Redevelopment Commission - Regular Meeting

recording. We are recording. I got to wait for Andy. Give us a minute or so, folks. We're We're waiting for another port. There it is. Stand for the pledge, please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome uh everybody to the Porter

County Redevelopment Commission meeting uh March 25th, 2005. Um, we are going to service our agenda and at the end of the agenda, I understand that there's many people here that like to ask a question or two about uh this. So, this this uh data center business. So, we'll get to you. We should get get through this this agenda pretty quickly, so you won't have a real long uh start with the roll call. Jim Bigs here. Andy Vasquez present. Jason Gillian here. Bill Herring here. Ralph Nep. Andrew Malleta here. You have a quorum, sir. Thank you. Uh consent agenda. Mike. Uh before we go that I believe we had one member maybe not here last time. Mr. Gill, were you here last? I was not. All right. Why don't we go ahead and get official? Go ahead. Please raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I state your name. I, Jason Gilliana, do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Indiana and the Constitution of the State of Indiana and I will faithfully, honestly, and impartially I will faithfully, honestly, and impartially discharge my duties discharge my duties as an as a member of the Redevelopment Commission of Porter County, Indiana. as a member of the Development Commission for Port County, Indiana. According to law, according to the law, to the best of my skill and ability. To the best of my skill ability. To help you God. Help you God. Bill Der. Sorry, Mr. President. You do have your official now. Now, the consent agenda, Mike. Okay. Before you in your packet, you have the

uh minutes from the February 25th, 2025 RDC meeting. You have financial reports, accounting fall or uh balances and then you have the approval of claims which are very few recommend approval. So move second. We have a motion for approval as well as a second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, same sign. Motion approved. New business or financial report? That's yes, the annual report. Um, every year you have to approve uh prepare and uh approve an annual report with me. I've got our consultant Dan Bodic. Uh, he will explain what's before you for your consideration. Good afternoon, commissioners. I apologize my voice. The my allergies got to me. So, it's been a long day. Uh, but that's a nice thing. That means spring is coming for me. uh before you and I had it uh I did provide to Mike as well as Susan for your pack and review. There is a I can provide mine if you'd like. Commissioner, would you be so? Yeah, I have it on microphone so I can go through. Nope, he's got one. Okay, thank you. Is the 2024 annual report and redevelopment commission? It is required under IC 36-7-14 section 15 by April 15. Uh it is required that there are a number of items that are reported for the DLGF gateway tip management platform in that and is included under section number one. Uh the names of qualified and acting commissioners for fiscal year 2024, names of the officers of the commission, number of regular employees and fixed salaries or compensation, the amount of expenditures made during the preceding year and their general purpose and accounting of tax increment revenues, the amount of funds on hand at

the close of the calendar year and other uh information necessary to disclose the activities of the of the commission. This is all included in the report. Uh under section three, you will see all the statutory requirements are being met. uh members and officers. It shows each commissioner when they were appointed, their appointing authority, the including the uh non- voting member for the Portage Township School Corporation that serves within unincorporated areas of Porter County. the commission office officers that were um that held office last year from January 30th through December 31st, 2024 identifies the treasurer as the county auditor as the fiscal officer by statute. Section number five, any standing committees. There was only the commission did not establish any standing committees, but there was however the commission did establish and launch the Porter County redevelopment commission business council. We've identified those members that were appointed at that time. So there are a number of individuals from the townships that that business council the intent of the business council was for communications of land use development and business development throughout unincorporated portage uh unincorporated Porter County. Section number five is the commission meetings. There were a total of 12 regular meetings, one per month last year. I apologize. There is a title. There is total meeting says 30. It should read 12. Uh we identified the dates of those meetings. Uh and and whether they were a regular meeting, special meeting, study session or executive session, they were all regular meetings. Commission staff, the commission did not retain or engage any staff. So there were no salaries. uh under professional services and vendors,

they are identified and under this section, a total of $71,8606 were uh spent on professional services and identified by the type of professional service and the company name. Under vendors, it was a total of $82,54123. Once again, identified by company, the vendor service, and the fees that were paid. Uh, last year for your resolutions, the action was one resolution, 20 202401. It was a resolution to approve your capture notice, which is required annually to the Porter County auditor. Under number number section number nine, your fiscal goals for 2024 were developing the Porter County Redevelopment Commission Business Council, economic development, local economic development organization outreach and education, which included uh presentation by Rex Richards as the president of the Valpreso Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation, and an official tour of the St. Joseph County redevelopment projects. uh for commissions commission members. In addition, there was uh attendance and sponsorship of the rail summit 2024 in the city of Chicago in conjunction with the Velpreso Economic Development Corporation. There was an identification of potential grants available through the office of community and rural affairs, okra, a Porter County broadband survey and the Porter County land use and transportation plan update uh which eventually uh worked with uh and determined to work with and engaged MKSK Inc. of Indianapolis to prepare an update. Individual redevelopment projects included project Rivi which is south of Hebrin and uh additional work

and strategy for economic development the South Haven allocation area. Uh new initiatives that were included were the south and were the South Haven education and worker trainer training grant program and a residential housing development program identification which was not ultimately confirmed or declared or confirmed by the U commission. Next on the list was a summary of commission funds report for 2024. Your redevelopment general fund started with the balance uh on January 1st, 2024 of it had receipts of 1 point I'm going to round up here $1,382,55. Had capital expenditures of $184,954 with an ending balance on December 31st of $1,197,550. It is my understanding that those dollars were transferred from the county's general fund from local option income tax dollars. The South Haven allocation area fund was distributed. It started with the balance of zero. It was distributed $11,532.64 and there were no expenditures. The uh the county redevelopment commission does not have any issued obligations for which there is a pledge of tax increment or a or a tax levy on a redevelopment district bond. Under section number 12, a county of tax increment revenue, the redevelopment commission did pledge $957.77 for the South Haven TIFF school grant program. However, to my knowledge, those funds were never issued to any school corporation, but were pledged

