Thank you for your attention. Sometimes small actions make a difference. I watched the Zoning Commission really listen to speakers of dissent and make a decision, not even a popular decision at first, to say no The regulations we're being given are not adequate and we do not have the information we need to make such an important decision for our city. And that was basically one or two people that allowed that to happen even though they risked it not turning the way they hoped it did. And it came up with these resolutions and so I have a lot of respect for the hard work that you put into what you do and the fact that Looking at it carefully makes a difference. You may be the worm that turns the state. Who knows?

Casey Mirafield, followed by Brian Patman.

Okay, hello. I don't really have anything novel to add that other people have not already said better than I will, but I will say that I'm in favor of implementing a moratorium and specifically just double back to the comments that were made. about the makeup of this proposed task force on data centers. I would tend to agree that they definitely need to be Fort Worth residents because those are the people who are going to be impacted in the same way I think that having representation from impacted communities is important because those are the people who are going to have to be living with it. The next thing I'll say is I do think the conversation around the experts that you'd like to bring in is interesting because My mentor once told me that any bridge in competence can be gotten over with enough care, and I think I've seen examples of that in the community itself, who has, I don't think, had any interest in being data center experts, have gotten together and learned a lot about it and become experts of their own. in the past couple months that this has been an issue. So I think that if people are willing to do that, that they should be given the opportunity on an even grander scale. I think that having advising members who are experts in data centers is a good step, but I think that It might be discounting citizens a little bit. I think that having them be the majority and specifically the voting body in that would be an important step because I think that citizens who have buy-in in their communities and impacts can become experts on pretty much anything if they're given enough time and resources. So I think that trust in the community, and I'm sure you'd be able to find lots of experts from inside and outside of Fort Worth to make that happen. I trust that that would be a task that y'all can undertake similarly to how we have undertaken the data center research and fight in the last couple of months. I think that that is the content that I would have liked to add. So everybody, good job coming out and keeping up the good fight. I have learned much more, become much more of an expert in data centers in the last couple weeks. So if I can do it, anybody can. Thank you.

Brian Patman, followed by Angela Krillman.

Good evening. The idea of a data center committee or task force would be a good step forward to take in the process of regulating data centers to be good corporate citizens of our city. But what concerns me is the pros and makeup of such a task force. This task force may have primarily community members and especially or even exclusively those who live in neighborhoods affected by these new data center installations. If subject matter experts are to be part of the committee, they should be non-voting members that advise the community solely. And there should be ethics rules for such members. There's a lot of work for such task force doing short amount of time. And this starts with a full independent environmental study on what data centers do to our city and our community, especially AI and hyperscale data centers. This committee is a canary in a coal mine. It will succeed or fail in satisfying your constituents purely on the trust that your community has in it. Fourth residents will not accept watered down regulations and recommendations from a committee they feel does not have their back. because everyone knows that feeling of being ripped off or told something by someone that you should trust that ends up not to be true, whether at a shady car dealership or on Facebook Marketplace. And none of us enjoy that feeling, least of all if it comes from people we should be able to rely on. And the eyes of your residents turn to you at this hour, eager to see who gets to see this committee and whether those members serve the interest of the people or the interest of corporations and special interest groups like the Data Center Coalition out of Virginia. I would recommend community members from local organizations that are based in these communities and want the best lives for them and for their neighbors, and by extension, the city of Fort Worth. I hope your choice on this matter is a good one.

Angela Prillman, followed by Michael Ralston.

Hey, y'all. Hey, Maddie. It's been a minute since I've seen you. How are you? Hi, my name is Angela Rodriguez-Priliman, but most people know me as Heli, like Angelica. And I'm in here to support this moratorium for the data centers. Back in 2016, I remember when it was announced that Facebook was going to have a campus here. And I was, at the time, living in Silicon Valley. And I remember everyone was really hyping up, oh, Facebook's having a campus here. And in my head, I'm like, these are just babysitting jobs for computers and construction jobs that are temporary. And this was back in 2016. Also, more recently, as I moved back here, because I'm from Stephenville, as you know, and I also grew up around Fort Worth, My family members and friends, I had a friend from high school, her mom messaged me telling me that they're getting headaches outside of Grand Garden Hood County area. And this was like two years ago. And so I'm just trying to let y'all know that this has been kind of coming down the pipeline for a while. So I highly, I'm just... Please, please slow this stuff down because it is hurting people already. It's hurting animals. Animals in these rural areas are having a hard time breeding now. So it's just really important that we put a pause on these data centers. And whenever I get into Congress this fall, I'm going to be pushing also the AOC and Bernie Sanders endorsed moratorium on data centers too. So just encourage everybody to vote this November so we can get new people in office.

So thank you guys. Our next speaker is Michael Rawlson, followed by Carlos Silva.

Okay, first of all, I'd just like to say shame on y'all for making us wait an hour in the lobby while y'all were out there in the back. That's ridiculous. Everyone knows that it's ridiculous. So first, I think it's important to start with just how this started with the data center moratorium. So just to be clear, none of the city council members signed on to the moratorium. prior to us coming out there to the zoning commission, where y'all were trying to push like haphazard regulations that didn't take many of the residents' interests at heart. And after residents came out there, the zoning commission actually agreed with us. And in a 7-4 decision, they voted to deny the regulations that did little, if anything, to help with residents' concerns. Concerns regarding the water use, the electricity use, the rising cost of electricity, and the immense amount of territory that these data scenarios come up. Then the following... And it's extremely important that the City Council doesn't misconstrue what the call for data center moratorium is. The call for data center moratorium is residents within Fort Worth not wanting to have data centers out here in Fort Worth at all, period. Many of the city council members frame it as just being a temporary solution, but the fact of the matter is residents don't want data centers out here at all. Yes, data center moratorium would be a three-month process, which we can extend into a six-month process, but you have the full capacity to continuously deny any data center coming out here in Fort Worth. I just find it ridiculous because the City Council continues to run scared no matter what the issue is. We just had Fort Worth ISD being taken over by the state and somehow the Fort Worth City Council is still running afraid of what the state might do. I think it's time the City Council actually goes out there and puts forward a regulation that's popular with the people that live within the city. Sorry, I'm a little nervous. But I appreciate everyone for coming out here. And when we look at bold leaders, we should look at what San Marcos is doing. San Marcos banned data centers throughout the whole entire city. It didn't matter what zoning ordinance. It didn't matter where the data centers were going to be. They banned it throughout the whole entire city. And Fort Worth is fully capable of doing so. And yes, the state will probably push back on that ruling. But it's time for city councils to actually take a stand on this and show some backbone.

Carlos Silva will be followed by Adrian Smith.

Hello. Could we get the timeline again from the presentation from the city? If you guys don't mind. Okay, can I get my 20 seconds back? Okay, yes. So I think something interesting about this specific, a lot of things about the presentation y'all were given. But this one specifically, I think there's a couple of dates that I think are particularly interesting. We have November 3rd is the DCIC delivers the report, and then November 10th is the first public hearing. I think there's something really important that happens in between those two dates. And then May 17th is also the end of a moratorium. This was presented to y'all as like, hey, maybe when you come up with this schedule, you should look at the one we came up with without stating that this is not the best, as fast as you could move to actually get these things started. So May 17th is the end of the 90-day moratorium, which is particularly important Again, interesting timing with another election that will be happening around the same time. It's very clear what this is, the same way that every other action by the city has been very clear what it is. It has been a concerted effort to suppress dissent and move forward with steps that only benefit a very small number of business owners. Not even business owners, billionaires. And We're telling you to stop, and at every stage, you're just making as much friction as you can. We asked for a moratorium. You publish on your FAQs prior to your big showcase where we were going to get all this information about data centers, which just ended up being people that literally told me to my face, I don't know what I'm doing here. They just asked me to come. Like, that's what was put in front of us. It's like, here's why we want data centers. And then in that FAQ, you guys had the very first question was why the city is not considering a data center moratorium. Like, weeks after we had come to literally say, we want a data center moratorium. And it's just like, it's blatantly like, you guys can go... kick rocks, we're going to not do what you ask. And then we come again now and we say, you guys can not move forward with this DCIC commission without having it fully be a democratic body as everybody else has laid out. So you guys now need to listen and stop making this friction that's just slowing everything down. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Adrian Smith, followed by Lori Stelius.

I did forget to mention when I began speaking earlier tonight that I am one with the people. I would like to stand in opposition against the commission, and I stand in opposition only for the reason that I'm about to state. Who remembers the Fort Worth Task Force on Race and Culture? Who remembers that? recommendations made by this particular group of community members to help better our city as it relates to policing, housing and economic development, city infrastructure. Did a study on just local disparities across the board, but all of the recommendations were denied by this council. Some of you were not elected at the time, but again, you get the gist of what I'm saying. It was the recommendation for denied by the council. And I think we got hung up on one point, but Councilmember Nettles, he tried his best to save the recommendation, but we got hung up on one point, and that was the point of this quote-unquote oversight of policing. It wasn't so much an oversight of policing that we were pushing for. We were pushing for a partnership. But what did you do in turn? You brought in a police oversight monitor who has no power. You also gave the then former police chief his own little thing to do, just disregarding the community as a whole. So what is this commission going to do in the long term? What is it going to serve, 11 members? The Race and Culture Task Force, it consisted of 25 members. and their recommendations went nowhere. Then there was the 1300 Jenny Street Task Force as it relates to the community arts center that no longer exists because the city felt like the improvements that was necessary for it was too much. So, in closing, I'll say this. Our president, Donald J. Trump, he has spoken regarding data centers. He's for data centers. Our governor, Greg Abbott, I don't trust one bit of anything he says regarding his stance. He's kind of wishy-washy. Our AG, Ken Paxton, oh, it's been reported that, now he's running for a, what's that, federal office, I believe, and he's received $400,000 plus from data center companies in his campaign coffers. This isn't a Republican or Democrat issue, you all. It's a consideration for the continual sustainment of our livelihoods nationwide. So we need to take a stand against data centers, you all. Thank you.

Lori Steyers, followed by Bob Willoughby.

Thank you. My name is Lori Stelgis and I'm a resident of District 3. I'm in favor of a task force, but we need one that is permanent. I'm asking you not to approve the resolution unless you can assure us that the majority of the voting members of the task force will be Fort Worth residents with input from industry experts. I'm also asking you to broaden their authority so that a permanent one could advise and guide the council. and also question applicants and interface with the public. Please do not create a short-term, one-and-done type of committee because, as Elizabeth Beck says, this technology changes too fast and we need a committee that will keep up with it. In terms of looking at what's going on in the state, El Paso is also working on establishing stricter rules for proposed data centers. But like us, they have little or no authority to provide oversight on already approved projects. A metadata project outside of El Paso, they aimed to power its one gigawatt data center in several phases. The first 360 megawatts will come from a power plant made up of 800 small gas-burning generators. Can you imagine the noise for those neighbors? META was granted fast-track approval by Texas environmental regulators in just 20 days because they broke their project into multiple phases. Approval was granted without public notice. Be very mindful of your requirement to have oversight from Texas regulators that it actually achieves your outcome. If an appropriate long-term task force were given the teeth to review and require permit applicants to define their energy, water needs, and the pollution, the noise and air pollution that they will generate by their proposed final project, not just piecemeal, maybe residents would be less critical of leadership and less frustrated by the lack of transparency related to data centers. Fort Worth is now the 10th largest city in the country. With the growing population and multiple data centers already approved, we could become one of the most polluted cities in the US. That is not a title that we want. It's your responsibility to establish this task force. Please consider making it long-term and give them, made up with residents, and give them the authority. the authority level to actually provide some oversight. Residents are desperate to be heard, and rightly so. Establishing long-term committees with appropriate authority and membership will help reduce the alienation felt by residents in our city. Thank you.

Bob Willoughby, followed by Ann Zeta. Thank you.

Well, I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about this, because I don't. And I really don't care. Because the first thing you need, you learn in business, you've got to have trustworthy people to work with. And we don't have trustworthy people to work with, so that's why I don't pay any attention to it. Now, I go back a ways. I've been to over 100 council meetings and stuff and it pays off. The redistricting task force was a joke. Nothing but a joke. And once you start learning what these people do, they put things out to cover up like task force. Okay, so you're gonna have a task force. Is any of the council members gonna be there? I don't wanna talk to hired people. I don't wanna talk to employees. I wanna talk to people that we elect. You hide in the background and put other people in front that we have no control over. So no, I'm not for, I just want people to know here in this room, just because you're saying you're doing a task force don't mean a thing. That's why we got two more council members up here because of a crooked task force. And the redistricting was the biggest scam I've ever seen in my life back then when we did that. I yelled about it a hundred times. Of course, they don't care. They railroaded it through. And just like this thing here, I don't trust any of these people. They ought to be ashamed of their self. A lot of them shouldn't. You know, they've never been to a council meeting. They abandoned their civic duties, which a lot of us do. A lot of people in this room abandoned their civic duties they don't do. But at least they're not sitting up there, at least. Anybody that sits up here should have been someone that did their civil duties, that been to council meetings, bond meetings, but not these people. They are not elected. Please understand that. They are placed in office by the POA, basses, and big money. And the people that own these big buildings, let's put them in there. And these people have sawdust for brains. They can't not know what's going on. They've never been to a meeting, a council meeting, a bond meeting. They have no idea. And you want them to pick out people to run the task force? They have no idea. Trust me. Our problem is we need better council members. We need people that care. And it starts off with one thing I learned over the years. Number one, a mayor. When you get a mayor first, you can move forward. So I would ask everybody, stop everything. Point and ask Maddie Parker to resign and go home. Resign and go home. Because you're not a mayor. Google. Google what the worst mayor is in Fort Worth. They'll say Mike Moncreek. He was the worst mayor. Was. After Mike Moncreek, we had Bessie Parker, which is Maddie's chief staff. And now we got Maddie. We have got the worst, and it's going down. So to work on stuff like this, you've got to have people here first that you can trust and come out and talk to us. I'd love to see different people do one meeting in the community and take questions. I offered $100. He couldn't do it. She doesn't belong there. No, thank you. Good night. Thank you. Well, not good night. I'll be back after a while.

