County Council - Regular Meeting

good evening chair calls older board of health update spring 2026 miss levy how are you today i'm doing well how are you good good whenever you're ready wonderful thank you thank you for the opportunity to be with you all this evening looking forward to sharing some updates about some things that we have been up to and some new programs that we have getting started before i begin i'd like to introduce some of my colleagues from the health department sure rania nasar director of population health Andrea Pappas, Director of Behavioral Health. Jen Mangold, Director of Clinical Services. Dr. Jamie Seibel, Medical Deputy Health Officer. John Restline, Director of Environmental Health. Sarah- Ed, you forgot his title. How could I forget? Sarah Moore, Director of Family Health. Selena Mercado, Director of Administration. And Silvana Balcar, Deputy Health Officer for Operations. So just a quick look at our agenda. Like I mentioned, we're gonna talk about some of the things we've been up to lately. I'm gonna jump right in. So first, our Peach Bottom exercise. I touched on this briefly during our budget presentation a few weeks ago, but I am so proud of our team. Last month, the Health Department, along with many partners across the county, participated in two successful FEMA-graded exercises related to the Peach Bottom facility in the event of a radiological incident. So one exercise focused on standing up the emergency operation center and the second exercise tested the health department's ability to stand up a community reception center where people can go in the event of an incident to determine if they've had radiation exposure and go through decontamination if radiation is detected. So four FEMA staff evaluated our operation of the community reception center at Falston High School. We had 31 health department staff, obviously a very close partnership with our colleagues at the Department of Emergency Services and the local HAZMAT team. We had 12 radiological monitoring and decontamination stations. And the evaluators had high praise for our team and their technical knowledge and coordination and just really shows that we are ready in the event of an incident. So it's really an important part of our role is this emergency preparedness response. and just really want to acknowledge the Health Department staff and our partners. This year's exercise was bittersweet, as it is the last Peach Bottom exercise for our public health emergency planner, Lisa Swank, who plans to retire before the next exercise two years from now, and also Director of Emergency Services, Rick Ayers, and Deputy Director, Mike Bernicke, who will also be retiring.

Excuse me a minute, Ms. Levy. Sir, can you find a seat, please? Good, I'm sorry.

No problem. So I just want to publicly thank them for their incredible partnership and leadership, and more than anything, their commitment to ensuring that Harford County is ready to respond in the event of a radiological emergency. so we recently partnered with harford county public schools to facilitate access to vaccines for rising seventh graders at mcnolia middle we had 29 students vaccinated with tdap meningitis vaccine and hpv vaccine and we received really positive feedback from the school leadership and staff and also through the community school specialists from families who really appreciated the time savings that they were able to access these vaccines in the school. So I really want to thank our fantastic clinical team and the school-based health center nurses who made all of that possible. I also wanted to share information about the Maryland vaccine program. We are now able to offer adult vaccines through this program. And so any current Maryland resident ages 19 or older who is uninsured or underinsured can access any of the recommended adult vaccinations. And I've shared the contact information for anyone who wants to learn more. and so just an opportunity to really talk about how important vaccines are to our overall health they are safe and effective and they are best protection against severe illness and preventable disease and so i really encourage anyone who has questions about vaccination to reach out to their provider or they can of course reach out to us at the health department So I mentioned some of our new programming. Oh gosh, I'm sorry, I'm a little close to the microphone. I mentioned some of our new programming. I'm really excited to share that Harford County was just selected to participate in the Assistance and Community Integration Services Program. It's a Medicaid program that provides person-centered housing support and case management for individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. And so there are two types of services that we are going to be able to provide through this program. One is tenancy-based case management that will help individuals who are currently housed remain in their homes through linkage to services and other supports. And then housing case management for people who are experiencing homelessness to enter permanent housing. This is going to be a partnership between the Health Department, Harvard County Department of Housing and Community Services, and the Community Action Agency. So really excited to get this off the ground. Prior to our being invited to participate, there were four pilot sites in the state, and a five year evaluation showed that individuals who participated in the program had a 37% decline in emergency department visits post enrollment and that 77% of all unsheltered participants were in stable and permanent housing at the time of their case closure. So really wonderful results from that program. We're really excited to bring it to Harper County. Another new program we are excited about is the Patty Center. This is an award we recently received through the Maryland State Department of Education to develop a Patty Center in Hartford County. And this is going to allow us to provide services that will support the optimal development of young children through play and learn activities for infants and toddlers and family enrichment activities. It's going to help adults develop stronger parenting skills and connect families to clinical care and community supports to help them thrive. So also really excited about that. I know we touched on this again during our budget remarks. Very excited. I know nothing is final yet, but we really appreciate your consideration of this request for the oral rabies vaccine. We are optimistic, and so we have started preliminary planning for this program. Very excited to get underway. I know we had a great presentation from our staff at the Fall Board of Health. Just wanted to share, I know that there's a lot of interest around the rabies detections. Would just share that we are pretty much on track with where we were last year in terms of detections. And then we are receiving more submittals year to date. I think that's probably a result of the communications that we've been doing. There's a lot more public awareness around rabies. So before I conclude, I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to highlight some summer safety tips. As the weather warms up, pretty significant warm up over the last couple of days, I know we're all looking forward to getting outside. And so we just want to make sure that people are staying protected. particularly when we're out in the sun you know the importance of staying in the shade wearing hats and sunscreen and reapplying your sunscreen every couple of hours and also we would appreciate your help in getting the word out around water safety unfortunately drowning is a leading cause of death for young children and so i know we all want to keep our kids safe and so just helping us get the message out about the importance of supervision having kids wear life jackets swim lessons keeping pools fenced in and just being vigilant about our young people would appreciate that So I know we're all excited for summer, tick-borne disease, not as much. Tick-borne disease can occur year round, but ticks up, I spent a lot of time on that. I can tell. during the warmer months, April through September. So just encourage folks to make sure they're checking if they're out in wooded areas for ticks. We're gonna be doing a distribution of some tick removal kits in the community soon. And those pictures are from a, as part of Tick-Borne Disease Awareness Month, environmental health staff participated in the local tick collection effort. And the data collected will help inform research on the spread of tick-borne diseases in the state. And last but not least, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I know that this is an issue that is dear to many of you on the council, as it is to us at the health department. And so all of us need help at different points in our lives, and I just want to close by reminding people that there is help available. You can call us at the health department. The Klein Family Center has walk-in services available every day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. And the Office on Mental Health has crisis response services available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And that's going to do it for me. Thank you guys for your time.

First of all, Lauren, let me thank you for your update and being as brief as you are. I'm sure everyone appreciates that. But we also appreciate the job that you do for us every day, working with the citizens, working with us as the Board of Health. Look forward to working with you in a future council. Do you have any questions, comments? Mr. Bennett?

Hello. Good evening. Thank you for being here. I wanted to hear about how the IU We Matter Symposium went this past weekend. I know it's probably too soon to have photos and stuff in your presentation, but it's twice a year, right? Once for girls, once for boys, and this past weekend was the boy event. I was just curious how it went.

It went really well. We had about 35 boys show up and many more family members. We had wonderful vendors set up. Harvard Community College was there. Nature Works was there. Susquehanna Workforce Network, among many others. Really a wonderful event. This was my first time having the opportunity to attend, unfortunately, at COVID for the Girls Symposium last fall. So I was really excited to be able to be there this weekend. The staff did an incredible job. Community partners did an incredible job. Boys had a great time. And we had a lot of really positive feedback. So just a really wonderful event.

Thank you. And is there any other programming or updates as far as minority health goes coming up or being worked on?

Absolutely. We are actually actively engaged in a strategic plan for that program and really thinking about how we can work more closely with priority communities on the health concerns that are most important to them. And so really looking to build out year-round programming to better serve communities and really be responsive to what's important to them.

Thank you. And my last question for you this evening is just before you came on board, we had a really successful program passing out gun locks to the community. I think they had them all claimed within an hour of it being available for someone to RSVP. And it was just a really great event. And it was so encouraging to see people driving. You would have thought it was a seven brew, all the people who are driving through. Do we have any future plans on doing that again? Because clearly there were more people who wanted them than we had available to give.

We do. We are waiting. I'm very optimistic that we are going to be getting funding for more expanded gun safety efforts, including gun distribution through our library branches. So really excited about that. And also partnership with our... firearm businesses, so the ranges and the retailers, really working with them to help get the word out about suicide prevention and the importance of gun locks to that effort. So we should be hearing any time now, and hopefully I'll be talking about that in the fall at our fall Board of Health meeting.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate all you're doing with that, and that's all I have this evening.

Thank you, Mr. Bennett. Mr. Riley? Yes, good evening, Lauren. If I live in Narsville, how do I get involved in a school-based health center program?

So our school-based health centers are located at particular schools. What in particular are you looking to?

Well, I notice they're all on the southern end. I don't understand why we don't have one on the northern end.

So, I mean, that's certainly something we can talk about, like where those locations were in place, but, you know, expansion of those services is certainly something that we can talk about.

Or just moving one. We have kids up north, too.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And we want to make sure that those folks have services. So I hear you loud and clear. You know, that's something I would be happy to talk about and look into more. I'm not really clear on how decisions were made about the locations that we're currently serving, but there is a process that we have to go through to get approval through the state. And so our expansion of programming, you know, we need to be able to.

Can you keep me updated on your progress, on that progress, to get one in the north end?

Absolutely.

Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Riley.

Mr. Giangerdana?

Good afternoon, evening, I guess. Councilman Bennett said something about minorities, but I think I'm more concerned with the people that are lower economic, not just minorities, but because there's all kind of people that fall into the lower economic threshold. So you're not prioritizing one of the, you're looking more at the socioeconomic of the people, the lower income and also, correct?

Oh, absolutely. Everybody is welcome at these events.

Yeah, I didn't see anything in here about the dentistry that I know we've got maybe two locations that do that. How is that going? That was a couple years ago they implemented that. And they always say good healthy mouth leads to good health overall.

absolutely oral health is critical to your overall health so we still have our dental clinics running lots of demand for those services we are looking to expand them we have been in conversations with the state about potential opportunities to do that in terms of expanding access to folks right now we're only seeing Medicaid patients but we are trying to expand access to folks who maybe are not eligible but are also you know not in the Sort of income eligible right they have income need and so we we know that their demand is there We're just trying to figure out the mechanism to be able to support that Okay, and I think I'm still waiting for response back on maybe some of those Restaurants that we were working on.

I haven't talked to yourself for John. So I don't know where they stand but I guess we need to look at those but

So I think, yeah, John had shared some updates a few weeks ago, but we can see kind of what the current status is.

Okay, I appreciate that. Yeah, as long as we, you know, we got a lot of restaurants that come in, some come in, move in, move out, and want to make sure that they're, you know, easily accessible to getting everything done, and I think so far everything's been working better than before, so I do appreciate that, and they'll call me, and I'll call you, and we'll stay on top of that, so I appreciate it.

Okay, great.

Thank you, Mr. Ginger Daniel. Anyone else? Lauren, thank you for coming tonight. I'm sure that we'll be reaching out for other things as well. All right.

Thank you, as always. Appreciate it.

Yep. This will conclude this update, and unfortunately, we're going to have to take a short recess until 6.30 for the other public hearing. Good evening again. The chair calls an order for public hearing, Bill 26005, Moratorium Data Centers, Councilman Bennett.

Hello. Um, good evening. Thank you for your all coming out this evening and being with us. Um, a little bit of background. I'm first going to rewind back to last fall. Um, and really about two years ago, um, I had some high schoolers come to me about a totally different issue, which was the fact that they came to realize that our youth commission we're supposed to have as a County had been totally defunct for 10 years. the last time there was a youth commission active in the county i was still deemed a youth by the county and um it was you know it's in our law that we should have this youth commission and it should be formed every year and so after i met with those uh teenagers who were saying we really want to get engaged in the county we want to learn about our local government and we want to be able to do this, I started reaching out to the administration many times over those two years asking to get that started and was met over and over again with a lack of interest to get that going. So last fall, I introduced legislation that would have had the council take over the youth commission just so that we could get it going for these kids who wanted to be engaged in our community. After we introduced that legislation, the county executive then came forward and said, I'm going to get the youth commission up and running. And I'm opening up applications for teenagers to apply to be on the youth commission. And then we were able to approve people to be on the youth commission and to have that positive experience as high schoolers and middle schoolers. And so at that point, the objective of my bill was complete and it was no longer needed because at the end of the day, it wasn't about having the council get control of the youth commission. It was about giving kids the opportunity to do the youth commission. So once we succeeded in getting the county executive to get that up and running, I withdrew my bill for the youth commission. So now bringing that story to this issue, um, I've been researching, um, what's going on across our country of data centers for the better part of the past year and meeting with community members to talk about it, reading about what's happening, not just across Maryland, but across the country. and have more and more grown concerned about what I read and what I see. So when I introduced the moratorium, well, first when I started drafting the moratorium back in December of last year, I had no clue about anything that could potentially be proposed in Harford County at that time. I was just looking at what was happening across Maryland and across our region. And seeing that we had what I saw as a big gap in our county code of nothing stating any rules about data centers. And so that's why I got to work on the legislation. And then getting it onto a council agenda and getting it through this process, it just happened to time with a lot of community awareness of this issue. But the work had started long before that. The reason I introduced the moratorium very similar to why I introduced the bill on the Youth Commission Was to start the work on getting this issue addressed because I saw a gaping hole in our zoning code And I knew that we needed to do work to fix this Since the moratorium was introduced the county executive was able to send legislation over to us as a council and on the very last day that legislation could possibly be sent over before summer recess to have it go through the process and wrap up successfully. And that legislation, which is a different bill than the one we're looking at tonight, would put a blanket ban on data centers in Harford County. However, that bill is not emergency legislation, which means if it was to pass in June, the soonest it would take effect is sometime in August. Um, which is a two month window, which is still a vulnerability. Um, which is why I've still held on to the moratorium bill, which is emergency legislation to fill that two month gap. That being said, after I read the County executive's bill, I immediately reached out to the council attorney that day. And said, I would like to explore amending the County executive's bill to be emergency legislation, because if that was to be able to be done, Well, then we no longer need the moratorium bill. And so I know many people were speaking about that last Tuesday, but we had already been working on that since Saturday between the council attorney and myself. And I believe we had it completed and drafted last Wednesday afternoon and ready to be added to the agenda on Thursday for this week. I'm also happy to say that I have six co-sponsors. those draft amendments so that means all seven of us are in agreement on that and I anticipate later tonight that those three amendments that turn the county executives bill into emergency legislation passing when that happens my plan is to withdraw bill 26005 because it no longer is needed it will have done its job without ever having to be voted on because it pushed the conversation forward it got action going and we're going to be able to end up in a place that leaves us as a community in a much stronger position than we were back in December of 2025 when I started this legislative work and in February of 2025 when I started the research on this legislative work. So that's just a little bit of context for those of you who are here tonight to help you understand with the process of how we've gotten to where we are and what should be taking place this evening. And any sort of strange series of events where some of my council colleagues think it's opposite day and accidentally vote no instead of yes and my amendments don't pass, I still have the moratorium on the agenda and would not withdraw my moratorium at that point because that would still fill that gap. But assuming, which I think it's safe to assume, my amendments pass 7-0, turning the county executive's bill into emergency legislation. This moratorium bill that we're here for this public hearing for will be moot. Like I said, it will have done its job and we'll be able to move forward. And so I think that's all the context I need to provide this evening. Um, but I hope that helps give you clarity. And maybe if you have three minutes of things to say tonight, you might want to save them for the County executives bill. Um, it's public hearing in June so that we can have you, uh, speak then you don't have to come up with six minutes of ideas to say. Because I think at this point, we're in a very strong position to strengthen his bill tonight and withdraw the bill that we're having the public hearing for as well tonight. That's all I have.

