Board of Mayor and Aldermen - Special Meeting

under section 1-105 of the municipal code in the city of McMinnville Tennessee I as mayor and calling a special session of the board of mayor and aldermen of the city of McMinnville this the purpose of this meeting is to consider the following item a public comment and item B to consider an ordinance of a moratorium on the application approval permitting construction or expansion of data centers, Bitcoin mining facilities, microchip manufacturing facilities and other similar high-impact uses. Before we begin the proceedings of the meeting, I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. I would like to review some house rules and give a brief overview of what this meeting is and is not. First, this is a special called meeting and per Robert's Rules of Orders and State Code, we are precluded from discussing anything that is not on the published and distributed agenda. This evening, we will be hearing public comment in that regard, and then the board will discuss a moratorium pertaining to AI data centers, crypto mining, and other similar entities. For the public section comment, this is for you to express your concerns, opposition, support, or other sentiment related to this proposed project and moratorium. Having said that, I do want to be clear that the board will not engage with you in Q&A or conversation during this time. This is your opportunity to speak and for us to listen. During public comment, I ask sincerely that you respect all speakers regardless of their point of view. There will be no booing or heckling allowed from audience members. I will issue one verbal warning in this regard, and any further interruptions are subject to dismissal from the property at the chair's discretion. After public comment has concluded, the board will engage in a conversation and potentially ask questions of our community development director, city administrator and or attorney. Public comment will begin with those who registered ahead of time in the numerical order in which they signed up. After that, the podium is free to approach at your discretion. Out of respect for everyone who wishes to participate, I ask that you limit your comments to around three minutes in duration. Thank you all for coming to see democracy at work in our small town. We will now begin. We will now open public comment and I invite Alexis Whitman to the podium. Alexis Whitman. Is Alexis Whitman in the overflow room?

She's coming. Okay.

We can put her next, Constance Eldridge. Hi, Alexis. You are first. You have three minutes.

Pardon the flip-flopping noises. My heels broke on the way in here, so I'm having a bit of a rough time.

Mayor, could I ask, is there a microphone on the podium?

It's clipped to the inside of the bench.

Oh, so do I just speak?

Oh, yes, yes, yes. There is a microphone right there. Yes, I apologize.

Okay, so it's picking up what I'm saying?

Yes.

All right. Good evening to the citizens of Warren County and elected officials. My name is Alexis Whitman, and I have been a longstanding resident of Warren County for over 26 years. For those of you who can't afford it, that's my whole life. I think I speak for the majority when I say that Warren County does not need a data center that will do nothing but permeate our waters, pollute our air, and promote general discontent amongst our populace. This data center will consist of eight 4.4 megawatt continuous diesel generators, which are known to be incredibly loud. Each generator produces anywhere from 85 to 105 decibels. For those of you who are unaware, that is the equivalent of standing next to a jackhammer or standing under a low flying jet. It will also require water cooling, and I doubt this company would be willing to import water from elsewhere, which means they will be using our local waterways for their benefit. This water often cannot be recycled, and the company says nothing of their cooling systems being a closed-loop cooling system on their website, so concerns remain that they will be not reusing that one. To make matters worse, a typical data center employs anywhere from 25 to 150 workers. I heard this one will be employing 23 total. So it could also be argued that this company will provide little to no economic benefit to the citizens of. If anything, the company mentions on their website that it will have latency times of five milliseconds to Nashville, six milliseconds to Atlanta, Georgia, and 23 milliseconds to Ashburn, Virginia. Why must this data center be placed in our town rather than in the backyard of those they claim will benefit from it? Nowhere on their site did they say anything about how it will benefit our town and her people. only how it will benefit the larger cities that consistently overshadow us. Must we bend to the whims of towns that barely even know ours exist? I beg of our elected officials to not allow this company to strong-arm you into following their lead, and I implore you to refrain from allowing greed to consume you when they inevitably try to line your pockets. I ask the elected officials to represent us if we have asked you to. To think of the people of this county who you are a servant of. If the citizens of Warren County find that our elected officials cannot represent us adequately, then perhaps I will run for office myself and I encourage the citizens of Warren County to do the same. We say no to the Hickson Data Center.

I thank you for your time.

Thank you. Constance Eldridge.

William Reefer did I say that right as comes now that's good Three minutes? Yes, sir. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name's William. My husband and I have lived in McMinnville since August of 2024. And we've grown to love McMinnville and all the beauty that the city and surrounding area have to offer. We all know Warren County and McMinnville is the nursery capital of the world. And the citizens know and love that and they feel proud about that. And so they wanted to make their voice known. I think the outcry of concern is huge in this area. and for what could be a very damaging project. Let me say I'm not opposed to AI. I think AI has much capacity to do good, much like radio, internet, TV. But much like those inventions, we hear a lot of fearful comments. on what that means for us. People are worried about environmental concerns, rising energy costs, water costs, noise pollution. They're all legitimate concerns, which in my opinion, the Hickson family and the data center has not adequately addressed. I don't want to focus on the Hickson family specifically, but on the premise of data centers in general. One of the people, and I can't remember who it was at the Superior Building event they held on Monday, said that these data centers are coming whether we want it or not. I don't think that's true. The fact that we've seen so much outpouring of concern is proof that these projects aren't inevitable. When speaking to a candidate for local county executive recently, they asked me, does the government, does the county or the city have the right to tell someone who they can sell their property to or what they can do with that property? Yes, there's room in every level of government for regulations, permits, to tell people how and what they can do, even with a private property. you know, there's zoning regulations and I know that several people are wanting the state to pass a law or to pass a resolution about this. With the moratorium, the city will have the time to build the regulations that can make this type of business unable to proceed without popular consent. What do we have citizens be able to do? Number one, vote. If anyone on the City Board of Aldermen or on the County Commission don't listen to the people, we have the opportunity to vote and vote for people who do listen. And if anyone from the City Board of Aldermen or the County Commission folks to allow this to go against moratorium or to allow a data center of any type in the future against the vocal wishes of the people we have a recall petition and i think that the residents can make their voices heard thank you ethan sullivan

Is it over?

That's my mic. That's my mic.

Speak loud, please. Okay, yes, sir. Let me know when we can go.

Yes, sir, go ahead.

Hello, my name is Ethan Sullivan. I've lived here in Ward County since September of 2024 when me and my wife decided to move here and buy a house. What drew me to this county and city was the friendly people and the beautiful environment. I believe there should be a moratorium before we just jump into something that could destroy the environment and our county. How will they be prioritized when it comes to the winter when there can be energy shortages slash problems? What about water shortages? Will the data center be prioritized first for water? Where does that leave the nurseries that require the water to operate their businesses? We need to study the environmental impacts before we decide anything. So again, I ask, will Warren County benefit from this? How will the average person be impacted by this? The companies that will most likely be using this data center are based in California, so they won't have to feel the effects like I will and everyone else here. I simply have three questions. Who will benefit from this? How many natural resources will this consume? And how will this affect the nursery industry and all local other businesses? Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Kim Taylor.

Hello. I am a new resident. SINCE SEPTEMBER OF THIS YEAR, BUT A LONG-TIME VISITOR FOR FAMILY OCCASIONS. I HAVE LOTS OF FAMILY HERE. I CAME FROM CALIFORNIA, SO I KNOW WHAT THAT YOUNG MAN WAS SAYING. I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING THAT EVERYBODY HAS SAID, AND SO I DON'T WANT TO REPEAT EVERYTHING, BUT PLEASE, NO DATA CENTERS. THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING GOOD IN ANY STATE THEY'VE BEEN IN, AND I'D HATE TO RUIN TENNESSEE. IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE, AND AS A a Californian, they're not good. They're just not good. They don't do any good. They waste so many. I mean, it affects animals. It affects nursery. It affects everything. And it's just not a positive thing for the people who have to live nearby. And the noise is incredible. So please think about that. Thank you.