Ann Zadeh, followed by Berkeley Bird Barber.

Good evening. I'm Ann Zadeh, Executive Director of Community Design Fort Worth, and I'm here in support of the implementation of a moratorium and the formation of a data center committee with significant representation by Fort Worth residents. Some people say that Fort Worth residents are being irrational or wasteful of time for wanting to pause on data centers. We've heard the governor's talking points. We've heard the legislature's narrative. So let's put it all out there and strip it of its power. Yes, they're saying that we're overreacting. Yes, they're saying that a moratorium threatens growth. Yes, they're saying that cities should just wait to see what the legislature decides. We've played that waiting game for decades, and we know exactly where it ends. Waiting hasn't protected our water. Waiting hasn't strengthened our grid. Waiting hasn't given cities the tools to manage explosive growth. Waiting has meant cities absorb the impacts while the state celebrates the headlines. A temporary pause isn't anti-business and it isn't anti-Texas. It's basic risk management. Data centers hit water, power, land use, emergency response, and long-term tax values. Any responsible city would stop and assess before approving more. That's not irrational, that's competent governance. The state has its priorities and Fort Worth has ours. We're the ones who deal with the infrastructure strain, the neighborhood impacts, the fiscal consequences, and asking for time to evaluate isn't defiance, it is stewardship. The public isn't being wasteful, they're being smart. They want clarity, transparency, and a plan. They want the same thing that any investor wants, understanding the risk before you commit. A moratorium is not a tantrum, it is a time out. Because cities have learned the hard way that if we don't plan for ourselves, no one in Austin is going to do it for us. Thank you.

Howdy, everyone. My name is Bird Barber. I live in an unincorporated area just outside of District 10. By now, you've heard from residents about the negative repercussions of unchecked data center development and likely seen it elsewhere across America. Not just threats to water and electricity, but issues with noise pollution, vibration, diesel fuel, and environmental racism, just to name a few. This industry is often pitched as inevitable and the future. What I hope to get across by speaking here with others is that we as young people do not want to live in a world where our valuable community and environment is overrun by data centers. This especially when we are all still held very in the dark when it comes to the full impacts of their presence or where this industry could be going. Fort Worth has a vital opportunity here to join other cities in setting a positive precedent by demanding real accountability. The companies building data centers or developers such as Black Mountain can make endless promises regarding sustainable practices and job growth. But for projects of this scale, Fort Worth deserves real concrete systems in place to hold them accountable for the massive footprint they have and will inevitably leave on our neighborhoods. A moratorium is a vital step in the process toward this responsibility. A data center committee is also an excellent idea, but I echo other residents' comments that it's a very necessity that we have all residents because as they've said, Fort Worth is a large city. We have a large pool to choose from when it comes to getting people who are qualified as well as live here and have to live with the repercussions. I want to come back from college to a Fort Worth that is community first, putting the needs of residents before emerging infrastructure that requires a constant use of resources. You have the power to work with us and make that happen. Thank you for your time.

Hi, good evening.

My name's Amanda. I live in Council District 3. And sorry, my name's Amanda. I live in Council District 3. Good evening and thank you all for the opportunity to speak to you all tonight. I'm in support of these items with caveats on the commission that community members have expressed. And I'd also like to say I'm against data centers in totality. I think I've got a lot of questions about it. The economic benefits are really unclear past the construction phase. We don't see a lot of permanent job creation. And we also see property value decrease in homes and construction near these projects. I've got questions about water use. I know at the public meeting, it was discussed that the closed loop water system would be used, but as discussed earlier, there's still questions about how safe some of that technology is. And we know that water is a really precious resource here in Texas because we already have conservation measures in place like lawn watering restrictions. The zoning commission obviously did not pass that recommendation that was put forth earlier. I hope that was in favor of a further distance. And I think more thought is needed on that. I think more thought is also needed on sound enforcement. I know at the public meeting that I attended, they were still finalizing how that enforcement process would work, whether it would be inspections versus customer reporting and how that system would work. Additionally, light enforcement. I know people who have lived in areas where data centers are constructed have reported needing to get blackout curtains, for example, because of the bright lights that are in their community. I've also seen reports that data centers can cause temperatures to increase in the nearby area as much as 16 degrees and It's Texas. It's already hot. We don't need to make it any hotter. Aside from the potential for increasing cooling costs, as others have also mentioned, that would put additional strain on our energy grid, which we don't need. And I also think it's really important to make sure that we have an avenue to protect consumers from passing this cost on. I've seen folks say that their energy bills have gone up pretty dramatically when data centers have been constructed in their community. And so to summarize, I think the benefits of data centers are really unclear. I think that we need a lot more clarity on how we're protecting Fort Worth. And so I think that we do need this moratorium and we do need this commission so that we're able to make informed decisions about how residents and how their quality of life are going to be affected. Thank you.

Noah Bivens, followed by Barbara Brewer.

Good evening, Fort Worth City Council and fellow residents. I'm Noah Bivens with Revolutionary Front, and I'm here tonight to show support for the 90-day moratorium, along with many others. As we've all heard by now, many data centers are being pushed and rapidly built around the country for the profit of a few corporations and a couple billionaires. When I look around and listen around this building, it's clear that these centers are not popular with the people and for many valid reasons. Starting off, the high use of electricity can increase demand on our already weaker power grid, which leads to our residents paying more for their electricity for a data center that nobody asked for. These data centers consume large amounts of fresh water, leading to concern, especially during hotter months like we're in right now. I'm here tonight to ask you, as many others have already done and will do tonight, to take a reasonable step before our community commits to large-scale data center development. I and many others are asking for four things. First, the 90-day moratorium on the new data center approvals. Second, that all data centers be classified and zoned as heavy industrial. Third, the city conduct a comprehensive environmental impact study on pollution and environmental effects of data centers. And fourth, that data centers are required to be at least 1,200 feet away from residential neighborhoods, schools, parks, and other sensitive areas. This is not about being against technology or economic development. It's about making sure development happens responsibly. Data centers are not ordinary office buildings, and they can operate 24 hours a day. consume enormous amounts of electricity and require significant cooling systems using backup diesel generators and create constant mechanical noise. They can also place demands on our roads, water systems and electrical infrastructure that regular citizens and residents are left paying for. Before approving more of these facilities, we need to understand their cumulative impact on our air, water, noise levels, infrastructure, and surrounding neighborhoods. A 1,200-foot setback would provide residents with an important buffer from noise, equipment, generators, traffic, and other potential impacts. We need to understand who pays for these infrastructure required to support these facilities. Residents should not be left carrying the cost of the upgrades on our roads, water systems, and electrical infrastructure when they're not gaining anything from it. 90-day moratorium is not a permanent ban. It simply gives the city time to study and issue, establish appropriate regulations before more projects are continued. We should not wait till problems appear before we start asking questions. So I asked the console to pause the new data center approvals for 90 days. Classified data centers as heavy industrial uses require a minimum of 1200 foot setback from sensitive areas and conduct a thorough environmental impact study. This is not saying no to progress. It is saying yes to responsible development. Thank you.

Barbara Brewer followed by Gina Byrd. Is Barbara present? Gina Byrd followed by Nydia Cardenas.

Gina Byrd, I'm representing NAACP Fort Worth, Tarrant County. Just to solicit and put myself out there to the person who presented because no one wanted to present their name, Gina Byrd, NAACP. We wanna be a part of that committee. I'm listening to all the constituents that we've talked to. I've been in the community. I've addressed Forest Hill, Echo Heights. I've been to Highland Hills. I've been around to get the information that you've all heard, what we have come up with to benefit the community. We're going to initiate a community benefits agreement. So get in, everybody. opinions and actual information that they presented tonight. We want to put that in a legal document so we can hold each the developer and the city accountable. We've already heard the explanations of what the data centers will do. We don't have enough information. We are in agreements with the 90 day moratorium, but that needs to be extended. You can do that. So we do not have enough information to proceed. So we want that. You've heard the 1,200 foot setback. That's what all community members are asking for. We want to put that in there. We're also asking for an environmental impact study. So not just an environmental assessment. And let me read that so we can see what we want to include in there. So we have a detailed environment and equity impact assessment. that will detail the potential environmental impacts considering direct, indirect, and cumulative effects because we don't have a baseline right now. So if they do choose to move forward with it, with their development, we don't know what's gonna happen. They've already, Pretty much the two sites, we have Summit and Bear Holding, they've already sold that, and they've already did something else with the property right now. So we don't know officially what they're gonna do, so we wanna hold them accountable through a community benefits agreement. So that's what we're looking into. We are in agreement with the coalition or the committee that you're trying to put up, but as it was already stated, we need more community representation. And the expertise who are on the board, they should not be voting. It should be majority of your community members who have the input and that's who they need to talk to. So that's what we're requiring and that's what we're requesting. And once again, we have spoken with majority of the community members to get this input. The equity, so we need an equity assessment. The project, they need to contribute to disproportionate environmental economic and infrastructure borders on renters, small businesses, indigenous rural black communities and other historically marginalized communities. That needs to be assessed because most of these data centers are encroaching on our black and brown communities and we can put them somewhere else. So we need to do that. The next thing we want to address in our environmental impact are the health factors with the air pollution and noise. And I am a subject matter expert, co-show, licensed with HAZMAT and safety. So if you need some of those technical details, we can provide that.

Our next speaker is Nadia Cardenas followed by E.J. Carrion. Is Ms. Cardenas here? E.J. Carrion would be followed by Kent DeCardenas.

All right, so I think the real kicker here is I don't know why you guys think you guys can present the community plans for data centers when we don't even trust you guys anymore. Like, there's a lot of repair that needs to happen before you think we can trust you. I definitely don't trust Jay Chapa. I mean, we fought for public comments when Maddie Parker tried to reduce public comments in October. The community asked to be raised public comments on every council meeting. And what do you guys do? You throw us to the back of the agenda. We have a horrible experience to sign up to even make this possible. And Vicky Goodwin, the Democrats up here, if you want to learn how to work with community, Vicky Goodwin drew three and a half hours to be at a press conference in the heat, and none of y'all could get us in the room. I'm gonna keep going with what Deborah Peoples did say, and Deborah Peoples did activate for community when she said, hey, we need this to be about community. This wouldn't even be where we are today without this community. Without these people, we wouldn't even be here. Y'all would be still passing data centers like proclamations for police. Like, don't act like you care about the data center fight. And I'm surprised we got this far into the game and no one has brought up Maddie Parker and how you should be recusing yourself as your husband as a data center lobbyist. And why would we, why do we trust Governor Abbott? Like why would we, you see what he's doing to our schools? Like Governor Abbott got $500,000 from Rep. Bennett. I think some of y'all need to text him back. Like, the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, I want everyone to go home and look up the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership. You think it's like, why would we trust these people? I want to tell you about the Fort Worth Economic Development Department. They came in because the Chamber of Commerce wouldn't do the bidding of the industry or they weren't doing a good enough job. So there's a guy named Robert Allen on the Economic Development Partnership. I'm going to name who's on the board. Mike Berry, Hillwood, which is Alliance, Marianne Auld, Kelly Hart and Holman, Susan Sheffield, GM Financial, Rusty Reed, Higginbottom, Robert Allen, the president of this organization, Elaine... Agather, JP Morgan, David Incock, CEO of Alcon, Katie Farmer, president of BNSF, John Goff, CEO of Goff Capital, Robert Eisen, CEO of American Airlines, Danny Maldonado, CEO of Bell, Mayor Maddie Parker, the city of Fort Worth. She doesn't get the vote. It looks like she doesn't get the vote, but she's a part of this board with all these billionaires. I'm just... very disappointed that you guys think you can bring in this Michael Slattery guy, who's probably just a Pete Guerin, but for this. Y'all like, Jessica likes to talk about where he's from. Y'all didn't mean it. He was a research institute at the Robert, the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute. That's where y'all should say where he's really from.

Our next speaker is Kent DeCardenas followed by Spencer Dickinson.

Kenty Cardenas, District 11. First of all, I'd like to talk about the moratorium. A vote to start the moratorium is a vote to put a tool in the toolbox. You guys can still decide to use it come December or February. And speaking of the timeline that Jessica presented earlier, I don't understand why you would postpone that vote until February. I have issues with the timeline of having the committee turn in their report in November. I don't think that's enough time to deal with such a complex issue. And I say that because I've spent the past several months diving into data centers way more than anybody who's not a data center developer should ever have to. but I feel like I had to because of how the city has handled data centers so far. Let's go on to how the city has handled data centers so far. Not very well. And that's evidenced by the fact that we've wasted a whole year so far as a city. The first time that anybody up here on city council said, hey, let's stop and look at how data centers are affecting us was my council member all the way back in September. And she's quickly backed by Beck and Peoples. So I appreciate that. But their call for a study wasn't taken up until March. And when that study was finally done and proposals made, they were not good proposals as evidenced by the zoning commission vote a month ago. It was soundly rejected in a 7-4 vote. Now we're at this process of having a moratorium and having a committee. All these things that could have been started earlier on. Now that we're talking about the committee, I would like to ask why we have to have the majority of our standing advisory committees require 100% membership or 100% of the members have to be residents of Fort Worth. Why would this one be any different? Okay. I understand that we want to have subject matter experts and we want to draw the best subject matter experts we can. So, great. Let's have them on there. Come in as advisors. Come in and serve as non-voting members. That would be an excellent way to do it. And Councilmember Beck, your example of, you know, ask two experts and you get three opinions. That's the exact reason why we shouldn't have a single expert in a field on the committee. We should be able to call in multiple experts. Okay? And I would propose that the committee be made up, like most of our other committees, Each one of you put somebody on that committee and then when the committee's work is done, we can see how these people perform their job and we can hold you responsible for their work. Thank you.

Spencer Dickinson followed by Krista Irby.