Thank you, Mr. Bennett. You did an outstanding job representing your position and I think the position of most of the council members. Anyone else have anything to say? Mr. Jan Giordano.

Thank you, Council President. So if you follow investments, data centers are all the rage. Blackstone Digital raised $1.75 billion in its IPO. Cerebus, and I don't know if I'm saying that right or not, opened at $185 the other day and closed at $311, up 68%. They're now valued at $65 billion, and they raised an additional $5.5 billion. So that tells you exactly where the market is headed and why communities like Hartford County are under pressure for massive data center proposals. Make no mistake, folks, there's a lot of money that's out there pouring in, and they're looking for data centers wherever they can put them, and they want to put one here. So I strongly support banning a data center in Hartford County. support banning any kind of power facility that they would try to do because that's one of the other things that they would have to do based on what Governor Moore said is they'd have to do their own separate power system to run these data centers. But I think if you ban the data centers, you're going to ban that. So just want to make sure that everybody's keen on that. So the facilities consume enormous amounts of electricity. water require major transmission infrastructures create constant noise concerns that can permanently alter character of surrounding community the low frequency noise generated by the data centers and large industrial cooling systems can travel for miles they were here the other day they said 500 feet that's not true travels for up to three to six miles and penetrates through the buildings and the quality of life of the residents and anybody surrounding that. So somebody did post something. They showed a data center down in Virginia and the amount of noise that was generated from that and how that noise penetrates through a home. So once the projects are approved, the industrial footprint expands quickly with substations, transmission lines, backup generation system, and related infrastructure. Hartford County should not become the next target. for unchecked industrial expansion driven by national data center boom. On top of that, not that we can do anything about it, but battery storage facilities are another growing concern. Projects such as the proposed Oyster Catcher Energy Storage Project, a 500-megawatt, six-hour lithium-ion battery storage facility by Cardinal Energy Storage raises serious questions about safety, environmental impacts, emergency response capabilities, and long-term land use. They're trying to do that in the upper end of the county. That's tomorrow. We're going to talk about that up at the Jarrettsville-Norrisville CAB meeting. Even more concerning on that one is that there's a stream that runs through that center of that parcel and ultimately feeds into Deer Creek, raising major environmental and water quality concerns that deserve full public review before any approvals move forward. Talking to Council President today, we don't know if we can do anything about that because.

Oh, Ms. Allegi has been looking at it for four or five days now. Yeah. So Patty Hankins, Ms. Hankins called me last week after the meeting they had in Jarrettsville and informed me of the concern. I immediately got ahold of Ms. Allegi and she's looking into it as we speak.

And there's also another one, but at the same time, this state of Maryland has taken away much of our ability to regulate solar projects on County land and Local communities are living their voice while industrial scale solar farms continue to spread across agricultural and rural areas. Examples include The proposed Chrome Hill Solar 5-megawatt facility on Norrisville Road, Chamberton Solar Peters 1 and 2 located at 535 Old Joppa Road, totaling 10 megawatts, and Hartford Chapel Solar. They're trying to do all this before the deadline that they get the tax breaks, which is in July. where were the loud voices in annapolis that should have been standing up against these takeovers of her farmland by massive solar projects where were the delegates where were the delegate johnson both delegate johnson senator mary delaney james why is it now that everybody's just screaming about this stuff when we tried stopping these solar farms years ago we got turned down by the pse commission And they put the solar farm on 136. We turned it down. They came and they did it. So, you know, you've got to realize that Maryland is getting assaulted. We're going to be the California of the West Coast. You know, they're not talking about the East Coast. Right. Do we hear them talking about the impact of data centers? But you know what they want to do? They want to eliminate ICE vehicles. You know what ICE vehicles are? Industrial combustion engines. Westmore put in 2035 that you're going to have to get rid of your gas engine. Now they've kind of backed off on that because the electric isn't doing that. But what else? Gas heat, folks. You got gas heat in your house or propane, 2035. You want to replace that gas heat, guess what? You need to replace it with a heat pump or probably geothermal. If you want to drive an electric car like Councilman Bennett, that's fine. But it should be your choice, and you should have the right to do what you want. We shouldn't force anybody to do what you want to drive or what you want to heat your home with. We should be true, like I said. So anyway, there's some more stuff. There's pushback from GM, Ford, and Honda. They're scaling back their EV production. They've lost billions of dollars. Now they're going into battery storage. But... We deserve a seat at the table, and hopefully this bill will stick. But I'd like people to also complain about the solar and people to do anything, not just sit around and say, oh, great, the solar's going to power everything. It's not the answer. So thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Mr. Jan Giordano. Anyone else? Ms. Dixon, do we have anyone signed up? I know that's a crazy question.

Yeah.

we do mr president we have about 46 this evening how many 46 oh wow okay so listen let's um i got to be realistic here with 46 speakers And I'm sure every one of you, within reason, the same comments. I'm going to have to cut the time from three minutes to two minutes because we have another meeting scheduled at 7.30. And I don't mind being late, but I think 46 speakers, unless you all want to stand up and say ditto, which I doubt. Which I doubt. But I think we're going to have to cut it to two minutes. And I would ask everyone to be respectful of the speakers so that we can move through this. I would also remind you that we don't have outbursts in the chambers, no applause. Let's just move forward, make your point, and let the next speaker come forward. Ms. Dixon, whenever you're ready.

Diana Sadowski, followed by Judith Brewer, Candace Hart, and Paul Falachi.

Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip code, I'm sorry.

I'm glad I can make you smile. Diana Sadowski, 21047. I came here prepared to read the letter that I sent to all of you this morning. Mr. Bennett, I appreciate where you're heading with this bill. I think every one of you should support the county executive's bill. That's the strongest that it can be for this county by saying no. Just like a child, if you give them an inch, they want to take a mile. We have to treat it the same way. So for weeks, everyone's been listening to the downfalls of data centers, and they are real. Last week, we heard someone talking while she was playing the actual sound of the data center. It caused problems here. Imagine being in a neighborhood with that 24-7. The projects bring excessive noise, we know that. Thankfully, at last week's council meeting, Delegate Orokin raised the obvious question. Why are we not pursuing emergency legislation to ban this type of development altogether? Frankly, many of us are wondering why the council failed to act sooner. I'm sorry, that's just a rhetorical question. It's long past time for decisive action. You need to pursue emergency legislation immediately. No moratoriums, no zoning amendments, no watered-down compromises that leave the door open for these projects later. So tonight, the citizens of this county will find out how many backbones are currently sitting on the dais and how many deserve to be reelected. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Good evening, ma'am.

Hi.

Name and zip?

Judith Brewer, 21085. And I'll be honest with you, you just, I don't have to read any of this now, so thank you. So that's all I want to do is say thank you because I felt like no one was hearing our voice and no one cared. So I appreciate it.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Call your next speaker.

Candace Hart, followed by Paul Falachi and Greg Fox.

Mr. Fulaci zip code please. Zip code. Is that the new, that's a new, all right.

Two one zero zero one. Paul Fulaci from a Perryman. Um, I'm glad that the, uh, The legislation's on there, and we don't want to have data centers anywhere in Hartford County, so I was going to talk a little bit about it. Building AI data centers within five miles of residential neighborhoods can impose real local costs, higher power bills, heavier infrastructure strain, quality of life impacts, while most of the benefits flow elsewhere. If it's close enough to here, it's close enough to hurt. Electricity costs and the surge in data centers, AI data centers are power hungry, especially those running high density computing for programming and video. When many facilities come online in a short period, they can increase demand faster than generation transmission can expand. They can contribute to upward pressure on electricity prices, particularly during peak periods. They can accelerate the need for grid upgrades that ultimately get paid through rates, fees, or taxes. Not claiming every dollar of higher fees is caused by data centers, but fuel costs, inflation, grid reliability, investments matter too. But concentration, fast-growing load is a real factor community should scrutinize with clear local data. A search using ChatGPT, for example, takes 10 times more energy than a search on Google. If that search uses or makes video, it's 50 times the energy use. Infrastructure strain and reliability risks. These facilities require new substations, transmission upgrades, and sometimes a new generation. Construction can be disruptive, but the bigger issue is long-term when a neighborhood becomes adjacent to a major power consumer. The community inherits the consequences of grid congestion, emergency control elements, constant push to expand electrical infrastructure, even the lights stay on. Residents may face years of construction, wide-awake expansion, landscape increasingly shaped by utility needs rather than the community planning. If it's close enough to hear, it's close enough to hurt. Quality of life, noise, heat, and visual impact are also. So when someone says it's just a data center, remember we can feel like when the backyard fence line living near an AI data center can start to resemble living near a noisy, ugly industrial plant. Constant hum, harsh lighting, heavy infrastructure, and the sense that your neighborhood is buffering an industrial operation you didn't ask for. Thanks.

Thank you, sir. Call your next speaker. I'm sorry. Good evening, sir. Name and zip.

Greg Fox, 21085. I want to address interaction between allowing data centers and the state's renewable energy goals, because that hasn't been discussed yet. A modern data center complex can drag with it a need for 12,000 acres of solar cells. The state has a goal of 50% renewable energy in four years. With the federal resistance to offshore wind, solar is the only way to get there. The Library of Congress characterizes a modern data center as a 10,000 square foot building that consumes 100 megawatts of power. To produce 1 megawatt of power requires 10 acre solar field. But the solar field only runs when the sun's up. The data center runs around the clock. And so you really need two and a half megawatts of solar field to produce the energy needed to run a one megawatt data center. So you need 2,500 acres to handle a single building. Now the current trend in construction is not to build single buildings. The infrastructure costs are too high, so data centers are being built out as campuses. So if I build a five-building campus, I need 12,000 acres of solar cells to offset the power. So when data centers go online in Maryland, the legislature has a choice. Abandon long-held renewable energy goals or pave rural areas over with solar cells. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Billy Boniface, followed by Michelle Christman, Patrick Gaffney, and Bill Bacopoulos.

Good evening, sir. Naiman Zip.

Billy Boniface, Darlington 21034. So thank you, Council President and Council, for allowing me to speak this evening. And thank you, Councilman Bennett, for your comments this evening. I encourage the Council to support him in withdrawal of his bill and the amendments to the county executives for emergency legislation. But I also ask that you consider adding language to the bill that does not allow any of the large-scale battery storage facilities to be built in any zoning classifications as the one being proposed in northern Hartford County. clear that the citizens of harford county do not want these facilities period and i'm confident you'll support us on that if you cannot amend the bill to do so emergency legislation needs to be introduced to deal with that issue that said i do not feel this will be the end of the fight to stop this type of uses coming into the county in recent years the state has repeatedly overrode local authority in many areas, including allowing large utility-scale solar projects that have been talked about to be built on farmland, regardless that our local zoning laws only allow these uses in general industrial areas. I see the state attempting to do the same with the data centers and battery storage facilities. Council is members of MACO, the Maryland Association of Counties, a lobbying group that works in Annapolis on behalf of the 23 counties in Baltimore City. I encourage you all to reach out to leadership and put in an emergency task force that develops a strategy to stop the state from overriding the rights of individual counties to allow these facilities or not, and reverse the policy of forcing large-scale solar projects in areas we don't want them. MACO should also partner with other organizations such as Maryland Farm Bureau to accomplish this. The more voices, the better. Having served as council president in the past, I fully understand you have many things to take under consideration as you hear the testimony this evening. Mr. Boniface, please bring your comments to a close. Thank you. I'm going to ask you one thing. Would you want to live next to one of these things? Thank you, sir. Good night. Good night.

Next speaker, please.

Michelle Christman, followed by Patrick Gaffney.

I don't believe she's here. Good evening, sir. Name and zip.

