City Council - Regular Meeting

Right. [laughter] [clears throat] All right, good evening everyone. It is 7 o'clock. We call the move to order. Please rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Good evening. Um, I am going to make uh just a slight [snorts] change on the agenda. I'm going to move public comment just down just slightly uh after business item number one. We've got a very short agenda after this. And if there's people here, Shriners and some other people uh that'll get you very well. Okay. Can't hear about that. Okay. Can you hear me now?

All right. Great. So, I'm going to move um the uh public comments down just a little bit. Uh that will give the chance for anyone who's here for consent agenda or new business item number one for the Shriners. Uh we'll get that business out of the way first and then we'll have uh time for the public comments right after that. So we will start uh with public hearing. Um, hold a public hearing for the purpose of receiving comments to request a waiver of the distance limitation to allow for the sale and consumption of alcohol for consumption within 200 ft of a school, church, or library during the Abdalah Shriners event weekend at the Johnson County Fairground. Do I hear a motion with moved? Uh motion McNair, second Deon that we open a public hearing for the purpose of receiving comments to a request for a waiver of the dis limitation to allow for the sale and consumption of alcohol, liquor, and cereal malt beverages for consumption within 200 feet of a school, church, or library during the Abdal Shriner rodeo and demo derby to be held June 11th through June 13th, 2026 at the Johnson County Fairgrounds, 136 East Washington Street. [snorts] Uh there motion. Okay. So, the hearing is open. No, we got to vote.

We got to vote. Oh, okay. Is there Sorry. All in favor? I I Okay. All opposed. Okay. The hearing is open. Seeing no one coming forward for this, I would hear a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. Motion Deon. Second Baldwin to close the public hearing. All in favor? I [laughter] opposed abstain. Public hearing is closed.

Uh so then we will move uh through consent agenda, planning and zoning and then new business item one number one I would assume fairly quickly and then we'll get to public comments. So uh is there a council member who would like to remove an item from the consent agenda? Okay. Is there a motion to approve consent agenda? So moved. Second. Motion Deon second. Baldwin, we approved consent agenda. All in favor? I. All oppose. Stain. Consent agenda passes. [laughter] Planning and zoning. Is there an item we'd like to remove? Number one. Number one. Is there a motion for items number two and three? So moved. Second. [snorts] Motion Deon. Second. Johnson. We approve items two and three. All in favor?

I. All opposed. Abstain. Two and three pass. Uh planning and zoning consent agenda item number one. consider accepting the dedication of right of way and easements on the final plat for Aspen Place final plat.

I I think the only question I have is um so this is the start of the process again for Aspen Place. What what will happen after this? So they're going to uh the plat is for the streets and and really to address the issues that caused um the issues a year ago. Um what are the steps then after that for potentially to um start having occupancy again? Do we is there you know kind of like the next steps. So they have to put together a plan or present a plan for the public improvements. So they've identified the right of way we're going to require curb gutters sidewalks and all the setbacks. We're still working with them on wastewater through Johnson County wastewater lines and things of that nature. So this is just dedication of right of way. We're still working through the other parts of it.

Okay. So there'll be more coming forth. Okay. Yes. I'm good. Any other question? So here motion for consent agenda item number one. So moved. Second. Motion we second we consider we accept the dedication of rightway and easements for the final plan of Aspen Place final plan. All in favor I opposed. Passes. And then new business item number one, consider a request for a waiver of the distance limitation and temporary permit to allow for the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption within 200 feet of a school, church, or library during the Abdalah Shriner's event weekend at the Johnson County Fairground.

Good evening. This is the annual request for the waiver of the distance for the Abdollah Shriner rodeo and demo derby at the Johnson County Fairgrounds from June 11th through June 13th. They're going to serve from 5:00 p. to 11 p.m. each night and they just are requesting the waiver of the distance for that sale and consumption. Right. Thank you, Rene. Is there any questions from council? No, they've always done a good job. I have. Right. Do I hear a motion? No concerns from you, right Chief? No, sir. Okay. Do I hear a motion? Moved.

Motion Deon. Second. McNair. We approve a request for a waiver of the distance limitation to allow for the sale and consumption of cereal malt beverages within 200 feet of a school, church, or library during the Abdalah Shriner Rodeo and Demo Derby to be held June 11th through June 13th, 2026 at the Johnson County Fairgrounds, 136 East Washington Street. All in favor?

All opposed? Abstain. New business item number one passes. All right, so now let's move back up to public comments. Uh, a couple things. Um, we want to let everyone speak. Uh, there is going to be, as always, a fivem minute time limit. There is a fivem minute time clock to your left up there. Um, we ask that you do say your name and address for the record and we would appreciate no personal attacks. We certainly want you to get your uh feedback. I did ask uh if uh our city administrator could say just a few words on kind of the process to where we are now.

So the question is why would gardener entertain a data center? So the simple answer is that we received an application. We we are statutoily required to review the application and put it before the planning commission and the city council. The city council is a quasi judicial body. So they are required to review it, gather the information and vote on it. So the the acceptance of the application in no way implies that the city or the council is in favor of the data center. It's some it's a process we have to go through. So that's how we got to this point. It is not pre-approved. There's there's been no um adjudication of the application. It's something that we're required to go through.

Thank you. Y and there is uh I believe this was mentioned, but there is no action being taken tonight on the on the data center. It's not on the agenda. The next I believe would be the planning commission meeting on May 26th. May 26 on Tuesday

and the informative session town hall on May 13th. Okay. So, we will open it up. Um, and and one more thing, this uh this is not a back and forth. Um, we don't typically answer questions or get in a in a conversation or debate. Uh, but this is time for you to uh give us your information and your feedback. So, we will open the public hearing or I'm sorry, public comments. You're welcome to come forward. My name is Frank Banister, 1 19815 South Gardener Road, Gardener, Kansas. And [clears throat] I just simply have some comments that I want to uh put before the city council. Um, and also I I I think these comments are appropriate for the planning commission because I know it comes to the planning commission first before it comes before you. But um I attended a meeting last week at uh the brewery across the street. It was a um a meeting, a general meeting sponsored by uh a couple of uh city council members and I appreciate that. It was just a general information sharing. Um and so my neighbor called me and told me that meeting was going to take place and I went and I am not at that point at that time a week ago I was not very um I wasn't a learned person with regard to data centers since then I have done some reading and you certainly have to be careful on what you read um AI generates a lot of truth and a lot of false information but my request um is that um I don't think myself I know I'm not an

expert on it and I don't know how many people behind me um know what questions to ask about a data center. Think I think a lot of people are very very concerned about electricity consumption, environmental pollution, tax deferment, light no light light and noise pollution. And so I'm going to assume that the that be the company that wants to put in the data data center data center is going to uh provide to you or to the planning commission a environmental impact study and address all these items. and they should, but that that that may be good information. It may not be uh truth because they are the ones wanting to build the data center. I would like to propose to the city to request an independent uh environmental impact uh evaluation. [applause] Um and you know I understand at the meeting it was going to the data center is going to be an air cooled data center not water cooled because water would be coming from Hillsdale and Hillsdale cannot continue to supply water um forever. [music] So, that's just one of the things that came up, but um so I'm I'm going to request that and and I think that um the city and the planning commission would be the ones to do the background work, the technical investigation and then present that information in your meetings to the public and because you are our elected representatives and I think that's your due diligence. I don't think the members of the public ought to have to go out and do their own research because if we do, you're going to have however many

people are here that many different opinions on whether or not this is a good thing or a bad thing. So, I would like to request an independent environmental impact to address the items that I listed um to present that at the appropriate time when this thing comes before the planning commission and you the city council. And I I don't know what that would cost. I don't know if you have a budget for it, but something this big, I think you need to do that. So, thank you. [applause]

Good evening. My name is Amy Burrow and I live at 19810 South Hedge Lane. I'm approximately one mile as the crow flies from the proposed data center. I have put in phone calls to many of you and I appreciate it because a couple of you actually returned my phone call and we had a really good conversation. Um there's a laundry list of reasons why I think this data center is bad. But let me just start with I'm a second grade teacher so children are always near and dear to my heart. My own children are grown. However, I feel like everyone in this room can agree that putting children first should always be our number one priority. And [applause] I think looking at the research from the Pew Institute and from the Brookings Institute, the longlasting impacts of these data centers are negative. And I know there's financial things about it that might be a net positive for parts of Gardener, but I don't feel like you can sacrifice my community for the well-being of others. This isn't like the movie Sophie's Choice. You don't get rid of one section to save another section. This data center can be put someplace else. I cannot pick up my home. These people cannot pick up their homes and move them someplace else. And I really think the bottom line is there's no moral ambiguity. You either want our children to be safe or you do not. And I'm not going to sacrifice for big business. I'm not because I have to look these children in the eye. You have to look these children in the eye. And it's my children, your children, our children.

That's all I have to say. Thank you. Speak up a little bit. I just said my final thing. The final thing I want to say is I don't think there can be any moral ambiguity about this data center. It's our children, your children, all these children. [applause] It is it is to me black and white. We can't sell out for money. We can't. Thank you. Thank [applause] you. Hey, let's just take [applause] a quick pause here and figure out Hey, can we get the audio music working on that? We're working on that right now. Sorry.

You got to wait till I speak. You can hear me. [laughter] I promise you will hear me and I won't stop until you can't hear me. Wait for her five minutes. Yeah. Probably not louder than the generators.

[laughter] Yeah, that's what I wanted. I'm not yet.

Thank you. You know what? Don't believe what they say. Have you heard those stories and they're not getting in trouble? It's like I got I did something. [laughter]

Yes, we had [laughter] these people. Okay, I think uh we'll go ahead and pick it back up. I think Can everyone hear me out there in the back? Okay. All right. Go ahead and continue, please. Yes. And just a reminder to speak into the microphone, please.