Spencer Dickinson. I live in northeast Tarrant County. I work in Fort Worth. I'm here as a concerned citizen as well as I'm chair of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club. Our membership counts about 1,000 residents in Tarrant County, including Fort Worth. So I have some prepared remarks, but I would like to let you know that we have sent a multi-page position paper to the council. I hope that you've all, we'll all take time to review that with a full position statement, but I'm here to share with you the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club support for the moratorium and hope that you will all vote for it. And I, like many in the audience today, are optimistic and hopeful that the moratorium will pass. But I am skeptical, and I wish to share some of that skepticism. I'm skeptical that the 90-day window is sufficient to produce well-defined boundaries and ordinances that will protect the interests of the residents of Fort Worth. If the resolution passes, implore the council to ensure their specific deliverables, and if they are not achieved, then make clear that the moratorium window will be extended. As a reminder, the typical hyperscale data center is on hundreds of acres with millions of square feet in structured buildings. For example, as I'm sure you know, the Meta Fort Worth data center that was referenced earlier is on 179 acres with about 2.5 million square feet under roof. It's essentially the size of five urban shopping malls. An AI data center facility is more heavy industrial as has been noted than commercial technology and should be classified as such for city ordinance purposes. The Meta Center campus alone requires electricity equivalent to 160,000 homes each day. In order for a center to never stop running, each center must build and operate backup generators and use millions of gallons of water to ensure cooling is achieved. In light of all this, the time spent in moratorium must provide for specific new ordinances requiring it, a new normal for data centers to be approved by the city. You may have heard the statement AI data centers are inevitable. And that may be true, particularly given the amount of capital leading and chasing the industry. What's not inevitable is for our city and our communities to accept substandard polluting facilities that lower property values and for the city and taxpayers to be left paying the bill. Thank you for showing leadership in our community. And please approve the moratorium and pursue the data center committee with membership accountable to the Community that will achieve a specific specific high standards that Fort worth deserves, thank you.

Krista Irby followed by Sarah Flores.

Good evening. My name is Krista Irby, one of the founders of the 2871 Community Coalition representing residents along the RM 2871 corridor. We're asking you to vote yes on all three data center items tonight, but with important context on each. On the moratorium, this vote doesn't enact a pause tonight. It starts the process with a final vote not until December. That costs this city nothing. This means if Council starts this process today and later decides in December not to enact it, nothing stops Council from starting the process again the very next day. We can hold this tool in our back pocket, ready if we need it, even if it's not till next year, without giving anything up by starting the process now. On the filing requirements ordinance, we support it, but it does one thing only. It requires proof of PUCD and ERCOT approval before an application is complete. It exempts any project that comes in through annexation. This ordinance would not stop a project exactly like EDGE Data Center from being built. And Governor Abbott is up for reelection November 3rd. We have no way of knowing whether his audit protection survives past November 4th. That's exactly why we still need our own moratorium option in place. On the commission, we support creating it. We do not support it as written. The resolution does not ensure the majority of this commission is made up of people in our community, people directly affected by data centers in their own backyards, appointed by a council member who can be held accountable for that choice. It only requires that they be experts in their fields. Only three of up to 11 voting seats are guaranteed reserved for community representatives. And even those three require knowledge credential many residents won't have. We've heard it argued we shouldn't worry since council still cast the final ordinance vote. That misses the point. This commission's vote decides which recommendations ever reach you at all. And this commission must report back by November 3rd before the moratorium could even take effect, meaning any fix to its makeup that comes later will be too late to matter. Please take a look at what happened in Prince William County, Virginia. They gave industry six seats alongside six residents. Within a year, residents said industry was blocking their work and they had to hold their own press conference just to be heard before the county was forced to rebuild the group entirely around neighborhood representation. We know what that past costs us. We're asking you to avoid it. We are asking for 11 voting seats, one resident per council member with subject matter experts, including those with a financial stake in this industry, serving in a non-voting advisory role. Give residents the vote. Let the experts advise. This is the same makeup of our zoning commission and many other committees through the state and federal government. Get this right tonight, before this commission starts casting votes, not after.

Soraya Flores, followed by Stephanie Graham. Okay, thank you. Stephanie Graham, followed by Bradford Hall. Is Stephanie present? Bradford Hall will be followed by Cable Hoag.

Good evening. Bradford Hall, District 9. I support the moratorium, items 1028, 1029, and 1051. And I associate myself with the previous speaker's comments rather than repeat them. On ZC26041, the 187 acres, the public materials I've reviewed don't identify electrical load, cooling design, or water demand. I'd ask the staff to identify who bears each associated infrastructure cost, the applicant, utility customers, or taxpayers. I've also heard the applicant may claim vested rights to develop under prior standards. If so, I'd ask through the chair what application established those rights, what developments do they cover, and whether and to what extent those rights constrain council's discretion on the separate rezoning. Finally, as I argued in testimony submitted to Senate Finance on fraud, waste, and abuse, cost review fails when records lack a shared identifier. The public records here don't appear to carry one consistent identifier across the zoning case, any load study or utility capacity record, water demand, and any present or future incentive agreement. I'd ask council to direct staff to assign and carry one project identifier across those records. Thank you.

Cable Hoag, followed by Amon Erebon.

Good evening, everyone. You can say it back. You're like, hi. It's my first time speaking with you also. I'm just trying to work through it. This is a mic check. It's me doing a mic check.

It's been great.

Thanks. All right. I am speaking for initiating a process to adopt a 90-day data center moratorium. I want to ensure that despite some projects already in motion being seemingly unstoppable, that we are doing more than merely delaying the inevitable for these data center projects, which can either be prevented outright or, at a minimum, mitigating the severity of their environmental impact. I think most voices of reason, many of which have spoken tonight, have made salient and compelling arguments addressing the deleterious environmental impacts that result of an immediate consequence of the data center's development. In urban development, for example, we already know they are typically placed in lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods, meaning non-white neighborhoods and strategically under-resourced communities. In rural development, they are basically given carte blanche regarding leniency afforded to minimizing the negative impacts on wildlife. which they, being wildlife's ability to flourish, is interconnected to all of our well-being, whether we know that or not. Point being, my concern is that some whose attitudes regarding data centers may yet be persuaded to oppose these things might be because they're relegated to the notion that somehow these sort of things are, from a cultural attitude perspective, relegated to a NIMBY problem, and this is something bigger than just a not-in-my-backyard problem. I understand that regurgitating familiar talking points runs the risk of being readily dismissed and diluting the message's impact. So I need everyone to understand that as a result of 300 plus data centers already in operation here in Texas and developed with exceedingly generous tax incentives, specifically property tax incentives, the state is now not capturing, meaning missing an opportunity to allocate, and this is a conservative estimate from the Texas Tribune, over $3.2 billion in sales tax revenue estimated over the next two years. Most of these tax incentives share a pattern of a decade of non-enforcement. As of today, there are 100 plus more data centers planned for development, coinciding with a running theme of never having enough money to fund public resources. We are feeling this consequence from decisions made over a decade ago. This is money that could have gone to our rapidly eroding public education system, And this is where the app's failing. Man, I should have installed this prior to. Realizing with seven seconds left, I need you all to vote with more than the influence allocated to you, perhaps by Black Mountain. We need you to vote on behalf of the citizens of Fort Worth. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Caleb Hogue, followed by Eamon Arabin. Sorry, Eamon, sorry. Is he available? Thank you. I apologize. I repeated Cable's name again. Mr. Ibrahim will be followed by Colin Kirkpatrick.

Go ahead, please. Good evening, City Council. My name is Eamon, and I work with Weston Gardens District 8. I came here tonight to voice that I do want to see a moratorium put in place for the data centers. And my hope is that at the end, they would be banned to heavy industrial. I think the committee is a good idea, and I would also like to see in that consideration a fast track for if my wish of data centers being heavy industrial is not fulfilled, that adjacent residentials in ag have a fast track to either communicate with whoever owns the data center, Or the city if there's like a problem with noise or light because the committee sounds like a long process and we've been coming to oppose the Black Mountain data center for the whole year. And fortunately, I have a job that's very flexible where I can come on a Tuesday to zoning commission or. whenever we're having these meetings, but a lot of people don't have that kind of time or availability. If there's a problem, like a noise agitating people where these go, I think that a committee is good, but we should also see some way for those adjacent properties to have a fast track to get something done about it quickly. Thank you for your time.

Colin Kirkpatrick, followed by John McFarlane.

Well, howdy, neighbors. I'm Colin Kilpatrick, and I grew up here in Fort Worth, Texas, but nowadays I'm from Arlington, and I live on the side of Arlington close to Fort Worth. And y'all are talking about putting some data centers on the side of Fort Worth that are close to Arlington. And you know what? We don't want that. We don't want the bad neighbor putting the nasty generator that spits smoke and makes noise and rattles our windows next to us. We don't want that. And as neighbors here in Tarrant County, I think that's really important. But also... I just would like to support the data center moratorium, obviously, but I don't think it goes far enough. And as far as your board to assess all these things, that reads like something that got dreamt up in a boardroom by a bunch of CEOs and moneyed individuals who are trying to force something through. This needs to be a citizen-led effort for the community here in Tarrant County, because it affects more than just Fort Worth. And quite frankly, we don't want that. So please be good neighbors. And, you know, when we were out there, the media actually asked us, do you think that the city council is just going to steamroll you like they kind of have in the past? Or you think they're going to listen? And when you have a shill sitting as mayor,

Our next speaker is John McFarland, followed by Stephanie McCartney. John McFarland, followed by Stephanie McCartney, followed by Jolmette Mendoza, followed by Alexander Montalvo. I'm assuming Ms. McCartney. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Stephanie McCartney. Thank you for having me here this evening. I'm in District 2. I think we all know that Fort Worth does not want these data centers. We don't want them. We have come out and we have told you. And y'all have started the process to begin a moratorium and thank you for that. Thank you for hearing us enough to do that. Moving on to 10.2.9. Clayton Williams in 1990 said something about rate being inevitable and you may as well just lay back and enjoy it. And I feel like that's what this board has said to us about data centers. They're inevitable. May as well just lay back and take it. I deeply disagree with that. We don't need data centers. We don't need the pollution. What we need is a citizen-led committee full of Fort Worth citizens pushing this the committee forward. We don't need people outside of Fort Worth telling us what we want or what we need. We don't need people from Black Mountain or their wives telling us what we need. We need Fort Worth citizens and their ability to come up and speak and be heard and actually listened to. Thank you.

Jumelet Mendoza, followed by Alexander Montalvo.

Hello, good evening. My name is Jumelet. First of all, I just want to thank you because I know it's late and everyone's tired. So thank you for allowing us to speak and being here. Everyone has already spoken about a lot of different sentiments, so I'll just echo that. But I want to talk about something a little different that I haven't heard anyone speak about before, something that affects every single one of us in this room, and that is our central nervous system. When I looked online to find information about how many residents that live near data centers, how this was affecting them, their physical health, their mental health, this is what they had to say. Residents described the effects as wreaking havoc on the human body and mind. They reported dizziness, nausea, vertigo, insomnia, headaches, and anxiety. All attributed to data center noise pollution, infrasound at high volumes can affect the central nervous system and the heart function. Having a regulated nervous system is essential for all living beings. So what happens to us when our central nervous system is disturbed? Our nervous system treats uncontrollable nighttime noise as a threat. Our cortisol spikes. Even when sleep arrives, microarousals disturb the REM stages. That leaves people exhausted by morning, people who still have to get up and go to work, take care of their families, and try to enjoy their lives. Our brain is continuously working to filter tonal hum, a cognitive tax that compounds over months. Noise control engineers have noted that low frequency tonal hum contributes to the DBA level that causes complaints. A concise diagnosis of what exactly why regulatory measurements and lived experiences keep arriving at opposite conclusions. Our modern world already disrupts our health enough. What is the benefit of agitating us further? We all have a right to health, peace, and a quality of life. Why are these data centers being considered over the health and well-being of the public? Every single person here ran, excuse me, every single person here ran out of campaign with the underlying message of providing a much better future and purpose for the people that live in their district. All of us here are here because we want to be heard. Time is finite and precious and none of us will live forever. We will leave the earth for the next generation. So what is it that we are leaving them? How will we leave this land compared to how we found it? Thank you.

Alexander Montalvo, followed by Emma Rodriguez.

All right, I'm tired of living in a city, in a county where the easy things have to be so hard. I just spent three hours at Fort Worth ISD where they have a mess of a TEA takeover because the state can't simply fund public education, pay teachers what they're worth, and give students the resources they need in the classrooms to learn and get educated. It's simple. But our state wants to dismantle public education, so we have to do all this hard stuff unnecessarily. Last week, Bunch of communities showed up at Commissioner's Court simply trying to have voting sites available because the elections administrator and the Republican commissioners wanted to cut 45% of our voting sites when we simply want to be able to vote. It's easy. Why are we making it so hard? And today you've heard from subject matter expert after subject matter expert after subject matter expert in this room And you heard them for months telling you what the concerns are around data centers, why we don't want them, why they're not this golden egg for our local economy and the harm that they're gonna bring. And yet this easy thing is being made very, very hard. There are three things that we need y'all to vote for. We need to start the moratorium process. We told you months ago that that should have happened. We need proper regulations. Your own zoning committee rejected what the city staff proposed because it was that inept. And we just saw more of that today in a timeline presentation. And we need a committee that has our community members residents of Fort Worth and impacted people and their voice a part of the decision-making process and a part of the communication. It's easy, yet before us are people who are committed to making this hard. It is time for us in this city and this county to recognize we have D-League, C-League at the best leadership talent, and it's time to elect and support leaders that will make the easy things easy. It is 69 days until the election, until early voting starts for this November election, 84 days till election day. And y'all better pay attention because you're gonna see record numbers and you're gonna see a historic impact and result on the November election that will follow up in May. So all of you announcing reelection bids or making moves, don't waste our time. We're ready for new leaders.

Our next speaker is Emma Rodriguez, followed by John Rosenthal. Is Ms. Rodriguez available? We'll move to John Rosenthal, followed by Ambika Sharma.