Steve, Virginia. Welcome to McMinnville, by the way.

Hey everyone, how you doing this afternoon? I'm actually here to address you guys as well as you folks back here. I'm not here to tell you what to do one way or the other. I'm here to give you some facts about what a data center is and what it does and the damage it can do to an area. So this particular data center is a 25 megawatt single tenant AI facility according to their website. It's 96,000 65 square feet. It's going to house NVIDIA GB200s, which are part of the NVL72 supercomputing platform. Now, for those of you guys who don't know, GPU stands for graphics processing units. And typically what those are used for is high-end graphics, things like Pixar. Graphic designers use them quite a bit. People in recording studios use them because they parse information really, really effectively. But one thing that they do is they require a tremendous amount of cooling That either happens one of two ways. Everybody's talking about water today, but there's something else that's interesting about these type of machines. These are direct-to-chip coolers, meaning that water comes direct to the chip to cool them down. But when they're not using water, they actually use propane or butane. With a facility this size, I actually calculated it, it is going to emit 105,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the air. in one year, okay? The beautiful part about McMinnville, the reason that we moved here in November, my fiance and I, we moved from Nashville. She's a very well-known country music artist. I'm an ex-music executive myself. We moved here for the beauty of the area. We moved here because the main thing here was nature. I mean, we've got beautiful waterways, we have beautiful forests, we have the caverns. And one thing we're going to do is disrupt the infrastructure of our community. I know I'm a newbie here and there's most people here who've been here their whole lives, but we're going to disrupt the infrastructure of our community, especially what we're known for, which is growing plants. So think about 105 cubic tons of carbon dioxide coming into our air. And the lady that spoke earlier is correct. That water cannot be reused. It gets solvents, cooling run through it. And whenever it runs through the computer, it gets recycled for a little while. But when it's done, it pours back into the waterway. And if you've noticed around big data centers like in Utah and places like that, wells, rivers, creeks have all started to get poisoned. And people are losing their water around there. The tough part about this is, yes, AI is beneficial for folks. The tough part for us as a community is, yeah, we probably all use chat GPT on a daily basis to send emails or text messages when somebody sends you a nasty text message. Hey, reply to this in a polite way kind of thing. But what we don't want is to disrupt the natural beauty of this area. It's kind of like sending a beauty pageant contested to the beauty pageant with a bag over their head okay so just keep that in mind it's not just the water it's the co2 emissions it's the traffic it's the nature around that facility and it's the heat that the actual building will cause because it will cause a heat bubble around that particular building and it will cause everything around that building to behave differently so please keep that in consideration when you guys are determining whether or not it's going to go go around here because it can it can disrupt about 10 to 20 miles around it so thank you guys for the time tonight I appreciate it thank you jail McDaniel good evening last time I was here was about pickleball and you see how that turned out right

I'm actually not here to give an opinion for pro or con. I am here to encourage you to really do your homework, to listen to up to date. These AI data centers, the technology, the efficiency, I'm not sure what unit he was referencing, but the unit that they're talking about is a different type of cooling. IT'S A LOOP, IT'S AN INTERNAL LOOP, AND I THINK HE EXPLAINED THAT ALL TO YOU. I BELIEVE THAT WITH YOUR EXPRESSED DESIRE TO FIND UP-TO-THE-DATE INFORMATION AND THE MOST CURRENT INFORMATION. OKAY, WHEN I SAY CURRENT, I MEAN I HAVE TWO SONS THAT ARE IMMERSED IN AI BUILD UP IN PENNSYLVANIA. One is a designer and the project manager. He has seen huge changes in 18 months. So the technology is just so fast. So when you speak or when you read or when you hear from someone, and that unit may have been in January of 2026, you need to find as current as possible. And that's all. I have no opinion whatsoever. I just want you folks to really do your due diligence and find out what's best for our community. And I really appreciate you doing this, taking your time, and allowing people to express their opinions. That's so respectful and considerate of you. So you all have a good night.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bonnie Upton.

I hope you'll indulge me because I wrote a poem. It's about three minutes long. And the title of the poem is A Data Center in McMinnville, No Thanks by Bonnie Upton. I've lived in McMinnville for many years. And I work down there at Begonia's making pizza dough. I do their bookkeeping. I love my job, and I love this city. What is the point? The goal, the plan, will the baby be thrown out with the bathwater? AI can be wonderful and benefit mankind or lead us down a path to slaughter. Offered is pollution of light, heat, noise, shocking power and water use. Not a good sell. The potential for illness and lack of sleep makes this data center a neighbor from hell. When a circus comes to town, the shopkeepers profit. Everyone has a good time. Then it folds up and leaves. All goes back to normal. Not a footprint is left, not a sign. The data center sets up. Shopkeepers profit, and like with the circus, the profits don't last. But unlike the circus, the center still stands, leaving sadness and longing for the past. A tick is an opportunist. It waits till some sucker walks by. It attaches to skin and sucks your blood. It doesn't care if you live or die. Some billionaires and tech bros are like that. Of their palatial estates, they're proud. They build everything they could possibly need, but data centers aren't allowed. They've convinced our leaders it's worth it to set ethics and humanity aside for the promise of wealth, through bribery that most often turns out to be lies. You can fool all the people some of the time. Some you can fool every day. But all the people all the time? No, lying is never the way. I am against this data center. Many jobs they promise aren't even real. Most of them aren't even local. Outsiders move in for the steal. Let's stand up for our rights as Americans. Our U.S. Constitution can stand it. We're a democracy, not an oligarchy. In the name of what's right, we demand it.

Good evening. Appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight. This issue of the data centers, in my mind, in my opinion, is nothing more than a supply and demand issue. The demand for these data farms has gone through the roof locally and all over our country. So with the supply not keeping up with the demand, that puts the control of these data farms in the hands of municipalities to where we can say, hey, these are the restrictions you're going to have to abide by. These are the regulations you're going to have to conform to if you want to bring your data center here. And what that will do is, if it's restrictive enough, that will make these data companies do more research and development on the processes that they use to cool those chips and to generate power and to make them more efficient and not so that their footprint is not as big and it won't disrupt the communities that they're located in. So, thank you.

Thank you, sir. That concludes comment from people who signed up ahead of time. So now we will open the podium at your discretion to approach. So if anyone wishes, anyone else wishes to address the board, please come up and state your name.

Hello, my name is Nathan Miller and I have lived here since 2021. I work in IT and I happen to work with a company that makes bespoke AI products. And I would like to point out that this is a lottery ticket. You guys are being sold a lottery ticket. Right now, any company that's worth its salt is making its own bespoke AI products with other major players. No one is in the business of fly-by-night GPU processors, okay? They're outdated within two years. The heat is insane. The productivity of a lot of these GPU data centers is relatively low. They're great for mass compute of AI. I don't know if you guys have used a lot of large language modeling. It's not great. It's OK at best. Will they find a use for AI eventually? Sure. IT WILL PROBABLY NOT BE WITHIN THESE KINDS OF PROJECTS, OKAY? I JUST WANT TO LET YOU GUYS KNOW THAT BESIDES ALL OF THE THINGS EVERYONE'S POINTED OUT SO FAR, IT REALLY IS A BIG RISK THAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE TAKING ON ESSENTIALLY AT BEST A 50-50 AMOUNT, OKAY? And just to point out, we kind of glossed over the energy thing a little bit, but the amount of CO2 is insane. From 25, what, natural gas generators? It's the same about yearly as if you had taken a fully loaded Boeing and done a circumference run 25 times around the planet. Take a fully loaded jet, put it in the middle of McMinnville, turn it on at 8 o'clock, leave it there until 5, every weekday for the rest of the year that's about the same you guys should also think about the fact that eventually the epa will begin to look at actual levels of co2 again and if you would like to have your cars go through the same process they do in davidson county look for a data center THAT'S ALL I REALLY HAVE ON THIS. I APPRECIATE YOU GUYS LOOKING INTO THIS, TAKING THE TIME TO HAVE EVERYONE COME AND TALK. I THINK IT REALLY SPEAKS A LOT TO THE CITY CARING ABOUT THE COMMUNITY, AND I APPRECIATE THE TIME. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, SIR.