Patrick Gaffney, 21085 from Joppa. Thank you for this opportunity to oppose data centers in Harford County. And thanks to the county council members already in opposition, However, if the state decides to supersede the county's authority, what then? It'll be a debate about location. And we can't have data centers in places like Mountain Branch, for example. It's on the top of the hill. You're going to hear it and see it for more than your four miles or whatever. It's going to be visible for dozens of miles. It's going to undermine your zoning decisions, require special permits. It's going to shift Hartford County into a reckless spiral into industrialization. And that's not what we want. We're here because we like the agricultural environment, the rural ambiance, and we want to preserve that. A couple things real quickly that haven't necessarily been mentioned regarding water. It doesn't just use water. It takes it forever. It depletes it. It's not coming back. So I don't know who else has water problems in this county, but I can't take any more water loss on my well. So there's that. The power was mentioned, but the infrastructure buildup and the fact that they're going to have agreement, power agreements, that's all going to make our rates go up. There's no way it won't. It's going to come out to the people that require it for their homes. Well, we've seen that renewable energy is going to be a problem, and it undermines the state's energy goals, to be honest. Data centers carry ineffective tax incentives. Tax breaks for data centers don't deliver the promised economic benefits. They create very few permanent jobs and provide too little to no ripple for local businesses. They reduce local tax revenues while shifting financial burdens onto communities and schools. Um, so I'm confident you all will do the right thing, but what happens next is Maryland's going to say, well, too bad you're getting one.

So, sir, please bring your comments.

You need to equip us with the right way to respond to that. We need to know how to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you. Have a good night.

You too.

Thank you.

Next speaker. Hold on just a minute.

No.

Hold on just a minute. Go ahead, sir.

Name and zip code, please. Bill Vasylkopoulos, 21085. Good evening, good afternoon, whatever it is. My name's Bill Vasylkopoulos. I'm the owner of Mountain Branch Golf Course. As a target of this legislation, I THINK IT WOULD BE MORE APPROPRIATE FOR ME TO HAVE MORE THAN THREE MINUTES, CERTAINLY MORE THAN TWO MINUTES TO EXPLAIN MY CASE. THIS IS A THOUGHTFUL, HIGHLY ENGINEERED, MULTIBILLION DOLLAR NEXT GENERATION INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT AND ONE OF THE LARGEST PRIVATE INVESTMENTS IN MARYLAND HISTORY. THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE HAS SEEN OUR FEASIBILITY STUDY AND OUR DRAWINGS, AND SO HAS THE COUNCIL. You all know what it is, what this project is, and what it is not. And this project was first introduced to you all in September of last year. I'm not going to go through what our project is. You can see all that on the website, which is harfordenergy.com. And it breaks it all down, what it is and how it benefits the community and the tax revenue it will create. We're not asking for blind trust. We're asking for real standards, power, water, noise, and environmental standards written into law with the community benefit agreement that is binding on a record against the land. The county has set the standard. This county should set the standards for itself, which is exactly what we have put forward and not wait for the state to impose what we have put forward. impose what would likely be a lesser standard than may take the may not take the needs for the county into account. Once that happens, it will be too late. Please vote against this bill. Set strong local standards instead of a moratorium or banned. This is the difference between panic and policy.

And excuse me folks. Please, I'm going to tell you right now, we're not going to let this get out of hand. Please.

And I encourage everyone to go to HartfordEnergy.com. Sir, you're done.

Thank you. Ma'am? I mean, Myla?

Jessica Riley Hammond, followed by...

Hold on just a second. I just saw Michelle Chrisman walk in, if you'd like to call her up.

Michelle Chrisman?

Yep. ma'am, I need your name and zip code and just remind you that you have two minutes.

Okay. Thank you very much, Patrick. I appreciate it. I'm Michelle Chrisman. It's 2 1 1 3 2. Um, so I was, um, brought up in Kingsville, Maryland Valleybrook country club was the neighborhood, uh, not far from the data center. Um, I firmly am against data centers in Hartford and Cecil county, Maryland. We must immediately enact emergency legislation to ban data centers in Hartford and Cecil county. I am very disappointed and unhappy with even the idea of clearly destroying our community and the area that I love and grew up in. My family home was located on the Harford County side of Kingsville, Maryland. The Jerusalem Mill area was and is a beautiful place to raise your family. I lived a few doors down from Valleybrook Country Club. I swam, played tennis, ran through beautiful green fields, sleigh rides in the snow on Miss Cadwalder's big hill, and roasted marshmallows. Kingsville is set in the midst of a lovely countryside area whose royal charm is breathtaking. My eyes grew very big when I read and saw the map for the giant, daunting-looking, not only data center, but transmission towers that they want to put up and destroy the idyllic, very historic Jerusalem Mill, where President George Washington actually once wrote and visited so long ago. Hartford County is so rich in history and agricultural pride. Data centers clearly may have substantial environmental impacts, family property values, overall health and well-being of whole families, the ability to grow healthy crops, livestock, water consumption, electricity uses, and carbon emissions are at stake. It is estimated that the U.S. data centers may produce more than 105 million carbon dioxide equivalent, 2.18% of total U.S. emissions in 2023, and use 4% of the U.S. total electricity consumption, not to mention up to 5 million gallons of water per day for cooling. I am absolutely against the data center, and God bless you all. Thank you for allowing me to speak.

Thank you, ma'am.

Jessica Riley Hammond, followed by Chrissy Plato and Danny Pius.

Good evening, ma'am. Name is it.

Good evening. Jessica Riley-Hammond, 21015. As many of you know, I'm running for county council. I'm a candidate here in District C. I want to thank the council for being on the same page as so many residents on this issue. I support this moratorium and I support the full data center ban proposed by the county executive. Residents have spoken over and over about the enormous energy demands, environmental concerns, noise, and impact these facilities would have on our communities. This issue is incredibly important, which is why I've attended so many different meetings on it and will continue to show up. Hartford County should not become a sacrifice zone for big tech. No temporary gains for some and permanent damage for everyone else in the environment. Councilman Bennett, I want to say that I think it's nice that you have an electric car. I didn't know that about you. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

Powered by rooftop solar.

Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip.

Chrissy Flato, 21085.

Thank you.

I have lived in Hartford County my entire life. I grew up in Bel Air, right in Homestead Village. We had sidewalks, public water, and sewer. When my husband and I got married, we built a house on his family farm, Olney Farm. I knew living in Joppa was going to be a little different for me. There were no sidewalks. When we don't have electricity, you don't have water and septic. But it has become my way of life. I feed the birds. I plant the native plants to support the pollinators. I enjoy the peace and quiet. I did not move to Joppa to have my quality of life lessened. I am asking you to withdraw the moratorium and pass county executives data center ban as emergency legislation. Data centers do not belong near residential communities. My husband and I were the ones that went to Virginia. And I can tell you, they are loud and they ruin communities. There's no other way around it. Those community members are more than willing to help us because they didn't have a choice. They were like, oh, you're getting the data center. We at least have the knowledge to be like, no, this does not belong near communities. It does not. I have two sons, and I want them to live and work in Hartford County. They deserve to have at least the same quality of life that has been afforded to the generations before. They are our future, and this is why we're doing this. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Good evening, ma'am. Ma'am, is it?

Good evening, Danny Pius, 21040. Good evening, Council. Thank you for the time to speak tonight. I want to thank Councilman Bennett for bringing this forward. As a proud Hartford County resident and a proud Route 40 Corridor resident, I want to express my support and need for this moratorium. We need to protect our farmlands, our waters, and our residents. We need to make sure that we're not giving up our local lands, but also not dumping another item on Route 40, where if it's not on the lands, this is where it's going to be. I want to thank you all for the clear support you have shown today towards this moratorium and the eventual ban that the County Executive has pushed forward. Have a great rest of your evening. Thank you, ma'am.

Stephanie Flash, followed by Caitlin Caslow, Roberta Howard, and Brian Tawney.

Good evening, ma'am. Name is it?

Good evening. Stephanie flash two one zero four seven. Um, as many others have mentioned, I, um, actually support the County council to withdraw this 26 years or five and enact the emergency legislation. So thank you. Councilman Bennett, as many, um, have expressed, there are very serious concerns about the data centers and our quality of life in the community. And while the original moratorium served its purpose, I think we all can understand why emergency ban is necessary currently right now. So I support the emergency legislation ban. Thank you very much. And I want to say that we can use this then to take this to Annapolis, in which I intend to do.

Thank you, ma'am. Good evening, ma'am. Naaman's it?

Hi. Caitlin Caslow, 21087. I've lived in Kingsville my entire life. My parents live two houses down from me. I have strong ties to Hartford County. I'm raising my children here. I graduated from John Carroll up in Churchville. My kids do all of their athletics here, and my husband and I operated our small business out of Fallston for a few years. I'm also in the process of enrolling my children into private school in Hartford County in the fall. In addition, every single one of my nieces and nephews lives here in Hartford County. My house sits just about two miles from the proposed site of the data center. That puts me well within the radius of being subjected to the constant humming and being directly impacted by any water shortages or contamination that will be caused. My parents and I will have to move if this data center is built. My mother will have to postpone her retirement so that they can qualify for a new mortgage. I don't even know where we will go. As I said, everyone lives here and most of our family is not in a position to just move. So we'll have to leave everyone behind. I'm here today to ask for your help. If you're familiar with Kingsville, you know it's in District B. You also probably know that it's a split zip code. So while my house is two miles from where they're planning to build this data center, it's also just about a half a mile over the line into Baltimore County. And so I am not one of your constituents. No one up there represents me or my family. And so my family and my parents, my mother will speak after me, Let's see. Both of my father's sisters who live in Kingsville, my entire neighborhood, our entire town, find ourselves in the horrifying position of being profoundly impacted by these decisions but without a voice. So I can't stand here and make demands of you as my public servant. I can't threaten to vote for your competition in the next election. I'm simply at the mercy of your decision with no way to hold you accountable. So I implore you to pass the county executive's ban as emergency legislation and do anything else you can do to stop this from happening. I urge you to see the bigger picture because what you do here today affects more than just Hartford County and will have an impact much longer than your term.

Ma'am.

Yes.

You've made your point. We've heard your voice. You don't have to live within this county for us to hear you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Call your next speaker, ma'am.

I believe she's on her way.

Okay, gotcha. That's okay. Name and zip.

Yes, my name is Roberta Howard, and I live in 21087. I'm here today to discuss how the proposed data center will impact our life in the Kingsville and Hartford County community. My husband and I moved here in 1984, and I joined him in 1988. For 36 years, we have watched Kingsville grow. We planned our entire lives around this home. My husband retired in 2020, and I turned 68 in November. Our plan was simple. Work four more years, pay off the house, fully retire, and leave a stable nest egg to our children and grandchildren who live just minutes away. The proposed data center shatters that dream. Data centers place an immense strain on local resources. Because our neighborhood relies entirely on well water, an industrial project of this scale proposes to direct that threat to our equator. Furthermore, data centers require massive amounts of electricity, which strains the local grid and can drive up energy infrastructure costs for everyday rate payers. The constant low frequency hum from cooling systems creates a continuous baseline of noise pollution, which studies have linked to chronic stress, sleep disruption, and decreased quality of life. Even closed-loop system cooling systems require periodic chemical flushing, raising valid concerns about runoff entering our local watersheds and threatening the fragile Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. If this data center is approved, my husband and I will be forced to leave our home of 36 years. A home near a massive industrial complex facing potential water insecurity will plummet in value. At 68 years old, I would be forced to sell at a loss, take on a new mortgage in an expensive market, and abandon any hope of retirement or leaving a legacy for my family. But this isn't just my story. Many of my neighbors have already retired and aren't fixed incomes and can simply not work longer to offset the damage. Our local businesses will suffer too, not just from the same environmental strains, but from the loss of residents who sustain them. Real estate values would drop, harming local agencies, and eroding our community's tax base. The only entities benefiting here are the developer and the landowner. Data centers are notoriously low job creators once built, and the construction crews are rarely locally sourced. While property owners do have rights, those rights should not come at the expense of an entire community's well-being. We must protect our land, our water, and our neighborhood.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Brian Tawny followed by Ryan Ambrose and Tina Murphy-Keene.

Good evening, sir. Name is it? Good evening.

Brian Taney, 21085. So I'll keep things really short. I really wanted to comment specifically tonight because the owner of Mountain Branch just gave a presentation. Bill told us about how he's working to be a good neighbor, a good steward, and I couldn't just let that stand on the record. One of the things I'd like to point out is Bill apparently is not even a resident of Hartford County. I believe he lives in White Marsh. He is not a great neighbor to Hartford County. I think also if you want to talk about being neighborly, a company or a Mountain Branch golf course with almost a $1.5 million state tax lien is not really being neighborly. Are we supposed to believe that all of a sudden they're going to start paying their taxes on time or paying their debts when they become due? There's multiple bankruptcy filings in the history of Mountain Branch. This is anything but a good neighbor. Clearly, we're wearing the wrong color. We're all here wearing green, supporting our cause. I think the green should be worn by those people from the unions you may hear about tonight who are looking to cash in on short-term jobs or the owner of Mountain Branch who's looking to wear green to cash in on whether it be greed or the financial benefit that he's willing to forego the community for and accept on his behalf. This is not the community any of us want to belong to. We will not tolerate the people coming from outside of this county, whether it be from Baltimore County or elsewhere, trying to ruin our farmlands, our agricultural lands, and frankly ruin our neighborhoods and our people and hurt our people health-wise or otherwise. What I'd encourage the council to do is go ahead and withdraw the moratorium. tonight, vote the amendment in, Councilman Bennett's amendment to make this emergency legislation. Let's get this done. Let's stop the talk. Let's make this happen. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Good evening, sir. Good evening. Ryan Ambrose, 21234. Good evening, council. My name is Ryan Ambrose, business agent for Plumbers and Steamfarers, logo 486. I'm here in support of a responsible data center development in Harper County. This issue is bigger than one project. If you go back in history, the communities that embraced the industrial revolution that built railroads, power plants, and factories became centers of opportunity. The ones that said no did not stop progress. They just watched it move elsewhere. That is where we are today. Data centers are this generation's infrastructure. They power health care, emergency services, banking, and small businesses. They're not going away. The question is whether Harford County will be a part of it or sit on the sidelines while other counties take the jobs and invest. There are three reasons to support responsible data center development, jobs, tax revenue, and smart planning. First, the jobs. These jobs create family-sustaining union careers, supporting apprenticeships, training local residents, and keeping young people here in Orpah County. Developers should also sign labor agreements and commit to local hiring initiatives so Harford County residents have a real path into these jobs from day one. Second and just as important is the tax impact. Data centers bring in major private investment on high value commercial property and they pay property taxes year after year that stable long-term revenue that the county can rely on unlike large residential growth they do not add the same pressure on schools and public services so what you're left with is a net positive revenue money coming into the county that can help fund schools public safety and infrastructure without driving up taxes for the residents That is the kind of growth counties should want, strengthening the tax base while keeping spending under control. And third, these projects can be built the right way with clear rules, strong standards, and thoughtful planning. So the community keeps control while still capturing the benefit. Concerns are fair, but the answer is not a permanent ban. It is smart planning and responsible oversight. Because if we turn away from this entirely, the jobs don't disappear, and neither does the revenue. It just goes somewhere else, and Hartford County loses both. So I ask this council to take a balancer approach. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip.