Howdy, y'all. My name is John Rosenthal. the Texas State Representative for House District 135 in Northwest Houston. I'm the Democratic nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, which despite its name, regulates oil and gas operations in our state, has nothing to do with trains. Mayor Parker, City Manager Chapa, council members, thank you so much for allowing me to speak tonight. I had some prepared remarks, but you all are blessed with some badass residents in this room who have brought diversity, engagement, intelligence, and have eloquated on this issue way better than I could. So let me just give my perspective. I also want to commend you for the number of unanimous votes you've taken tonight, because to me, that's a sign that you're willing to put the people you represent above party affiliation, which I think is extremely important in this day. I also think we do our best work when levels of government work together. I'm in the state legislature. Y'all are sitting in city council. You sent a message tonight to your county commissioners. This problem is large enough that we all need to be working together on it. You are bound by the contours of state law. The way to manage that is to get your legislators to change the state law. So your moratorium is bounded by state law. I'm one of the legislatures that has called on Governor Abbott to call a special session. It's remarkable that he has forwarded notions about data center policy which seem to mirror what I've been talking about for months. These are large big dollar concerns. I think a resource management plan in place should be required by state law and the local component here is that you all and your county commissioners get to approve those plans because The management of resources doesn't work the same in Fort Worth as it does in East Texas or South Texas or West Texas, right? So I do believe they need to generate their own electricity, but if they're running gas turbines to fire steam generators, you think data center cooling uses water? Just wait till you see multistage compression gas turbines. It dwarfs that water usage. And you guys are talking about setbacks in terms of feet. I think the state law should be setbacks in terms of miles. They should not be close to you. So that's all I want to say. I would like to see all of us working together. This is something we can navigate with intelligent, considerate governance. Thank you so much for your time.

Ambika Sharma will be followed by Deon Sims.

Wow, to follow Mr. John Rosenthal, what an honor. They definitely are blessed, sir, with such articulate and intelligent, may I add, residents. So much has been said, so I will just take this point to take my time to reflect. I joined, I got here, or I came to speak on March 31st because EDGE Data Center was on the table and you guys were considering or deliberating offering them a 50% abatement. And I have this perspective of like, well, our voice doesn't matter, but I felt compelled enough to join because it was five miles from my house. I came, didn't know anybody, and I spoke against it. And then I met, you know, this whole community, and they're not just activists. They are, you know, environmentalists, audio engineer, lawyers. My gosh, I've learned so much from March 31st, and here we are August 11th. So Maddie, today, I hit 1230, decided let's do a press conference to celebrate the idea that our voice matters, people can come together and we do, we can't bring change because none of y'all were for the data center moratorium when I started that. that petition in April. So here we are. I sent a 12.30 press release and national media showed up, Maddie. So they are watching today. If you guys do not vote on the moratorium tonight, Michael Crane, I know you've been calling people trying to get them to say no. If you do not vote in favor of the moratorium, of starting the moratorium, this will be on national news. So then you're gonna have to work on what your comments there will be. Second is the ordinance that now is on the table. That's such a good thing, Jessica, that you've done there. When I started talking to Jessica, and some of you, you guys don't even respond. Michael is the only one that responds. So when I started talking to you guys, trying to come with this perspective, like, hey, I want to help. Here's my perspective. One of them was like, we should be looking at data centers holistically. But Jessica, for better or for worse, has always had this perspective like, well, we can only control zoning. But water, like raw water supply, we can control that too. But when it comes to electricity and XYZ, we don't have any jurisdiction. And it's been so frustrating because why would you not look at this whole thing as holistically? But now, finally, we have an ordinance where You will not accept an application unless it's already gotten or cut and pucked approval. So hallelujah, we got that too. So I want that to pass tonight. And lastly is your most controversial data center committee. Mr. Chapa, we pay you what, 450 base salary? We pay you for your membership at the Fort Worth Club, and it looks like most of the people that you have chosen on your resolution seems to have membership. For example, you want somebody from the Economic Development Partnership, I presume. Second, you want somebody from the Terran Regional Water District. I'm thinking that's Skylar O'Neill, Skylar Brogdon O'Neill, whose father is Larry Brogdon, who was the partner of Barnard Schill and paid for the Low Energy Center at TCU.

Next up is Dionne Sims, followed by Mindy Tackett.

Good evening, City Council. I am Dionne Sims. I am the nominee for Texas 25 congressional seat, and I am the granddaughter of the grandmother of Juneteenth, Dr. Opale. My support for initiating The AI Data Center 90-Day Moratorium is about making sure that innovation doesn't burden the members of the 25th District, specifically the Tarrant County portion, who don't want to pay for the tech giant's bills. Senator Sanders and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez at the federal level have introduced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, which would temporarily pause the construction of new AI data centers and expansions of existing facilities until Congress puts the necessary critical safeguards into federal law. And I think that the underlying principle here is one that we all can likely agree on. It's if a corporation is going to build an enormous facility that consumes massive amounts of energy and electricity and water, and the surrounding members of the community should not be the ones that have been left holding the bill because it's not fair. Because if big tech and big data receive the economic benefit while the working families see their utility bills increase, that is not an equitable, it's not reasonable, and it's not a good economic model at all. It's just pure corporate socialism. So my support for this bill is about economic equity, accountability, and reasonableness. We must stop and examine the impacts the data centers are having on our local communities that we cherish. Fort Worth is a beautiful place. I've grown up here all my life. The questions we ask are, will they increase utility costs? How much water will it consume? Who will pay for the necessary infrastructure? What union jobs will actually be created and left in the community? Which jobs will remain after the center is developed? What protections exist for the surrounding communities? I fully support a thoughtful pause, critical government oversight, and robust policy framework that makes sure that these data center booms do not become yet another example of working class people having to shoulder the burden of the wealthy corporation greed and subsidized corporate profits. Here we are again. Texas is first. We had the first Juneteenth state holiday before the national holiday, and now Fort Worth can enact a data center moratorium before the nation does. As we say, so goes Tarrant County, so goes the state, and so goes the country. We are Tarrant, but not only Tarrant, we are Fort Worth.

Mindy Tackett will be followed by Blaine Toole.

Hi, Maddie.

It's been a while since we've talked.

A couple of months ago, it came to light that your husband David's lobbying firm has connections to data centers. When that came out, there was suspicion that y'all financially benefited from that relationship. Now you didn't see me or Chris saying that, because we don't say things that we don't have receipts for and we can't prove, so we chose not to wade in. But what we did know then, and what is still true now, is that your integrity and character were again in question. People couldn't trust what you said and you were leaning into your privilege. What's remarkable is that you've publicly admonished another official for how he handled a perceived conflict of interest. In 2022, you and the city council reprimanded city manager David Cook. These are your words, Mandy. Quote, public trust is critical to serve effectively and impartially, and recent events have caused that trust to come into question. Heightened discretion must be exercised. Public perception matters, and we must go the extra mile to reassure residents and taxpayers, removing even the appearance of a gray area. End quote. It wasn't just words. Cook was stripped of his authority over downtown business. You and the council forced him to recuse himself from any decisions involving the downtown public improvement district and Sundance Square. Today, as you and this council weigh major decisions about Fort Worth and data centers, your husband is a partner in a law firm that represents the Data Center Coalition, which advocates for the industry's growth and public records list him as one of its lobbyists. You've said his work has no bearing on your votes, but three ethics experts recently told local media they recommend you abstain from data center decisions to protect public trust and avoid even the appearance of a conflict. Mattie, you don't have to believe you've done anything wrong to recognize that appearances matter. That was the standard you set for David Cook when you told him to hold himself accountable. The same standard should apply to you. This isn't about what's legal. It's about judgment and public confidence. Integrity and trust are the foundation of leadership. Maddie, you told David Cook to do better, so why won't you?

Our next speaker is Blaine Toole. I'd like to keep going, that would be great. Blaine Toole, followed by Jackson Weston. Is Mr. Toole available? Blaine, go ahead.

Good evening, everyone. Greg Abbott has begun backpedaling his love for data centers in order to face, in order to save face with the public. Directing Puck to conduct audits on all forthcoming data center projects that will be hooked up to the grid, which is a fine start considering that most of these projects have not been transparent at all with their projected strain on our state's resources, financially or ecologically. But that's not particularly surprising given the motto of big tech over the last 20 years, move fast and break shit. And it's certainly been effective. It's also been horribly damaging towards social cohesion, but that's another story. One thing that everyone agrees on, right and left, we don't like data centers. We don't trust them. We don't need them. No one wants one in their backyard. Why would they? No one likes the idea of freezing or baking in their house after the power goes out while the AI slot machine on government subsidies is required to stay on because it's secured a local contract to hold flock data. It's time to slow things down, get real regulations with teeth in place, start the moratorium process, then pass the extension because 90 days is not enough to do this right. Put people before profits. And on paper, the proposed data center committee sounds reasonable. Everyone wants data-driven, evidence-based solutions for the environmental, health, and economic concerns over data centers. But who collects that data is just as important as how. Subject matter experts are important. People with experience in construction of large complexes, logistics, waste, and safety are all crucial to giving real-world examples of how badly things can go wrong, and ideally, how they fix those problems. The real concern is over who is appointed to this committee and how. Is it going to be filled with hard-nosed, detailed, focused whistleblower types who are concerned with who are going to put public safety above all else? Or is it mostly going to be filled with folks from the economic development sector? here to throw up some bullshit red tape as they roll off the red carpet for their friends. People with just enough Kevin Bacon degrees of separation, a friend's nephew, maybe with the right kind of engineering degree, who also just happened to move to Tarrant County. These kind of committees have had the tendency to go that way in the past. With the health and well-being of the people of Fort Worth in the balance, at least those forced to live, work, or go to school near data centers, we cannot afford nepotism. Thank you, good night, and good luck.

Jackson Weston followed by Letitia Wilburn.

Hello, my name is Jackson Weston. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm with Weston Gardens District 8 and have called Fort Worth my home my whole life. My children, which one of them is right here with me right now because We see the importance of staying here late to be part of our government. So showing them that example and thank you all too for being here late and putting in the time. My children have called Fort Worth home to their whole life. The historic gardens that I run with my family are positioned right next to the proposed Black Mountain data center. I'm asking that you include Black Mountain and all approved data centers that are still in transit. They don't have permits yet. They haven't started construction. Please include these in the citywide moratorium you're considering. I ask you to consider to honor the commitment that you made in 04 to the historic gardens that we have. Protect our historic designation, protect us from that constant sound. This is a massive 500 acre AI data center, which will wipe out valuable land for wildlife. This will also limit opportunity for more homes for middle class working families that are much needed at an affordable price in our area. The data center would be located right in the middle of a neighborhood. right across the street from homes. Please give yourself the gift of time to consider and research the impact that Black Mountain and all data centers will have on our city, its water supply, and the noise pollution that it can cause. Please put citizens on the data center task force who do not have a vested interest in industrial development and data centers. We need impartial, independent people on this committee. Please make it a requirement that data centers have to be zoned heavy industrial. If you all lead the way in this country on really regulating these data centers and turning down corporate money, you definitely have my vote for reelection. I think you'd have everyone's vote in this room come May next year. The opportunity's here, it's before you now. Thank you for your time.

Letitia Wilburn, followed by Conley Wilson.

Letitia Wilburn, I'm with Echo Heights Top Six Environmental, Fort Worth Environmental Coalition of Communities, and DFW Communities Over Data Centers. Some of the things I wanna say is we do support the moratorium, but y'all should go further. Y'all should do a health study, and you should do a cultural study. These large data centers are overwhelming the black and brown communities. Black Mountain is currently asking for more. The more land y'all give them, the more they ask to be zoned for. Nobody is checking for vibrations. I haven't seen that on y'all's deal, checking for vibrations. Also, I do take a lot of notes when I come here, and y'all said that there is no ordinance on noise in industrial areas. Areas, so what does that say about areas that have data centers? I have a trucking company behind my home and it is hell So what do they say about the people that live by the data centers? They're gonna have to put up with the vibrations the Pollutions the noise because y'all don't have anything to protect them Also, y'all don't have anything to protect businesses or homes or anything and historic areas Western Gardens It's a historic area and nobody went through planning and development. It went through zoning. It went through city council. Y'all still passing. Nobody took the time to look and see that this was a historic place. Matter of fact, CD Nell Whitehead. The first female architect in Texas did some of the landscape in the main area of Western Garden, in the main garden of Western Garden. She did that. Western Garden should be protected. Y'all should have never, ever approved Black Mountain in the first place. This proves to me and everybody in this room that y'all don't do research. Y'all look at something, y'all will say, hey, this is here, this fits, let's put it here. And Maddie Parker, you said that Fort Worth is giving away 50 acres of prairie land a week. But at the same time, y'all are still allowing these major large data companies to come and take up the land. Not only that. The effect that it will have, you're on the board at Cook's Children's Hospital. What about the effect that it will have on children? I know y'all will be making billions of dollars, but what about the citizens that's going to be paying all of their money, all of their retirement and medical bills, and yes, funerals, because of what these status centers are going to bring. What about pets? I'm an animal lover. What about pets? What about what the noises are going to do for them? I think that y'all should stop and educate y'allself before y'all try to pass anything and do y'all's research. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Connelly Wilson, followed by Michelle Winder.

Hello, my name is Conley Wilson. I'm a resident of Fort Worth District 11. I'm here to talk today about Resolution 10.2.8. This resolution is a small but important step in the right direction towards a data center moratorium and past that, a complete overhaul of data center regulation. Today, I will lay out the negative impacts of modern data centers and the toll they take on residents. Whether it be increased energy prices, destabilizing an already weak energy grid, noise pollution, water waste, or any other number of negative impacts, new modern data centers come with consequences. This is why I stand here today to ask that resolution 10.2.8 be passed. One talking point I hear against implementing any new data center regulation is as follows. Fort Worth already has four operating data centers. Where was the outrage during their approval and construction? What about their toll on local resources and their environmental impact? This is a dishonest take on what a modern data center looks like in terms of strain on local water and electrical supply. Older data centers share a marginal negative impact on local resources compared to that of new modern data centers. Modern data centers can use as much power as 100,000 homes per day. With no independently sourced power, these new data centers put a strain on local power supply. This strain results in higher prices that you see at the end of the month on your bill. It's basic supply and demand. Also, on average, a new medium-sized data center can use up to 300,000 gallons of water a day. That's equivalent to the usage of 1,000 homes worth of water per day. This places an increased strain on our local water supply, which is already needing to be compensated for by the creation of a $2.3 billion pipeline to source water from East Texas. With that being said, I hope that today you can find it within yourselves to vote in favor of this resolution, 10.2.8, to start the process of putting a data center moratorium to vote. Thank you for your time.