THANK YOU, COUNCIL, FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO YOU. I'm a 25-year retired hazardous materials specialist who retired here in your town because of the peaceful nature of this town and the beauty here. I came from a community of over a million residents, and I dealt with a lot of hazardous materials incidents. And I can tell you just from that aspect, it's going to cost this town a hell of a lot of money to bring up a hazardous materials unit to deal with what you're going to deal with with this industry within the population center that you have here. This isn't going to be built in a remote area. This is in a populated area. And from the hazmat industry, it's a big danger to your population, not just THE ASPECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS, BUT THE ACTUAL PHYSICAL HAZARDS TO THE PEOPLE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY. IT'S A HUGE FINANCIAL IMPACT TO THIS TOWN IF YOU NEED TO START UP A FULL-BLOWN HAZMAT INCIDENT UNIT HERE. JUST SOMETHING TO CONSIDER FROM SOMEONE WHO'S BEEN THERE AND HAS DEALT WITH serious hazmat situations.

Thank you.

Hi, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Marisa Sievers. Respectfully, I'd like to tell you that we all have something in common. We all would just love to see our loved ones and our family and our friends and our neighbors. We'd love everybody to stop suffering from being poisoned, from being sick, from having chemicals being put into our water systems. You know, we're tired of it. We've all had relatives. We've all had friends. We've all watched somebody suffer. We're done. We're over it. And I want to say, at least for my family, my friends, my neighbors, collectively, we're here. All of us, I'd like to say, we're not asking, we're not begging, we're saying outright, no, no.

Hi, I'm Sean Logsdon. I live at 105 Lance Street, which is exactly a mile away from this place that's going up. The ladies behind me over here, they live across the street from there. The environmental impacts, I'm not going to go through all the stats because we've just been going over a lot of different stuff. This AI data center, it's a new entity. I listened to the fire marshal yesterday from Warren County. He says that when he goes to do a permit right now with the 2018 standings or something like that that I understand, He's going to categorize it the same way as if somebody's opening up a card shop. What the hell's that? This is a completely big animal. By the way, today, Erin Brockovich decided to go ahead and throw her hat in on this race too, because why is she doing that? We all know who she is, because these AI data centers are lying to people. There's a list she has now. I didn't check it out. All the people that have lived near data centers, they're putting in all their complaints and everything like that, and it's all the same. It's the worst thing. We gain nothing by this. Nothing. You're going to get $2.9 million in taxes, supposedly, like with the land value and what have you, that's the estimated amount. Well, these bastards make $200 to $400 million a year in profit, minimum. 25 megawatt data center? No, they're going to overclock it. They're going to run it. They're going to run it hard. And they're going to run it full. And what happens when you have a catastrophe? We make the major news. Look what happened in McMinnville. Water's done. I'm at the farmer's market. I eat only farmer's market food when it's in season. If their water's going to get damaged, what happens to my food? How do I eat? I'm going to buy the garbage in the stores with all the chemicals on it? This is why so many people now are picking up and moving here. We've lived here now for a year and a half. Do I need to think about selling? We hear about everybody saying, love being here, why we're here, yes, we all know why McMinnville's great, but now you're gonna give us an excuse on why McMinnville is gonna fail, and why I'm probably gonna lose house value, because nobody's gonna wanna live near here, so then I'm gonna lose money, everybody's gonna lose money, well, then this town's gonna fail, and we're just gonna be in that little town that failed. We're gonna have to succeed through this, and Step up to the plate and just all the environmental things that you have to do, the sound, the heat, what happens to the birds, what happens to the bees, what happens to the whole ecosystem is affected by this contraption you want to put up. If that happens, if we get rid of the bees, we all know what happens. Life stops. So just something to think about, and that's all I've got to say.

Hi, my name's Lakelyn West. And before I start addressing you all with my emotions on this situation, I'd like to start with some facts that were actually researched today to stay up to date. Up to 5 million gallons of water is used per day by an average data center. While that is a vastly large one, that is still 37.8 million water bottles, if that puts it into perspective at all. A lot of us here in McMinnville enjoy fishing. We love it. It's a great, fast time here. I've done it with my friends. Did you know that these centers' cooling equipment releases chemical biocides, mercury, and lead to the fish? I don't think they're going to eat that up as much as y'all are eating this proposal up. Data centers use about 200 to 600, they produce more than 200 to 600 times air pollution than natural gas plants. You thought that chicken farm down the road was bad? Wait till you see the pollution this causes. Now I'd like to show you something that AI can't replicate, human art and emotion. This is my poem. Welcome to McMinnville, Tennessee, known for its beautiful caves, rivers, state parks, and AI data centers. Hold on, y'all. So, you're telling me this town, that when I moved here three years ago, reminded me of nature's beauty, is selling out for 23 jobs? You've got some high standards. If someone were to throw a beer can into Barren Fork, you'd scoff and shame them. Why would you do that to the environment? But a billionaire walks in with a factory that has drained water from towns, ruined forests, and destroyed ecosystems nationwide, and you don't bat an eye? Why should I be here? I'm 19. I don't know as much as most of you, sure. But I am the future. I question even having kids sometimes, because how could I justify bringing them into this situation? It's my time to step up, and it's our time to open our eyes. I didn't pledge to a nation every day in school under God when that same nation is destroying his creations. I am a poet, but I am angry. I'm angry for my ancestors, angry for my future children. I can't even write a poem, because if I were, I'd rip and scatter the pages. Trust me, I have with this one, before I could even hit the page. And I'm angry. I think it's about time for y'all to be angry, too.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for coming out there that wish to speak.

Krista Cortese.

Was that the sound of the dance there? Look at that. Hey, go up to the microphone with that.

Go up to the microphone and play that to them for about five minutes until they tell you to stop.

Sorry, folks.

Half the size of the one that they're wanting to build. And this guy's in the woods because they won't let you around it with a camera or a phone. And the dust that they're cleaning these windows with is extra water they're using. We've done this for 18 years on our rivers to keep them clean. This will be the 19th year. We don't need this, y'all. I got nine grandchildren and my first great-grandchild. And I'd like to see them grow up here healthy. Have a chance at a job. We don't need this. That's not going to put our people to work. It's not going to help our kayaking, our fishing, Rock Island. It's not going to help anything. And this guy, he's not good. He's not good. You have two laundromats, and that's your only job. You should be able to keep a laundromat running and clean. If you can't do that, you're going to be a landlord over all this? That's scary. Thank you.

This is Cornelius. My name's Cornelius Banner-Zayden. I'm a 20-year resident of McMinnville. I grew up in northern Wisconsin in the UP. You guys have no idea how special this area is. It's gorgeous. This data center is going to ruin your natural resources. Some facts that were given to the US House of Representatives just this last week. Data center opened up in Georgia. Two months ago, water samples out of a faucet from a house two blocks away looked dirtier than the Mississippi River. God knows what chemicals were in it. They're electric bills, two and a half to three times more than what it was. They're going to tell you a nice rosy picture as much as they possibly can to get in here. Then something's going to go wrong. And they're going to go, we spent millions of dollars building this.

Please help us.