Tina Murphy-Keene, 21078. I'm reading a statement that was prepared by Tim Murphy running for county council district seat. Members of the council, my apologies for not being able to be present tonight, but regardless of my geographical location, I felt it important to have my warning to be heard. Although I am completely against the data center in Hartford County, I worry an outright ban will leave us legally vulnerable in the future. Yes, we live in Hartford County, but that means we also live in Maryland. As most of you should be aware, the Utility Relief Act has been signed into law. This means the ban will be overturned and we will be left defenseless. The bill essentially gives the Public Service Commission to deem our ban unlawful. In the bill, they have legally codified smaller and mid-sized data centers as critical energy grid participants. They lowered the threshold to define large capacity energy resources down from 100 megawatts to 25 megawatts, which would include some businesses in the Paramount Industrial Corridor, further muddying the waters between what we already have and what we are trying to prevent. Due to new regulations and definitions, they will cite the legal precedent Board of Commissioners of Washington County versus Perennial Solar. They will use the 50-site mandate and the Relief Act to argue blanket bans, actively sabotage a mandate passed by the General Assembly. The cherry on the top will be them using the clean energy incentive to put data centers under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission. If we choose the illusion of a total ban, we surrender our seat at the table. Let's not wait for the state to override a ban. Let's author the rules ourselves. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Samuel Sandstone, followed by Rico Albuquerres and James Valentine.

Good evening, sir. Name and zip. Samuel Sandstone, 21015.

I currently work at a prefabrication plant in Frederick, Maryland. It's 2,000 square foot. It is a job for close to 200 people. It supports the growing data center industry, and I hope that this county can find a way to bring this industry closer to where I live. I can't justify living here, driving two hours to work and two hours home every day. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Good evening, sir. Name and zip.

Rico Albuquerque, 21014. I'm a lifelong Harford County resident. I grew up along the Route 40 corridor in Aberdeen and Edgewood. Sometimes it's funny to me to hear people say our agriculture and rural heritage because I've got to be honest, where I grew up, it does not feel that way. Listening to community members here tonight, I hear a lot of fear and a lot of uncertainty. And as a resident of Harford County, I empathize with that. But I have a different set of fears. I'm afraid that we will fall behind regionally as other counties do develop this infrastructure and use this tax revenue. I'm afraid we won't be able to give our public sector workers the raises they deserve and Harford County schools will continue to be underfunded. That many of our graduating seniors who are being told they should consider a career in the trades won't have a job to go to and certainly not here locally. I'm afraid the only jobs we will have to offer our young people are ones in an Amazon warehouse, which we seem to have determined are superior to Amazon data centers. I'm afraid we're overly reliant on APG and the federal jobs which are being cut and threatened every single day. Mostly, I'm afraid that this digital infrastructure is the new economy, and we are going to miss out on it. I think it makes sense to decide where and how we can build this infrastructure, and if we need to pause to decide that, by all means, so be it. But we should be able to use it to our advantage as a county. We can use it to fully fund our fire department, to build new schools, or to lower our property taxes. I reject the premise that we're not smart enough or collaborative enough to figure out how to leverage that industry. By voting to permanently ban this industry, you're locking Harford County into the economic landscape of yesterday. President JFK once said, time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. I don't want to see Harford County miss the future. And to the other gentlemen, I'm a Harford County resident. I'm a union member. I don't see the green for myself. I see the tax revenue for the county. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

Good evening, sir. James Valentine, 21040. I'm opposed to the moratorium and the ban because I believe in common sense regulations set up by the council member and the zoning boards and all are important. And if we don't take it upon ourselves, we forget the lessons of the past, I-95, the Route 24 corridor with the envelope. Do we not remember how there were not going to be no building on Route 24 and all of a sudden it happened everywhere? How 95 wasn't going to go up through Harford County, but there it is? Do you think that the data center, which is an infrastructure thing that is required all over this country because the federal government and all the states in this country have decided that data centers are something that we need and we must have and are essential to our national security? that by us putting a ban on it, we've opened ourselves up to being taken over by people who don't live here, okay? I happen to believe in building, but building sensibly and building with common sense in the right locations to doing the right job of carrying the message that data centers do and will be around for a long, long time to come. No one thought that the wheel was going to be replaced, the wooden wheel was going to be replaced by a steel wheel in 1906, but it was. Nobody ever thought the Ma and Pa Trail would be a place you walk and not ride on a train, but it was. And where we're heading by not standing up and having you gentlemen and ladies up there sitting down and saying, a band opens the door where we're going to be told what to do. I don't believe that we need to be closing our eyes and sticking our head in the sand and letting someone else decide how Harford County will or will not and how they will allow it to be built and how the new technologies cannot be enforced to make something happen that works in an even balance of getting what we need at the same time taking care of what we need to take care of. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Ray Baker followed by Sandy Magnus and Tyrone Ferencz

Good evening, sir. Good evening.

Ray Baker, 20746. I am the Maryland Director for the Baltimore D.C. Building and Construction Trades Council. I recognize and appreciate the sincerity, the decency, the democracy that's being expressed by the community here. And it is no interest of labor to ever be adversarial to that. because labor is of the community. And while folks are communicating the sincere and serious opposition to being what they perceive told what is going to happen to them, while they've heard repeatedly from the Harford County residents who will drive two hours just to go to work, I want to remind folks that I represent the thousands of members of our construction trades that live in Hartford County, that are excited to do work in Hartford County, that are eager to be able to build in Hartford County. And we are interested in being collaborative partners in how we can most effectively do that so that when the young people are graduating from high school, We can enroll them into our apprenticeship programs. When those who are looking for work, as my colleague Rico alluded to, are no longer interested in working in the Amazon facility, can have some place that they can build that they can be proud of, we are interested in being collaborators in doing so. Unfortunately, a ban does not allow for that. While we recognize the sensitivities of what the concerns may be, we think that there is a better and more effective collaborative approach that can ensure the good paying, family sustaining union jobs that we provide folks are available to us and are opportune to us. But so long as we commit to a ban, we will not allow for that to happen. Lastly, I know a number of us, myself included, are deeply sensitive to our rising energy costs. unfortunately because of the structure of the way that we exist, that when we tell people no, those folks go across the lines to Pennsylvania, sometimes they go across the line to Virginia, and we are still left with the burden of the pain. We are interested that if data centers are going to come, and if you all believe that they are going to functionally socialize the pain, then through good jobs we can socialize the profit. But as is, and with a ban and a moratorium, we are looking to socialize the pain but privatize the profit for folks outside of Hartford County. We would love to be collaborators and we hope that you guys would reconsider a permanent ban.

Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Good evening, sir. Name is it? Tyrone Ferens, 21001. And unlike so many of the people here tonight, I wasn't born and raised in Hartford County. I was able to buy a beautiful home here with the money I earned as a union electrician. I'm, like some of the speakers before me, are employed in Frederick. I don't do the commute. I stay in a hotel along with a lot of my coworkers, spending our money in Frederick during the week. um, visiting their, you know, patronizing their restaurants and the stores. But, um, so I speak from a selfish place. Um, my daughter and my son have followed me into this industry and I wasn't against the moratorium. What I, what I was hoping it would be used for is legislators to do some to write legislation that would ensure that the data center construction would benefit the community as much as possible because it does has its pros and has its cons, but maybe reach out to a place or another county like Frederick and see what they would have done differently. Being at the state has the ability to overrule this van. Maybe it's something that you could still do because I do live here. My kids do go to the Hartford County schools in Aberdeen and I would hope that if we are going to have a data center that we can make it so that it benefits us as much as much as possible. Thank you. Thank you sir.

Call your next speakers in.

Sandy Magnus, followed by Michael Oakes and Julia Rusin.

I don't think Miss Magnus is here.

Michael Oakes, Julia Rusin, followed by Tammy Wainwright.

Ms. Wainwright's come to the mic. Good evening, ma'am, name is Zip.

Good evening, Tammy Wainwright, 21001. I am a candidate for County Council, District F, and I support a total ban on data centers. I want to remind the County Council that I have stood here before. fighting for stronger warehouse legislation, and now I'm back because of the same governance failures. Harford County should have anticipated what industrial developers intended, studied the likely impacts, and put clear rules in place before these projects got this far. Smart governance means anticipating and planning ahead, not waiting until the pressure is already here. Data centers are not ordinary commercial uses. They can place major demands on land, water, energy, stormwater systems, and surrounding infrastructures. Those are the kind of issues that should have been addressed through updated zoning and land use policies. Instead, once again, the county is reacting to a crisis of its own making. Harford County cannot keep governing in crisis mode, moving only when residents are already threatened, and emergency action is the last option left. The public deserves a government that sees what is coming and acts before the damage is done. If the council does not plan before the crisis, then the crisis will plan for you, as in the proposed data center on APG. that is could possibly be running on nuclear power. Does the county council have an answer for that? Thank you.

Thank you ma'am.

Brianna Coleman followed by Paula Edding, Rich Rivera and Carol McCarthy.

your speakers again in order brianna coleman paula edding rich riviera and carol mccarthy miss eddie good evening good evening council president vincente and good evening to the council members i'm paula edding my zip code is 21014 i am currently the mayor of the town of bel air since uh 2023 and on the board since 2021 and currently a candidate for Council District C. I'm here to let Harford County know what the town of Bel Air has done. Last night we also introduced legislation authored by Commissioner Jake Taylor to ban specifically data centers in the town of Bel Air. And you might say there's no way a data center could be jammed into Bel Air, but I currently carry in my pocket a small computer known as my cell phone that used to require an entire building. So if they get smaller, we have some large pieces of land, the old district court building that the state is looking to abandon, as well as the mall. So we say, why wait? We are going to ban it now. We don't want to take any chances. I certainly am happy to hear that Bill 26005 is going to be withdrawn. I urge the county council to approve the county executive's bill banning data centers entirely, and I support that being done as emergency legislation. Our law should be clear. If what we want to do is ban a data center, then that's exactly what we should do. We can't afford to be Guinea pigs for data centers here in Hartford County with their high electrical demands, their substantial water usage, their noise, and the significant infrastructure requirements that come along with them. Um, councilman Tony Jan Giordano has hit the nose on the head. The state does want us to be California. They have done a lot of things to take away local control. They have ordered an analysis of the environmental, energy, and economic impacts of data centers that's due on or before September the 1st, 2026. That reports to the Governor and the General Assembly. I'm going to be watching and waiting very closely for that report. My intention is to review that, to evaluate what it means for the county and the town of Bel Air, and do what I can to continue to ban data centers from coming here. The state Can try their mightiest but of course if all of the state rises up and says we don't want data setters here I think we have a shot. So I think you're on the right path and thank you for your time.

Thank you, ma'am Good evening, sir.

Name is it evening council members. My name is Richard Rivera the zip codes to 1015 I I just want to start out by saying that I'm against the data center in Joppa, like many of the residents here. However, I am not against an all-out ban. I don't think it prudent that we take that step at this time. We're going to box ourselves out of potential economic impacts. And I'm going to put another different little spin on this thing, right? These data centers, most of them are designed now with a power plant behind the gate. Why don't we make a regulation or something that says the power plant has to feed back in to the local electric supply to reduce the rate for the members? Electricity bills is a common complaint among the members of this county. Maybe that's a way we can give something back to everybody in exchange for having a data center maybe somewhere out in the northern part of the county somewhere where it won't bother quite as many people. I think we ought to be looking at these things. I think we ought to be looking at these things on a case-by-case basis, take into consideration the way that they're built, the means, methods, and modes of construction. I don't think we should just, you know, if moratorium's in place, let's give it some time, see how it plays out. I don't think we can hurt anything by waiting. I don't think we need to rush to enact legislation to ban these things. I'm not in favor of ban at all. I think we should let it play out, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Carol McCarthy, followed by Todd Eckley and Sean Maloney.

Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip.

Carol McCarthy, 210-85. Good evening. My name is Carol McCarthy, and as some of you may know, I have been the general manager at Mountain Branch for almost 25 years. I know the property. I know our neighbors. I also know Bill and Gus Vasilikopoulos. I will make one correction because there's been a lot of misinformation this evening, but Bill Vasilikopoulos most certainly does live in Harford County. In fact, he lives on the property. So he actually has a home on the property, so he does not live in White Marsh. So I just thought I'd point that out. I'm standing beside them tonight because I believe in what the project means for our community. You've heard a lot of fears tonight, and I'm here to present the simple facts. We are proposing a community benefits agreement. This is not a list of promises. It is a legally binding contract that runs with the land. It's permanent. No site development can happen until this is recorded in the land records of Harford County. Here's exactly what we're legally committing to. And I will repeat, legally. Number one, local jobs. And I'm going to cut the details back, obviously, because we now have two minutes. Number two, land preservation. I will elaborate on that one. A five to one preservation ratio for every acre that is developed. Permanently preserve five acres, totaling roughly 1,400 acres of farmland and open space. Number three, education. Fully funding partnerships with Harvick River Community College, K-12 literacy programs, and local high school trade apprenticeships. Number four, first responder support. Number five, taxpayer protection. Personally covering the cost of the road, intersection, stormwater improvements, zero cost to the taxpayer. Number six, community guarantees. I didn't interrupt anybody else. A binding property.

Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. I'm trying to manage this as best I can. If we have one more outburst, I'm going to clear the chamber. We'll come in one at a time and speak if that's what you want me to do. All I'm asking you is to be respectful for the person speaking the same way you would want them to be respectful to you.

Thank you.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Thank you.

Excuse me. Her time is up because you interrupted her. Go ahead, ma'am. And if you want to argue with me, please don't.

Number six, I'll be brief. Community guarantees, a binding property value protection program, public environmental monitoring, and an annual community investment fund for the county to spend, schools, parks, and public safety. Bill and Gus are offering a legally binding framework to elevate this county.

Go ahead and bring your comments to a close.

I would just say, please don't ban an opportunity that delivers this much. Thank you. Look at the facts. Thank you.

Good evening, Council. Good evening, sir. Todd Eckley, 21084. So I've lived in Hartford County since I was 13. I'm 51 years old, graduated Joplin High School, lived in Forest Hill, lived in Street, now I live in Jarrettsville just below Rock State Park. So I've been a commercial and industrial pipe fitter since I was 19. I've only had the opportunity to work in Hartford County four times. So typically tradesmen and women that live in Hartford County travel south to Baltimore or D.C. or further. With more young people choosing the trades over college, I think it's crucial for our young men and women to have jobs closer to home. A first year apprentice does not make the money that a seasoned journeyman does. And with the rising cost of everything, a first year can be tough. So secondly, I would ask everyone in the room to do their research. Data centers are not the noisy polluters that you think they are. For example, these are closed loop systems. Use food grade glycol. Not too much different than the beet juice in the back tires of your Kubota or your John Deere tractor. Last, I've watched Hartford County grow in population extremely over the past five years. I would rather have a data center behind my property than another 1,000 or 2,000 townhomes or apartments. Thank you. Please vote against it.

Good evening, sir. Name and zip.

Sean Maloney. Currently 21085, and I'm in the process of building a house in Faulston, right near the area. I'm also owner of SM Mechanical, and I'm president of Heating and Air Conditioning Contractors of Maryland, where we currently have over 400 students in our apprenticeship program, including at Hartford Community College. We have no problem finding jobs for our people with or without these data centers. The way that I've always loved Hartford County when I've moved here, which I've lived here for 27 years now, and I'm planning on dying here, that's how much I love this county, Part of it is because of how much of a balance there is. It's great to be able to live close enough to the city if I want to go to the city, but not be so congested. And some of the things that are so great about this county, like the wetlands, which just recently closed, and now that's going to be very, very overpopulated and put a lot of strain on us. We're also potentially losing Mountain Bridge, which is gonna put a lot more congestion and strain on the traffic that we currently don't have enough infrastructure for, which is gonna affect me personally. The other spin that I wanna put on this that people aren't thinking is it's gonna be another increase of an indirect tax that people aren't realizing. When I say that we have enough people that are going into the trades right now, they have the option of staying local and working for small businesses like mine and also going far if they want to go for the union benefits that go with it and they have to trade off they have to trade to drive further uh you know for those extra benefits that they get or they can stay home and they can work for a company like mine and a lot of other small businesses if a data center comes it's going to absorb a lot of our jobs to where they are going to poach our employees and then that indirect tax which most people aren't realizing is Think about how much more expensive it is to have an HVAC system changed out in your house or plumbing work done. It has literally doubled since COVID because we lost a lot of our workforce. If we have our employees poached, I can guarantee you that everything that you're doing right now that you're already complaining about that has gotten outrageously expensive to the point that you can't afford it on top of your outrageously high utility bills, you will be paying much, much more for everyday services that small businesses like mine provide because we will have to overpay our employees to keep them, which will indirectly result in higher fees for you to live in your own homes. Thank you, sir.

Stephanie Handler, followed by Michael Morawski and Marvin Shifflett. Stephanie Handler.

Hi, that's me.

Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip?

Yeah, Stephanie Handler, 21050. I'm glad that it sounds like we're in concurrence so far with the data center. I am an engineer who is finalizing my education this year for systems engineering. AI, of course, is a hot topic in the field where I work in my academic studies. One thing I've learned repeatedly in my studies throughout my training is is the same thing that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodi stated in 2025. We have no idea how AI works. Which leads me to ask, why should we ever consider building a fortress for this invader with potential capabilities which we do not yet fully comprehend? Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission in 2024 did a study that found while the data center industry is estimated to create tens of thousands of jobs, they were mostly temporary, and a typical 250,000 square foot center may approximately have 50 full-time workers. One job per 5,000 square feet. Half are contract workers. Fortune reports that data centers are dealing hidden damage to environmental and public health, costing the economy $25 billion every year. And by an analysis published by Good Jobs First, a progressive advocacy and economic research group, at least 10 states are losing more than $1 million a year in revenue owing to data center tax breaks. The report noted that in the dozens of states currently offering tax incentives to data centers, only 14 do not disclose revenue losses. And finally, per the Environmental Protection Agency, a data center can use up to 5 million gallons of water every day, as much as 16,000 plus average US households. Generating the electricity to keep data centers powered up requires additional millions of gallons of water. which just so happens to be more than what is used for colliant in the first place. That is my speech. I had more, but it sounds like, you know, mostly in concurrence, so I just wanted to give the facts. Thank you, ma'am. That's it.

Thank you.

Good evening, sir. Good evening. My name is Michael Morowski. I live in the area code of 21009. I'm glad that we got this opportunity tonight because this is one of the few times I think both people, no matter which way they go, this is something we all agree on. There has been nothing in the past 10 years that the majority of whatever politics you follow where they actually believe in the same thing. I grew up here, I've been here for 35 of my 40 years. I live real close to Singer Road. I can tell you I used to go down to the Singer Park, play baseball in that field, play basketball in that court. I used to go to Jerusalem Mill. I can't imagine seeing that blacksmith doing his presentation and hearing a low electric hum. Nothing else would take you out of that environment quicker than, or the 1700 environment quicker than a sound of electricity crackling. Not only that, but this could be a harbinger of things to come. If we give in and give in to these new industrial tech buildings, what's gonna be next for us? Most of the people already commented on the fact that it's a resource vampire. doesn't really benefit the people who will be affected. You're talking about the areas of, you're talking about the areas of Abingdon, Joppa, Faulston, Edgewood, and Kingsville. Those surrounding areas hold their peace and quiet very near and dear. So anything that's going to compromise that, I am strongly against. Now, I mean, some of the people had points on why not an outright ban would be a BE A GOOD THING, BUT WE DEFINITELY NEED TO DISCUSS IN A MORE LONG TERM ABOUT THE BENEFITS AND THE, YOU KNOW, THE NEGATIVES AND THE POSITIVES OF BUILDING PROJECTS SUCH AS THIS. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT IT'S A It was already mentioned that that's a mountain road. That's a one-lane road. That's going in and out. It is not going to help alleviate traffic. It's going to make it worse day and night with nothing but loud noise. Again, I can't imagine watching a ball game at Singer Park and just seeing this big, ugly building right across the street from kids playing ball. So, in summation, a shiny new toy for our soul is not the way to go.

Please bring your comments to a close, sir. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and everyone for allowing me to speak tonight. I'm the new kid on the block. I've only been here for two years, but it's my favorite place in the whole world. So I'm going to write to you just what I'm going to read you, excuse me, what I wrote when I found out. I need your name. I'm sorry. Excuse me. My name is James Marvin Shifflett, 21085. My backyard is Mountain Branch. They want to turn the 265 acre agricultural property next to our home into a mega data center campus. We bought this place to feel like we were safely nestled in the woods, like our little piece of paradise could be somehow protected from the savage onslaught of progress. I've spent the past two years giving each moment of my free time I have to cultivating my yard. From my compost pile to my milkweed plants, I've dedicated this half acre property to earth and I've sworn to use this place to protect her. How naive I must have seemed to believe that my half acre sanctuary could somehow balance the indifference of greed. Today my eyes were violently thrust open to how little regard the capitalists have for beauty and for nature. Today I found myself on the literal front lines of a fight I was not even aware existed. It all started when my neighbor asked if I wanted to know data signs in Harford County sign to put in my yard. And to be honest, I thought the signs were kind of tacky, and they would make my flower beds look crappy. I figured I'd put them near the edge somewhere. But at the time, I just figured a data center would be terrible anywhere, but I didn't know that it would be in my backyard. When they walked across the street to drop off the signs, the neighbors began to talk about the activism developing around resisting this center. And still blissfully unaware that my backyard was the proposed site, I was excited but surprised by the neighbor's interest in fighting off these, what I thought to be imagined data centers. But deep inside of me is this kid who still wants a better world, who loves a fight like this, so I thought this was right up my alley. I began to realize, though, that as they talk, the paradise that envelops my property is ground zero for this post-industrial technological wasteland over which we are fighting. This is my fight. It's a golf course now. To be certain, golf courses aren't friends of conservation, but a 265-acre golf course covered in creeks, trees, and grass is far more environmentally friendly than an equally-sized data campus. I am astounded that this is where I find myself in life, that my backyard is surrounded by a forest buffer before becoming a golf course is some fancy stuff my Dundalk-born-embraced self never imagined possible. James, I hate to stop you, but I have to. I will not include but accept to say that this is my heaven.

My wife is a teacher, and I'm a teacher, and this is the most beautiful place. James, I have to stop you, but what I would like you to do is send your comments to Ms. Dixon. If you have them to where you can send them, send them to her. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Lisa Mathis, followed by Justine Hendricks and Terry McGurk.

Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip.

Lisa Mathis, 21085. I have to confess, I was hoping you weren't going to call my name at this point. I had a lot of things to say, but some people have said them. I would like to comment that there is no doubt that there is going to be pollution from the data center. You can't argue that in any pretty kind of way. There is going to be noise. There's going to be water usage. There's going to be water pollution, air pollution, light pollution, all of that. I saw the website for the Mountain Branch Data Campus. It's a very pretty little website. He writes a pretty little story, but leaves out a lot of details. It says they're not going to use any public water or sewer. Does that mean you're going to use a well? I live across the street. I can throw an egg from my mailbox onto Mountain Branch. You can't tell me that the amount of water they need isn't going to affect me. I've seen multiple homes on my street get new wells in the last few years. It's, you know, it's an issue. I appreciate that some people wanna have a temporary job, a two or three year job, but at what cost? At what cost to the community that surrounds Mountain Branch? I think we've been good neighbors. I haven't seen any hoodlums down there, you know, messing up the holes or, you know, throwing stuff on the the putting greens we've been good neighbors and we're not getting it back once you develop property in harford county you never get the green back it's gone and i'd just like to end saying that more people will be hurt by this than people that will benefit thank you ma'am

Good evening, ma'am. Name is it?

Justine Hendricks, two one zero seven eight. I am in support of the moratorium bill, but I don't think that it goes far enough. And so I'm also in support of the full ban with the amendments to make it take effect as soon as possible. To echo what a lot of other people said, we don't need a data center in Harford County. The state of Maryland is 95% in a drought right now. So it would be irresponsible to approve any kind of construction or building that would significantly use these resources. I empathize with the people who have to drive to work. I drive to Delaware. but Delaware also just shut down a data center project on the basis of environmental grounds. So the idea that we would be left behind by other communities does not make sense because other communities are fighting them as well. A recent study showed that 71% of Americans do not support data centers. So I think we are also possibly on the cutting edge here by pushing back. We have the benefit of seeing what has happened in other communities where these data centers were built. There have been health effects. There have been effects to resources like water and energy and air pollution. And so we have the opportunity now to not go down that road. So that's why I support the moratorium and I support the full ban. Thank you.

Thank you.

good evening ma'am name is it Terry McGurk to 1015 I'm a fifth generation Harford County and born and raised on the historic Aldi farm which is steps away from where they're planning this data center I'm taking a little bit of different approach we've all talked about how it's affecting the areas around us. We've talked about the pollution. We've talked about all of that. And I absolutely agree with it. I want to quote somebody who kind of is known to be a little smart. And if I can say all the big words he wrote correctly, I'll be very happy. This is a quote from Einstein. I believe the abominable deterioration of ethical standards stems primarily from the mechanization and the depersonalization of our lives, a disastrous byproduct of science and technology. We as humans tend to go head first into things without really looking at the consequences. Just a couple simple examples of that just in our society in the past few years. Giving everybody a cell phone, smartphone. Oh, screen time, that's good. Think of what it'll do for our kids. Let's throw the screen time in all the schools. Oh, now research is showing that our kids are highly distractible. They have poor cognitive functioning. Their test scores have decreased. Their memory skills have decreased. Their language skills have decreased. What are we doing? We need to put human health above everything else. Data centers are not worth it. Healthy humans need clean air. We need water, not just clean water. Green spaces to be able to look out, green spaces to be able to look out into the skies and see the stars, to listen to the spring peepers, to Oh, sorry. To listen to the spring peepers and the birds. Once we sell our health of ourselves.

Please bring your comments to a close, ma'am.

And the health of our land to the data centers, we never get it back. It's not worth it.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Kate Perry, followed by Elliot Herniker and Bill Montaneri.

Good evening names it.