Michelle Winder, followed by Yesak Worku.

Hi, I'm Michelle Winder, a longtime resident of Fort Worth. I was born and raised in this town. And what people have not realized or look at about these data centers is the water use and what it's going to do to our wildlife. Animals in Abilene are having stillborn cattle. Cattle are pregnant, and their calves are stillborn. They are running to the roads trying to get away from it, and they cannot get away from it. Now, you haven't talked to a biologist and see what it will do to the water when it pulls all the water out and we don't have any fish. So you need to look at all this stuff because if we don't have nature, we're not going to survive. We will literally go to dust and so will this earth. You need to stop these data centers. And look at the moratorium because we're not going to be able to survive if you put them in. Thank you.

Isak Worku, candidate for House District 91, a House District overlapping with Fort Worth. Fight. That's what we wanted to see from everyone here. We wanted to see a fight. And we didn't get that at all. The reason this is so important to us is because right now we are seeing billionaires push this on every level. Right now, currently, 4.5% of all US power is going to data centers. Projections put that at doubling within the next two years. Current data centers take up, currently, data centers are concentrated in our urban areas. Only 13% of current operational data centers are in our rural districts. But the planning changes that. This new generation changes that entirely. Two thirds of the data centers going in are going into our rural communities. The reason this is the case is because this new hyperscale data centers need so much room, so much power, generate so much heat that they can't even fit within our cities. This is why we're seeing the state step in. This is why we're talking about next year having to regulate it. We have seen the fight. We've seen the fight. We have seen candidates for Congress come down fighting on a federal level. We've seen candidates fighting on a state level. We've seen skipping one layer, the residents here fighting to make sure it is not in their city. There is a missing middle and it is everyone in front of us. Now, we know you can fight. We've seen you put in the fight. It was actually a masterclass, the way you were able to fight this moratorium, to push it off until all of the large data centers, until BlackRock was able to get in, to be excused, to be grandfathered. Today, we want to see the fight for us. We want to see this moratorium pass. We want to see this council push a citizen, not an industry captured, a citizen regulatory council. We wanted to see, and you wouldn't have seen us come out here if we had seen proactive regulation, proactive zoning, but you've refused. Now we have to fight with all of you. We wanted to see the mayor recuse herself, but she refused. So now we're left with no choice. These elections are coming up, and I hope everyone remembers the actions up to this point.

Council, I believe that is the conclusion of our speakers on this item, but I'm looking over at Jeanette to make sure I didn't miss anybody. Correct? Okay. Thank you. No problem. If you don't mind, if we missed you on data centers, come over to Jeanette and give her your name if you don't mind, and we'll be happy to call you up. That's fine. I think there's a few that may be signed up under public comment that could have been part of the confusion. Instead, if you did not speak already.

Yeah, I got an email.

That's helpful. No problem. That's okay. Just tell Jeanette your name.

Jeanette.

Where is she?

Nydia, where are you? I think you're present. Ms. Cardenas? Do you want to come up while they're figuring that out? Because you did get called earlier, and that'll give us a little minute. Thank you very much.

You know, I think all these community members have expressed sort of their resource needs. I think AI, when we compare technologies, AI is the technology that has required the most resources of any technology kind of in our history, right? We're seeing it take up so much of our natural resources. And I think, you know, I've been watching a lot of, as you guys may know, I'm running for office, trying to figure out what does it mean to be a good leader in this time of technological advancement. So I've been watching a lot of interviews with the founders of the big AI companies and documentaries about optimism and skepticism about the AI industry. And there was one quote that really stood out to me from Tristan Harris, who's the director of the Center for Humane Technology. It's not that ChatGPT is the existential threat. It's the race to deploy the most powerful, inscrutable, uncontrollable technology under the worst incentives possible. That's the existential threat. And I think we keep talking about data centers, but what are data centers for? They are for generative AI. And that is why they take up so many resources. And that race is something that puts everybody in danger. And I think as the 10th largest city in the country, Fort Worth has the opportunity tonight to say, hey, These AI companies, they're actually asking for government regulation. They're not getting it at the federal level yet, but they're asking for it because they who see it every day recognize how dangerous this technology could possibly be. So actually, a data center moratorium not only serves our community here, but it helps at a national level create that public pressure to push back and say, you know what? We need you to slow down before you put us all at risk. And so I think data centers shouldn't even be allowed until we have federal regulation on AI. But since we don't have that right now, I think this is an opportunity for all of you as the leaders of our city to say, you know what? We see the bigger picture here, and it's not just about our own resources. It's about really the future of humanity. And I don't want to be a total pessimist, but there's people that are leading these companies that do not have high ethical standards. And they're competing against each other, and their incentives are completely messed up, just as the data incentives are also wrong. It's about who gets there fastest. It's not about who does it the best, who does it with the least harm. So I think this is an opportunity for all of you to support this data center moratorium and also to make sure that the task force actually includes residents because, again, who is incentivized? Having experts, they have a different incentive system, right? They might say, well, I live in this community too, so I care. But at the end of the day, they work for these companies. Their incentives are different. And it's community members that have to actually be responsive to what's going on. So I hope that you'll adjust that proposal because we need actual residents input.

Pamela Jimison will be followed by Jean Marie Bichelle. Ms. Jimison, just before you speak, I'm going to get some clarity here. I've got Jean Marie Bichelle, Sarah Harani, Pamela's going to speak now, and then Courtney Grant were the ones that we adjusted. If there's anybody else we missed, please go see Jeanette. Thank you.

Oh, Jesus. Good evening. My name is Pamela Jemison. I'm a resident in District 8. And before I start talking, I just want to do, I need to, I like collecting receipts. So out of all y'all sitting up there, how many of you guys, raise your hand and tell me that you would want a data center in your community? Yeah, raise your hand. So I'm trying to understand this. You know what I'm saying? Well, anyway, on yesterday, I read in the Fort Worth Environmental Coalition of Communities post that the moratorium will not stop the 10 billion hyperscale data center from being built by Black Mountain. Also, when I saw Councilman Chris Netto's post about the moratorium for the data center on his Facebook post, he included a special note which stated that the moratorium doesn't stop or block existing data centers and our data centers who have already begun the city process. And so it's my understanding that this moratorium is not going to include Black Mountain. And they said that they can't because it's already in the city process. But I found that to be a lie. I did my research. And so I'm seeing where enforcing the moratoriums that local government can pass a temporary pause on data center construction are permitting. This freeze is further building expansion while authorities update zoning and environmental regulations. You can file lawsuits to invalidate zoning approvals, air water permits, or development agreements if the developer violated environmental or public health codes. But before I go to the next one, it says, I found another one, it says, electing new leadership. Communiques can organize voting blocks to elect new city or council officials who pledge to restrict the project. New officials can enforce retroactive moratoriums or launch forensic audits of the original development approved to find violations. Because I'm trying to figure out why all y'all... Supposed to be working for us. We paying y'all to work for us. So we shouldn't even have to be up here fighting against the data center. But because Maddie Parker got $12,000, Chris Nettles got $20,000, Carlos got $4,500, and the rest of y'all got $2,000. So it makes me feel like even though it's supposed to be a, what do you call it, a donation, sounds like a bribe to me. Because for y'all, it's supposed to be working for us. Even if y'all don't agree with what we want, y'all work for us. Our tax dollars is paying out. So why we got to sit up and fight y'all when y'all supposed to be working for us?

Our next speaker is Jean Marie Buchel, followed by Sarah Harani.

Good evening and well done, Pam. My name is Jean-Marie Bichelle. My husband and I own property on Esbury Avenue that is approximately one mile away from the Veal Ranch hyperscale proposed data center. And my understanding is that this moratorium or any of the protections that we're talking about don't apply to this data center. Well, I'd like to congratulate you on failing to represent your residents. That is your one job. You're not here to make decisions. You're here to represent the rest of us. Now, what I've heard today shocks me. I'm not from Fort Worth. I'm from Miami, Florida. I expect shady stuff there. Okay? I don't expect it here. Generations grow up here. Nobody wants to leave. Your mother went to school with your father. Your kids go to high school together. You don't screw each other over. Well, you just screwed over everyone in this room. I'd like to remind you that you are not here to make decisions based on what your agenda or your benefit is. I've heard a lot of shady practices. There's money being transferred. I have been told that you have not heard of this before just a few months ago. Well, that's not right, Michael. I was told that all of our concerns are myths, that you guys need to hear from subject matter experts. Well, you heard from several here tonight, and apparently it's not the first time you heard this. You have heard from a lot of people in this room. We've been here for hours. Thank you for making us wait. You should be ashamed of yourselves for the sham that you are running with this city council. Okay, these proposals that you are putting up are laughable and meaningless. And I don't believe that any of you are stupid enough to actually believe the hype that you're trying to pass on to us. So yes, we need a moratorium. That is not enough. We need you guys to do your job and represent the people here. It's very clear. I don't think I need to repeat everything that everyone said. I don't need to be blown off and disrespected when I call you and I express concerns. And I don't need to be lied to, like any of these people. We need studies done that are going to show us exactly what protections we need to be fully protected from any data center anywhere, whether it is vested or not vested, approved or not approved. You need to get on it and do your job. Thank you.

Sarah Harani, followed by Courtney Grant.

My name is Sarah Hassanin. My father is an Aramean Syrian, and my mother is a Mayan Honduran. Before this land was called Texas, the Caddo people called this land Tesha, and it means friend. How do y'all treat your friends? What would you do if somebody got paid how much money to steal from your friend and abuse your friend? What would you do? You'd fight. So we're here at 11 p.m. We're all working class people. We've got to work next morning, take care of kids. But we have to convince you people to not destroy our land, to not destroy our water supply. Why do we have to do that? Why do we have to sit here and argue for life? That's not fair. That's not good quality of life. I typed all of this up and it went out the window because now I'm just upset. I sat here for four hours listening to a bunch of bull crap. I sat here for four hours listening to regulations and this and that. Regulations for what? What are you going to tell us when we've run out of water? Because even if we're using our closed loop cooling, that's still 300,000 gallons to a million gallons of water every month from one data center. We're going to run out. And you're not taking that seriously. This is my first time speaking at council. I'm sorry. I dropped out of speech in college twice because it made me so anxious, but here I am convincing my city council people to make the right moral choice. That's not fair. Do you already have in plan what you're gonna tell us when we run out of water and when the air is too dirty to breathe and when the wildlife is displaced and we don't see any squirrels running around or any birds in the sky because they're trying to escape the noise pollution? What are you gonna tell us? Is this economic development that you're so excited about in question the check that you're getting for sacrificing the land and her people? I was going to speak about the moratorium, and I was going to ask you to adopt it, but I'm asking you to ban all data centers at this point until we figure out a more sustainable way to do so. It's not safe. It's not safe for the people, and it's not safe for animals. I know we've talked about livestock being stillborn. I'm a vet tech. How many of you have dogs? Are they itchy as hell right now? Yeah, pollution and data centers are causing that. Cats, anybody has a cat with kidney disease? Y'all wanna feed or y'all want your cat with kidney disease to drink the tap water that's polluted? I don't wanna give my patients that. They deserve better.

Our next speaker is Courtney Grant. Ms. Grant will be followed by Eddie Delgado.

Hello, my name is Courtney, District 5, lifelong Fort Worth resident, first time public commenter. I just want to echo that I'm in favor of the moratorium, even though I'm certain it will need to be extended. When it is passed As well as the data center committee. I'm in favor of that. Although it does need to be seriously reworked There are no data centers in my immediate area But I still care deeply about all the residents of this city and how they are impacted and I would hate to see the permission structure for billionaires, tech companies and developers be loosened even further because of a negligent decision that our city has made. It would essentially communicate that as long as you give money to the right people, they can essentially get whatever they want. No matter whose rights and quality of life those will affect. The broad concern over data centers does not live on any one side of a party line. Many diligent and well-informed residents of varying political backgrounds have consistently shown up to tell this body that they do not want data centers in the community, period. As we carry on in our day-to-day lives, we understand that it won't matter what party we sympathize with when the electric bill comes in. when the water passes through our faucets and when the air is breathed into our lungs, the quality of which I guess is to be determined. What will matter and what will be remembered is that the impact of those things will ultimately have been your decision. Y'all are what we have. With that being said, passing a moratorium and putting together a task force that is representative of Fort Worth and its immediately affected citizens would be the very bare minimum the city council can do to communicate that you are truly a reflection of the city you serve and not political sellouts. Involve the people.

Eddie Delgado, followed by David Rodriguez.

Good evening, I'm Eddie Delgado. Happy almost Wednesday. When I was a teenager and I got my driver's license, my parents sat me down and said, we don't want you smoking marijuana or drinking until you're old enough. So we weren't born yesterday. Just promise that if you do, you won't drive. Call us, no questions asked. And I'll come back to that. History has taught us something. When powerful industries resist change, it usually takes regulation and public pressure to force the innovation that benefits the rest of us. We forced seat belts, airbags. The industry fought it every step of the way, right up until it saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Notice the pattern. Every time industry said it was too expensive, yet every time they were capable of more than they claimed. It just took someone willing to make them prove it. Now look at the data centers. The same companies with the deepest pockets want us to believe Unchecked resource consumption is simply the cost of progress. They're buying up cheap land, often on top of our lowest income neighborhoods, pulling water and power out of our families that depend on. These are the same companies that shrank a room-sized computer down to the device on your wrist. They can figure out how to be a decent neighbor. But haven't we learned by now that they don't care to be one? Their only concern is lining their pockets to the detriment of the people. Now, I'm completely against these centers, full stop. But I have three words for you. Don't do it. I'm not my parents, going back to the original story. I am not your parent. Don't call me when you're drunk on the lie of big revenue. Make the right decision from the get-go like other cities are doing across the country. Lead the path to what the people actually want. Here's the good news. This is the break you've been looking for. A chance to lead instead of cutting a ribbon on another server warehouse and calling it progress. And you don't have to do it alone. This is what the North Central Texas Council of Governments is for. Every city at the table, one shared standard, so no company can drive 20 minutes down the road for a softer deal. deny them all, and have the center set up shop on Zuckerberg's 2,300 acres in Hawaii. Some of you may want Maddie's spot, right? Guys, you wanna be mayor over there? Think this through carefully before the next election cycle. We don't want it, we don't need it. Don't Skynet my Texas.