We need access to your water system. We need access to your grid. 25 to 33 megawatts of electricity is what this plant's going to take. Last night I heard that McMinnville uses 1.5 on average. Where is this electricity going to come from? Are we going to have rolling blackouts? You guys get one shot at this. One shot. They come in, they're not going away. They've got too much invested. And you're going to get used, the city's going to get used to getting that tax money. You got one shot to save all your natural resources, your hunting, your fishing, your tourism, coming to the Cumberland Caverns. And how beautiful this area is. Retirement people are coming here. Why? Not because it's a little town. Because it's absolutely drop-dead gorgeous here. You don't have six feet of snow. You don't have a winter. Everybody complains how cold. No. No. The summers may be a little hot, but it is beautiful down here. It's gorgeous. Why would you even think about ruining this? One shot, people, one shot. You screw it up, it's going to take decades to fix it, if it's fixable. Please, I implore you, don't vote yes for this data center to come in. Let's keep it out. Use everything you possibly can. It's not a matter of should we let it in or keep it out. It's a matter of what measures do we need to take to keep it out of here. Don't ruin McMinnville. It's a gorgeous little town. I love it. I plan on retiring here. I still work. But when I'm done, I'm staying here. This is a beautiful, beautiful little town. Don't ruin it. You're the only ones that get to vote on this tonight. I hope you choose the right way. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Krista Cortese. I'm 18 years old, and I just graduated high school. And when I figured out that you were building or trying to build a data center in McMinnville, Tennessee, a place I've lived for seven years, 15 minutes away from, I was disappointed. You guys shouldn't, we shouldn't have to be begging you, pleading you to not build a data center here. You should already know. Because nothing matters when we're starving. No matter how much money you can make off of this, it's not worth it. Did you know that the average data center uses over 300,000 gallons of water daily? That's more water than our town uses in one day. And at least the water we use can be reused. After the water goes through the data center, it turns into crap that poisons our ecosystem, largely inflating the price of RAM, electricity, and if this keeps going on, water, our main source of life. I believe that every single person deserves to have non-poison drinking water. That should be a non-negotiable for you guys. That's a human right. Water is a non-negotiable. We shouldn't have to pay for our lifeblood just to survive. Are you even listening to me? Money may be a good use to kindle a fire. But once the last morsel of bread is used, you can't eat money. So I urge you, please make the right decision and stop the rise of these data centers, starting here in McMinnville, Tennessee. Is anyone with me here? Is anyone?

Good evening. My name is Thomas Carpenter and I'm a proud resident of 16 years. I'd like to thank you guys for giving us the time to speak and I'd like to commend everyone that has spoken because speaking up here can be nerve-wracking. It's difficult. Not many people enjoy public speaking. It's a skill. I think emotion is easy. It's easy to get mad about things and it's easy to hear facts and get mad about these facts. I am not a proponent of AI. I don't believe that AI belongs here at this time. AI is changing daily, as everyone has just talked about. Time marches on, and we are progressing technologically at a speed that is unprecedented 40 years ago we had computers that couldn't even compare to the computers we have now phones required antennas right that were you know what this doesn't have an antenna does it and we've all got one in our pocket phones used to be a luxury we're progressing quickly nature will be affected we know that right we're the nursery capital of the world they mentioned that this is going to be a forget the exact word but basically diesel generators are going to be running non-stop right they say constant diesel backup we're a nursery capital that diesel is going to put smog it's going to land on the plants it's going to go into the soil it's going to go into the water that will affect everything constant noise constant light pollution will affect the bats that we have living in caves and i think you know oh bats woohoo We actually, in Warren County, do have a few endangered species of bats. They're not fading, and their feeding at night is going to be affected by the noise and light pollution, from the security lights that they might have, from the diesel generator backups. Anyone who's living in the city limits, right, around it, but also, think about this, we're having our economy blow up. We're growing, right? We consider ourselves probably a bit of a retirement economy, and we're gonna have people coming into these condos that are being built in the city, and they're going to be affected. Those people aren't going to want to live here listening to a low-flying jet. They're not going to want to sleep at night having to shut their curtains with blackout curtains so that they can sleep and not see the lights that are being polluted in our area. We have facts that are changing. I said that. It's changing every day. We need to keep up with that, keep an eye on that, because AI... I'm not even going to talk about how good or how bad it can be. It needs to be regulated. I'll say that much. It's a Pandora's box. But I want to say this also. We employ everyone here, right? We're a nation for the people, by the people. You guys are all in your positions because you've been elected, more than likely, right? And you're staying there because you've been elected. The people should have a voice, and they need to have a voice, and I hope that you will remember that. I want to be respectful. Everyone in here, I hope, will be respectful. You guys are people, too, and you live here as well. And I appreciate everything you do for us. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here. Mayor Chastain, thank you so much for listening to us, and thank you members. And thank all of you for showing up and caring. Thank you. I'm a mailman, so I have the unique perspective of seeing how beautiful this county is. I deliver from Irving College to Viola to Dibrel and everywhere in between, and I see everybody. I delivered Officer Hutchings' mail today. And I see all the yard signs of your favorite politician. We all got our own opinions. We're all very diverse in this county. One thing we can all agree on is a big fat no to this data center. That's the one thing that I've seen that we can all agree on is a big fat no to that data center moving in. I'm not going to beat a dead horse on statistics. You've heard it all. But don't forget who you represent. us you work for us and we're saying no absolutely not not here no way thank you so much everyone else is already

said everything that I would like to say, but this issue is so serious that I think it bears repetition. I believe it was the first speaker said that each of those eight diesel power generators create up to 100 or over 100 decibels each. I have family that lives less than a mile away. This would kill them. You're going to kill my dad if you do this. If you haven't heard how these data centers sound, plenty of videos on YouTube and hers you everyone at home is watching look it up it's great to hell on earth if you had to live next to that but that's just a death sentence now given that that the Hickson's website has undersold the amount of decibels that this facility would create I think it's important to really be suspicious of all the other assertions that they've made especially around the water safety. Now, other people have really hit on this point wonderfully, but the cooling system, that water is going to be so polluted, and it's either going to go into the sewers, which you guys are going to have to take care of. Is that something you can do? I don't know. Probably not. Or they're going to try to stick it in a cooling pod. Now, what happens when you stick it in a cooling pod? Those liners are going to leak. once it leaks it's in the groundwater in the streams and it's game over can't have that so I believe in you guys are going to do the right thing and pass the moratorium once that happens I want you to buckle down write the strongest regulations in the nation any developer who's looking to REPEAT THIS FOLLY TO JUST SAY ONE COUNTY'S... MACNAMARA IS NOT ON THE LIST. WE CAN'T GO THERE BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO SMART FOR US.

SO THANK YOU.

GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY. MY NAME IS PETER. QUICK BACKGROUND. BORN IN GREECE, RAISED IN NEW YORK. moved down here in 2011 because I wanted a better way of life and a better place to raise my children and hopefully see my grandchildren raised one day. This was the closest thing that I remember to the small town I grew up in, in Greece. Homestyle, hometown, environments, lovely people, lovely atmosphere, clean water, clean earth. Unfortunately, my trade is construction. I'm an electrician. I've worked in power plants. I've worked in data centers. I've built them. Hospitals, airports right now. I'm at Nashville International. We're doing the big renovation. I'm leading the crews. Data centers. They will pollute the air. Steam generation requires gas. Gas puts out CO2. And you're talking about tons of natural gas a day. Tons. Water. You need millions upon millions of gallons a day to cool the actual data center, the servers. You also need that water to steam generate your power because that's how they generate power. And that's why they're not attached to the grid. They'll need steam. So they'll burn through our water fast. We're all made up of 90% of water. Do you want to lose that water? Do you want to pollute it with the chromium and all the chemicals they put in there? to keep their machines from rotting on the inside out, or anti-fungals, because some of them may sit for a little while. You don't want that in your lakes, your streams, your rivers, your drinking water. I'm telling you right now, this town is too small for a data center of that size. Way too small. You're going to destroy this town faster than you can think. The monetary gains, for who? One company? Two people? Ten people? What does it do for the rest of the community? The town? The county? and the neighboring counties and towns, nothing. They're not putting this in Brentwood. They're not putting this in Beverly Hills. They're not putting this in Chicago. They're not putting this anywhere where there are rich people. They're putting it in small-town America. Now, not just today, but here and in the near future and in the really recent past, this very fight is going on in many townships, in many counties, many little cities, small-town America, all over the country. Let's be the voice that tells them, you're not coming here. And they will all see us fight and us win and have the strength to do the same thing, to keep this out of their towns and out of their little cities and out of their communities and keep their children safe, their water, clean the drink and the fish. I don't want to throw fish back. I like fish. I like to eat fish. Once you pollute the fish, they're already bad enough. Anybody who's got a permit and has taken a test knows some of our fish, we can't eat that many. Because we've already polluted our water enough. Let's not just kill it completely. All right, guys? Do the right thing. Do the right thing. Because I promise you, they'll remember you for this fight. And you'll remember us.