I got it. My name is Carrie Hamilton. I live at 24075 West 191st Street, Spring Hill, Kansas. I am here this evening to respectfully object to the proposed data center on the recently annexed 300 acre track that sits directly adjacent to my family ranch and neighboring agriculture properties. My objection tonight is grounded in land usage and the impact it has on animal health, agriculture productivity, and environmental conditions. The Kansas law has long recognized the importance of protecting agricultural operations. The policy of the state of Kansas is clear. Farms should be protected from incompatible encroachment, not forced to absorb the burden of industrial development placed on our fence lines. Kansas law requires that zoning and land use decisions promote the health, the safety, and the general welfare of our community under Kansas KSA2757. A data center is a continuous highintensity industrial use placed in setting that is conflictly that is directly conflicts with the character of our area. Science and agricultural research confirmed that a change in environmental factors like those brought

along from data center things like light pollution, air quality, water quality, low frequency noise. All of these things have a longlasting impact on living things within the proximity of that data center. [applause] Not just on humans but on livestock as well. Research proves that data centers create elevated stress hormones in all of us including my livestock leading to things like a reduce in milk production, weight gain. It impairs reproductive performance, alters feeding, disrupts rest cycles. The list goes on. I could dive deeper and talk about how these data centers have negative impacts across a broader agricultural ecosystem such as insect population. But I am going to trust that all of you are going to do that research for me. These impacts are not theoretical. They represent a direct conflict with conditions necessary for healthy livestock and viable agricultural operations. While annexation may be legally legally permissible, this dynamic underscores the importance of the council's responsibility to consider realworld impacts beyond city boundaries, particularly where those impacts fall on agricultural operations. My ranch is not empty land. It's not for industry. It is our livelihood. It's how we work. It's how we live. It's how we preserve the

agriculture of the community. It's how we preserve the agriculture of Kansas. It's how we feed our family. It's how we feed the community. It's probably how we feed you. This is not a request to stop progress. It is a request to use common sense. Thank you all [applause] and God bless. [applause] [applause]

Can't top that. [laughter] I apologize if I get nervous. I'm not great at public speaking. So, um, but I kind of just wanted to make somewhat of a laundry list of some of the concerns that come up with these projects. Yep. And if you could say your name.

I'm Chris Mays from Ottawa, Kansas as well. Um, but some of the risks or the the risks and the drawbacks out far outweigh the limited benefits in my mind. Um, these things require massive amounts of electricity to do uh to power their servers and cooling systems. They strain local grids, raising electricity rates. They use massive amounts of water for evaporating cooling. I'm hearing this is air cooled, but I mean there's been bad experiences with that. Um, they lead to compet competing demand and shortages of water. Uh, even closed loop systems may not truly be closed. They may still evaporate water and need to be refreshed. uh industrial chemicals in wastewater may pollute the environment and aquifers even. Um these are toxic forever chemicals, things like industrial lubricants and things that get mixed in the water supply. Very concerning for me. [applause] I I know that if I heard like a constant drone of lawnmowers in the background where I lived, my mental health would decline significantly. that would be very detrimental. And these things seem to be popping up all over the place, including in Ottawa, Kansas. And we're all very concerned. And we're trying to rally together as a good community, as stewards of the land and each other and our hells. We we need to look out for each other. And all I see is risks and too little benefit. What are we going to get out of this? Some higher paying jobs in a small amount. You [snorts] know, maybe they're going to bring in outside people and that money is even not even going to stay here. I don't see the benefit. And I think that we're all in over our heads. I'll admit fully, I don't understand all of it, but I'm just seeing risk after risk and too little benefit. You need to look very hard at this and don't trust them. You've got to get a third party independent research oversight to verify everything they say. [applause]

I've heard stories of them conducting their own research and then presenting it as third party when it's not. So, be very careful. You're walking into a brier patch with these people. They're big-time investors. They don't care about the small people. They're just going to be looking for the tax breaks. And what's that? That's going to make it worse for us. You know, we're going to waste resources on them for things that we need. Let's not support them. Let's support ourselves. Let's look out for our own health and our own interests. The risks far outweigh the benefits. Thank you very much. [applause] Hey, my name is Kyle Eisenberger. I live at 24805 West 190th Street, directly across the road from the parcel that you guys will be voting on. Uh, I'm not here to ask you to reject growth. I'm here to ask you to follow Gardner's own plan and to think carefully about who actually bears the consequences of this decision. Let me start with what's on your own books because that is the foundation of this entire vote. Gardner's I35 and 175th Street sub area plan does not even cover this site. The plan's southern boundary stops half a mile north of where Beiel wants to build. And inside the area the plan does cover, the language is not aspirational. It uses the word shall. Compatibility shall be accomplished by transition of uses with low intensity industrial along the perimeter adjacent to less intensive uses. Residential shall maintain a back-to-back relationship to more intense uses. A 300 acre hyper scale data center directly adjacent to existing homes with no transition zone is the inverse of what gardener's adopted policy requires. [applause]

Now, I want to talk about who actually lives with the consequences because this is not just a gardener decision. The agricultural land that surrounds my home and surrounds many of my neighbors has been annexed into gardener over the last couple of years. We are now completely surrounded by guard gardener city limits on land that was not annexed with us. We pay Johnson County taxes. We send our kids to gardener Edertton schools and we have no vote in this room. But the in [applause] but the impact does not stop at our property line. Within a 5m radius of 191st Sinclair, there are 15 schools serving roughly 7,400 children. More than 3,600 of them are in elementary school or younger. Those schools serve gardener. They serve unincorporated Johnson County. Then they serve families in Altha and Spring Hill. Diesel backup generators that test routinely release fine particle matter. Particle matter does not respect city limits. It drifts on the wind. The children whose lungs absorb it live in four different jurisdictions. The families who property values will fall live in four different jurisdictions. The residents who sleep will be disrupted by this 247 live in four different jurisdictions. Only one of those jurisdictions gets a vote, though. I want you to think about that carefully because it is the heart of why this site is wrong. Gardener is being asked to approve a project whose tax revenue stays inside Gardener, but whose noise, lights, diesel exhaust, traffic, and property values impact spill into Spring Hill, into unincorporated families immediately adjacent. That is not [applause] that is not regional leadership. that is exporting consequences while keeping the benefits. If a project at the edge of a tha pushed industrial impacts into gardener without consulting gardener, without environmental review made public without coordinating with gardener's planning

staff, this council would rightly object. You would call that being a bad neighbor. [applause] I'm asking you to not be that neighbor to the rest of Johnson County. And finally, I want to address the developer being given this opportunity. BL Infrastructure was formed in August 2024, just 18 months ago. Its parent company, Blue Owl Capital, has lost 68% of its stock in the last 16 months. Its pred predecessor entity paid 11.5 million federal sanctions penalty in December for four years of dealing with a sanctioned Russian oligarch. Its sister company is a defendant in a $2 billion racketeering lawsuit. In the first 18 months, Beiel has been rejected, sued, and forced to withdraw in Tucson, Arizona, and Morirana, Arizona, where they are now suing the town themselves in Koetta, Oklahoma, in St. Charles, Missouri, and in Dodto, right down the road from us. There is no community where Beiel has won a contested approval without litigation, withdrawal, or a referendum challenge. Four legal disputes tied to bill projects are active in Arizona right now involving municipalities, residents, and state regulators. And Gardner is being asked to be the next one.

So, here's what I'm asking. Apply Gardener's own sub area plan. It exists for a reason. Honor it. Recognize that this decision affects far more people than just the residents of Gardener. It affects Spring Hill, Altha, and unincorporated Johnson County families. and we're watching this vote. Their children breathe the same air, their homes lose the same value, and their land suffers the same environmental impacts. Do not be the council that exports consequences to your neighbors for the benefit of a developer whose track record is rejection, litigation, and withdrawal. This is not anti-growth. This is asking Gardener to be the kind of neighbor that gardener expects others to be. Follow your plan. Thank you. [cheering]

[applause] Come on up. I'm gonna go up if it's okay. Me and my Pinocchio nose. Pinocchio sister. I didn't know if I could speak. Um, but and thank you all for being here. Born and raised here at Gardner. The hospital is no more. Can you can you give a name and address for I'm sorry I get forgive me.

Uh Robin Hartman Harris and my address is it's not right here. Sorry. 34117 West 263rd Street uh Pale Kansas but we are right by the Hillsdale Lake and we get rule two water from Hillsdale Lake. And going back to this other issue I I care I care about people. My dad had the paper route going back ways. I can't add much and I wish I'd wrote it down, but I didn't know if I was going to be allowed to speak. Also, another factor on these [snorts] data centers is I'm sorry I don't have the facts in front of me, but they put out more heat. So, around that area, you're going to have hotter temperatures. My biggest concern is I and I pray that you guys really do like the other gentleman said, get an unbiased company, please, because there's a lot to this stuff. And you should do that if if you're going to be really good to your citizens and do the right thing. You [applause] can I looked up something. If anybody has a whale, good. I didn't know this, wasn't sure, but to get a whale going and people that have have whales, which people still can, they drill down so far it gets in the aquifier. If you want to worry somebody and worry me, don't touch the aquifiers. I don't know if anybody's aware or not. Probably a lot of you are because all this, they are drying up. And you got to be in in a closet not to know this. Our aquifers are drying up. And who uses them? The farmers. And if these data centers, what worries me, if you don't keep a tight watch on them, guess what? They can poison your aquifers. And I know the other gentleman said it's it's he might not have said it's heavy metals. Heavy metals are not good for your body like zinc, copper, but the big one that scared me and I just learned

recent I've been on several things to try to learn stuff for the last few months. P FAS's forever chemicals. You don't want those. They ruin everything. There's no going back. There's no going back. So, please, I plead with you. Don't do any of this for money. For money. Okay? Don't do it for whatever. Just do the right thing and take care of all your citizens. Thank you. [applause] Hi, my name is Jake Siller. I emailed most of you today and I really appreciate those that got back to me. Um, I live at 19425 South Hedge Lane about a mile away from the pro uh proposed data center and I understand that I may not live within the city limits, but decisions like this don't stop at boundary lines. They shape the growth and the long-term direction of the entire community both inside and outside of Gardener. My wife and I are raising five kids there. And like many families in this area, we chose our home because of the space, the quiet, and a sense of community. I want to be very clear about something. Um, I'm not against data centers. And um, as a business owner, I understand that growth is important and I understand that infrastructure like this is part of the future. What I'm concerned about is the location. The proposed site isn't an established industrial zone. It's surrounded by families, homes, as you're here, you're hearing, farms, uh people that are generating their livelihood and people who intentionally chose to live outside of the of industrial

development. The this project uh is a major shift of how this area is being used and puts a heavy burden on uh those that live there. Obviously, [applause] we're educating ourselves. We know that this is a large scale multi-building data center campus. It's going to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During construction, we can only expect heavy truck traffic, noise, disruption for exhausted uh a period of time. The presence of industrial infrastructure and ongoing operational noise will still change the character of the entire area. [applause] You're hearing hearing broader concerns about health, [clears throat] water usage, energy demands, uh long-term environmental impact. And if you do any research at all, we know that those aren't uh new concerns whatsoever when it comes to these things. They're being discussed nationally and communities across the country are being asked the same questions we are asking tonight. But beyond all that, I think there's a simpler uh more important point to all this is we have areas around Kansas City uh that are already zoned for this type of stuff

and places with established industrial use, existing infrastructure, [cough] fewer direct impacts on families. And um you know this seems like the you know maybe the easy way for be I'm not really sure but if we can figure out how to put a stadium in downtown Kansas City they can figure out where to put a [applause] data center that's already industrial zone and as a homeowner I'm very concerned about property values. I'm sure everybody is proxim proximity to large scale industrial development especially something with noise and constant infrastructure can uh can and does affect desiraability. I'm sure none of you would want to live next to something like that. Even if you don't see an immediate drop, uh the way things are going to be perceived and who's going to want to live uh near there is going to totally change. I've already heard of from dozens of people that are considering moving if this gets approved. That's not what we want for our community.