David Rodriguez.

All right. Fort Worth has a greenwashing problem. And for those of you who don't know what the term greenwashing means, it's essentially just a term that's used whenever governments Corporations use flowery language to disguise legislation as being clean, natural, so on and so forth. An example of this would be clean coal. It doesn't exist. It's a lie. Liquid natural gas, same thing. The clean way of extracting liquid natural gas does not exist. It's a lie. So, for example, when Mike Slattery is appointed to this, the flowery language is that, well, he's the department chair for the institute and he's a full time researcher for environmental studies at TCU, which sounds great. However, you neglect to mention that he is also the director of research for Ralph Low Energy, which in April of twenty twenty six. So this year. They had a fireside chat conversation with Chevron, JP Morgan, and Diamondback Energy, which considers themselves a Permian Basin Energy, which is just a fancy word for oil and gas. So quite frankly, when it comes to data centers in this committee, I don't want anyone associated with oil and gas to be on this project. I don't care about the opinions of techno-fascists. I don't care about Elon Musk. I don't care about Sam Altman. I don't care about Peter Thiel or anything of their ideas. So I'm going to ask for this DCIC to strip the economic development business sector position, to strip the data center operations and technology infrastructure position, because we already know what their position is. They want this data center. Instead, it should be replaced with ethnobotanists, some kind of botanist, a native ecologist that is associated with the land. So another example of greenwashing would be Mr. Michael Crane. I'm surprised that you're trying to outgreen Ms. Mayor Parker because you dropped a video today where you went to the Fort Worth Nature Conservancy Refuge. And quite frankly, Jared Wood, the director, specifically told you, Fort Worth, this is what Fort Worth should look like. It's cross timbers, blackland prairie, and marshlands, all right? So... If you're gonna do this, then I need to start seeing some actual conservation legislation, especially in the face of Donald Trump bulldozing Big Bend, and especially with him rejecting and exterminating certain endangered species protections. So for every gallon of drinking water that's in a data center, for every gallon of water Is a gallon of water going to be supporting a wetland? It's gonna be a gallon of water that isn't supporting a human life in some form or some fashion.

Council, that does conclude our speakers on all three of these items. Is, just a moment.

That gets us to 26-6059.

Thank you. I apologize. What page are you on, Jeanette?

26 of your.

Thank you. Council, at this time, I can turn it over to the dais for comments on each individual item. I think maybe that helps in response rather than taking them individually. Council Member Beck. I tried, let me try again. There we go. Now?

Okay, thank you. I first of all want to thank staff for their efforts that they have put forward in attempting to take the first crack at our regulations. For those of you that don't know, and I want to give you a little timeline here for those in the room, because I think it's important to understand how, and I'm not speaking for all of my colleagues, I'm speaking for myself, I certainly know from conversation that the sentiment is shared amongst many. So we heard you when you said, what's happening with data centers? We don't want data centers. We got briefed by staff. They brought us our options and what we heard was because of the state law, the quickest way for us to enact any sort of protection was through regulations, through our zoning ordinance and other ordinances with the city. So that was the route that we began to take because at least in my opinion, it felt like the quickest, most efficient way to provide those protections that so many, is this a polite way of telling me that I'm done? Because this was, I felt like, the fastest way to be responsive to residents' concerns about data centers. So first and foremost, you were heard from the beginning. What became clear to me after doing some research, I actually went and met with the data center operator. It was in that meeting that I realized that maybe we weren't regulating the things that we needed to be regulating and that we were rushing this process. That was communicated to city staff before the zoning meeting. What became abundantly clear at the zoning meeting, not only through residents, public comment but listening to our zoning commissioners is that I wasn't alone that this felt rushed that we weren't getting it right and that we needed to take a beat and we needed to make sure that we got it right for the residents and not just rushed and so that's why I along with many of my colleagues on this dais asked for a moratorium the moratoriums place is there to provide protection while we can come up with these robust regulations that help protect our residents in the future. Because a moratorium is temporary. The most that we can get out of a moratorium is 180 days every two years. And so regulations are truly the best way for long-term protection of our residents. And so I want to make sure we get it right. And that's why I asked for this moratorium process to be started. Because it's important that we protect our residents during this process as we work through it. This is new to us on council. I didn't know about data centers until data centers became a thing, much like many of you. It's a fast-moving field. one that is quite frankly very hard to keep up with. So know that you were heard. Whether you feel that or not, from this dais, from the beginning, there was a need to be responsive, which is why those regulations were so rushed in the beginning. because we wanted to get them done quickly so that we could have protections in place. It just became clear that those weren't the right regulations. And so to give us the time to do those regulations, I felt like it was important to start the process of putting a moratorium in place so that as we wrestled with that, we begin that simultaneous process of beginning to protect our residents because we did hear you. We did hear your concerns about data centers. And I want to be clear, data centers are tricky because they are in heavy industrial use that looks like an office building. And so they have snuck in adjacent to our neighborhoods, not just in Fort Worth, but across the state and across the country in a stealth way that has made a tremendous amount of distrust for operators, rightfully so, operators of data centers. And so I understand the concern. I share your concern. And so what we have here tonight is a council that is being responsive to the residents of the city of Fort Worth. And for that, I applaud everyone that showed up to speak, not just tonight, but those engaged residents that came to that zoning commission. and didn't hurl insults, but they articulated their concerns in a way that gave our zoning commissioners pause to move forward with these regulations. So I applaud you for being that voice in the community and making sure that you kept the foot on the gas. I also applaud city staff for being nimble. We have certainly thrown them multiple curve balls along the way. I also want to applaud my colleagues on council. There has been a lot of debate and discussion, which is why you saw us go into an executive session, because we want to make sure we're getting this right. And so it's not just the moratorium that we're voting on tonight. We took the opportunity. The moratorium process had already started, as many of you know. But when Greg Abbott issued his letter, What we did was we took that opportunity to see how we could capitalize on that and further protect our residents, which is why you see that ordinance in place that we'll be voting on tonight as an attempt to further protect you while we get this moratorium and these regulations in place. And so I hope what you take away tonight from this dais as the rest of us share our comments and our thoughts is that we are here to work with you on this, that we aren't your enemy in this fight, that this is something that impacts everyone in the city of Fort Worth. And if it impacts you, it impacts me, and it impacts everyone on this dais, and it makes it important. And so with that, I will be making a motion to approve the moratorium to start at a date, I'm sorry, a move to approve the resolution, I'm sorry, the resolution for the moratorium with the following language added, that the first public hearing should occur no later than November 10th, 2026. Second. Thank you, Mia. And with that, thank you all for coming out tonight. I truly do appreciate everybody that's taking the time to educate yourself on this and be a productive part of the conversation.

Council Member Flores.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll make my comments brief. Support much of what my colleagues here so far tonight have thought and supported. I know enough on a subject that I'm not an expert on data centers, despite my research and the materials provided to us by staff and other sources. Development of data centers is a rapidly growing industry, and it requires, I think, a rapid response, but a thoughtful one at the same time. This council found much common ground on this topic. The vast majority of speakers tonight supported regulating data centers. I agree. The vast majority of speakers tonight also supported the proposed memorandum. I agree with that, too, and did so when it became clear that the zoning commission was not supported by the proposed set of regulations. The vast majority of speakers tonight also supported the formation of a commission, and I agree with that, too. In my opinion, the most effective way of accomplishing this is to approve these resolutions together for reasonable regulatory controls that tie in to an application process at the ERCOT and PUC level while allowing time to form a commission of which citizens play a vital role and can provide expert guidance to staff and council. I want to thank all of you who came here and voiced your concerns.

Council Member Nettles?

Earlier, an individual spoke about government being slow, and that is just the honest truth about anything that you do in government. It's a slow process. It's getting through the weeds of everything that you work with. This is not the first time that we have been here. We had an issue with hot topics such as Airbnbs. They was popping up all over the city of Fort Worth. We had to take a step back and figure out an ordinance on Airbnbs. It took time to get there. There was a hot topic about automatic car washes. We don't want automatic car washes. They're loud. They're sounds. We had to step back and put in regulations in the ordinance to stop automatic car washes going all over the city of Fort Worth. This is just another hot topic that hits the city of Fort Worth. And when these hot topics come, we have to take a step back and find out good regulations to put these in place. And so what you have seen is this council has pushed back with staff and said, no, we don't want to just put in regulations. We want to put a moratorium. And so I signed the letter with other colleagues such as Elizabeth Beck and Jeanette and others to put in the... moratorium today and so I'm going to support the moratorium to put in place so that no new data centers can happen while we go through this process and hope and pray that legislation do something to help and support the city of Fort Worth.

That's my comments. Thank you. Council Member Martinez.

Clarification. So we're speaking to all three of the agenda items. So I'd like to offer a substitute motion on the data center commission to update the

repeat the question. I apologize, Councilor Martinez.

So I wanted clarification if we're, our comments were for all three of the items and I wanted a substitute motion or do I need to wait? I think right now don't substitute on anything other than the moratorium resolution.

Thank you. Do you have any other comments related to this? Thank you. Councilmember Peoples.

Well, there are so many of you all in the audience who have been willing to sit down and dialogue about this issue. I think I told you all, I'm old school. I mean, a data center is something, they have to come and work on my computer every day. So you all have been willing to sit down and talk through these issues. And that is why I am going to be supporting the moratorium because Wesley, I see you sitting out there, but I think this is what we need, is we need a dialogue between the citizens and us sitting up here on this dais. We absolutely, I agree with Ms. Jemison, we work for you all, but that is why we don't know everything all the time. I know many people expect us to, but we don't. And so we have to be willing to listen to experts and people that are sitting in the audience that know things to understand the impact. So I am grateful to you all for the work that you've done and the work that you've done to educate me and that is why I will be voting for the moratorium.

Council, any additional comments or questions related to 10.2.8? Thank you. I've got a motion by Council Member Beck and a second by Dr. Hall. Please vote. Motion carries.

The next item is 26-6071. Yes, Council Member Beck.

that the motion carries, but this time add unanimously so that they know that this council is united in this.

Sure. Go back one slide if you don't mind, Jeanette. Thank you. That's okay. All good. Resolution 26-6059, a resolution directing the city manager to initiate the process to adopt a 90-day moratorium does hereby pass unanimously. Thank you. You're welcome. Next up, we have discussion of 10.2.9, a data center commission, the Fort Worth Data Center and Infrastructure Commission. Council Member Beck.

Oh, not me, sorry.

I have a substitute motion for you to consider to update the composition of the Data Center and Infrastructure Commission and designate the two open seats for community members. I just don't like the idea that this is gonna be moving forward while being unknown.

We've got a motion and two seconds. So we have a new motion on the floor from what currently is in front of you, council, which would, there's a placeholder in that resolution that includes two additional community members. And articulate your motion one more time for us, Jeanette. There we go.

That the infrastructure, or the Data Center Infrastructure Commission, the two open seats be designated for community members, because right now it's unknown.

Thank you. Yes, I'll come around here. Council Member Jamison? Okay, Council Member Nettles?

Yes, and so I believe we have a total of one, two, three, four, five, six positions will be the experts, and then there will be five positions for the community members. Is that your motion, Jeanette?

No, no commentary from the floor, thank you. Is that your motion?

So a community member, assuming that the environmental appointee is also a community member. And the environmental? I mean, I would think that's with one of the environmental groups.

Well, let me ask the question differently. There's going to be six positions that's going to be directed by Dr. Mike. A PhD is going to pick those six members. And then the other five members will be community members.

I don't know that he would pick all those positions.

That's what the recommendation is, is that correct, Jess?

Yes, that's correct.

Okay. The recommendation is that Dr. Michael, Mike, will select six members, economic development business, data center operation, environmental, local electric provider, TRWD, Environmental Advocated Organization, three members, and now you're asking for the two additional members to also be community members as well.

Members? Just for clarity, I think the main purpose of your motion, Council Member Martinez, if I may, is to ensure that those two placeholder seats, they were open, that we're specifically articulating those belong to the community and they are Fort Worth residents, correct? Correct. And they don't require any particular expertise. They're just impacted as community residents of the city of Fort Worth.

I would go in line with the other three, the requirements for the other three.

Okay. So... I've got a motion and a second. Any other questions around that? Council Member Beck? Oh, let me get back in line here. Council Member Hill, thank you.

I respectfully disagree. I think that we need to make sure that Dr. Slattery has the latitude to select the committee members that are going to provide the most expertise. We already have placeholders for committee members, and I really do think that we need to make sure this is made up the majority of professionals to make professional decisions.

No commentary from the floor, please. Thank you very much. Council Member Peoples.

So Mayor, I am in support of Councilwoman Jeanette Martinez's amendment, proposed amendment, because we have shown, the audience has shown us tonight that there are many subject matter experts that are citizens in Fort Worth. And I think by, and I've been very honest with this. I believe we need a committee, and I believe we do need some experts, industry experts on the committee. So I wanna be very clear about that, but I, I pushed to get the three community members on there. The fourth environmental advocate will probably come from the Sierra Club. And if we gave those two other members, that would give the community, the citizens of Fort Worth, I think a really good say into what they want. And then coupled with... the industry experts, and I think we all are learning together, I think it would be a good committee. So I would second your motion, Jeanette.