Thank you for your time. My name is Christy Harden, and effective December 2021, I'm a proud resident of Warren County. I may look new to the neighborhood, but my family has lived in the state of Tennessee for generations, and I live here now. And I'm your neighbor, and I care deeply about what happens here. Don't boo, I'm an alumni of LSU, Louisiana State University, but with a degree in environmental management systems. And prior to my moving back to the south and opening my small business here in Warren County, I worked for General Electric and Schneider Electric. I worked in sales and marketing, and I sold power distribution equipment to very large companies. Some of the companies that were my customers, because I lived in Seattle, Washington for 14 years prior to moving here, my customers were Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Intel, Yahoo, SAP Data Centers, Micron Technology, Solar World, which is now Tesla, SEH America, to name a few. So I'm very familiar with selling to hyperscale data centers. Not only did I interface with the construction teams, I have had boots on the ground at the job sites. I know the size of the opportunities, I understand the scale of the construction, and I understand the players that are rewarded this type of work. All of this to say, I understand the optics and all of the excitement around the promises these data center companies like to promise communities. I've read the article published in Data Center Dynamics around this facility written by Barney Dixon on May 27th, 2026, citing this 25 megawatt facility will be completed by Q1, 2028. But as someone who has actually lived in the Pacific Northwest, and I've sold to these types of companies, bragging, I'm actually feeling pretty guilty about it, actually sold to these companies and built these sites, I understand the economic reality. Any contracts awarded are always awarded to highly skilled contractors out of the Bay Area. So Northern California, Seattle, Washington, Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Illinois, Washington, D.C. Not local contractors. Any jobs created are always temporary and they revolve around the temporary food lodging of the contract workers. Property values for residents are always adversely impacted. Once the site is constructed, there may be less than 20 people who will work at the facility. All jobs promised, gone. Any jobs created, only for highly skilled tech workers or security workers for the site. Data centers do not enrich the communities that they're put in. They enrich the developers that make these promises to those communities. When my husband and I moved back to the South, we considered multiple cities. We selected Tennessee and strongly considered moving to Davidson County, but we consciously picked Warren County. We could see the care, we could see the potential, and we could see the community here. I'm personally happy to support any ongoing initiatives on how we can attract real companies with real industries, real employers to Warren County that support and enrich the residents of the county and create real jobs. A 12 month moratorium gives us time to evaluate any financial and economic impacts as well as have the community support real companies that support the county long term.

Thank you for your time. Thank you.

All McMillian and McMinnville and Warren County people, yes, I'm glad you're here. I have a couple things I want to say. We the people, and most of the people here, do not want this AI data center. Please, you represent us. Please don't let it come here. I have a couple things I want to read. Data centers cause noise pollution. First, the heavy equipment used to construct facilities are loud. Then once they're up and running, diesel generators plus heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems create a constant hum that can be audible to neighboring residents and wildlife. Data centers generate noise levels that may exceed 90 decibels. Noise levels above 85 decibels are harmful to hearing. Light pollution. Data centers generate light pollution. Hyperscale facilities require all-night lighting. that disrupts the natural circadian rhythms of the body, including melatonin production, the hormone that regulates sleep, and sleep-wake cycles, light pollution, and also disturbing migration patterns and habitat development among birds, butterflies, bats, cats, turtles. Today, I'm only a handful, but what about all the cows and horses and farm animals we have? That's going to disturb them. Air pollution, data centers, especially gas-powered data centers, emit significant pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, methane, volatile organic compounds, and fine particulate matter. According to a September 25 study, these pollutants increase rates of respiratory diseases and cardiovascular conditions, and they elevate cancer risk among nearby communities. A 2025 model indicates that US data centers in 2030 could cause approximately 600,000 asthma symptom cases and 1,300 premature deaths. Water waste. Data centers require water to cool computer servers so they do not become too hot to function. A large data center will use up to 5 million gallons of water daily. Drawing from local water supplies, these facilities are slurping up resources that should be available to residents in water source regions. In fact, data centers increase the threat of water insecurity and thus dehydration and poor hygiene. And what I want to really say is, think about it. It's pollution. This water, it gets heated up and generated, and it's dirty water when it comes back. It goes into our groundwater, our aquifer. We don't want it in the aquifer. Because what about all the farmers? What about all the nurseries? What about all the crops? What about all the cows, horses, pigs, farm animals that have to eat off the plants and have to drink this water? And there's a lot of people that have wells, and who wants to drink dirty water from a well, even if you have a filter? I don't want that. We don't want that. It's an environmental hazard. We don't want it here. And it don't need to be here. Please, don't let this come here. We don't need it here in Warren County or McMinnville. We appreciate your guys' work. Please hear our voice. I'm just one small voice, but I think the majority of people agree that we do not want data centers here in McMinnville. Are you with me? Are you with me? Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Before I get started, I would like to say that I thank God every day for another life on this earth and another day to live. I thank God every day for our country that we live in, for our brave men and women in uniform and service, our firefighters, police officers, But now I started thanking God every day for finding McMinnville, Tennessee three and a half weeks ago. And I was fortunate and blessed enough to buy a piece of property and call it home. The people of McMinnville have been more than gracious, hospitable, polite. Where I came from, they don't even open doors for anybody anymore. They don't say hello. They don't wave at their neighbors. I'm grateful and blessed to be able to be a part of this community. I look forward to being a proactive part of this community. My family looks forward to being a proactive part of this community. However, where I come from, I spent 32, 33 years there. And for the citizens and neighbors and friends now and the audience, I'm going to give you some names. to write down and look up yourself. Because I don't need to talk about it. You can look it up yourself. Somerville, South Carolina, Dorchester County, South Carolina, Berkeley County, South Carolina, most corner of South Carolina, there's a Google plant. Somerville, South Carolina, there's another data center. There's a third data center growing up in Berkeley County in a place called Keenapal. It's an industrial development. Why do I know so much about this? Well, unfortunately, my prior employment had to build one of these things I brought brought the power line in it went active on October 24 and from what I understand and the folks that I still speak with down there they're already going for an upgrade it was a little bit bigger than the one that's being proposed if I recall correctly it was approximately 58 megawatts if I'm not mistaken and they're already talking about upgrading adding an additional facility to the one that I was part of building there i say that because everything that all of y'all have talked about tonight is 100 true water pollution noise this is what nobody's talking about and we'll lose what brought people like myself and others here is your peace tranquility and your quiet and everything else you'll lose your convenience i come from a town where four lane highways such as like 70 It's backed up from 15 to 20 miles, taillights in one direction and headlights in the other direction. And you sit and you spend most of your time in traffic. Who wants to spend hours upon hours in traffic? Because this is how it starts, y'all. This is how it starts. They start out something small, and then they grow bigger and bigger and bigger. The next thing you know, you have people like Volvo coming in and saying, promising all these jobs to everybody, and yet 15 to 20% of the workforce is locally. Bowling came in South Carolina promised all these jobs so all these local people are going to get hired less than 30 30 percent of their workforce is local people people from Washington State California Colorado and everything else came in all I can say to this is I applaud the community for coming out and getting a word out but y'all Outside of them raising taxes, what they're trying to do in Nashville right now, this is the hill to die on. I promise you, it is the hill to die on. And to y'all, thank you for letting everybody speak. All I can say to y'all is y'all work for them. If they don't want it, I wouldn't go for it because y'all are replaceable. We're not.