As a parent of five kids, I think long term. I'm thinking long term. I'm thinking about what this area is going to look like in 5, 10, 15 years. I'm thinking about whether we are preserving the character of this community or fundamentally changing it without fully uh understanding the consequences. I'm asking you as council members to listen carefully to everybody you're uh everybody here tonight. Consider whether this project belongs in a community like ours or whether it would be better suited at a location already intended for industrial growth. Growth matters. [applause] Growth matters, but so does placement. Thank you for your time. [applause]

Hi. I wasn't planning on speaking, but I think I probably should speak. Um, I don't have a summary paragraph and anything, but my name is Stephanie Gouty. Um, my grand or my parents, which is my daughter's grandparents, have lived in Gardener for 20 plus years. Uh, they live at 187th in Clare Road, which is right across the street where the Status Center is going to be. I don't know if you guys have grandparents or if you guys have grandkids or children. Um, but my children are big-time outdoors kids. They hunt, they fish, um, they love insects, we do four-wheeling, uh, rangers and all that. And I feel like with this data center, uh there's going to be a lot of issues for children to be able to spend time outdoors, you know, especially Veterans Park, which is right down the street from where this place is going to be where I know that there's several parks that are over there with tons of children that play, fishing that goes on over there. That doesn't even, you know, that doesn't even include wildlife, um deer, turkey, you know, um all, you know, wild cats, dogs, whatever it is. The point is is that I feel like that we are taking away from this next generation of people of young adults because I think we're moving away from what really a town is is here for and that's family and working together as a team. And I think right now with this data center, what's bringing to our community is not that it's actually taking away from our community and it's not here for us as a community. I think what will happen is if this is in and truly voted in, it's going to actually pull away from people from Gardener, from Poliola, from Ederan. You know, after I've been here for 10 years and over the last 10 years plus, um we've there's been a lot of growing in this community and we've dealt with a lot like trucking companies, you know, truckers coming in, train depots, um warehouses. So, you know, as a community

and speaking on behalf of these people here at the community is that, you know, we've already dealt with a lot of stuff. So, just to add more onto that, I don't think is [applause] going to be very beneficial for our families, you know, and not only that, but our next generation, my daughter, she's she has century issues. So just to know that with this data center coming in, it doesn't only affect like everybody, it affects children, it affects animals, affects farm lives. You know, these are people that have been here for a long time that you think that you, you know, you're okay with just having people move their ranches, their homes and stuff. I'm pretty sure that you guys have probably have family homes that you've lived there for a long time or have been through generations and stuff. So, this isn't just like one place where I just bought a house and moved. We're raising our next generation here, you know, and we have to work together as a family and a community to be able to provide a better life and stability for our next generation of people. Thank you. and [applause]

Hi, my name is Kayla Eisenberger. Um, my husband just saw a couple minutes ago. I live at 24805 West 190th Street, Gardener, Kansas. [gasps] Um, as a direct neighbor to the proposed data center site, my family has a lot to lose if this deal goes forward. But arguably more significant, I believe our entire community of gardener has much more to lose. I'm not going to speak at length about the physical dangers and impacts of a hypers scale data center on residents or the environment. Information regarding the noise pollution, strain on local resources, water usage, air pollution, and other concerns is ready available online if anyone is willing to research it. My husband and I have spoken with multiple of you council members already and many seem to believe that be is capable of delivering a one-of-a-kind miracle data center that somehow avoids pollution and quality of life issues that comm community communities across the country are experiencing right now. We have heard everything from promises of no noticeable noise to claims that our property value might actually go up. These same promises have been made to other communities where Beal has attempted to build. Let me remind you that Beiel does not have a single fully complete operational data center at this time. How can they confidently promise perfect mitigation of sound light, water, and air pollution when they have no proven track record showing that can be done? When they cannot prove success in being a good neighbor, what can be verified are multiple legal and ethical concerns. Um, as my husband mentioned already, be has a reputation across the country for lack of transparency. Questionable actions, including moving equipment into communities before votes have even taken place. Another example, close to home in Dotto, concerns have already been raised regarding contracts and commitments after only a few months of construction. I have personally spoken with residents in other communities such as Claremore, Oklahoma and Dotto where Bill is pursuing

projects and there's a strong sense of distrust surrounding this company in their words versus their actions. I also do not believe it should be ignored as he mentioned that Beiel's parent company recently paid 11 a.5 million in federal penalties related to business dealings with a Russian oligarch. My question to our city leaders is this. Why would you place your trust in a community or a company that comes forward with empty promises and a troubling track record? You say you want what's best for Gardener? You say you want to benefit and enrich the community, but I ask you to seriously consider what that truly means beyond projected revenue and financial gain. Our [applause] our community should be able to trust its leaders to make decisions that are not solely financially motivated, but instead are grounded in integrity, accountability, and the core values that this city claims to uphold. Your people are speaking, and we insist that you listen. [applause] Hi, my name is Joanne Watson and I live at 17740 Houston. Um, I'm just under a mile from that uh proposed site and I'm here tonight um to plead um like everyone standing behind me um

height challenged um I'm I'm here tonight to plead with you guys to uh take a real look at what be infrastructure is um letting us know. um they have uh given us a lot of promises and have not delivered as as many people before me have stated. Um I have a long list of concerns here that um I won't go through all of the people before me have already stated most of them. Um one of the thing that I want I do want to also mention is the land use inefficiency. So that property is in the middle of a lot of farmland that um is here for the benefit of gardener and I this building would become a a stagnant building. There's no foot traffic, no community interaction. There's no diversity, economic diversity. So placing that land makes that valuable property just debt. Um the also I want to talk about the opportunity costs that we're looking at. Gardener doesn't have an unlimited supply of water capacity, the power availability or developable land. So make a a really good solid choice about what you put on it. I've also um talked to as the previous person that spoke before me um to a person from the uh data center from Claremont or Claremore, Oklahoma. And like her um they are stating that there are a lot of promises that have not been delivered on. And so I I really plead you guys to um do your research on be infrastructure. Thank you.

[applause]

Hello. Uh, my name is Michael Drestler. I, uh, live at 217 West Colleen Drive, just down the street here in Gardener. Um, the people of Gardener are speaking very loudly that we absolutely under no circumstances want this anywhere near our town. [applause] Welcoming it in because it allows us quote unquote control is a thing that nobody actually believes. It's very nearsighted to be generous at best. Spring Hill fought it and won. And now Beiel's coming down the street and they're going to come to Gardner and they're going to try and do the same thing. And Gardner needs to do exactly what the people of Spring Hill did and tell them, "No, we do not want this. [applause] Our children's future health and well-being and our community is not for sale." And you know what? They'll leave and they'll try and go to the next town over. And you know what we do? We go to that town too and we educate those teachers. [applause] We will educate them on the environmental impacts that these facilities have. We educ We educate them on the health impacts that these facilities have. We show them before they learn the hard way that Dotto just did the other night of what happens when you let these people have free reign over your town. And they will.

Yes. They will cut corners. They will pull a bait and switch. They've done it multiple times. It's why there's so much litigation with these people. We don't want that here. We vote no. We say it loudly. The council needs to heed the voice of the people that it was elected to represent and tell be we're not for sale. Yes.

Tell them to kindly move [applause] on. And when they do, we'll go fight them there, too. It's not worth our children. It's not worth our town. This is not worth the supposed tax benefit that they're potentially going to give. And that's assuming that we don't give any abatements or any credits or anything like that along the way, which I don't know what that looks like what you guys have talked to them about. But if a tax abatement for 10 years, these facilities are obsolete in 10 to 15 years anyway. [applause] We won't see a dime and they will rake in every last penny that they possibly can and they will bleed this city dry and we will be the ones left holding the bag. Cutting off our nose despite our face is not a way to handle this. [applause] There are some fun little statistics about some of the data centers, some of which have already been talked about today. Obviously, the temperature increase, the heat islands that people talk about, the average rays of heat temperature within a six mile radius of these things is 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit and it gets as high as 16°. 16°. That doesn't just mean that it gets hot. That's also people's bills are going to go up because they're running the heater or they're running the air conditioner. Hback's going to go up. Increasing utility costs, all of that. It it worsens stress on people. It's going to raise [clears throat] It's going to uh increase the strain on the power grid, health risk for adults and children. The kids are the big thing. Think about the kids around here. [applause] There's noise pollution. An industrialized generator that they're talking about putting in on to do the cooling for this is as loud as as a jet flying overhead. And there's not just going to be one. And it'll be 24/7. It's not just going to be for a little bit

flying overhead. I'm an air traffic controller. When you guys fly anywhere, we make sure that you get from where you're going and you get there safely. You really want me to be tired because I can't sleep. There's the light pollution. The light pollution. They can say that they can contain it, but they can't. This thing's going to be lit up like Kaufman Stadium. I don't care if the lights point down or which way they go. It's going to be bright. There are people in Alabama who can't even they don't even have to turn the lights on at night in their homes because of the bleed off that comes from these things that leaks into their homes. the air pollution. I know we've already talked about that, but the long-term impacts of of the air pollution, increased risk to respiratory disease, increased risk of vascular cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, increases to stroke, diabetes, adverse reproductive outcomes, increases in still bursts, and increases in miscarriages. That is not what we want for this community.