Council Member Hall.

Yes, so I wanted to go on the record with I do support the need to add our representatives for our community on the committee. I think one of the questions that I have asked in this discussion that we've had regarding the formation of this commission is the process for selection. There really hasn't been much discussion centered on how the decision will be made on who will actually be selected for that. That would offer more comfort if we could have some more description on how Dr. Slattery will be making decisions, even though we'll be submitting our nominations, ultimately who will determine who's an industry expert and which residents we would select ultimately, being that we'll all have suggestions and we'll only be selecting five if this motion passes.

Townsend, we're back.

Yeah, so I don't necessarily disagree with the addition of those two people, but I think that it... Right now, the three people that we have on, there's a requirement that they have to have some level of expertise. I think if you're going to add those two people, you're not being in keeping that specific requirement on there. I don't know that it necessarily gives... the people exactly what they were asking for. I think my preference would be if we're going to add those two positions that they need to come from neighborhood leadership or neighborhood coalition, so they maybe necessarily don't have the expertise in engineering or biology, but they are, you know, representatives of our neighborhood, so they truly are people. I think that gets you to a better mix of well-rounded individuals as opposed to, I think that gives Let me back that up. I think that that gives what I've heard tonight is that you want regular people on there, right? Neighborhood folks on there. And so if we have the three people, I'm not gonna do that, sorry. If we have the three people that have, that they're public citizens, but they have expertise, we're gonna add those two more. Those two more should come from our neighborhood-minded folks, the people that we've worked with on stuff like that before. Council Member Flores?

If I followed that discussion correctly, Dr. Hall did, I think, cover one of the questions that I had, and I'm glad she articulated how council does have input into the academic who will be down selecting what that composition is on the commission. Now, to Councilwoman Beck's talking points right there, that's where I was seeking clarity. Yes, these are two additional positions, And I wanted clarification to see what community meant. In other words, what category they're being drawn, if it's similar to the three that are already there, then I understand that. And as far as the level of expertise, again, let me just reiterate, it has to have some kind of level of knowledge to be contributing in a productive way. So that's what I wanted to say.

Council Member Crane.

Yeah, can you, Jeanette, just to clarify, your motion is the two additional seats that sort of sit out there to be some sort of neighborhood or resident or some sort of representation. Is that, and I just want to make sure we're clear.

Sorry, Jeanette.

Not specifically neighborhood leadership. I agree with Councilman Flores. I want somebody that has some knowledge of data center. And I feel like a lot of these people have done their research and could also serve in one of those two open seats.

Yeah, I think we're all kind of there. So I'll call the question. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments from council members at this time? At this point, I've got a motion on the floor from Council Member Martinez, and I believe it was Council Member Nettles that seconded it, is that correct? I apologize, or Deborah, thank you, okay. Okay, you wanna repeat your motion, Jeanette?

You gotta vote once he does that by Robert's rule of order, yeah.

I've got a motion and a second on the floor. Do you need a repeat of your motion for clarity? Yes, please, thank you.

I'D LIKE TO OFFER A SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT TO DESIGNATE THE TWO OPEN SEATS FOR THE DATA CENTER AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION TO COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN LINE WITH THE OTHER THREE POSITIONS THAT ARE ALREADY.

I'M GETTING HEAVY SHRUGS OVER HERE FROM LEANNE. I THINK YOU DON'T. OKAY.

Okay. This is just, this would be your main motion to approve the item. With that addition. With your amendment. And then we can address the other splitting of the vote.

Is that clear as mud? Yeah, Council Member Nettles. Actually, technically, by rules, we've got to call the order on question. We have to vote on this item. So you can vote no on it if you want to, and we can come back around. But call the question by Robert's Rules of Order. Okay, that's helpful. Go ahead. Sorry, I'll hit your button. There we go.

Okay. I have a substitute motion because I'm with Elizabeth Beck. I don't agree that the two community members need to have experts to be on this committee. So my substitute motion is that we make those two members just community neighborhood members whether they have expertise or not. Second.

Motion and a second on the floor. Council Member Martinez. I will withdraw my motion. Okay, that makes it easier. So we have Council Member Nettles' motion on the floor and a second by Council Member Beck. Council Member Jamieson. Vote. Okay, we'll do that.

Do you want us to do that now, Jeanette and Leigh Ann?

Yes, okay, go ahead. Council Member Jamieson, you can read the language.

We're splitting the motion to allow for a recusal. I move to approve resolution 26-6071 with the exception of section two.

Councilmember Hill?

As amended. As amended.

Sorry, as amended.

Yeah, so due to my relationship with TCU, I'm gonna recuse myself from that vote.

I've got a motion and a second. You're voting on this part, it's the next part.

I'm voting on the first one, not voting the second one.

Exactly, yeah, okay. No. Go ahead. Try your button again, see if it works. I apologize. I don't know what's going on.

So we are voting. Chris has a substitute motion. That's on the floor. Chris, I just realized I'm in between the Chris's. Left-handed Chris over here. Yeah, left-handed Chris over here. is made a motion to separate it. So we're gonna vote on Chris's motion to separate it, but then right-handed Chris motion is gonna be the next one we vote on, correct?

I would recommend that we just, we take, we can consider left-hand Chris's as a second substitute motion, and then we just vote with it as amended. So it would essentially be... we've got to split the vote because she's got to recuse from the portion where we're we're actually contracting with tcu so what you have suggested to put forward councilmember nettles will be what we're voting on it's just that we are voting on the composition at this point of the board and then the second vote will be about the essentially the contracting portion which okay excellent that's that's more clarity so this first vote vote

is Council Member Nuttall's motion on the floor, the composition of the commission, and then we'll come back and vote specifically on a contract with TCU as a part of the resolution. Yes, so I've got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries. Okay, so our next vote pertains to the ability to contract directly with TCU, of which Council Member Hill is going to abstain. I've still got, go ahead, what'd you say? Okay, go ahead, Chris.

I move to approve section two of the resolution.

Okay. I'm recusing to my relationship with TCU from this vote.

Got a motion and a second. Council, please vote. Motion carries.

I think we're ready for the second motion to approve Section 2.

We're moving to 26-6072 pertaining to the ordinance to amend Chapter 14 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth. Any questions or comments on this item, Council? Yes, Council Member Hill.

Council, because we do not fully understand the application process or the approval processes that go through the PUC and ERCOT and how that timing interacts with the city process, I move to approve the data center ordinance with the changes consistent along with the following. The proposed data center has applied for all necessary permits and approvals required by the PUC and ERCOT and require that all city applications shall not be approved until all documentation required by the ordinance has been delivered to the city.

I've got a motion and a second. Council Member Flores. Okay.

I just wanted to clarify. I think I understood what you read, Macy. So it's. It's really just a distinction between approval and application. Right, okay, thank you.

We've got a motion and a second. Council, any other discussion on this item? Council Reynolds, hold on. Oh, that was the wrong one, sorry.

What was your question? Can staff articulate the difference of what's in the ordinance and what? Sure. Please.

The city secretary's office is working on putting a red line on the screen for the council to review that will be in line with council member Hill's motion today. So you can just see what those changes are. As currently written the ordinance imposes filing requirements for development permitting applications, so it says until you have gone. Through the process and gotten full approval from either or caught if you're a large load user or. through Encore, if you're a smaller user, the city would not process any applications that you submitted for a plat or a building permit or other permits. So the change that is requested through Council Member Hill's motion is to not make it a filing requirement, but instead make it an approval requirement for a plat, a building permit or other permits. And also that you not have full approval from ERCOT or Encore, but you just have applied and are going through that process with them to get your full approval.

Thank you, Rich. Councilmember Beck, then Councilmember Hill.

Sure. I support this motion, I'm sorry, I support this resolution or the ordinance as it was presented initially, but I cannot support the change in language, moving it from application to approval. I think that at the application process. I understand that we don't know yet what that is, but I feel like at the application process that provides more protections for our residents right now than the approval process. And so for me, it's about having that additional protection for our residents until we know better what that process is like and what we can expect from the audits and from the state.

Council Member Hill.

Well, I have a hard time as putting arbitrary restrictions on some of this stuff without understanding the full process. And so I think keeping it a little bit more vague and keeping that door open. One, Fort Worth is open for business. And I think we need to make sure that we still have that message out there. We have the moratorium in place. This would be a third, really third layer to a moratorium with Governor Abbott's audit, our moratorium. And if we're so strict, I'm afraid we are going to turn away a lot of businesses that we've already worked so hard to attract to the city of Fort Worth. making sure that we take care of those people that have invested already. I do think that we just need to keep that language open because we do not understand, we are not experts on the process, how long the timeline takes, and what those approvals look like at the ERCOT level.

Any other questions or comments related to the current motion on the floor? Council Member Nettles?

I think I had mentioned earlier that we could provide a timeline or a expiration date on this ordinance? With the recommendations that come from the state ledge.

Well, I think importantly, this is a ordinance that was created as a placeholder to attempt to prevent some of the vesting concerns we were concerned about before, regardless if it's the language proposed by Councilmember Hill or the original language. So I believe in the conversations I've had with council members, there seems to be an interest in more comprehensive ordinance language that would actually come from the commission that would grapple with some of these things. Furthermore, there are gonna be hearings, I think there's another hearing on Friday with PUC, where likely they're gonna discuss what this audit process really looks like to hopefully shed some light for cities like ours that are attempting to align with this audit and temporary pause across Texas. So to your point, Chris, I don't know that we have to have dates certain in here, but I think publicly for people to understand, this is likely a temporary solution as we work through for more protections for Fort Worth and then there's a statewide audit ongoing. Council Member Hall. I'm going to try one more time. There we go.

So looking at this proposal, you know, I've had an opportunity. It went away. We've had an opportunity to look at what we were considering tonight, and this now suddenly is before us. And I would really appreciate, just for my own understanding, what exactly are you, what does this actually say?

Well, instead of having applications complete and required to the city, these companies can be in the application process because we don't understand how long a complete application will take. It could take six months, two years, three years. I think that we need to be a little bit more flexible when we're looking at how that interacts with the city's timeline on going through zoning, plaids, et cetera.

So you're saying... No commentary from the floor. So I just want to make sure I understand your proposal. So you're saying as long as they've submitted an application...

Yes, they're in the application process. They don't have a complete one, but they're going through the process.

So wouldn't that cause a rush to the application process?

They all have to go through an application process. I'm saying that they can come to the city without having to have it absolutely complete. They can still be working simultaneously with us and with ERCOT. It's going to change. I feel like we're trying to make decisions based on information we don't know. We're not experts, but we're putting an arbitrary guideline in saying it has to be complete. I'm asking for council to consider an application in progress.

I want to... No commentaries from the floor. We have to remove people. We just want to vote and get through this. Thank you very much. Okay.

So I just wanted to make sure that I understood what your proposal would be and what it actually communicates. You know, I don't necessarily believe that the actions or the proposals that have been put before us today, that we've brought today, communicate that we're not open for business. I think What we all, it seems like, to this juncture are trying to communicate is that we recognize that there is a need for protection, regulation, legislation from the federal government, the state government, the city government. For once, it seems we all concur on something. I can't support your motion to change the language that we've considered.

Council Member Nettles.

Mayor Parker, I'm going to add a substitute motion. My substitute motion is to approve 10.5.1 ordinance as it is written.

So we have to dispose of the first motion by Council Member Hill first, and then we can go back, correct? No, this is a substitute motion. Back to the original? But she had the substitute motion.

No, she had the original motion.

With an amendment?

Yeah.

Okay.

So now we have, Councilmember Nettles has an original, has a motion for the original 10.5.1 ordinance as written and as published. Do I have a second? Thank you, Councilmember Beck. Any other discussion related to Councilmember Nettles?

No?

At this point you can vote. Sorry? The original ordinance as written is what you're currently voted on, yes. Motion carries. Okay. That concludes.

All of the action items.

All the action items, council, thank you. We'll now move into public comment.

I am too.

Our first speaker is Bob Willoughby, followed by Conley Brewer. Go for it, if you want to do it. Go for it. Council Member Nettles.

I'm looking at you. We need, we got too many council members. Just a second, Bob.

I apologize, Bob. Go ahead, Council Member Nettles. Just a second, Bob. I understand that we have plenty of residents still here to speak. I'm going to make a motion that we move the time from three minutes to one minute to give everybody the opportunity to speak.

I've got a motion. I've got a motion and a second. Council? I've got a motion and a second.

Please vote.

Councilmember Hill.

It's Chris Nettles. I know you don't have nobody to go home to, but I do.

Motion passes, thank you. Okay, no more commentary. We're gonna move to Bob Willoughby. Thank you very much. Bob, the floor is yours. One minute, thank you.

One minute, huh?

DJ, that's good. You can leave. Thank you very much.

Who do you think I am, a game show host? This is real. We're supposed to be able to speak. I got a video. I'm not gonna play it now, because it can't play. You don't have time for it, and you know that. And that's why you did that, Chris. You are a coward. You're not a man. You're not a pastor. You're not even human. You come out there and meet me in the hallway and confront me like a human being, okay? I will. You can't do that. You're a coward. I'm going to spend my one minute criticizing you because there ain't time to do anything else. Mayor Parker, you're still a liar as you was earlier today. You will be a liar to the day you die.

Our next speaker is Conley Brewer.

Well, the... Motion to cut our time down to one minute pretty much covers everything I was going to talk about. And just to remind everybody up here that come October, you're getting a 100% pay raise. 100%, but yet you want to limit our time. The people's time to talk and address y'all. The only time that we get because you're tired and you want to go home. Have fun.

Our next speaker is Anthony Moore. Is Mr. Moore present? Followed by Kent de Cardenas. Is Kent present?