Are you Mike? I'm sorry? Are you Mike? Yes, sir. Welcome to McMinnville. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Karen Kinger, and I hadn't planned on speaking at all tonight, just come to support that we don't want data. And as an older resident of Warren County, been here since the 80s, and hearing all these folks that's moved in just from the 2000s up, where are we at? Where are the older folks at that's lived here? I think we've been, we just take advantage of that or take for granted that we're just always gonna be. And this here is a monster's head that needs to be cut. Like he said, like the gentleman said, it's just gonna keep growing and growing. And when and how do you stop it once the train's going down the track? But I do want to welcome everybody that's moved here recently to Warren County. And I appreciate you all coming out and supporting that we don't want this data center. I have a son and five grandchildren. I don't want them to have no part of this, their water supply not being here for them and stuff. You heard all these folks, they moved here because they've already experienced all this or something even worse maybe, I don't know. But we simply don't want it. And I'm here as an older resident. to say no. Please no. Thank you.

Hello, everyone. My name is Sean Woodley, born and raised here in small town McMinnville, Tennessee. With that being said, this small town does not need an AI data center. We do not need any crypto mining centers. We do not need any big tech ventures here in McMinnville. We've been thriving here since I've been born without any of this. But if you do go through with this, it will skyrocket our bills. Our electric and water bills will go up tremendously. On top of that, our drinking water and air will be polluted and our water pressure will decrease in the homes. These companies will not foot the bill, but us taxpayers will. With all that being said, the members of this community as a whole say no to all of this. With us all saying no, You authorities of power will also say no. If you do not say no and put a stop to all of this, we will know you public servants sold us out and stabbed us in the back. Thank you. God bless you all.

Can I get a quick question real quick while we're on this? The moratorium that you're looking at, is it for 12 months? 18. 18? Can you extend it past that? We'll talk about it in a little while.

Good evening. I really don't have anything to add to the wonderful statistics that have been presented. They were my original talking points, but I do want to make a couple points that I think might be helpful as we continue to process the negative impact of this. I'm from Rhode Island. I've lived here two years. I love McMinnville like everybody else. In the Northeast, we have this type of stuff happen all the time, particularly most recently with telecommunications company and microwave towers and optic fibers and 5G. This is, once they get hold of the community, as has been pointed out, there will be no reversal. It will only continue to expand. You can actually consult Loudoun County, Virginia if you want to actually see the growth of AI centers. They start small and then they cluster and they continue to thrive. But what I wanted to say was, is there a representative from Hickson Data Center here tonight? Because if there's not, that's very concerning that there's no representative to assuage the fears of the evident opposition to this data center. And that has me concerned. There's a whole concern with transparency. There's a concern with a lack of educational effort by those who are coming in. And they should have a concern for the citizenry of the area. The idea that we're going to get some jobs, as has been pointed out, those jobs are going to be quickly replaced by the advancing, accelerating trajectory of AI. So those jobs are gone if they're going to be there in any case. Also, I'd like to point out also that it would be probably wise to go to residents in the area, perhaps Fayetteville, Georgia, find some residents there, have them testify, those who live in the area near the near the data center, have them testify as to whether the presence of the AI data center has been positive to their neighborhood or negative to their neighborhood. I have never heard, as I've looked at YouTube presentations and heard on the news, I've never heard anyone who actually lives near a data center come up and testify, this has been a great thing for the neighborhood. I've never heard anyone say that. I've always heard the opposite. So that would be something, I think, to get actually firsthand testimonial from people who actually lived out what is prospectively going to be the future here. Hopefully not. So I just wanted to make those few comments. The lack of transparency, the lack of an educational effort, if indeed this is so benign. There's no effort to assuage the fears of the citizenry. That's problematic. We also have the acceleration of AI, which any proposed jobs that would be created would quickly eliminate. They'll be supplanted. And we also have the fact that we need some testimony from those who had a real lived experience of what we are confronting. So I simply want to say that. I don't want to see what's happened in the Northeast happen here. And thank you very much for your time. Thanks.

What was your name, by the way, sir? Bard Flynn.

B-A-R-R-F-L-Y-N-N. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Hello. My name is Eric. I moved here from Oregon three years ago. My family homeschools. We participate in community events at the library. We go to plays at the park theater. We spend our money at local restaurants. I even play in a band with Mr. Steve Harvey here. Myself and my family, we invest our time and our love into the people of this town. And that's how it should be, a town for people. My household has already experienced disruption from the rock quarries that are moving into Warren County. If we allow industrial development to continue unthrottled, there will come a time in the near future when people like me will stop coming to McMinnville. If we invite AI data centers into our home, then McMinnville will dry up in more ways than one. It will no longer attract people who care about nature, art, community, music, It will be a dried-up town surrounded by gravel pits, undrinkable water, and 23 jobs. Now, I care a lot about this town, and I will continue to invest myself into the people and its community and not into industries that disproportionately affect billionaires who do not care about us and who do not live here. Your people do not want this. And I will fight to make this a town, first and foremost, for its people. And I hope you all have the courage to do the same.

Good evening. My name is Dale Perry. I am a seventh generation person in Warren County. nieces and nephews that go all the way up to 11 generations in this city. My ancestors were on the first census of 1820. We're very proud to be here. Went to school with Rachel. I look like I just got off a dirty truck. You know, I've been working today and when I heard about this, I thought, gosh, I missed it. I'm so sorry I missed it because I'm very passionate about life in general, just what it is every day to get up and we all watch our children and there's the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren that are growing up here in this town. And when I heard that a data center was coming to McMinnville, I literally could not even believe it. Couldn't even believe that it would be a reference to Warren County. It's not even just the fact that my family's been here over 200 years in this city. There's a lot of history for a lot of folks around here that grew up here. And I'm telling you right now, I'm not the most educated person to be able to give this elaborate speech for you. But I'm telling you, it's gonna make a difference in this city. that can destroy everything that you and I have ever stood for when it's about being a good thing. You know, it's one thing for a factory to come in, but these centers, I have not heard one single word, one good word about these data centers except for what they do to your phone. I'm all about AI, I'm about Because it helps a lot in further information, it's an incredible tool. But guys, you've got the same TV on your wall and in your house that I have. And I've been watching week after week, month after month, of the damage that these things are doing over here in Georgia. These people are turning on their faucets in a $300,000 house and mud water coming up. And the guy said, he said, I want one of the officials to come here to my house and drink a glass of this water. That is a real event. This isn't made up. And you're talking about wanting to put one right over here, what, less than two miles from here? You're talking about not only the noise, the water, everything that the city stands for, the nature, the beautiful mountains. We're a large valley surrounded by the Cumberland Plateau. We have one of the most beautiful basins in the country. My family's been, in the 1950s, I grew up in the nursery industry. The first 13 years of my life, I was a contract tree digger by hand. I grew up in it. My grandfather, this is before they had machines. My parents dug trees that went to the White House. The White House. There's so much history. And I mean, I could stand up and give you stories about the prominence of the family, my ancestors, and go way, way back. But this is real. This is something that you've got to get up every single day and deal with. It's bringing it right here and putting it right in your lap. And I just have not seen one single thing that it's good that the factories do. And it's all genuinely right now, if you watch everything, it's about money. It's all about the money. We don't know the future of this. We don't know what this is actually going to do. I'm so grateful when I heard, because that sounds like people from McMinnville, very well-educated people, people that would want to make a difference. If it's a good thing, the fact that you were going to allow yourself a year to decide on something, is that real? I have to assume that you're telling me the truth because I'm not seeing this on TV when I'm watching these other programs, go to Salt Lake or Utah right now and deal with what they're fixing to deal with. It's going to destroy that whole entire side of the continent. It's going to be unreal. This is real. I mean, I'm a single person.