Good evening. Kate Perry, uh, two one Oh eight five. And that was my sister who just spoke. Um, we both grew up on only farm along with, um, a couple of my cousins here as well. So there are over 60 legacy farms that have been continuously operated by the same families for over a hundred years. These farms are what Hartford county was built upon these 60 farms. My grandmother grew up on Olney Farm. Olney Farm is one of those 60. My grandmother grew up there. My father grew up there. I grew up there. And now my four children are growing up here. This farm is not just where we live. It's where the generations learned what hard work means, where children ran through fields, where family roots were planted deep. We're not alone. This is true of our neighbors, too. These are not just properties on a map. These are homes, protected farmland, historic places, and the heart of a community that has been carefully preserved for generations. This is why people choose Harford County, right? They choose it because it's pretty. There's farmland, it's beautiful. Not because construction jobs are close. My husband works in construction and he drives, he drives to work. He didn't choose to live here or he doesn't want to stay here because jobs are close. He likes it because it's beautiful. Temporary jobs don't justify permanent damage. Our farm is protected under the agricultural land preservation for a reason. So we are under the land protection, which we will never develop. We can never develop that land. And we did it for a reason. But because once that land like this is lost, it's gone forever. History cannot be rebuilt. And peace simply cannot be restored. So I ask you, what happens when a massive industrial data center is placed beside homes, historic farms, and preserved land? The quiet is replaced by constant mechanical noise. Dark skies become artificial light. Open rural beauty becomes industrial infrastructure. And families who chose this life for peace, heritage, and preservation are forced to live beside something that it changes it forever. This is bigger than one farm, and it's bigger than one family.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Elliot Herneker. 21040 is my zip code. I'm running for state delegate in District 34A. Pretty much everyone has said the same thing that I was going to say tonight, but what I will say is this. About four weeks ago, I was contacted by the Our Land, Our Home, Our Harford group. They sent me a video. pretty much a video in Sterling, Virginia, showing the humming noise coming from this data center. And then you had certain people saying, well, that can't be the case. There's no way. This is fake information. No, talk to the citizens. Talk to the people in Virginia. They will tell you this does happen. You can't say it's fake and you can't say I'm pro data center, but then you're avoiding what the residents are caring about. This is the community. I'm so happy that everyone has came together in posting that video received over 400,000 views over 20,000 likes over 3000 comments. And that is a good resemblance that the community is in work that we are all together on one issue. Now what happens next after the county council will approve this ban and they'll go forward with it more than likely it's going to fall on the state and what we have to do next is the pressure you guys have given the council give to your delegates give to your state senate senders and let them know Loud and clearly, you don't want this. They're trying to avoid it right now. They're trying not to talk about it in their campaign, make it like this ghost issue that's only a county council issue. No, this will end up being a state issue. Perryman residents, talk to the Johnsons. Everyone, talk to your local politicians. Let them know how you feel. Don't let this snoop over. We have put up a good fight, but keep it going. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Good evening, sir.

Bill Montanari, 21015. I totally support the county executive's legislation. I encourage you guys. Total ban, that's what we need. To make Pat smile, I just want to say ditto.

You did a great job. Thank you very much.

Uh, there really is a five to six mile radius where you can hear this noise. As if those of you who were here last week, you heard the lady was speaking. She had the noise on her phone. That was a good demonstration. Uh, There are a lot of frequency effects. Human beings are affected by frequency. And this noise is a frequency. And there are studies out there that show that certain frequencies can harm humans, certain frequencies can aid in health and recovery. So my question is, everybody will look at some of this research that's been going on, frequency can be damaging to humans as well as wildlife, as well as nature in and of itself. So there's something that nobody's really brought up, so I throw it out there. The data centers are today's technology flavor du jour. So people have been talking about, oh, we've got to get on board. It's right now. It's right here. It's what's going on. Let me tell you something. I've seen it. I've lived long enough to know. There's always something else that comes along technologically that supplants what is currently popular right now with people in technology. Something else will come along. It'll be better, and it will supplant it. As for the labor union gentleman who was up here, I can only say one thing. It's a quote from my father. No one owes you a living. As for the state, we'll deal with them when we get to it. Let's lock this down, cap it off, end it. We'll deal with the state if the state even becomes a problem. Last week I mentioned that for all of you up there, and I've been a big student of history since the age of 12, And many times in a life, there can be a legacy moment, and this is that legacy moment, as I said before. One thing I forgot to say last week was, in keeping with the 250th anniversary of this country, ask yourself this question. Do you want to be a George Washington, or do you want to be a Benedict Arnold? Thank you, guys.

Matthew Huebner, followed by Judy Stiles.

Call your speaker again.

Matthew Huebner, followed by Judy Stiles.

Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip.

Judy Stiles, 21015. Location, location, location. I think that kind of sums up what we're all talking about here. There's a lot of reasons why today's society requires data centers all over the world. But there's different ways to do it. Finland, for example, has built them underground and used the extra heat to heat housing and other manufacturing and businesses that are looking If you're built underground, we don't see it. We mostly don't hear it. It is somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees underground. You don't have to cool it so much. And it is exempt from a lot of security risks, storms, drones, whatever, underground. That needs to be considered. It's being done. in this country, they're building them in old mines, also underground. Let's consider that. This is not something that has to be decided for Mountain Branch, where I am within Ayrshire, or not. It needs to be considered thoroughly, developed, and we need the community planning, the urban planning. I also live very close to Harford Glen. I can walk to Harford Glen from my front door. This is a park owned by the school district where fifth graders do field trips. And it is within earshot of this. I personally monitor bluebird houses in there. It is an environmental gem. To think of all of our students taking field trips to Harford Glen where the teachers are speaking over the hum of a data center that are disrupting the wildlife is a big no for me. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

There are no more speakers Mr. President.

With no more speakers this will conclude this public hearing and this will be considered at a later date. Thank you. We're going to take a short recess. Good evening, Chair. Calls over to legislative session day 26016. I would ask you to please join us in standing for the pledge following by the opening prayer. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for Heavenly Father, as we gather in these chambers this evening, we continue to honor and remember our fallen heroes. We offer up our sincere gratitude to the brave members of our military who have devoted and sacrificed their lives to defend and protect us and our freedoms. May their families be blessed with your solace, strength, and peace. In recognition of National EMS Week, Lord, we ask that you continue to watch over our EMS volunteers and personnel, as well as our men and women in uniform, first responders, law enforcement, and this council. Grant this council the wisdom and knowledge needed to legislate on behalf of the citizens of Hartford County. We pray these things and more in your most holy name. Amen. Council, if I may, I'd like to recognize Bangtang Miller in the audience this evening. If you would please come forward, please. No, you can come stand if we give her a mic. We missed the opportunity last week to have you with us, and we want to congratulate you on your appointment for the school board, and I know that we talked about you possibly saying a few words, so we'll spin around.

Good evening. I would just like to take a few minutes to say it couldn't be at a better time with America 250. It's a testament to this great country that I'm standing here and seated as a school board member. As a young child that came here in 1975, didn't speak the language, didn't have anything except for the clothes on our backs and that I could become a teacher through our public education system and a 51-year resident of Edgewood and on to have a 26-year career with Harford County Public Schools So I chose to shine again with Hartford County Public Schools in this capacity. But in order for this to happen, I would like to take a few moments to acknowledge how this came to be. So first order is for Councilman Robert, who gave me the nudge to apply. And then to Council... County Executive Casley for the nomination and of course for this Council for Councilman Tony Gee if I may say that for the nomination and of course Council President Vincenti for his support the second by Councilman Riley and the from each of the board members, the council members here. So I thank you for that. I'm grateful, and I took an oath to serve the citizens of the county and take my oath seriously. So I thank you for that.

So, yes, go ahead. That's a good move. So I just wanted to say I know that All the members of the council have had an opportunity to work with you over the years. I know just getting elected in 2014, 2015, I had an opportunity to meet you and work on several different projects, especially when we started our Route 40 Revitalization Program Committee. And so I've been a strong fan of yours ever since. You're a doer, there's no question about that. The Charlie Riley Foundation talks about doers, and you are absolutely a doer, you and your family.

So, Mr. Jan Giordano. So, I've been working with Bank for the last year intensely on the Spring Nationals that was just held down at Flying Point Park Marina. We had a great event. She's a great organizer. When I heard that she was running and I saw Councilwoman Roberts' comments, Councilman Bennett's comments, you know, about the school board, and that I knew you found out all your history about that. So glad that we have you on there, and it's been a pleasure working with you. And we look for greater things for next year's spring nationals. If you haven't seen a hydroplane boat races, you know, prepare next year. They were phenomenal. The boats were going 175 miles an hour, and it's a place to go see them. We don't have to go to Florida. Thank you.

Ms. Robert?

Yes.

I've been working with Bentham a lot. in our community, and she does a lot for our community, and she's very active, and knowing her background as an educator, principal, and what she has done for kids. Oh, it's not on. What she's done for kids, you know, when she said, well, I'm thinking about this, and I was like, well, go for it, and that's how the conversation went, because I think she'd be a great asset to the board, so congratulations again.

I just want to thank you so much for stepping up you know there's been there's been so much that our Hartford County Public Schools has gone through this year and it has been so reassuring to see someone of your involvement being willing to step up and and take the time and learn steps and learn the processes and make it better. Um, as a parent, I feel so much more confident knowing that you really, you are on our board of education now. So thank you.

Thank you, miss him off the saddles.

Thank you. I would just like to thank you for stepping up to this position. And when I saw your name come across, I was grateful. So thank you, Mr. Bennett.

Yep. Uh, echo everyone else's remarks. And I think it's a testament to, the role we as a council play in the approval process. Because if we had not been selective in who we approved, we could have never ended up with you. And I think it's fair to say you're the most qualified person that has come across this dais for approval. And I also want to make sure you saw, because there were many, many, many people celebrating you in the comments of your approval, but I saw one of them was a former educator from the school you went to as a child. And I thought, how special is that? That somebody who taught you is now seeing you sit on the Board of Education. So again, thank you for taking on this job. It's a very difficult board. It's a demanding board. Lots of meetings. We think this is a long meeting, but this is probably the typical length for a Board of Education meeting. Again, just thank you for taking on that job, and I hope the community appreciates what a sacrifice that is.

Thank you so much. I'm committed to making decisions that's best for kids. And I've already said that to the board. I have two days of hard work already saying, you know, some adults are going to be happy, some are not going to be happy.

But in the end, it's about the kids in front of me. Mr. Riley. Thank you.

I wanted to congratulate you. Just give you a tip. You might want to stay out of New Orleans.

Thank you.

Agenda number four, presentation of proclamations. We have none this evening. Five, consideration of petitions, applications, appointments, and nominations, executive appointment. Building code, Board of Appeals. Mr. Jandredan.

Council President, I move to approve the appointment of Paul Abbott.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Riley. It's moved and seconded to approve the appointment of Mr. Abbott. Is there any discussion? Ms. Dixon.

Mr. President?

Aye.

Mrs. Robert? Aye. Mrs. Zimhoff? Aye. Mr. Giangerdano? Aye. Mr. Riley? Aye. Mrs. Bullsaddles? Aye. Mr. Bennett?

Aye. There being seven votes in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the appointment is hereby approved. Six special presentations, we have none. Seven, approval of minutes. Fiscal year 27, budget public hearing May 7th, 2026. Legislative day 25-015, May 12th, 2026. Fiscal year budget public hearing May 13th, 2026. Are there any corrections to the minutes? There being no corrections, the minutes stand approved. Eight, introduction and consideration of resolutions. We have none. Nine, introduction of bills. We have none. Ten, introduction and consideration of amendments. Mr. Bennett, please read in amendments one through three to bill 26-011.

Amendments one, two, and three to bill 26-011, zoning data centers. introduced by Council Member Bennett, Council President Vincenti, Council Members Robert, Jan Giordano, Imhoff, Boyle-Sottles, and Riley. Amendment number one, on the title page in the first line after Ann, insert emergency. Amendment number two, on page one, strike in their entirety the lines beginning with line 16 through 17, inclusive and substitute the following. Section two, and be it farther enacted that this Act is declared to be an emergency necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of citizens of Harford County from exposure to long-term negative environmental and financial impacts data centers impose on surrounding communities. Amendment number three, on page one, after line 17, insert the following. Section three, and be it further enacted that as an emergency act, this act shall take effect on the day it becomes law.

Due to the nature of these amendments, Council is going to consider them this evening. Amendments to Bill 26011, Zoning Data Centers, may have a motion.

Council President, I move to approve Amendments 1, 2, and 3 to Bill 26-011. Thank you. May I have a second?

Second. Thank you, Mr. Riley. I move and second to approve the Amendments 1 through 3 to Bill 26011. Any more discussion?

Ms. Inhofe. I think everyone on this council and everyone in this community has heard all of the concerns. We've all had to do our individual research. And the reality is, as I've shared with many of you, this problem did not start here and the solution cannot end here. It is crucial to be able to engage with our state legislatures to ensure that we don't get steamrolled like many of us have already been in regards to the solar farms. I'm a big believer in small government, which means communities should be able to decide what's best for them. And that's exactly what we're hoping to do with this legislation. But as I shared, I think it's super important for us to get involved with lobbyists and talk in Annapolis. I've already been in communication with the People's Council because rights are being infringed upon. And so at this point, we need to make sure that we don't lose steam, but refocus that energy and make sure that our land stays our land. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Imhoff. Anyone else? Mr. Bennett.

I just want to thank Ms. Aledji again. You know, so much of what we do as a council only functions because of the staff who are in the building five days a week and answering our phone calls in the evenings and on the weekends. I don't think the public or even sometimes us as a council appreciate just the tremendous amount of research and dedication that the role of council attorney takes on in our legislative drafter to make sure we don't mess things up. Because we could do our best, but if we don't have sound legal guidance, we mess something up and things go wrong. So again, I just want to thank Ms. Allegi, her team, and the entire team who work in this building five days a week. Because without them, this work would be impossible.

I couldn't agree more. Anyone else? Ms. Dixon.

Mr. President?

Aye.

Mrs. Robert? Aye. Mrs. Emhoff? Aye. Mr. Giangerdano? Aye. Mr. Riley?

Aye.

Mrs. Will-Sottles? Aye. Mr. Bennett? Aye.