Water consumption in utilities. Now, it says it's air cooled. And I'll say this just real quick if you give me just understand. [applause] My name is Dr. Justin Spece. And last meeting I came in here and I let you guys know about a lawsuit that I had filed against Gardenner police officer Kyle Sisum for intentionally hitting me in the Walmart parking lot with his patrol vehicle back on October 17th, 2025. And that lawsuit is for first, fourth, and 14th amendment violations. He was parked illegally up on a sidewalk in a fire lane adjacent to a crosswalk. I simply approached him and asked why he got to park like that. And then he hit me once with his truck and then he hit me a second time. And I came in here last time and asked you guys to fire him or to force the chief to fire him and then have the chief resign. And uh I'm here tonight to ask why exactly he's still uh working there. I've I did an open records request to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office for the Walmart security footage, and I went and viewed that since the last time I was in here, and it's clear as day that that [ __ ] hit me intentionally with his truck twice. So, I'm back here again to ask that you all uh first of all, review the footage. I recorded the whole thing. It's on my YouTube channel, The Dreaded Rabble Rouser. I encourage everyone to check it out. And then also to view that uh security footage as well. you'll see how guilty he is. No charges, of course, were filed on on him, of course, by the sheriff's office or, uh, the pro the Johnson County prosecutor. And so, uh, I've heard quite a few people in here tonight talk about the noise pollution that's going to come from this data center. And I want to let you guys know what that's going to sound like, uh, what a data center sounds like, and and what it's going to sound

like in the neighborhood, and let the community know what that's going to sound like as well. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. All right.

Heat. Heat. Heat. How much time I got?

46 seconds. So, we got that to look forward to. And I was just telling Deputy Chief Herren there that I told him so about SISM one more time. They covered it up. Gardener PD covered it up and the Johnson County Sheriff's Office covered it up as well. appreciate your time. [applause]

Hi, my name is Cassie Sparks Keel. I live at 25530 West 99th Street. Um, I'll start by saying one of my neighbors just asked me said that I should ask which one of you would want to move out there and I think I know some houses that will be up for sale if this does go past. So, you'll [applause] have me to um I was born and raised in Gardener. When my husband and I um decided to start a family, we decided to move to Gardener and to that area for many reasons, mainly of which are our children, and that is all in jeopardy. Uh the argument I've seen the most is that if we don't you don't bring this to Gardener, it will go right next door and you won't be able to control it and th will have it. I think that argument is flawed for many reasons. Number one being the false that you would have control. I think that's been brought up by many people that be does not uphold their agreements and there is a lot of um evidence to that. I would ask you as the elected officials who are making this decision that you call those communities and ask how Beal is as a partner to do business with. I would bet you wouldn't get very many positive responses. I would also ask that you do like many others have said and ask for an independent study showing that these mitigations that they're saying that they will make that are going to fix all of the problems that you see in studies that are all over the news CNN all over the country. I would ask that you ask for an independent study showing that those impacts to the health and the environment of your community would not be there. And lastly, instead of just saying if you can't beat them, tax them, which I'm sure many of you will remember, recognize that slogan, I said you find a better way. It's clear that most people don't want this. It's clear [applause] that Spring Hill doesn't want this. It's clear that Gardner doesn't want this. And those we're not far apart. Spring Hill and Gardner are not far apart in that area. So, I ask that you

guys work together and find a better way other than just rolling over and saying they're going to come anyway. Thank you. [applause] [clears throat]

My name is Jerry Nichols. I live at 1121 East Park Street. I wasn't planning on saying anything. I didn't know anything about this. Um, shows how ignorant I am. But I know my wife, she's from Chapas, Mexico, and they they don't have zoning laws. They have a bar right across the street from my mother-in-law and they play music real loud and it disturbs everybody but they can't do it. And I'm not saying anybody here, okay? But their police is corrupt. Their city council is corrupt. And I'm not saying anybody here, but you should do something. I'm not against uh capitalism or making money, but the Bible says that the love of money is all the root of evil. I'm not for [applause] I'm not I'm not against making money, but if you have a company that's got a problem and has problems, I love gardener. I've been here 25 years. Um I keep quiet. I try to be a good citizen. Don't try to start no trouble with anybody because I want to be a good productive citizen. I don't want to be in politics, you know. I just I'm not political. But the things you do, you should have conviction about the stuff you allow and the stuff you don't allow. If you do something [applause] that destroys people's livelihood and you destroy land and water and all that, excuse me, that's I'm not trying to be polit or biblical or that stuff's evil because you're destroying people. And I'm [applause] not saying anybody here is doing anything illegal. I'm I'm not I don't know you that well. I met you just one time. But everything you should do should do

with a conscience and conviction that one day when you leave this world, you're going to have to give an account how you lived your life. [applause] God holds [cheering] every person responsible and accountable for their lives. And I'm not saying anybody here that's doing anything wrong. I'm not. But if you allow a company, if it's that bad, I don't want to listen to that noise. I love where I live. I love this community. I'm from Lebworth, not the penitentiary, but the town. [laughter] I I'm I love Johnson County. I love Gardener and I try to be I try to be do things respectfully and dec I wasn't going to say anything. I didn't even know anything about this, but I just want to let you know that when you do, don't allow something that destroys people's life, even children, you know. I want to live a old age. I don't want some company to come here and poison everything. I mean, it was time [applause] my time for me to die. I feel like my heart's ready to meet the Lord. But I don't I don't want something in here to destroy gardener people. And I don't want I don't want none of you to be hurt by anything because our families matter. My daddy's got dementia and that's the reason why sometimes I don't pay attention to news because I'm I'm just trying to [laughter] take care of him and my mama. And I love this community and I know I'm repeating myself. I do apologize, but there's a many times people come wealthy. They I'm not saying anybody here's doing it, but they under the table and stuff. We, you know, it needs to be out in the open and and like they said, have an

independent group to study this company. And if they're wicked and they cause problems for people, don't have nothing to do with it. Rebuke it.

Amen. [applause] Mayor Winters, members of the council, my name is Doug Shane and I'm the state senator for Senate District 37 representing Gardener as well as the northern tier of Miami County. I want to thank all of you for serving in some of the most difficult positions in the political world. Local politics are the most challenging politics and I know that each of you is working for Gardner's better future in your own way. I'm quite confident that all of you have spent time looking at this issue, have already spent time discussing mitigation measures, but tonight our constituents are wearing their hearts on their sleeves and they're telling you where they stand. I know that there's still a long way to go for a project like this and I can promise that there will be many more opportunities for economic development for this community. But you can in the short term take action to prevent unnecessary work, unnecessary burden and unnecessary spending. All of these companies when they look at developing these major campuses and major infrastructure projects will spend millions and millions and millions of dollars and architectural design, engineering, planning, environmental abatement, all of that. There's no need for this company to have to spend this money for this community when the community has said no thank you. [applause]

[applause] I understand this is also a great opportunity in some ways as you look to the future of trying to to deliver property tax relief and bring new opportunities for the community. But I have received certainly more phone calls and emails on an issue I don't have control over than almost any issue this legislative session. And it matters to this community and your decisions will matter for this community.

And I am confident you will find better opportunities for this community. [applause] With that, I just want to say thank you. I'm always available to members of this council and to my constitu constituents as well. And uh thank you again for taking the time to listen to everybody tonight. [applause] [applause]

Okay. Um, my name is Carrie Schmidt. Um, I live at 30125 West 187th Street. Um, first I'd like to share that Representative Bill Sutton voted yes to allow the 20-year sales and use tax abatement for data centers, which passed via SB98 in 2025. He supports this hyperscale data center being built in our city. With that, we are now looking for a professional voice speaking out against the data center vultures and someone who believes in private property rights over uh profits that can run for state representative against Bill Sutton. His time is up. June 1st is the deadline. Time is of the essence. We are taking applications for someone with these qualities. So, reach out to me via Facebook. My name is spelled C A R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R I E S C H M I D T. Who knows, we might have our new rep, uh Republican state rep in this room right now. So, all right. So, um I had a speech and then um that all I had to throw it away because around five o'clock and uh I received my Kora request from the school district. So, I am just going to I'm winging it and I never do that. So, [laughter] bear with me. Um, we're just going to kind of go through some stuff together. I just sharing. So, February 12th, 2026. Um, and they've redacted all the bee names. Okay. So, I'm I enjoyed meeting you this morning. And this is two. This is from It looks like Tim Brady. Okay. Um, yes, Tim Brady. I enjoyed meeting

you this morning and learning about Beal infrastructure. This is February 12th. You have a major project taking place in Gardener. That is exciting. Please let me know if I can do anything to help you. Feel free to reach out to Jaylen Freeman, coordinator of real world learning for USD 231. I've copied um her to this email so she knows blah blah blah. Okay, I'll post these. Trust me. Okay. Um, you showed some interest in our golf tournament that we co-host with the Chamber of Commerce. If you enter a team andor become a sponsor, click on this link. Okay, so there's that's from February. Um, wait, let me see if we go down. Oh, this looks Oh, no, that's Tim. That's the same thing. Some these these can sometimes be confusing. I'm so sorry. Okay, so then um invoice. This says invoice gardener Edertton Schools Foundation. It is 42926 and it says, "Please see the attached invoice." Um, it's from it's from somebody from the school district. Okay. And Tim Brady is CCed on it, but it says, "Please see the attached invoice. Let me know if you need anything else. Have a great afternoon." Um, I I may have this invoice sent to me. I don't know. Like, I have to look. So, again, we got to do some work. Okay. So then um 42926 prep invoice um it's two USD 231 like you know Tim Brady um and if you don't know Tim Brady is the executive director of the Gardenner Edertton School Foundation. I probably should have said that from the get-go. I'm so sorry. So Cassie please pre and this is Tim I think to Cassie. Um, Cassie, please prepare an invoice for the following $10,000 platinum partner bail infrastructure. Um, okay. So, we're gonna go on. So, you said 10,000. That's

great. Um, then on 429, it's again it's uh Tim Brady to Brian Huff, our superintendent. Do you have time for a brief phone call? See, so like there's some shady stuff going on, right? Like are we picking it up? Okay, follow. Yes. Um, and and when I say shady, I'm thinking why are they reaching out to in February and and we're building a relationship and and and all of that. Okay. So then this one is $42926. Bale Infrastructure Group sent you a payment and it's in the amount of $10,000. You'll receive this payment via check in 5 to seven days. No action required. Yay. Okay. So, um, and that was on April 21st, but yeah. Okay. So, then here's this. I know my Oh, this is the company proposing to build the data center at Claire. The meeting went as though I promised would be a good partner. The person we met with was John Michael Hanley. He is the um bill council. He is very interested in helping with our RWL initiative. He will be reaching out to Jaylen Freeman who for more information on this. Yes, I know. Okay. So, I'm going to be sharing all of this.