Mr. Perry, I'll have to move on to the next speaker.

I want to thank you for your time. I just want to tell you, take that year. And find out the research. I haven't heard or seen anything yet that's good about any of it. Not at all. And I can't, I just couldn't even believe that it was even brought up as a reference for Warren County, Tennessee. It just doesn't, it's not even in my mind space to be able to believe that. So, you know, thank you. Appreciate you. Appreciate what you do every day to come to work and make the city a better place. But I'm telling you, if you let that thing come in, they're going to want to do another one further out. Next thing you know, you're going to destroy what's here in this county. And it's going to affect you and your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren. It's going to affect them all. And I appreciate your time and do thank you. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

My name is Adam Wall, and I just want to say thank you for giving me the chance to speak. And thank you to everybody that's come out, and let their voices be heard on this issue. I just wanted to say that this is one issue that I've spoken with as many people as I can in this past week about this data center. This is one issue that's really rare. Everyone that I've spoken with has been in agreement about this. I haven't spoken with one person that supports the building of this data center. So whenever you guys are voting to pass this moratorium or not, I hope that you take into consideration that if you don't pass it and you allow this data center to move forward, that that's being done completely and totally against the will of the citizens of Warren County. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

WE HAVE TWO MORE. OKAY.

HELLO, EVERYONE. MY NAME IS KAYLEIGH WILLIAMS. I USED TO BE THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR THE ROCK ISLAND COMMUNITY CENTER. I HELD DIFFERENT POSITIONS FOR THE ROCK ISLAND LIONS CLUB. AND I'VE LEARNED WHEN SO MANY PEOPLE SHOW UP TO AN EVENT AND THEY'RE SAYING NO, THERE'S PROBABLY A REASON. In the schools of Warren County, we are taught to look at history. If you look online, you can see the effects it has on communities. Why would we consider something like this when you have seen several other towns suffering for something like this? Why are we going to repeat history? I can say without a doubt, people that live in Rock Island would not want to see any environmental harm. And yes, I consider humans a part of the environment. What about the animal control center being built? Animals, especially dogs, can hear very well. Can you imagine being locked in a cage and hearing a high-pitched ring 24-7? I do not, and I think a lot of us believe, this does not benefit or help us grow in the long run. It can hinder the growth, and is it worth it? Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Lori Wardley and I grew up in McMinnville. I'm sorry, I'm really nervous. I just wanted to tell you I live less than five minutes from where this place is going to hopefully not be built. And I want to tell you about my neighbors. My neighbors are older people. They're disabled people. We're not a fancy neighborhood. We're not expensive houses. All of our houses were built in the 50s and earlier. Our neighborhood is full of widows, retired people, and families with little children. This is a place where people walk every day. They walk with dogs. They walk with their kids. They ride bikes. And I just, I'm afraid. I'm afraid for myself, and I'm afraid for my neighbors. Please save our neighborhood. It's worth saving. I fell in my And as soon as I hit the pavement, my neighbor was standing next to me to pick me up on the floor. These are the kind of people that live in this neighborhood. And I don't want to see them suffer. And I know we know all the statistics and everything. But please know that there's real people, real people living in this neighborhood who will have to deal with this. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And we just, I don't know if we can do it.

Thank you. Thank you. Hello. My name is Benjamin Powell, and I was born and raised here in Warren County. 15 plus year IT and also seven years in the Navy. And as someone who could potentially benefit from this, I'll just state that I do not want this for me. Just to give you some metrics tonight, just according to the Hickson's and their website, they will be supplying their own power using a Bloom energy server solid oxide fuel cell. The latest version is 6.5. If you go to the website, you can find the metrics. Based on those metrics, that server itself produces 325 kilowatts of electricity per hour and uses over 2 million BTU of natural gas per hour. So you've heard the number 25 megawatts a lot tonight. That is the IT load. That is not the actual power of the facility. It will require a minimum of 30 megawatts per hour. Now, they'll go... include an additional 10% of that in case for emergencies, so they'll have the capability to probably produce up to 33 megawatts per hour. It'll take 93 of these 325 kilowatt units in order to produce that much power. That's just the 30, that's not including the 33. That is 199 million BTU of natural gas per hour. That is equivalent to 29,000 homes. It uses, it is not a combustion process, but it does use natural gas and oxygen and releases water vapor and CO2. The CO2 is 20 to 27,000 pounds per hour of CO2. It's equivalent of up to 24,000 cars based on average yearly usage. I would also like to state that one of the concerns with this is you've heard people speak tonight about endangered species. This is within, I believe, a mile of Charles Creek, just uphill from it, and there is confirmed garter fish living there. The EPA goes and checks on them occasionally. I know this because my house is right on the creek. So I just hope you take that into consideration. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Cecilia Hunt. I've lived here my entire life. I'm born and raised here. I actually know most of the people here tonight. I know most people who have spoken here tonight. My friends and family are here, people from Rock Island who care this much to say no to data centers. I have recently bought a house at 23 years old, one mile away from where this would be. I've lived in that house for less than one year. I'm already getting the feelings of dread and regret. I mean, if I knew that something like this would even be a possibility, I would have reconsidered. I see most of you every day. I've eaten in town. I bought a house from Ryan Kirby. I mean, I have sung and danced with you and your band. I have taken your kids to dance and theater. And I'm very active in this community. And I would hate for our children and grandchildren and friends to have to wake up every day and hear that noise or drink that water. It's hard to dance and sing and be thirsty after a two-hour show in a park theater and not be able to have access to clean water and no noise pollution. I want to keep McMinnville clean and safe and happy and healthy. And I believe that everybody here in this room tonight hears about that same dream. McMinnville is a beautiful place. It's a clean place. And I think that if you Appeal to your humanities. Don't know. We do not want this. Say no. Think about your children and your friends, the people you break bread with every day. Thank you.

She wants to be laughed at. Oh, okay. Hi. My name is Amber Purcell.

My husband and I have been so proud to be a part of this community for the last seven years. Let me say this is hard for me because I get really terrified to speak publicly.

This is really important.

You don't know me, but we've been here for seven years and this has been the home for us. My husband never had stability. He was just hustled around the country with his father, never felt like a part of a home or community. Same thing with me. The irony of how beautiful this place is, you may have forgot because you're used to it. When I was a teenager, one of those places I was hustled to was a neighboring county, Cannon County. I did not have the wonderful experience there that we have had here. This is a beautiful community and the community is made up of the people. It's not just the scenery, it's the people. I don't wanna see people affected like they're going to be affected. I was so ecstatic because when I lived in a neighboring county as a teenager, I used to come to McMinnville to shop. I used to come cruise the strip. So when we had the opportunity to buy here, it meant something. Now I'm wondering, I'm scared. Did we make the right decision? I hope we did. I really hope we did because this is a wonderful community. And I hope that each one of you realizes the impact that it will make on people, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. And emotions and your mental state also affects your health. So I just hope that you guys really take it all very seriously. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hello. I don't really have a whole lot to say. I just want to say we've seen what these diesliners have done to other small towns in their communities, and we want to be the first town to say no. And we want to be able to be on the right side of history, because like people have said before, we will remember y'all. If y'all don't speak for the people... Y'all are elected. We represent what y'all are. We appreciate everything y'all do. But like they've also said before, this is the first time anybody can remember we've all agreed no. And that's just all we have to say. Thank you.

I hadn't planned on San Quentin. I'm Larry Judkins. I've lived in that neighborhood for 63 years. And that data center is no good. It's just not a good place for it. And I think about the people. You know, that's the one that's going to affect. You've got a nursing home in that area. You've got the hospital, one county middle school. I mean, there's a lot of things to consider. And I appreciate you all having this for me, but I'm...

I'm gonna try to do this and not cry.