The seven votes in the affirmative, zero in the negative. Amendments 1 through 3 to Bill 26011 are hereby approved. Mr. Giangerdano, please read amendments to Bill 2606 into the record.

Amendments 1 and 2 to Bill 26-006, Annual Budget and Appropriation of Ordinance Introduced by Council President Vincente, Amendment 1 on page 11, line 5, strike 1,290,522 and substitute 1,040,522. Amendment 2 on page 36 in line 16, strike 10 million and substitute 5 million. Thank you. Agenda number 11, call for final reading of bills. Mr. Bennett. Council President.

I move to withdraw Bill 26-005, Moratorium Data Centers, as amended.

Thank you. Twelve enrollment of bills. We have none. I'm sorry, what am I talking about? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. I thought he just pulled it. Second, yeah, I'll second. I'll second it.

Yep. Exhibit B of how important this election is.

That 26005 was amended last week. So because of that, because council took action, it's now your bill as a body. And it's got to actually be a motion to withdraw the bill.

That's all.

So he moved it. It was seconded. Discussion and vote.

Yep. Is there any discussion? Ms. Dixon.

Mr. President. Aye. Mrs. Robert. Aye. Mrs. Emhoff. Aye. Mr. Giangerdano. Aye. Mr. Riley. Aye. Mrs. Bull Saddles? Aye. Mr. Bennett?

Aye. There being seven votes in the affirmative, zero in the negative, Bill 26005 has been pulled. Twelve enrollment of bills, we have none. Thirteen unfinished business, we have none. Fourteen new business, Hartford Community College, fiscal year 26, budget transfer. Ms. Jackson? Thank you for taking my calls yesterday. and appreciate the information.

You are very welcome. What you have in front of you this evening is just a standard budget transfer request. We are required annually to have our operating budget approved by this council. When we approve the budget, we put our expenditures into special functions where we're going to spend that money. In a perfect year, we'd be spot on, but that rarely happens. So at midway through the year and then towards the end of the year, we look where we have shortfalls and where we have overages and where we need to move some funds. This year, obviously, was a big snow year. So we had to take some money from other areas where we had some vacancies and move that money there. We've also seen an increase in our waiver expenses for dual enrollment and seniors. And we've also felt the need to increase some of our college-sponsored scholarships to meet the needs of the students that we're serving.

Thank you. Anyone have any questions of Ms. Jackson? This is something that we do on a regular basis when needed. So I think it's something that we need to take action on this evening. So may I have a motion?

Council President, I move to approve the fiscal year 26 budget transfer request.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Ms. Sottles. It's been moved and seconded to approve the budget transfer. Is there any other discussion? Ms. Dixon.

Mr. President?

Aye.

Mrs. Robert? Aye. Mrs. Emhoff? Aye. Mr. Giangerdano? Aye. Mr. Riley? Aye. Mrs. Bull-Sottles? Aye. Mr. Bennett?

Aye. Being seven votes in the affirmative, zero in a negative, the fiscal year 26 budget transfer is hereby approved. Thank you, Ms. Jackson.

Thank you.

2026 summer session. The last legislative session for council will be on June 16th, 2026. We have no meetings in July or August. And council will reconvene on Tuesday, September 1st, 2026, if the council so chooses. So may I have a motion?

Council President, I move to approve the 2026 legislative session day summer session. Thank you. May I have a second?

Second. Thank you, Mr. Riley. It moved in second to approve the summer session. Is there any discussion? Mr. Bennett.

I just want to say, especially now this will be my fourth summer on the council, how crucial this summer recess is for all of us. It's not a break, but it's time for us to research. It's time for us to meet with community members. It's time for us to catch up on the ever moving treadmill that is county council and prepare for the fall so that we are able to not just be reactive to the moment, but be proactive with legislation and action that we want to carry out through the fall and into the rest of the year.

Thank you, Mr. Bennett. And I think it's... We've said this before, but the office really does not stop. The office is open every day. Council members, their aides, their staff are in place taking calls, responding to any type issues. So the only thing, we're not here sitting on a desk, but we're working every day. Ms. Dixon.

Mr. President?

Aye.

Mrs. Robert? Aye. Mrs. Emhoff? Aye. Mr. Giandradano? Aye. Mr. Riley? Aye. Mrs. Bull-Sottles? Aye. Mr. Bennett? Aye.

There being seven votes in the affirmative, zero in the negative, the Council 2026 Summer Session Schedule is hereby approved. Fiscal Year 27, Citizen Budget Advisory Board. Mr. Parrish? Mr. Tibbs. I brought a couple with me this year. I see that.

Ms. Lynch.

And before you start, I think it's important for us to recognize the importance of the role that you all play throughout the budget process. We receive this budget on April the 15th by charter every year, and our work sessions started, I believe, on the 23rd, if I'm not wrong, if I remember correctly. And a $1.5 billion budget, it's a lot of work to go through it, so we really appreciate their help. So, Mr. Parrish, whenever you're ready. Ditto.

Ditto. So I have just a quick introduction. I have Ms. Tory Lynch and Mr. Robert Tibbs here with me this evening. Two others representing the board of us that helped all of you out. So I do appreciate all of your representatives and all the work that they put into this and put into this report itself. So good evening, Council President Vincente, members of the County Council. Thank you for the opportunity to submit this report. the members of the citizens budget advisory board are proud to have been appointed for fiscal year 27 we feel it is important for the citizens of harford county to know that we are a board consisting of individuals from many different backgrounds all with knowledge familiarity and understanding of the county budgeting process our members bring experience in real estate agriculture education emergency services government business banking accounting and finance The county enters fiscal year 27 in strong financial position relative to prior years. Revenues continue to perform above expectations, increasing by approximately 8.3% this year. Income tax, which typically grows at a rate of approximately 6%, experienced an increase of 17% in fiscal year 26. The creation of the revenue volatility fund further demonstrates the administration's recognition of this sustained growth and should provide a safeguard against potential reductions in state funding. While these trends are encouraging, we caution against assuming that this level of growth will continue indefinitely and encourage prudent long-term planning. We listened to testimony from the various department heads and met in private to discuss matters related to the fiscal year 27 budget. During those discussions, we developed this report, which we present to you this evening. We anticipate that you will take our thoughts into consideration as you continue through the budget process. We would like to acknowledge several positive aspects of the proposed budget. The inclusion of a 3% salary increase, along with a $2,000 merit increase for all employees, including grant funded employees, reflects a continued investment in the county workforce. We also recognize the decision to meet the Health Department's request for a 4% increase, as well as fully funding the library's operating budget request for the first time. Additionally, fully meeting the community college's request after three consecutive years of flat funding is a positive step towards supporting higher education and workforce development in Hartford County. While these actions are commendable, there remain several areas where we believe additional attention and funding are warranted. We continue to have concerns regarding funding for the Humane Society. The current level of funding does not appear to meet the county's contractual obligations. We recommend that outstanding invoices be addressed and that the memorandum of understanding be revisited and updated to reflect current conditions and expectations. Providing additional funding to the Humane Society helps the county meet its mandated responsibility to ensure animal control services. funding for harford county public schools remains a significant concern while overall student enrollment may be declining the increasing population of students requiring additional services including those in special education free and reduced meal programs and english learner programs has materially changed the needs of the school system we recommend that funding be increased to reflect these evolving demands rather than relying solely on overall enrollment figures Public safety remains a critical priority, and we believe additional investment is necessary. Based on the ongoing salary study, we recommend increasing funding for ambulance core services. While these increases may be phased in over time, doing so would demonstrate a commitment to these employees and provide a roadmap for future investment in fire and emergency services personnel. We do not want to lose personnel to other jurisdictions. Similarly, the state's attorney plays a vital role in maintaining public safety, and we recommend fully funding their request. Support employees in that office should be treated the same as county employees and receive a 3% salary increase along with a $2,000 merit increase. We also support funding for the addition of four new security positions for the courts. Ensuring the safety of judges, staff, and the public is essential and should remain a priority. Security at the courthouse does not exist in all of the courtrooms full-time. This is a troubling issue in today's volatile atmosphere. Keeping our judicial system employees safe should be a budget priority. In considering how to address these needs, we believe there are several opportunities within the current budget framework. We recommend reducing funding allocated for site acquisition. At this time, no specific properties have been identified for a proposed school in the Aberdeen to Havana Grace area. And as such, the current level of funding appears premature. Additionally, we encourage the county to more consistently utilize bond funding for appropriate capital projects. Pay-as-you-go funding is best suited for smaller projects with a useful life of less than ten years. Leveraging bond funding where appropriate would reduce the immediate burden on cash reserves. As has been stated, the priority should be to invest in people, not buildings. We also support the continued practice of allocating law department costs to the departments they serve, rather than expanding that department's standalone budget. This approach more accurately reflects the cost of services across government operations. For larger capital initiatives, such as the Workforce Development Center, we recommend spreading costs over multiple years. This approach allows the county to manage financial impact more effectively while still advancing important long-term projects. Looking beyond the current fiscal year, there are several long-term concerns that warrant continued attention. Retention of employees, particularly in public safety roles, remains an ongoing challenge. Additionally, the capital costs associated with aging school infrastructure will require significant investment in the coming years. The potential future transition of volunteer fire departments to more career-based staffing models is another issue that will have both operational and financial implications. In closing, we appreciate the opportunity to serve the citizens of Harford County in this capacity. We thank you, the members of the council, for your continued engagement in this process and for allowing us to provide input on the fiscal year 27 budget. We remain available to answer any questions you may have as you move forward with deliberations and final decisions. Thank you.

Thanks. Mr. Lynch, you got anything to add? Mr. Tibbs?

No, I think he did a very good job of writing and including all of our thoughts and ideas that we actually had when we heard the budget presentations. And there were some in the budgets that were presented that Yes, they needed some more money, but yet they said they could get along. And I think this is something that we have to look forward to as we have a smaller government that costs less and does more.

Thank you, Mr. Tibbs. Council, anyone with any questions? All right, well, very good. Thank you for your presentation, your report, and as I said earlier, thank you for your time and commitment to this council as well as the county as a whole. Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. 15, comments and input from attending citizens. Ms. Dixon, we have everyone signed up?

We do, Mr. President. We have six this evening, or actually... Five this evening.

I'm going to call your first speaker.

Barbara Kramer, followed by Diana Sadowski.

Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip.

Good evening. I'm Barbara Osborne Kramer. I'm a candidate for county executive in Hartford County. Next week is bee week.

I need your zip code, ma'am.

B-E-E. I need your zip code. And it will be about spelling bees.

Ms. Kramer, I need your zip code.

21001. Thank you, ma'am. And it will be about... achievement in spelling bees. Well, a big spelling bee word is euphemism. In fact, somebody who ultimately won the National Spelling Bee in 2013 advanced a crucial round by spelling euphemism correctly, E-U-P-H-E-M-I-S-M. It seems that the council president believes in governing by euphemism. He calls things by pleasant words that are misleading, that don't really convey the facts. For example, a couple of weeks ago, when he had to report that Judge Anne Marie Plitt was not able to be the fill-in hearing examiner, he said because of his health. That is not why. The reason he can't sit on any bench is that he was removed from the bench for unethical conduct after he was retired, but he continued to sit as a senior judge. It was not ill health that was preventing him to do it. Now another euphemism that's been presented here is that people don't have to say their addresses anymore when they speak to the county council because it might make them uncomfortable. The council president said, but that is not why. The reason that people don't have to give any of their addresses anymore is because it is unconstitutional to demand it of them. And I told him that quite a while ago, I mean months ago, I said, you cannot require content or you cannot require us to tell our addresses because it's unconstitutional, it violates the First Amendment. And he ignored me. But then several weeks ago, a commentator on Facebook nailed him with it and showed me and another woman being required to give our addresses before we were allowed to speak. Well, somebody must have informed him that that commentator on Facebook was in fact correct legally. So he didn't ignore that. He just ignored me before. So now we give our zip codes. But that didn't start until, what was it, last week? He required for an additional week or two that people still give their addresses even though he knew better. Even if he didn't believe me, he came to understand it's unconstitutional to require people to give their addresses. Furthermore, it's unconstitutional to say that people can only speak about this topic and not that topic, and they're still doing that. So I recommend that we... require a constitutionality to be governing in this chamber. And I was extremely amused to hear the council president speak in a forum last night in Joppatown and say that he was for open, transparent communication. Communication was so important. And yet what has he spent the entirety of his tenure doing is controlling the communication from the citizens who might well put this government on the right path.

Thank you. Call your next speaker.

Diana Sadowski, followed by John Malamo, Sandy Magnus, and Brianna Coleman.

Good evening, sir. Well, sir.

I approached with some temerity. I don't believe Ms. Sadowski's here. And I'm going to take her place.

That's fine. I need your zip code, John.

I do, too. John P. Malamo, 21015. A property's value is determined by the bundle of rights associated with it, largely the right to use the property. The right to use property is limited by the zoning code. Purpose of the zoning code is succinctly stated in Ambler Realty v. Village of Euclid. Keep the pig in the barnyard, not in the parlor. In Harford County, permitted uses are prescribed in the zoning code. Property uses are permitted as of right by special development, special exception, or temporary use. Any use not thereby described is prohibited. There is a separate case for non-conforming uses. A use permitted by special exception is presumed to be compatible with uses permitted as of right in the area and by law must be awarded if all requirements are met and is no worse at the location than anywhere else in the district. Special exceptions are awarded for the principal permitted use identified by the application and site plan submitted. Accessory uses customarily associated with the principal use are permitted and must also be shown on the application and site plan. The Zoning Board of Appeals has original jurisdiction over special exceptions. The special exception inures, that is, runs with the property, not the property owner. There may come a time when a property owner using a property as a permitted use by special exception decides to change the use of the property. Any material change in use must be approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals. The owner would submit an application with the site plan Department of Planning and Zoning would review and determine whether the proposed use is permitted. If not permitted, would then use the North American Industry Classification System, NAICS code, to determine whether there is a materially similar use in the district. If there is, the regulations governing that materially similar use apply, and the Zoning Board of Appeals would hear the case. If there is no materially similar use, then the use shall be deemed prohibited. a prohibited use in that district, and the process ends there. Distilling all of this, the proposed change of use at Mountain Branch Golf Course requires a Zoning Board of Appeals approved change of use. The Director of Planning and Zoning would follow the process cited above. The proposed change of use is not listed in the permitted use chart. The proposed use is NAICS Code 5182-10. There is no materially similar use in the permitted use chart. The proposed use, a data center, is a prohibited use under the existing code and the process ends. No change of use. It does not matter how much lipstick is on that pig. It does not belong in the parlor. Enforce the zoning code. Keep that pig in the barnyard. Good night. Good night, John.