All right. You sold our children out for money. That's what you're doing. You're selling our children out for money. [applause] [applause] Hi, my name is Courtney Crawford. I'm I live at 30842 Indianapolis Road and that's PA, Kansas. I am a candidate for H Kansas House District 5. I am here tonight not just as a concerned citizen but as someone who will carry constituents voices to Topeka God willing. This is the main issue that pushed me to run as we are fighting one right now in Ulawatami. I am running to ensure decisions that are made protect our farmlands, our way of life and our future. I urge this council to oppose the proposed data center development. These massive server farms promise economic growth, but will deliver heavy burdens on Kansas families, farmers, and serious contamination risks. Data centers are power hogs. They will strain our grid and drive rates up for everyone. Kansas values clean air, clean water, and productive land. We shouldn't gamble that away for corporate server farms. Thank you. [applause] Hi, my name is Whitney Rockwell. Met live at 29557 West 96 Street. I had a whole speech. I'm cutting it down to just real quick let you know how I feel. My family and I moved here three years

ago. We chose Gardner because of the convenience of being close to larger towns, but also the beautiful open space around. Everyone has spoken about what how they feel about data centers. They've spoken about the truth about what data centers really do to the environment, to human health, to um animal wildlife. I ask that you listen to the voices of the residents who live here, who work here, who send their kids to school here, and who want to raise their families here. She works at Goodson. This is my daughter, Desiree. She wanted to come up here, too. Um I have kids that work at QT. I've got a a son that just got a job at the car wash in town. Like, we all live here and work here. We care deeply about the future of this town and I urge you not to approve this data center in gardener. Please prioritize a development that protects the health, the safety, and the character of our community. Thank you. [applause]

Hi, my name is Desiree. Um, I didn't even want to speak today, but I was sitting out there. There's no young people. So, um, I'm 16. I graduated from high school early and the more that I I never honestly thought about the whole everything. I've never looked into the topic until it's become to this and being talked about with everyone and all the problems. And I didn't realize I would have to learn about it at such a young age because it's now affecting my future and um anything that's going to happen in my life, any friends, family, um my education for college, uh choosing specifically and it's going to be have to be more thought out because who knows what could happen and what might happen with AI and computers and taking over jobs. Um um I don't really have too much to say. I wasn't prepared. I talked to my dad a lot about this and he's he's very smart on it and knows a lot more, but he this is just it's really bad. It's it's never really been good. Even when it's not being built data centers and stuff when it first started, it's always affected animals and our our lives and how things grow. So I think this is a absolutely terrible decision. That's all. Thank you. [applause]

Hi, good evening. My name is Wina Pennington and I live at 24855 West 190th Street. I am Kyle's next door neighbor and I was also not planning to speak this evening. Um I also work at the post office so I live here. I work here. I have two children that go to Trell Ridge Middle School. We are in the community. Um I moved out here in 1993. And when we drove out here, it was dark and it got darker and it got darker and my parents when I got in my driveway, my parents said, "Welcome home." And I'm from Shauny Mission, Kansas. So, it was a very big culture shock for me. Um, to see this community grow the way that it has, to see that I'm not just two of black students graduating from high school, that there are more because my children also go to school here. um is important that we leave a legacy for our children and putting this data center uh across the street from us and in our community is a very very bad idea. Um I am also married to a farmer in Edertton so I understand the agricultural pro process that this will take a big impact on. Um, it's just it's a horrible idea and I didn't realize how much this was going to really impact me until I came this evening until I started speaking with my neighbors. Um, I used to manage a data center so I understand what will happen. Um, I understand the the diesel generators. I understand the sound. I understand the the sound waves that it will produce the light. Um it's just gonna in it's going to interrupt our environment not only across the street from me but for miles and for this community. Um please take strong

consideration in any decisions that you guys make or any decisions that you have made. Please reconsider. Thank you. [applause] [applause]

[clears throat] Hi, my name is uh Taylor Faucet. Um I'm at 26889 West 226th Street, Spring Hill. Um I just want to come up. I wasn't going to speak, but everybody else is doing it, so felt like I should join the team. [laughter]

Um there's been a lot of great points tonight. Um my whole list of concerns was all addressed except for one thing, probably a couple of things, but um the main thing is I work for a general contractor. Um I built a lot of big projects uh not just around the Casey Metro, but all over the Midwest. Uh the one the one argument that or one uh benefit that I've seen on Bill's website and through social media posts is u all the construction jobs that are going to come from from this project to town. That's not correct. When you build this project of this size, even remotely, you know, this size or um and sometimes a fraction of the size, you're bringing in work from out of town. You're bringing in work from out of state. [applause]

Um the biggest project I've built to date is a very fraction of this size. And even then, we're hiring folks from Texas, from Kentucky. All all of our steel work comes from uh Kentucky for uh projects for big box projects such as like car dealerships and warehouses. They're not local. They're they're not coming to town and hiring a bunch of people that live in Gardener to work on these buildings. [applause] Uh and frankly, not even from Kansas City. I mean, that's just not how it that's not how it works. And I I think it's a little misleading. They they need to expand more on what they mean by that if they truly believe that's true. Uh, another thing too is, uh, just on the environmental thing, uh, everybody here has brought up some a lot of good points about the environmental impact, but I think what scares me the most and my family the most is what we don't know. The whole thing about heat islands, that's a fairly new uh, I don't want to call it. Um, it's fairly new research. I mean, data centers have been around for quite a while, but the the whole thing about heat islands is pretty new. I mean, there's the biggest CNN article that came out on it, it was only was less than six months old. So, I just I fear that with the ballooning data center expansion throughout the whole country, I fear what we don't know. Um, I think uh I think all these uh data center uh developers really should uh probably do their own research. um expand on their own [applause] uh expand on their own engineering, figure out how to make buildings better and more favorable to environments and to people like us. Um and last point uh so I I may have a Spring Hill um address, but my whole life is in Gardener and Poliola and uh Spring Hill as well too. We're a family of six where it's all chaos, sports, school, you know how that goes. But, uh, I will say this,

I'm proud of Gardner for being here and supporting, um, uh, the the vote for no on this, uh, development. And everybody from Poland and Spring Hill is with you guys. Appreciate it. [applause] [applause] Hello everyone. My name is Joey Kramer and I'm at 18515 South Malberry Court. Um, everybody has an opinion, but nobody's opinion is ever right. Everybody knows that. But the men and women sitting in front of us today represent everybody else that's here and every other man, woman, and child in this city and surrounding areas. I grew up on a dairy farm and it breaks my heart to see fertile farm ground get turned into cookie cutter. I mean yes people need places to live but in the movie Field the dreams if you build it they work. Quality of life is very very important. Putting a data sitter in here, you are going to deplete quality of life for people that you represent

that you guys have been elected [applause] to represent. And without the hum and without the quality of life, nobody's going to want to live here.

And what happens in large industrial areas? Crime. So many things that the people that have lived their whole entire lives here for have never seen. That's why they're here. You bring in a data center, quality of life is immensely going to be dropping down. And you guys were elected into these seats to do what's best for everybody sitting in front of you, everybody that's coming up here and talking to you and everybody else who is not able to make it because they are home with their family. That's all I got to say. But just make sure that whenever you guys end up and think about having these conversations with the powers that may be, think about the people in front of you, think about their children at home, and think about your children as well. Thank you. [applause] Good evening. I'm Julie Bergen. I'm at 11945 South Arborview Lane, tha, Kansas. And I know you have a big job to do and I I appreciate you hearing everybody. The one thing that I would like to point out is um Kansas Senate Bill 98, which I'm sure you're well aware of, was enacted in 2025, and it establishes a 20-year state and local tax exemption. It is designed to attract large-scale permanent data center developments in the state of Kansas. So, you've heard everybody. You've heard their concerns. Nobody's even going to get any money out of this for 20 years. I hope you'll take that into account because there's nowhere else in the county really. Uh

the county does not give out uh abatements and they don't give out star bonds is my understanding. So this is a state um program and if you're not going to benefit from it, if these guys aren't going to benefit from it, who is benefiting from it? I do have a little bit of uh skin in the game that we do have some cattle that are right next to where this is going to be also. So, it's a little bit for selfish purposes, too. But um please really think about what the economic impact is going to be. It's not going to be for these guys. So, thank you kindly. [applause]

[applause]

My name is Phil Bowen. I live at 1915 South Hedge Lane. And I wasn't planning on speaking tonight, so if I ramble, forgive me, please. But the one main reason I came up here to this mic was to say thank you to my neighbors and my community for standing together and sticking together like I've witnessed for the last 60 years of where I've lived. My parents first bought property in 1967, moved us out here in ' 69. My wife and I raised our children in the same corner. My daughters grew up there. They now live in the same area. I have grandchildren in the same area. Four generations has lived there. Um I'm proud of the people, almost every one of them that spoke tonight I witnessed move into that neighborhood at some point in time. And I'm not against development at all. In fact, I was a masonry contractor. I was even part of putting a brick on the building we're in here right now. So I'm not against building. But what what happens to a community when other people move into it, the community gets stronger. We've witnessed deaths. We've witnessed birth. We've helped each other during snowstorms. We we've done what a community does to stick together. And that's what we're doing again tonight. We're trying to stick together and [applause] get So, I'm really not trying to pull on heartstrings. I just want you guys to know that if a data center moves in, it's not only turning the dirt up, it's going to turn the families and the communities up because they don't they don't add they don't add character to they don't add character to it. They don't bring in other gifts that other people do when they move in the neighborhood. They bring in trouble, frankly, is what happens. So, think about that. And and one other thing I haven't heard mentioned tonight, if we allow a data center to go there,

which was kind of contrary to what the original plan was for that area, if I understood the original plan, what happens to the adjacent land next to that, will homeowner, will home developers want to build there? Probably not. It'll probably be more industrial type buildings that want to be there. So, it's just not this 300 acres that you're setting the presidents for. That's right. It's for the whole community around there and how far out that goes. So, think about that. Thank you, [applause] David. [applause]

My name is Mike Purin. I live at 19365 Clare Road, which puts me about three blocks from where this is going to go on. I've raised cattle for 69 years and 43 of them on that piece of ground that we've got. I'm not finished yet, but I'm getting close. We've got a shallow dirt well, shallow earth well right in the middle of our farm. And the thing about this data center is we don't know, nobody knows what could happen. And there's a lot of water that I've got 55,000 gallons of water a day that runs underneath my pond, my farm into the ditch, and eventually down to Hillsdale. So, we don't know for sure what this data center, even if things go absolutely right, we still don't know what's going to happen. And I wanted to thank all of my neighbors for coming out and voicing their opinion, thanking you for listening. Thank you. [applause] Good evening, city council. Thank you for the time and your attention this evening to listen to all of my fellow citizens um speak. We're canons. We're reasonable. We're

name and address for the record. Oh, I'm Adam. I live two doors down from the last gentleman that spoke on Clare Road. My family just moved in in the fall. This was a dream for us. Bitler

Bitler 1948 South Clare Road. We moved in in the fall. This was a dream for my family to leave Prairie Village and to get a home in the country where I could give my four children who we homeschool the life that they had always wanted. Now you see my fellow citizens have spoken about many many great claims already but I do want to elaborate more on the economic perspective as the gentleman uh two people ago talked about this will destroy the value around the property and make it less desirable for developers. So, if we're thinking about this reasonably, the short-term win of gaining any type of revenue and jobs locally from a data center is going to be diminished by the lack of development that happens around there. So, if you're thinking long term, not short term, it's a loss. [applause] I think that if we look at a recent example of Overland Park over the past decades, they've won. When you look at top cities to live in in the country, Overland Park is one of the top cities to to live in. And they were strategic about their development. Well, what is that? It's single family homes. It's parks. It's restaurants, shopping centers. That's what people want. That's what makes you desirable. You start putting in data centers and everybody will assume when are you letting in the next one? Where will that go? And then all of a sudden, nobody wants to live in your community.