Thank you for staying late. Thank you for passing the amendment to the committee vote to get the other two open seats to residents. Thank you Mr. Nettles for making it more open residents as well. I am interested to see how this committee forms up. I might not sound like an optimist whenever I come up here and speak to you guys, but I am always an optimist. I always hope for the best, and I always prepare for the worst. So please surprise me. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ryan Smith, who will be followed by Erica Christenteli. Is Ryan available? Thanks, Carlos. Erica Christenteli, followed by David Rodriguez. Is Mr. Rodriguez here? Lauren Chong, is Lauren still present? Blaine Toole, Pamela Jimison, I know she left. Wesley Kirk, Wesley was still here, maybe not. Okay, I'll come back, thank you. Ambika Sharma. Ambika will be followed by Stephen Lawrence.

It's Sharma. All right. I think it's almost midnight. So guys, we did it. This is such a big deal. They voted unanimously. Wow. Miracles do happen. Two other things I want to speak on are the tax rate that you guys increased or the resolution that opened the possibility for the tax rate to increase. On that resolution, my request is as you consider increasing the tax rate, also consider increasing the homestead exemption because I don't want to see our families who are lower income to be adversely impacted. And I would also suggest, implore rather, that you send a notice to Tarrant Appraisal District that it was wrong of them to have you know, frozen appraisals year over year for residential because 60% of our revenue for the city comes from residential property taxes. So they should not have frozen the appraisal. So we should send them that notice. Thank you.

Mr. Lawrence will be followed by Jumilat Mendoza.

Well, hello, my name is Stephen Lawrence. I'm a lawyer in Fort Worth. This is only the second time I've spoke at Council, and it's about the same thing, which is I filed a FOIA request in January requesting a memo that the FBI reportedly, according to congressional and major media sources, sent to ICE and DHS regarding the criminals using the prevalence of masked ICE agents to impersonate officers and commit crimes across the country. Besides that source, I also had a Fort Worth police officer tell me about that concern. And I simply asked for the memo and things surrounding it. I haven't received it. The city sent it up to the Attorney General's office, which does what Texas Attorney Generals do, and refused to release it as well. I have a city council member who hasn't responded to me on it. I would appreciate if Ms. Beck would get this memo from the Fort Worth Police Department.

Thank you, Mr. Lawrence. Appreciate you. Thank you. I appreciate your comments, thank you. Thank you for understanding, we appreciate you. Okay, our next speaker is gonna be Wesley Kirk, who I think walked in just now, Wesley, followed by Jumilat Mendoza.

had remarks prepared, but now I can't do them because you'll cut time. What are we doing? I don't understand. The more you'll cut people's time, the more angry everyone gets because of this. We can avoid all of this. A lot of people signed up to speak for public comment because they were worried y'all were going to do something fucky with the data center vote. And so they were being safe by signing up here because if you move the vote, they could speak now. A lot of people, we're tired too. We want to go home. Why are we still doing this? If y'all wanted to cut time, the time to do that was at the beginning of the meeting. Please stop cutting public comment. We have a right to speak.

Our next speaker is Jumalet Mendoza, followed by Michael Rolfson. Michael Rolfson? No. Michael will be followed by Casey Merrifeld.

I think y'all reducing the speaking time speaks volumes to y'all's commitment to the moratorium. It's clear that y'all don't care about community insight, which should be the backbone for what the moratorium should be about. It was months and months and months of communities advocating for this moratorium. And now the city council is acting as if this should just be a temporary thing where we should essentially go back to the status quo prior. It's ridiculous that you're just missing our voices, and we are here, we are subject matter experts, and you should be appointing all positions in the committee to people that are residents of Fort Worth.

Casey Merrifield, followed by Lee Jackson.

Okay, hi. I also had a three-minute field present, like, ready to present, so I'm going to, um, alter it a little bit. Um, ironically, I had written up something on apathy and, like, the behavior of the council towards speakers before the time got cut, so I'll just, uh, do the greatest hits highlight reel from what I have written up. Um... Today, when I was in the lobby, I overheard a singular exchange. Two people passed each other. One of them said, this looks like it's going to be a long meeting. And the other said, yep, better make sure that I bring my pillow and blanket. And I'm not totally certain because I didn't see it, so I won't name names. But I'm pretty sure it was a council member. And that, I think, just speaks volumes to kind of the attitude sometimes that comes off the court. or the council, I had a much better explanation of my understanding for the difficulty of your position and also just recommendations to do better about looking like your care and you're engaged, but unfortunately I won't be able to say it.

Lee Jackson will be followed by Jane Marie Burchell. Is Lee present? No. Jane Marie. Jane Collins. Stephen Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez will be followed by John Rosenthal, who I think left.

I'm gonna make this quick. All right. Hello. All right, this is the Normal neighborhood, again, baseline. And here is a co-location data center in my district. This is down the road from me. It is inundating the residents across the street with this sound. It is over ordinance at night. During the day it's at like 62 decibels or something like that, which is also should be in my opinion out of ordinance, but that's not what the ordinance says. I was contacted by a resident to do this and it should have been contacted to the police and code. What does that say about you?

Leticia Wilburn. Carlos Silva. Carlos will be followed by Nadia Cardenas.

Okay, hi Leticia, come on up.

I just want to say if you're a domino player, you know this term, all money is not good money. So I just want y'all to remember that while y'all passing all of these data centers and so on and stuff. One of the things that we've learned at Echo Heights is that once these businesses are in place, they get there and they do whatever they wanna do. The thing that people are gonna hear over and over is zoned for that. So I think that you guys need to be steady. If the residents are there first, Y'all need to make sure they are the most important. Y'all don't need to keep allowing these businesses to come in. And I heard y'all a few minutes ago keep speaking about people educational levels and stuff, but there's a lot of educated fools. And I'm not trying to be mean, but some of y'all up there are educated fools because anybody that will pass a data center in a neighborhood without doing research on the community is an educated fool.

Carlos Silva will be followed by Nydia Cardenas.

Do you guys want to commit political suicide, or is that just a side effect of how arrogant and apart from the public you think you are? Because what you did here today was, OK, move on the moratorium, thanks. We asked for that months ago. Good job. then we very clearly stated what we wanted. We said we wanted a commission of 11 community members, or at the very, very least, majority voting power. And you gave us explicitly non-majority voting power. You said six experts against five community members. So you just ignored what everybody just said over and over and over. They echoed. So thank you for that, I guess. and then you vote to just remove our time? Do you not see what's happening in the country, in Tarrant County? You can't do this and stay in office.

Our next speaker is Nadia Cardenas.

but now I can't because in this one minute, what just happened, I mean, Steven, he rents his own equipment. He pays for the equipment that he rents to go and do this audio testing. He had a three minute presentation prepared and you decided to cut it down to one minute. um i i have talked to so many community members who spend hours prepping their public comment all these people who came here for the first time they're nervous they're anxious they prepare their three minutes and then we stayed all this time another thing you could have done is said hey it's late guys stand up if you're in here and you're still signed up for public comment because you saw that a bunch of people have already left because it's so late so you could have actually given everybody their three minutes but instead you just You know, the quick vote, I understand that it's late and it's a long day, but you could stand up, wiggle around, move some energy, do something to get yourself more present, but disrespecting the time and energy of residents is the worst choice to make on any day, no matter the hour.

And Zeta will be followed by Sarah Hassanen.

I also was planning to just waive my time. I signed up for public comment just in case some cutting happened on the original and I didn't have time to make all the comments that I made, but I too am going to take the minute. I will just share with you that my very first council meeting ever, we were here till after one o'clock in the morning. We weren't cutting people's time. We were listening to everything that everyone had to say. I understand that it's a lot of work sometimes and it's very tiring, but I don't think cutting time is the right thing to do.

Next speaker, Sarah Hassanen, followed by Bird Barber. Sarah, present. Bird, still here. Mindy Tackett. Brian Patman. Brian Patman. Jacob Franklin. Bird Barber was the name I called earlier. I don't think that was you. Jacob Franklin, yes. Jacob, we follow by Angela Prilliman.

Yeah, I wanna ask how ignorant do you think that we all are? Because I mean, it's not like they're only giving y'all like $2,000 to say what you said or to give this song and dance routine that you actually care about what people are saying. You've been doing all this for us. I mean, have y'all ever heard of like Time Magazine, CNBC, all these New York Times, all these places? You can't listen to the news. You were all talking about all this noise and energy overload back in 2024, at least. And I mean, I don't care how much sleep y'all get when y'all are doing whatever you can and getting paid whatever you're taking to push through these data centers that are gonna keep the residents up for God knows their whole lives. Ridiculous.

Angela Perliman followed by Carla Johnson. Angela. Carla Johnson, followed by Gina Byrd. Ms. Byrd? Gina will be followed by Adrienne Smith.

Yes, Gina Byrd, NAACP. I think it is a little inconsiderate that you would cut the people's time, and we've been here this whole time. You took an hour earlier from our time, and then you cut our time, and you say that you have the people's interest in heart. but you cut the time for the public to speak. So that's a little inconsiderate and that does add a main point in how we can trust you to do what you're gonna do when you don't even give them time to speak and listen to the community. That's what we're begging you to do. Listen to the community. You just heard that whole spiel with the commission and you still make that decision without including the major vote. I too had a whole list of demands but we're gonna once again put that in legal documentation and submit that up and maybe you can read it thoroughly within a day or a week but we will have that to you and not time taken but take the time to look at the information and to research and stop disregarding the people who are here.

Is Adrian Smith here? No. David Martinez, followed by Lydia Faith.

David Martinez, I had a perfect joke to tell you, but I don't have time. Well, I want to tell you all, well, the Neighborhood Association for Worth Heights was being overlooked for the NIP program this last Saturday by mutual aid, and nobody knows it's in the near south side. They should have no choice or say what happens in Worth Heights if they're in near south side. Um, and that's the thing about the data centers. Uh, I don't think anybody who should be coming up here talking about if you are paid, uh, creator, uh, content creator, uh, on social media. I don't even think that it's like, uh, you're full of it. How do we trust them if they're the ones getting paid by data centers? Uh, this is, it's, uh, backwards. And I also wanna say something about, um, The Native American people are gonna be affected by this because data centers are gonna be put on my people's tribal lands. Remember that.

Lydia Faith will be followed by Sue Weston.

Hi, I'm Lydia, part of FWECC. So we have various questions about these data centers, especially the Black Mountain Hyperscale Data Centers, but no answers, which is a pattern of Fort Worth City Council. You all won't even take meetings to talk to impacted community members. Chris won't meet with Sue Weston, who is in his district and go out to visit Western Gardens. Jeanette won't meet with community members like Miss T and talk about FedEx polluting Echo Heights. You'll pass harmful policies and harmful regulations regardless of how it impacts community and don't even give the decency of listening. And then you get breadcrumbs when there's public opposition hoping community doesn't see you trying to cover for your terrible policies. It's like patting us on the shoulder while stabbing us in the back. It's insulting, and this is nothing new. Fort Worth has been doing this for decades, especially to neighborhoods like Echo Heights, Top 6, and Northside. And it never matters to you all. You are all making money, whether it's to you directly or your campaign, to poison black and brown communities. Sue Weston.

Krista Irby. Krista will be followed by Jackson Weston.

Tonight, council started the moratorium process, passed the filing requirements ordinance, and secured two more community seats on data center commission. That's some movement, but that leaves us with a commission that still only has five community seats and six expert seats, which is still not a committee made up of regular community members. And three of those five community seats still require a specialized knowledge credential. That means only two of 11 seats are open to just regular residents impacted and concerned about data centers. This commission reports back by November 3rd and its recommendations will carry real weight. We're asking you not to stop here. Keep pushing toward real resident representation. And I want to say our community here is incredible. I don't know how many speakers we had, but it's past midnight and every voice was in lockstep. A huge thank you to the community of Fort Worth. Jackson Weston.

Jackson. Amen, Abraham. Eddie Delgado, followed by Josh Lucas. Josh Lucas. Alexander Montalvo. Josh will be followed by Alexander Montalvo.

Good morning. My name is Josh Lucas. My council member is Macy Hill District 7, and I am by far not an expert in AI technology. I've never been to Silicon Valley, but from what I do understand about data centers is that they will cause our electricity and water bills to go up, while the noise pollution poisons the environment, and then there's the water shortage issue, which might not happen overnight, but has a chance to leave our town without water in the future. Can you imagine a world where Fort Worth is out of clean water? I don't want, I don't want, sorry, for all those reasons, I hope you guys vote for this moratorium. But really, it's not enough. I mean, we're talking about setting standards for something that is so destructive. I don't think we should have a data center at all. And the negatives outweigh the positives, as has been demonstrated to you here tonight. That's all I have.

Alexander Montalvo, followed by Colin Kilpatrick.

So the votes today, they don't solve everything for us by a long shot. But what happened today is a victory for the people. The amount of hours, the time, the research, the expertise that was brought together by community helped us accomplish something in Fort Worth. And the headlines that'll show the 10th largest city in this country has started a moratorium process. And that's something that people get to celebrate. Now, those of us that are here, we may spend a little time after this, no matter how late it is, to enjoy some of that celebration because of the time that's been put in and because of the efforts. But later next year in May, as we head towards May, when you're on the campaign trail and you're wanting the votes of the people, those of us that have been a part of this fight and so many other fights are simply going to look at you and say, I wish you had more time.

Sorry, I'm listing the page I just had, I apologize. Who did I just call? There we go. Colin Kilpatrick, followed by Courtney Grant. Thank you, Courtney Grant. Thank you. Tonight we are closing the meeting in honor to honor Steven DeLeon. Steve was born on July 31st, 1945 in San Antonio, Texas to Esteban and Socorro DeLeon. Steve served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War, earned his aeronautical engineering degree at the University of Texas at Austin, where he helped find Phi Sigma Phi, an organization helping underrepresented students succeed in engineering. Steve had a 38 year career with General Dynamics and Lockheed working on the F-16 and F-22 fighter programs. He served in the Vice President's Engineering Council while mentoring young engineers entering the profession. He earned commendations from three United States presidents and a Lifetime Achievement Award in Community Service from Barack Obama. In 2021, he was inducted into the University of Texas Aerospace Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni. Steve is survived by his wife, Tai Chung, and daughters Cynthia, Catherine, Cassandra, and Carolyn. We close tonight's meeting in his honor. Thank you.