Oh, my. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening.

Name and zip.

Sandy Magnus, 21015. Good evening, council president and council members. I'm here to say, I hear everyone say, if you want to do something, preserve a farm. But do you know what happens when you preserve a farm? The county and the state Get permanent easements on your farms forever. Other programs that we have are very restrictive as well. We signed our easement in 2001. For 18 years with the Maryland state easement, we were not allowed to have public on our property for any reason. No markets, no events, no weddings, no 4-H, no FFA, meetings, nothing. The state with a stroke of a pen changed that easement to a perpetual easement. So if that can happen, I'm here to say what else can they do in order to change and control? Here in Harford County, we've been at the farmer's market in Bel Air for well over 25 years of its 50 years in existence. We applied while we were doing vegetables at the farm in Bel Air. and they said that they had enough vegetable farmers. When you get a new product, apply again. We did. Bel Air Farmers Market is a producer-only market. And it has its own corporation, its own bylaws, and its own board. And the only thing it uses is the county lot to sell their goods. Vendors pay to be at that market and have their license and their products and their insurance. And if you don't have those, you cannot come into that market. And for years, we have had two open spots for any of the nonprofit community organizations to come in and use. So now I ask, if the county has such a big hammer and your easement is with them, Are they gonna come in and control even more than they do now? Now what is our recourses, our farmers? None. Look at what's happening in this country. I fear for the ag preserve farms and what we have given to the county and the state for a minute amount of money when you look at the longevity of a farm. I feel I have sold control of my farm, its future. And that is not what really we wanted to agree to. This is not political. It is serious with my deepest concern. If a farmer's market can be controlled, then I ask what other control do you want to have? I'm asking for a level playing field. and that's what I expect from this county. Allow everyone the same structure. Some are approved for a little of this, yet others are approved for anything. Some are even selling products that maybe are not only theirs, and they didn't raise them. I have more, so I will give this to you guys. I thank you, but we've had issues at the Bel Air Farmer's Market, and the market may have to move after 50 years.

Brianna Coleman.

Good evening, ma'am. Name is it?

Good evening, it's nice to see you all again. Brianna Coleman, 21047. I'd like to thank my council representative, Ms. Imhoff, for expressing her support for the bills regarding data centers. With that being said, I'm also here to set the record straight. In last week's council meeting, Ms. Imhoff used her time to thank the citizens for showing up, which I have no issue with. The issue I have, and I'm here to get on record, is District 3 has shown up for years. You said, quote, unfortunately, it normally doesn't have to get to a point where people are super concerned and upset and feeling not heard to show up. The people, Ms. Imhoff, your constituents, continue to express concerns for many issues facing our community. And there is not proactive action as seen by legislation introduced for data centers by Councilman Bennett. And I'm shocked if I heard this correctly on my way here, but I heard the statement that the council learned of this last September. I emailed Ms. Emhoff last week twice, I'm really good at sending emails, once to submit my support for the data center legislation, which she never responded to, and another asking if you were aware of the history of District 3, which you did respond to, but you didn't answer the question. District B has filled these seats to get legislation to protect our community many times, and unfortunately, it's always citizen driven. We've had to rely on other representatives or the county executive across the street to represent us. And here we are again with legislation for an issue in District B, the community you have represented for over a year, introduced by another official. District B needs a change, a voice for the people in our community, and that's why this election is so important. So let's be very clear. Once again, the people had to show up here because our council representative fell short on an issue you've known about for months. As always, thank you for listening.

There are no more speakers, Mr. President.

All right. This is from council members.

Mr. Jan Giordano. Oh, lucky me. Thank you, Council President. So bike to work was this past Friday. Great turnout, but it was kind of chilly that morning. But it went well. Taste of Hartford. Was this past Sunday, lots of different vendors up at, I'm not sure if I say it right, V, V? Vegan Farm. Vegan Farm. So the library put that together. I think it's the third year. They did a great job, and I was full after not eating all day, and I got there about 2 o'clock, and I was full in 10 minutes. So town of Bel Air, Mayor Paul Eddings in there, so they had a great derby. Third year, I think it was third year of the derby, fourth year of the derby, I think they had like 30-something cars. so it's uh it's grown each year the crowd was amazing um so uh i think all the kids had a great time i wish i could have done that when i was young and then i split my time and went over to the spring nationals over at flying point park and watch the power boat races and watch some of the boats go 120 to 175 miles an hour. It was free to get in this year. They had great crowds. They had vendors. So that was pretty good. Cab meeting tomorrow, Forest Hill, Jerseville, Norrisville, Whiteford. It's going to be at Norrisville Volunteer Fire Company. Monday, May 25th, is the annual Memorial Day ceremony. Be held at Shamrock Park from 10.30 a.m. until 12. I wish everybody a happy Memorial Day. and I didn't get an email until the end of March from Bill at Mountain Branch telling me that there was a plan for a data center, just so I set the record straight. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Jansredan. Mr. Riley?

Yes, I was going to mention the CAD meeting. It's important that folks up north come out for that. We're not only having solar issues up there Again, the state trying to take over our zoning, but also we got a battery storage that they want to put up north. I was kind of concerned some young man during this round that said location, location, location, but we could send it up north. We don't want it up north either. We don't want no data centers in Harford County, period, whether they're in A, B, C, D, E, or F. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Rodgers. Ms. Sottles?

Thank you, Council President. The Churchville-Cresswell-Fountain Green Community Advisory Board meeting is this Thursday at 6.30. It will be held at the Churchville Rec Center on Level Road. Aberdeen has several events coming up, including the Tower Rocks two-day music festival on June 6th and 7th, and the Freedom 5K Run and Walk on June 27th. There are lots of family fun activities in celebration of America's 250th anniversary. Please have a safe and happy Memorial Day. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Sells. Mr. Bennett.

Hello. Good evening. It's good to be with you all this evening. It's been a long night. I do want to congratulate Dr. Diane Mack, who just earlier this evening was appointed the superintendent for HCPS. I also want to thank Dr. Garinger for putting herself out there and being a part of that process. It's hard to go through a public process like that knowing the risk that you might not be the person chosen. Both are amazing educators in our community and I thank them for their service. To Ms. Coleman's remarks, I was very thankful because I was very confused hearing the gentleman from Mountain Branch's comments tonight. My legislative aide, broken ankle and all, ran upstairs and was able to find the first email we received from the gentleman, which was on March 31st, in which he's sharing with us his previous communication with the county executive, which was an email on March 30th where he said, gentlemen, following up on our previous conversations about Mountain Branch Data Center. So I think it's very possible that the county executive has been meeting with Mountain Branch about a possible data center for many months, as would be evidenced by this email. I think it's very possible the county executive is meeting with many property owners in our community about the possibility of a data center. That has not happened for us as a council. I do think that begs the question that you're asking of, if these meetings have been happening for so many months, Why did the county executive not take action in the absence of us knowing about anything? I also think it begs the question, would any action have come from the county executive if we as a council had not taken the first step? So we as a council were not privy to this information, but it's clear from the email communication, which is publicly available for anybody to ask for, that the county executive has been having these meetings for a sustained period of time. So that's all I have this evening.

Thank you, Mr. Bennett. Ms. Robert?

Thank you, Council President. I, too, would echo congratulations to Dr. Mack on her appointment as superintendent. Over the weekend, I attended two water events. We had the Flotilla, and that is in honor of the Gunpowder River, looking more at water quality, the environment. We had about 40 to 50 people out on kayaks and boats because it was a beautiful day. And then we all spoke about water. the quality of the water and how we're trying to improve the gunpowder in Bush River. Spring Nationals, I went there as well. Lots of fast boats. It was great to have in the backyard of our community. I saw it improve in attendance from last year to this year. And I think it's because it was free and because we had music at the point there. So we had bands and we had vendors. And my understanding is next year it's going to even be bigger and better. So look out for it. It's always around the same time of year. I, too, attended Taste of Hartford, ate a lot of food. It was very yummy. I will attend again next year. A couple of things. One is if you are a boater, Amtrak has sent out a survey for the U.S. Coast Guard for us to reply to by July 11th. It has to do with the raising of the bridges. The percentage of raising that they're trying to do is not what we asked for. The footage is like from three to five and five to six. It's ridiculous. And we're asking for higher footage so the boats can go through and that we can have more boat traffic and not only just of residential boats, but like more commercial boats that need to get through. So that is one thing. And that is due by June 11th. If you haven't seen the survey, please reach out to our office. We do have that. And also, today, as the fight has happened for Ridgely Reserve for so long, there was a lawsuit. And that lawsuit had a settlement today for $4.1 million. And we have been fighting for a very long time. And that money is going to go back to communities. They're looking at remediation projects to improve water quality and restore aquatic habitats in the Foster Branch and Gunpowder River. This will include competitive grants to nonprofits, community associations, and local governments for projects designed to improve water quality and restore aquatic habitats in the watershed. I like what Secretary McGuane said. These violations were not minor. They were repeated. They were preventable. And they caused real harm to the Gunpowder River and the communities that depend on it. And that is why they went the way they did. And I have to say thank you to the Gunpowder Riverkeeper and the Gunpowder Conservatory. We have all been working together. Tomorrow, we are working on Dave's Cove still with the Board of Public Works. We've sent our letters in. We've tightened that lease up. If that lease, and this is what we've been asking for originally reserved, With that lease, it ends in December 31st, 2029. If they fail to comply with the lease the next day, they get charged $5.1 million. That's the way it should operate and people should understand that the penalties should affect the business. And so when it affects your business, you realize to do what you need to do to make that work. So with that being said, Everyone have a safe and happy Memorial day weekend.

Thank you. Ms. Robert, Ms. Good evening.

So on May the 14th, I was able to attend the Abingdon Emerton community advisory board meeting on May the 16th. I was a, it was my pleasure to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the kitty academy of Abingdon. During the celebration, I was honored to present the proclamation, recognizing their decade of dedication and providing quality early childhood education, supporting families throughout their community. What's really remarkable about the Kiddie Academy of Abingdon is it's not just a childcare center. This is a corporation that is training our future teachers. They often have so many high school students who go there to get their first job, to get their foot in the door, and these are high school students who end up leaving to go become teachers. And then they return back to the community. I interacted with quite a few staff members who were there who left pursue other professions, but loved it so much, and loved their company and their kids so much that they came back. And I think that's a true testament to the culture of their program. On March 17th, I attended the Taste of Hartford, one, for the food, and two, because it's a great cause. It benefits our Hartford County Public Library system. It is, I think it's sold out within 48 hours this year. It was my first time going, highly recommend. So if you've never been able to go, I highly recommend it for next year, put it on your radar. This past week I was also able to participate in one of the panels that Harford County Public Schools had created in regards to community and business leaders in the community to meet with Dr. Gerringer and Dr. Mack and really kind of get a better understanding of their leadership abilities and their leadership incentives. It was an honor to be able to be in the room. We had people from churches, businesses, local government, state government, and really being able to give a diverse perspective of these two highly qualified candidates. While the panels had no say in who got appointed, we did give our feedback back to the Board of Education, and they were able to move forward with what they felt was best. Also, just a reminder, it is graduation season. And so if you have a soon to be graduate in your life, please encourage them to be safe and to do well. And to always remember that Harford County has their back. Please also be mindful that the community college is going to be having a lot of traffic over the next couple of weeks. Just be patient. This is already a stressful and exciting time for these families. And so just be mindful that there's going to be a lot of graduations. I think it averages two a day for the next week and a half. And just as everyone else has said, I hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day.

Thank you, Ms. Imhoff. 17 business from the council president. First thing I want to do is advertise adequate public facilities advisory board meeting Monday, June 8th, 2026 at 6 p.m. Second floor multipurpose room. And then I, too, had the opportunity to attend several events this past week, starting with served as a guest speaker at the Route 40 Business Association's meeting. I want to thank Leslie Stein and the members for the opportunity. Attended the Havre Grace Farmers Market. It's always a great, great time, as well as the Bel Air Market, but this weekend was the Havre Grace Farmers Market. Attended the Aberdeen Armed Forces Day. Again, great event. The Bel Air Town Derby is always a special event. Taste of Harford. But one of the most important things we did this past week is we attended the adult drug court graduation. We had 10 graduates. And those 10 individuals have had a difficult time throughout their life. And they've managed to get on their feet, get themselves clean, maintain a job, and return back to be a positive influence in the society. And I think that's a great event to do. And Judge Mahoney does such a great job there with the folks, as well as the entire team. As I said earlier, this is National EMS Week, and I'm going to steal a line from a post that the Susquehanna Hose Company put up because I think it's very fitting. It says, EMS Week is a time to honor our EMS volunteers and personnel who answer the call day and night, providing life-saving care, compassion, and professionalism to our community during the most critical moments. Also, Ms. Imhoff mentioned graduations, and I think most council members consider it an honor and a privilege to be able to attend graduations. I do my best to attend every graduation. We have three coming up this week, Harford Community College, C. Milton Wright, and Harford Tech. We will be on the stage for all of them. And then finally, I too want to wish everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend, but also want to make sure you don't forget the reason why we celebrate Memorial Day and honor our fallen heroes. And with that, we'll go ahead and adjourn this meeting. Thank you.