That's right. [applause]

So what happens to property values? They go down. And as we all know, we're reasonable canons. Your tax revenues will decrease. So I'd implore you to think about this from an economic perspective. [clears throat] Again, we've heard great scientific claims from the rest of my citizens here, but let's think about it economically. So, if you put an end to this data center proposal, that'll put a stake in the ground. It'll put a stake in the ground until everybody considering to live in the Kansas City metro, I can live in Gardener. I feel safe there. I can move my family there on 10 acres and give the kids the dream that they want without you yanking the rug out from under them.

[applause] I hope they'll consider making this stand with rest of us that gardener is for families in the long-term future and success of this region. Dotto made their own bed. Let's let them lie in it. Nobody wants to live there. I've spoken to many people who are thankful that they didn't win a contract on a home in Dodto and live near the Panasonic facility or their proposed data centers. Very true. I have two other points I'd like to make besides the economic one which I think we all agree is very important for the future and success of this community. And that is, have you guys driven on 175th Street

straight along here towards Highway 169? It's an absolute eyesore. An absolute eyesore. I dread driving by that every week. Do you know what? Nobody wants to live there. Nobody's going to develop that land and put in single family homes or shopping centers because they have to look at those darn warehouses.

Now, when we think about these warehouses or a data center, it brings in heavy traffic, semis upon semis, which not only are the noise we've heard my fellow citizens speak about, but it's safety. I dread it when my wife who homes homeschools our four children has to get in the car and drive by these semis all the time on Clare Road with all the construction going on there which is inevitable. That's what happens when you live in Kansas City. A great place to be. These trucks are driving down there on Clare and it's narrow. There is no ditch. There's no um the thing on the side of the road. What do you call that guys? Shoulder.

Thank you. There's no shoulder. What happens when some tired truck driver is driving and he starts veering into the lane with my wife [applause] and her minivan's going to get plowed in and I'm going to get that phone call from the police officer. I'm not asking for you to make a four-lane highway on Clear Road. What I do want you to think is those warehouses are a drag on the entire community. [applause] Those warehouses bring in the truck traffic. Those data centers are going to hum like crazy. Thank you for your attention. I appreciate it. [applause]

Hello, my name is Jason Okaine. I live at 18804 Sky View Lane, Spring Hill, Kansas, and the Foxwood Ranch development. I literally just was at Spring Hill City Council meetings for data centers over there. Luckily, we dodged the bullets so far on that one, but um I feel like we have to keep watching our back

and it's awful. It's I The amount of work that the community does to combat this is amazing. is tireless. [applause] These people have these people talk to each other, they communicate, they they research, they do all of this stuff on their own time. Nobody's being paid for any of this. Nobody. And they come out here to inform, to make sure that their livelihoods are taken care of. Now, I'll I'll be brief. I'm not going to get into a lot of stuff. Everybody made awesome points. Thank you everybody. I appreciate it. Just remember when you guys vote yes for this data center, it's on you. [applause]

You vote yes on this data center. People's lives, any hardships they have, illnesses, anything that affects their life is on you. It's your decision. You can sit here and listen to us all night. I know you guys don't make any comments. It's kind of weird. Honestly, they they don't [laughter] comment back and I get it. We talk, you listen, but uh um it is it's on it's on you and uh the people around here in the Kansas City metro area are tired of it. Yeah. I mean, it it really is. We're just tired of it.

It's it's it's hard on us, you know, constantly worrying about our future and our kids. So, do the right thing. Yes, these people are predators. They prey on small towns. They prey on your on your development and developing these towns.

You know, they but you know, they're they're not good. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Do the rest. [applause] Uh, I'm Amy Morris. I'm at 26 microphone down. Amy Morris at 26170 West 199th Street. Um, I should have brought notes. Um, it's past his bedtime, so I hope he's okay. But, um, I I have a few questions. uh if this gets zoned industrial as some other folks have mentioned this already but what happens to the adjacent properties almost immediately is that they will also be zoned industrial if [clears throat] that happens the property value of the majority of gardener is going like straight down

um I also another question I had what I haven't heard anything positive so is there anyone that has And I'm going to ask you guys too like what are the what are the arguments for data centers? I haven't heard I haven't heard the positives yet. So um I would I would ask for [clears throat] that. Um you know we have we have four kiddos that we homeschool here as well and um thank you sir. Um, we're just we're actually just teaching our kids right now how to fight for something very important to them. So, today we were out putting out flyers in [applause] the hopes that someday when they feel like they have something they need to fight for, they'll know how to do it because I feel like this is something that is just so scary for our area. What if we can't sell our home after this comes in and we're stuck next to it and we're stuck down the street drinking water that I know you guys say isn't going to be polluted by this, but has that been proven? Are we getting that third party uh company to come in and do the the investigation for that? Because I really don't want to keep my kids in a place where there's going to be something less than a mile down the road. And the gentleman up here, Mike, I actually buy my beef from him. So, I don't really want his beef to be uh listening to that all day. I just [applause] It's not good. So, I don't know. We're saying vote no, too. I want I want one of your hats, sir. So, [laughter] anyway, thank you guys for listening to us, and we're just all pretty concerned about this, as you can see. So, thank you. [applause]

Hello, my name is Katie Penner and I live at 801 South Cedar Street. Um, first I just want to say good evening and thank you for all listening to us and uh hearing our concerns. We appreciate you all. Um, I would like to do something if I could. I would like to say a prayer. Thank you.

Uh dear God, I just want to thank you for the people here tonight. And I God, I just ask you to give um all these individuals wisdom and that you would just uh seep into their heart and uh guide them during all of this. God, um please calm me um as I speak and that your words uh come through me and that I am not the the the voice that everyone is hearing. God, I just pray for um the leaders in Gardener and the leaders outside of Gardener as well. Uh although they say that, you know, this will just come to another town, uh God, just steer them in the direction to understand that we have a say. We don't have to say yes just because they think it might come to another town. Um God, I just ask you to be with those um tonight that um are feeling stressed about this and uh to soo their hearts and and know that it is in your control and in your hands and um that you can do um all God. I thank you for the blessing of living in Gardener and the opportunity to raise my family here. Um and I thank you for the opportunity to speak. God, in your name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you all so much. Sorry, [applause] I'm nervous.

Hello. Thanks for hearing us all tonight. My name is Rebecca Bryan. My address is 2445 West 191st Street, Spring Hill. My house is directly across from the parse of land under consideration for resoning. We bought our house in 2017. I jumped on it immediately. It was perfect for us. close to gardener, wonderful school districts, close to tha for larger business, but still the ability to have a peaceful life, wonderful neighbors, and we all know that um generational land changes. People may want to sell, it may not continue to be utilized for agriculture. Um I I am directly across the street from uh the land owner that annexed the property and I've always known um we're going to the the urban sprawl, the suburban sprawl is going to creep into our area. I've always accepted that. I value development. I value community. But taking this land from direct agricultural zoning to industrial zoning in such a agricultural and rural community whoever considered this as the the man said earlier it will be on you. I welcome parcels of home across the street. I welcome a new subdivision coming in. I would gladly look out my window and see communities and meet my new neighbors. But bringing a potential poller backhanded business dealings with be infrastructure into this community is the absolute wrong choice. [applause]

I have two children and as everyone said it, you've got to take into consideration how many school districts, how many children are in the area, how many livestock communities, farmers are in the area. It just feels like something underhanded has been going on here with the way that this land has transferred hands. It should never go straight to industrial. And you guys, you know that there are states taking a stand and stopping any talk of data centers. Full states, be a leader here. Show your community that you fight for your community and you will not bring these dirty, contaminated centers with these underhanded businesses to your community. Build a residential area. That's 300 acres. You could put 600 homes at 5 acre parcels, beautiful, high value homes that will bring in people from the cities who want to live in a community that stands up to these terrible companies and shows that you [applause] want the right kind of development.

I can't believe we're all here fighting it, but you better believe it.

That's right. [applause] The sizes of these meetings are going to quadruple as the as the weeks fly [applause] by. We are all here together and I really value your ability to personally research this personally research these companies. Talk to your communities and make sure this community will be blacklisted. People are not going to want to move to somewhere who opens the door for terrible companies and completely uproots the life and surrounding land for rural homeowners that chose that life for a reason. Thank you. [applause] Good evening. Thank you. Garrett Sass, 765 South Cherry Street. I mean, Gardner, we should actually be really proud. They're looking at something else besides a fast food restaurant.

Yes.

So, all right, let's get on with Beal Infrastructure. So, who are they? They were founded two years ago by uh Blue Capital, and they're currently fighting two big lawsuits. One is for misinformation and the other one is because they're suing the city because the city wanted to put the data center on the ballot. Is that really the business partner that Gardner wants or deserves? Health impacts. Harvard and Caltech just in Northern Virginia are estimating 53 million to hund00 million in annual health damages. Is that what we want to bring to our community? I guess the other thing is is we have people with little kids are coming in and some people like is that little grab? My parents both worked at Jeffrey Energy Center. If you look at that, it's out in the middle of nowhere. There's a reason for it. They also have their own water treatment plant. They It's self-contained and they also have built their own reservoirs. back on the children's development. The electromagnetic fields that are offput from those subg generators and substations do have an impact on their neurological tissue growth. And so if we're going to have that right in our backyard, again, everyone's admitted all those houses are not going to be worth anything. Your property values are going to drop and no one's going to want to build out there. Is that gardener's plan? We're just going to go with the onetrick pony moving forward. You guys need to target more diversity, more manufacturing, but you guys want to either just do fast foods or you're going to take this big home run shot. Thank you. [applause] Nathaniel Plawn, 238 East Coen Court.