Hi, my name is Taylor. I was born and raised here in McMinnville. This is my home and my whole family lives here. Myself, Kai, And Lilia lit a fire under this issue, and it spread faster than I could ever imagine. Over 2,000 signatures on our petition, statewide recognition, podcasts, interviews, and people messaging us daily from all over the country asking how we can help too, or we can help them too. I want to personally say thank you to the citizens of Warren County and to you guys today for hearing us. Change won't happen overnight. This is a drop in the water, but as you know, water ripples. McMinnville has been the example for other rural towns all over the country to pull together, use their voices, and fight back. Someone else said it best, this is the hill to die on. As we close this out, I just want to say, vote yes on the moratorium and keep McMinnville beautiful. Thank you.

If there are no other speakers, we will move into the portion of the meeting where the board will discuss this moratorium. Before we do that, there are four points that I want to touch on. And the first one is about the city trying to open a data center. This proposal, which is an idea on their part, has nothing to do at this point with the city amendment bill. This is not us trying to do this. This would be, hypothetically, a private investment. The second point is about some misleading information in their advertising and website, specifically about partnerships with a local telecom provider. That is not the case. Second is about this project being in the permitting phase. That is absolutely false. The city has issued no permits in this regard. There have been no site studies conducted. There have been no requests for information about zoning or anything like that. So that is a false statement. The third part is about how we got where we are right now. And that is because a major news media outlet irresponsibly put out egregiously false information that lacked major context in this regard. And that is how this was brought to our attention. There were no facts gleaned from this media outlet and they printed that or not printed it. It was on TV without our knowledge. without any facts given by the city of McMinnville. And then lastly, I want to point out how proud I am for each and every one of you coming tonight, but specifically the people who are new residents of McMinnville, somebody who's lived here for three weeks, three years, five years, and then someone who said their family's been here for 11 generations. That goes to show how special and desirable this community is. And we want you to know that we're here to listen to you. So now we will move into discussion about this moratorium. And for the record, unless I have overlooked it somewhere in the ordinance, there's no timeframe listed. So for the record, it needs to be written as 18 months is the period of the moratorium that we're considering. Section 4. It's under Section 4. Okay. OK, I apologize. I see it now. All right, so the ordinance reads, an ordinance of the city of McMinnville, Tennessee, to impose a temporary, and I put in parentheses, 18-month oratorium on the acceptance, processing, and approval of applications for land use, zoning, building, site plans, or conditional use permits for data centers and high-density computing facilities, requiring a study of infrastructure... environmental, acoustic, and utility impacts, providing for exemptions, providing for severability, and to establish an immediate effective date. Is there a motion to approve this ordinance?

So moved.

I have a motion by Ms. Sally Brock. I'll second. Second by Ms. Carrie Youngblood. So are there any questions or points to converse about from any member of the board about this ordinance?

So this is for 18 months, and this just buys us time to further hear and study and learn about this issue and also hear from both sides. I agree with whoever said that there's no one here from the company to not represent them. I mean, I would like to hear from them. I mean, I don't think we'd be doing our due diligence if we didn't hear from both sides. And also, if I understand right, if we didn't pass this moratorium, it could potentially pass without ever coming to us. Isn't that correct? I mean, if it meets zoning codes and all that, I mean, it could be.

It possibly could. So we don't, at this moment, define data centers in the zoning code? WE HAVE SOMETHING THAT WOULD BE VERY SIMILAR TO THAT, WHICH IS DATA PROCESSING CENTERS, WHICH IS ALLOWED IN A TWO-ZONE DISTRICT. THAT IS C3, I1, AND I2. SO IT IS A POSSIBILITY THAT IS A PERMITTED USE. SO ANY PERMITTED USE DOES NOT HAVE TO GO TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION, THE BOARD OF ZONING BILLS, OR THIS BOARD FOR THAT APPROVAL. SO IT IS A SLIGHT POSSIBILITY. IF YOU HAVE AMBIGUITY IN YOUR ZONING CODE, THE COURTS IN TENNESSEE ESPECIALLY HAVE THE ONLY RULE THAT THAT RULE IS IN FAVOR OF THE PROPERTY OWNER, NOT THE CITY. AND SO THIS PUTS A HALF TO THAT. WE WON'T ACCEPT ANY APPLICATIONS. IT GIVES US TIME TO DO THAT. AND IF THIS PASSES TONIGHT, AND THEN WE DO IT THE SECOND READING NEXT WEEK, THEN THIS IS NOT THE END OF THIS CONVERSATION. THIS IS THE VERY BEGINNING OF THIS CONVERSATION, THAT AS A COLLECTIVE, AS A CITY OF PEOPLE TOGETHER, WE CAN SORT THROUGH THIS, SEE WHAT OPTIONS WE HAVE, HOW WE WANT TO MOVE FORWARD, PUTTING VERY DENSE CODES, IF THAT'S ALL WE HAVE, TO LIMIT THIS AND ADDRESS ALL THE IMPACTS, ALL THE CONCERNS THAT EVERYBODY HAS IN AN OPEN DIALOGUE TYPE OF SITUATION. AT THE NEXT BOARD MEETING, I WILL HAVE POTENTIAL DATES AND MEETING SETTINGS TO START TOWN HALLS SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE THESE CONVERSATIONS MOVING FORWARD DURING THAT 18 MONTHS.

WHAT ZONE IS THE

that's true so to answer your question potentially yes all right are there any further questions for discussion public comments over ma'am I apologize

about what about is there a way we can just stop them i mean other places are limited is there a way that we can do that here we can look at that and that's going to be one of the options we're going to look at moving forward we want to make sure we do it legally and wisely if we rush too much

There was a county that did put a ban on. They are currently in litigation right now. And they could lose. If we did that ban and we got taken to court and we lost, and the courts ruled this is a permitted use, they can do it, any stipulation over water use and power use, any of those things would be negated. They would do it and then we're all in trouble. That's the last thing any of us would want. So we are absolutely going to look at that. If we can legally do that, then absolutely. I just want to make sure we move forward in the right manner where we don't end up with something that we don't want. If we did that, all of this is defeated. Nobody wants that. I don't want that. I will speak for the board. I do not believe they want that. So, quick question.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

If this will work for our apostles, it should. You're going to have to do all these studies. Like you said, environmental studies, studies on everything. Heat, Sound, the whole nine yards. You're looking at a lot of money to get an independent party in. It's not with us, not with the people that want to move in. An independent party. It's going to cost a lot of money. These people should be paying that, not people of McMinnville. Not our money. They're going to be paying for all that? WE SEND THEM THE BILL FOR, LIKE, SEE IF THEY'RE KILLING OUR BIRDS OR IF IT'S GOING TO KILL OUR BIRDS, WHATEVER, YOU KNOW, ENVIRONMENTAL SITES?

THEY SHOULD GET THE BILL FOR IT. THEY WOULD BE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT THAT TO US, YES.

OH, THEY WOULD?

OKAY.

YES. SO IF I MAY, TOO, WITH THIS 18 MONTH IS IF WE GET DOWN THE ROAD AND WE HAVEN'T HAD ENOUGH TIME, WE DON'T FEEL WE HAVE ENOUGH DATA, THIS COULD BE EXTENDED AT THE BOARD.

SURE. BUT TO THAT POINT, But to that point, ma'am, please be very careful with the information that you're considering because there are headlines in the news that say... This community banned data centers, but when you actually look at the article, it's imposing a temporary moratorium. So that's what we're aiming to do right now. Again, for everyone in the room who's listening across the hall and at home, this is not a ban. This is a temporary stay on receiving any kind of permitting or requests in these regards while we all collectively figure this out. So if there are no further questions or discussions, we will call for the vote.

Sally Brock. Yes. Carrie Youngblood. Yes. Deitra Dunlap. Aye. Steve Harvey.

Yes.

Rachel Kirby. Yes. Carrie Morton. Yes. And Mayor Tristan.

Aye. Motion passes unanimously. With nothing further to come in this special call meeting, we will stand adjourned. Thank you all for coming.