I'm probably not going to be very popular here. I am neither for or against a data center. I have worked at a data center with Cerner now Oracle and stuff. And if you actually do some research, yes, the first two pages of everything you research on a data center is all negative. It's all they do this, this is bad, this is this, this is bad, they they pollute, they do. you have to go through and do more research just like with COVID. Everything you researched on vaccines and stuff, it's it's all manufactured data and they want you to believe that everything is bad. Data centers are unfortunately a requirement of our society. If we don't want data centers, then we might as well take our phones and our computers and throw them away because Facebook, Apple, everyone requires more data because more people are consuming data. They're using data. Hospitals, I work at Oracle. Hospitals are requiring more and more computing space, AI and stuff like that to treat patients. I mean, you don't want it. Okay, so maybe the where we're going to put it might not be the best. I can understand that. I watched a saw a post that said, "All data centers are bad." Well, that's like a person saying, "I don't like dogs, so nobody in my neighborhood can have a dog." I mean, it's just it's not feasible.

There's nothing wrong with data centers. I've worked at them. Is there a lot of power requirements? Yes. Do they use a lot of water? Yes. But technology has improved. And if you do the research, they do a lot of recycling and cooling of water. And the worst noise you hear is the they do have diesel generators that can pump up when the electricity is out because the servers have to have constant power and they test them once in a while. Yes, they do. Now, when you do the research, they have BMS. They're going to do try to mitigate that to the best of their ability. Yes, I am neither for nor against this. But what I'm against is this horrible. It's like every all data centers are bad and we can't do this and it's going to pollute and it's going to do this. I've been listening to like someone was saying about you know um temp micro temperature rises in the air. I've been listening to the sky is falling and global warming for over 40 years. It's not that big of an issue. I don't care how big a a building is. Yes, and I will agree the warehouses out there. We got ton of warehouses and stuff out there, a data center, what's the big deal? But the big deal I do agree is that would it would bring a lot of revenue to the city and the jobs that it would employ are highpaying jobs. You have to have master electricians. You have to have, you know, interface engineers. You have to have, you know, network engineers. Those are highpaying jobs that it could bring to the city. So I I just had I was watching on YouTube and I had to be, you know, give another opinion because people were saying, "Well, everyone here is against

it." Not everyone in this town is against it. I've talked to people in this town and not everyone is against it. It's just the people. And I understand everyone is on that side of I35 and it will affect them the most. But everyone on the other side of I35, the other 20,000 people, it would benefit them for the tax revenue that it would bring in the city. So, are we going to not do something because it affects a couple hundred people or are we going to do something because it could benefit 20,000 people? [clears throat] So that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Stephen May. My address is 23905 West 191st Street. This isn't directly across the street from me, but it's as as close as you could get. So, I just want to introduce myself to my future neighbors because I can see you guys all wanting to move out there because this is such a desirous spot. If it's okay [applause] for is just okay for us but not for you. So, I'm wondering is there any commitment on your end? Maybe 20 30% of you guys move out around there. Bring your families. Bring your grandkids because it's going to be a great place, right? It's where you want to that's where you guys want to live too, right?

That's right. You can't respond. Thank you for your time. [applause] [applause]

Hey guys, uh my name is Curtis Blunt. I live at uh 19640 South Claire. And um and you guys have heard a lot of facts tonight. I really just came up here to have a right brain relational experience with you guys. Um I have a similar story of of moving out here. where I used to live in the city. I lived in Roland Park, Kansas. Um, I loved living there. Um, it was absolutely it was actually a dream of mine for my wife and I to buy our first home. Um, we could afford it there at the time. Um, started raising a family. Thought we'd be there for a while. Um, had an opportunity to move out south here. I have family that lives in Spring Hill. My dad lives on the other side of 169 and it was important to us to to move out this way. Um, so we've moved our family out here. My wife stays at home. She raises our boys. They're um all about being outside. But I guess why I'm up here really is just because um I just want to tell you guys that it's like I I really care about living out here. I care about these people. This has been amazing to see what people have brought. I don't need to bring any more facts to you guys. You've had a lot of facts tonight. Um I [clears throat] just want to tell you that it's like I I live here. Um and I I just want you guys to know that I'm not okay with this. I work in technology. I work for a company called SmartPro Technologies um based out of Lanexa, Kansas. We do managed it for people. We do um hardware technology installation or uh installations and new construction. I understand what technology is. We don't need this in this area. There's so many other areas that we could place something like this.

[applause] I understand the value of technology. I think probably everyone in this room does. We all have our phones in our pockets. We understand what it means to operate in the cloud. It's the safest place to be is in the cloud. But we don't need a building at 191st in Clair. [applause] I just I just want to say it. And I think if you guys lived over there by us, I don't know each of you and I don't know where you live, but I think you guys would be standing here with us, too, if something like this was coming to your backyard. That's right. [applause]

Anyway, I you guys have a hard job. I would not want to be sitting on the other side um of the table where you guys are at. This is hard. And that's why I said I wanted to come up here and just have a right brain experience relational people to people, you know, sons and daughters of the king, fellow brothers and sisters. And I just want to say I'm not okay with this. A lot of us aren't okay with this. And I don't think you should be okay with this. Right.

All right. Thanks, guys. [applause] Good evening. Thank you so much for your time. I really have appreciated that you've been so receptive to us tonight. I know that it's really difficult to hear um a lot of opinions about things and while I agree with a lot of the personal arguments name address for the record

um so I I did reach out to several of you and I appreciate that you all took the time to respond and um and that you are taking the time to consider all these things. On the other hand, I was really surprised that across the board there was a lack of um energy toward fighting it. I was so so disappointed that you didn't say we're reaching out to all the governments locally to see how we can all work together to make sure this doesn't happen no matter what. So you're concerned about annexing and about the other cities taking the tax benefits and I know that you've understood all the other implications in terms of scientifically but I was surprised that you weren't being more creative and innovative about finding your own personal solution within our total region to make sure that it doesn't happen like if we if we say no if we vote no how can we partner with everyone else to make sure that no one else says no and still puts it there because I know the location is ideal for what what they're looking for. So I see that people from Spring Hill and Pola and Ottawa are here and it shows that everyone in our area does care. And so I thought why does why is it just the people that are expressing like an a desire to look for the loopholes or desire to halt this progress in terms of the data center and and for the implications for our city and I know that if it's still here that that would be just devastating and I know that you said that most of you even referenced the inner modal and how you had rejected

it and yet Edertton got all tax breaks. I feel like we should learn from our past. We should learn from our failures and that's a good thing. And so, how can we take this project and kill it all together? Let's find all of the advocates. People have thought data centers and they have won. So, we should fight together with everyone we can. We should look for ways to be creative, to be innovative, and to find other people that can do this. playlist is not new. They've been working on this for years. So, it's there's nothing new about it. So, why is it that it feels like such a huge burden for our city? We can reach out to others that have come before us and gain wisdom from them and gain community through building a huge support system from all over the country. So, I just appreciate and I would really encourage you to help us all find creative solutions to look for ways around it no matter what. Thank you so much. [applause] Hi, my name is Jessica Her. I've lived in Gardener for 15 years. I'm choosing not to give my address for safety things. We are building a home right on the edge of Gardener in Spring Hill. And I tell you what, I've already let them know I don't want my house if that's what's going there. I moved to this town from Georgia to raise my children. My oldest son's 10, he started in kindergarten out here and he has graduated out here. I have a daughter who's in high school. I have two more in

the group. One's in going into middle school, one's in elementary. I drive my kids to school. I'm very active in this community throughout the day. And I tell you, in the last 15 years, how it has just plummeted. I am tired of passing trucks left and right. I'm tired of our bridges falling apart. The main one that the bus drivers have to drive over every day with loads of kids or not not safe. My dad worked in construction on bridges and I know that you're not supposed to fill potholes on bridges. I'm tired of the damage on my cars. I'm tired of watching kids almost get hit. I'm tired of hitting my horns for all the extra. This is not a city for people to grow in anymore. It's becoming an industrial community. It's all businesses that don't actually impact directly here. Warehouses, warehouses, warehouses. But community, people don't want to come here anymore. And I'll tell you, people want to leave. The fact that I have to feel run out when I moved here to raise my kids is disgusting. Do better. Look out for the children who are growing up in this community. Look out for what they want to play. Do you really want all these parks and things and then you have giant trucks running down the road? No. Do we want data centers? No. If you've heard enough on that, you can guess my opinion is heck no. Do you want to hear that all night long? Do you think these kids in our state testing is going to be better when you have all even more loud booms, cracks, buzz, noise going all the time? Because I know that's already happening. I even worked at the inner model. So, I know the impact and I know that all those dudes actually came from other states. They brought them all in to build. So, the jobs weren't here. They were paying other people from other states. Horizon Trails housed them. They gave

them fully housed furnished apartments to stay in. Those were all people from out of state. Guess where they went? Back out of state. maybe consider that and what you're doing and how you're running the people out of your community who have helped build your community. Thank you. [applause]

Good evening. I'm Rebecca Vials. I live at 1 19100 South Clair Road. I'm directly across the street from there. I have I'm on the Spring Hill side. Gardeners all around me. I like you, but I don't want this center. If you put this center in, I will lose value in my property. I'm a widow. This is the only inheritance my children will get. I'm not a rich person. I've taken care of this house. I have lived here since 1990, 36 years. I've watched it grow out there. I moved out there because it was a farm community, because it was country. We moved from Oland Park out here for that specific reason. Thank you.

[applause]

Okay. Uh, anyone else?

Hi, my name's Joanie Marorrow. I live at 24545 West 191st, directly across the street from the big house across the [clears throat] street that sold the property to you. So, uh, I've been here in my house for 50 years. I've been to Gardener, um, when there was nothing here but, uh, a two-way street and gutters on both sides. [clears throat] There was no grocery store. There was We were excited when Pizza Hut came. [laughter] I've been 4 county leader. I've done everything with the kids. I've shown Arabian horses for 45 50 years. And this just really upsets me. Please don't don't let it go through. Thank you. [applause]

[applause]

any other comments? All right. Well, thank you very much everyone. Um, I know it's not easy to get up and speak. Um, I appreciate the points that were made. Everyone was very thoughtful in their points. Uh, very respectful. uh you've given us a lot of great information and I know everyone on here appreciates that you've been here tonight. Uh again, no action will be taken tonight. Um I did want to mention we do have um we'll be having an executive session after this meeting and that's just a private discussion. Um no action will be taken after that. Typically we just come back and adjourn the meeting but I want to be transparent about that. Um so with that being said um I do oh also again reminder uh the 13th May 13 uh will be the town forum town hall uh for the old infrastructure that they will be putting correct middle school at 7 p.m.

7 p.m. Okay. So, we're going to get back on the regular session here. Um, new business item number two. Consider adopting an ordinance authorizing the city of Garner, Kansas to make certain electric system improvements and authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds of the city. Pay the cost thereof all pursuant to charter ordinance number 28 of the city unit one gas turbine. On April 20th, 2026, city council awarded gas turbine unit one major inspection and upgrade service contract to Alli Power Group. The submitted project cost for unit one inspection and upgrade is approximately 5.06 million. And then there was also a 12% contingency. This upgrade will be identical to the upgrade of unit 2,

which was successfully completed in 2025 and fulfills the 2024 electric master plan recommendation to upgrade both turbines from LA to our models and perform the central water cooler upgrades. Proposed ordinance authorizes the improvements and documents city's intent to reimburse itself with bond proceeds from the issuance of general speak up just a little bit. Sorry, it's kind of hard to hear. Stand. We shut that door.

Okay. Thank you. So, the proposed ordinance authorizes um the improvements and documents the city's intent to reimburse itself from bond proceeds for the issuance of general obligation bonds in the aggregate amount not to exceed 5.84 million including all associated financing costs. So, this is a follow-up to a council item that you had at a previous meeting where you approved a contract. This is the financing to go along with it. It is staff's recommendation that you adopt the proposed ordinance. Thank you, Matt. Is there any public comment on this item?

Questions, comments? One thing I do want to comment real quick. Um, what's being shown on the slide does not match what the agenda item is. Okay, hold on.

That's right. It did not say motion's correct. Yeah, it matches. The agenda item.

Okay. So moved. No. [laughter] So moved. Second. All right. Motion Baldwin. Second. Deon. We adopt ordinance number 2878. an ordinance authorizing the city of Gartner, Kansas to make certain electric system improvements and authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds of the city to pay the cost thereof all pursuant to charter ordinance number 28 of the city unit one gas turbine. City clerk. Council member McNair. Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Council member D. Yes. Council member Lee. Yes. Council member Johnson. Yes.

Ordinance number 2878 passes. New business item number three. kind of an interesting one. Consider adopting a resolution to opt into House Bill 2481, section two, allowing expanded hours for the sale of alcoholic liquor and cereal malt beverages during a specific date range commencing June 11th, 2026 and ending July 19th, 2026.

Good evening, Mayor Council. The state of Kansas recently passed House Bill 2481 in advance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup event. While some items in the bill are automatically applicable for Kansas municipalities, section two, which allows for expanded sales hours for both alcoholic liquor and cereal malt beverages for the duration of the 2026 World Cup event, requires municipalities to opt in. Currently, the city of Gardner allows retail original package sales from 9:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. on Sundays. Drinking establishments are currently permitted to serve between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. daily. If adopted, this resolution would allow sales for 23 hours each day between the hours of 6:00 am and 5:00 am on the day immediately following. These expanded sales hours would be concurrent with the World Cup event commencing on June 11th, 2026 and ending on July 19th, 2026. Under this resolution, restaurants and bars would also be allowed to serve liquor during these same hours for the duration of the event. On July 20th, 2026, allowed sales and serving times would revert to their current hours with no additional council action required. It should be noted that we have not received any requests related to this change. We simply wanted to ensure council had the opportunity to consider this item as it does require an optin and is timesensitive.

Thank you, Amy. Is there any public comment on this item? Seeing none, council, what kind of questions do you have? Do we even have any businesses that are open during those extended hours? Quick trip. Okay. Quick trip Casey's. Yeah, we haven't received any comment. Just want the thought is they may open. They may have extended hours during the World Cup just because they can. Yes. A drinking establishment. So, watch

just so you know, both Kansas and Missouri passed this. So, municipalities on both sides of the state line are considering taking this action at the same time. I know other jurisdictions that are opting in. Do you know of any that are opting out?

Well, you don't opt out. You have to opt in. I mean, we're not in, you know, we're not a top bar hopping location, and this is five extra weeks of people doing who knows what in the wee hours drunk. So, I don't see the benefit to our community to extend drinking for those five weeks for the few that come down here after they got done partying in Kansas City, Missouri. So, I would say let's not opt in.

Mark, Mark, I would tend to agree with you. I I I don't think just in just in the name of public safety and keeping keeping our streets and neighborhoods safe for gardener residents. Don't think we need people drinking car in the middle of the night. We're sorry. I I mean I person is we don't know who's opted in yet or do we know I mean I do might have you discussed this chief uh in any of your chief type meetings

just with the FIFA meetings the fact that we discussed the curricularities that it's coming but I don't have any knowledge of which cities right public safety I think all issues I will speak share the sentiment was talking about that public safety quality of life issues the same concerns that it could be trouble.

Okay. I can report just what I know um from my other clients. Um I've heard Kansas City, Missouri intends to opt in. Um I've I believe Kansas City Kansas is putting it on an agenda for consideration. Marian, another one of my cities did opt in. Westwood, my city is putting it on their agenda. So, people are considering it. I I think the comment was particularly around like bars, restaurants. Sure, you can opt in, but how you going to staff it? How you going to find staff that normally get off at 2 a.m. and all of a sudden you got to staff up until 5 a.m. and then start at 6 a.m.? So, I don't know that there was a lot of thought that particularly in the bar aspect was going to be influx where other chiefs from my other jurisd

I'm not sure that it much really matters who else opts in around here. I mean I guess one of my thoughts I have is you know if you go to a baseball game or football game or whatever they cut off the bars at a certain time even though the game's not over. So, even if a bar is open and having a watch party until five o'clock in the morning, I don't see any harm in cutting people off at two o'clock in the morning because then gives them time to sober up before they get on the road. Um, I I don't know. I mean, that's I guess I don't know. I I was raised by parents who are always like, you know, you should be at home in bed at 2 o'clock in the morning. If there's anything going on out there at 2 o'clock in the morning, you probably don't want to be part of it. I

I just feel like it's going to cause confusion. Yeah. I mean, people are going to be like, "Why are they open these days and not and not every day?" It It's not consistent. You know, u when I was young growing up, my mother used to have a saying, just because everyone else jumps off the cliff doesn't mean you need to. When I was looking at it more, you mentioned people coming down here to party. I'm just like, they would You made it sound in my mind like people are just going to come here because they can stay up until 5 instead of staying in their own city. But if other cities are allowing them to stay until 5.

But no, I'm just saying that there's no reason for them to even have the opportunity to come down further. Plus, we'll have three days of blowing up everything that they can possibly see [laughter] and and alcohol in the middle of the night. That's Yeah. With fireworks. What could possibly go wrong? Okay. Well, um I mean that's seems like a consensus on here. So we just won't take action. We just won't take action. Won't have do anything. All right, fair enough. Okay, that concludes uh regular session. Uh let's go ahead and do council updates. Um and then we'll go to executive.

You've been pretty quiet over there, Dave. I have anything else to say? All right, then. Jason, nothing tonight. Nothing tonight. All right, nothing. Nothing. No ma'am. Finance. Nothing. The attorney. You got off pretty easy today. Could have been worse. The administrator,

tonight. I just do want to say thank you to everybody who came tonight to speak during public comment and to thank all the people who have emailed me and called me over the past couple of weeks. Um to the folks who came to the community conversation with council member and me. Um it has been really good to listen to everybody to get a chance to put some names with faces. um and just to have the chance to talk with you guys and to hear what's important to you because that truly is important to us also. So, thank you for sharing your time with us, for sharing your thoughts with us. We appreciate it. Cir.

Yes. I I I just wanted to say thank you to everybody that came tonight and shared their their thoughts and and gave us their input. It was done uh very respectfully, very calmly, and I appreciate the way that it was presented. Uh many of you had things that are basic facts other than the data center stuff, especially when it comes to some of the zoning and some of the other things. You brought up some interesting points and and I I can assure the entire audience that came here tonight to talk that I will consider their input very carefully.

Council, uh I will also thank everybody who came out to uh the conversation we had last week and who came out tonight um took multiple pages of notes. Um, so have lots to think about and um, lots more to reach out to other folks and um, figure out what the next steps are. Thanks, Vice President.

I'll echo those same sentiments. Thank you for everybody coming out. I've been on that side for five years. I came up to that podium and it doesn't get less nerve-wracking. So, I appreciate everybody who took time out of their evening to come out here to send us emails. Um, know that your thoughts are are heard. Council President.

Yeah. So, I still have some emails to get back to as you can imagine. Um, but I I did want to echo that. Uh, that was good. That's the most I've ever seen uh since the inter modal. That's the most packed I have ever seen this building. Um, and uh kudos to everyone uh that is involving themselves in the process. Um, and I will reiterate what I already put out there that just give us time so that we can fully vet the project and then you'll see everything in a public meeting

today. Um, and I have nothing further. So I will entertain a motion to go into executive session. So moved. Motion McNair seconded. We enter into executive session to discuss attorney client privilege related to the data center. Um entering at 9:23 returning at uh 9:37 9:38. Do we need a motion? Is there a motion? We have the motion. All in favor? All approve. All post

Okay, it is 9:38. I'll entertain a motion to just resume the meeting. Do we have to entertain a motion to resume? Yeah, entertain a motion to resume. So moved. Motion De second. Johnson, we entertain. We resume session. All in favor? I. All opposed, abstain. Back in session. Um I would move that we I would entertain a motion to return to executive session for 10 minutes starting at 9:39 returning at 9:49. So moved. Second. Motion Baldwin second. McNair we returned. All in favor?

I opposed. Do we do we need to clarify that it's to continue conversation at the data center? I'll stay for the rest

All right. It is 9:49. I will entertain a motion to resume regular session. So moved. Second. Motion Johnson. Second. McNair. We return to regular session. All in favor? I I oppos back to regular session and I make a motion to adjurnn. So move second. Oh my gosh.

Second we all in favor. All stain no wor out. It's very nice.