towards a uh towards the uh educational and institutional education of students in the global economy. Uh section number 13, the distribution of tax increment revenue. You can see that the distributions in this on June 11th and December 10th totaled $6,385.13 and um for December was $5,14751 which totaled out to the 11,632. There is one allocation area that is declared and confirmed. Uh under exhibit B is a list of all the individual components but it is known as and identified as the South Haven allocation area for tax increment revenue purposes. It is identified as TIFF number 18 Porter County South Haven T64632 for DGF coding purposes. A map is included in appendix C of the allocation area and contact information is Mike Jabbo, the executive director of the development and storm water management department as the executive director as well as the acting staff person for the redevelopment commission. Appendix A is a detail of the funds uh showing what is available by redevelopment fund, local grants, distributions, other resource, land and building rental and total of transfers. Again, the year started out with a bidding beginning balance of zero and ended with1,353,955. Um, and as far as other funds, we've identified uh other funds of $4,220 with expenses, which ties out to your

$1,197,550.81 of available funds for fiscal year 2025. Under the exhibit B all the individual components uh there there were a total of 114 parcel counts or individual components. The total gross assessed value was $22.5 million. The net assessed value after exemptions, deductions and credits was 20,11,000. The base assessment which is the AV that is included in each overlapping taxing units net certified AV is 19 million4,812. The redevelopment captured increment of $696,68 which was then translated into the $11,000 that became your tax increment distribution. And finally on exhibit C, you will find the map of the South Haven allocation area for your purposes and identification. Uh this report once presented and motion for approval. It's not required to be approved by resolution. Uh into the minutes will be uploaded into the DLGF gateway tiff management system for public viewing as well as to meet the statutory requirements. Chair will entertain a motion. Move to approve. Second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed same sign. And if Mr. President, yes. Uh in addition to this by uh for the subsequent meeting in April, we'll have your capture notice prepared that is due June 15th. So we'll have that in early. And number three is an overlapping

taxing unit presentation to all the overlapping tax units. It is an a bridged version of this annual report. It is due by December 31st, but normally we do that in May. Get it out of the way. We frontload everything so that you're more than timely on all your reported filings. And lastly, I do want to thank the U office of the auditor uh Dave Wishlinsky who provided all the financial information backup information as well as Susan Hail who put the information together and really was uh did a yman's job in putting the information together to be more efficient as well as Mike Jen sitting down and filling in any details that were necessary. So, thank you. Thank you, Dan. Approval of claims. I think we're in item 2B. Chair will entertain a motion. So move. I have a second. We have a motion as well as We have a motion for approval as well as a second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed same sign. Motion approved. Excuse me, Mr. President. The motion was on which item? Uh the claims. Oh, claims. Okay, very good. New business and report. Dan, I believe you should gave that right. Mhm. Professional services agreement to uh contract Barnes and Thornberg LLP for special council services for 2025. Mike, could you explain? This is an as needed contract only when needed to supplement current council uh Barnes and Thornberg, specifically Tom Pitman is pretty much

regional expert on uh TIFF allocation areas and other matters such as what you deal with. We do have our South Haven tip area is our goal this year to see what we can do to kickstart that area. That that is a foreseeable task that we could have him do when needed for his staff to supplement. Um and that is the purpose of doing much of the same as we got Dan Bodichin to help us with our financial uh report and uh uh consulting. I don't know if attorney mcclur would like to add any color to that as well as needed and is that the direction of the board standard there questions by board this is just a single year contract that is correct chair will entertain a motion so moved. Second. We have a motion for approval. Well, as a second all those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, same side. Abstain. Motion approved. Um, commission member comments. If we have one other piece of business, what is that? Uh the last meeting we had a discussion amongst the board members especially a lot of a couple of the new ones here about whether to change the schedule of the meeting. Sometimes this meeting historically since I've been here the year meetings always same night at the council meeting right before sometimes they do have their foundation meetings which does put a push on this meeting. Um I'm just simply giving you some dates that are available for your

consideration. We can continue the that's already published or may decide if you want it page. I leave it up to you and board members. If I may, Mr. President, um, one of the problems is that every quarter we have the foundation meeting and this meeting and then some the county council meeting right afterwards and if the meeting run long, we do a disservice of those who were willing to comment at the end of the meeting at the county council end. So, I had asked at the last meeting if there was a possibility of changing the day or be putting this a little bit earlier. There's something to think about. It doesn't have to be in stone. We'll we'll have to learn how to deal with it if it uh stays the same. Well, I think you make two good points, Andy, in that we our council meetings are always on a Tuesday and and our uh foundation meetings are on a Tuesday. wish of the board to move this off Tuesday might take a look at it throw some dates. There's a memo the last page of your packet. I went and looked at the calendar when this room was available. I found four uh consistent days. First Monday of the month, fourth Monday of the month, first Wednesday of the month, and the second Thursday of the month. The first Mondays of course got some Monday holidays, but you can easily schedule out that. These are for 4:30 in the evening. Um, they are pretty much wide open if that's what you want to do or I can go look for some other date. And just reminding the council, I'm only one person. So, whatever you guys decide, I'll go with that's all there is to it. Your feelings brain surgery. Let's pick a date. So, we're not I I'll just say for

me, I know I'm an outing member, but Mondays are tough for me because those are the days that we have the city has our plan commission meeting and I have two schoolboard meetings on Monday evenings. So, I'm good any other time or moving this meeting up, but Mondays uh are not good for me. So, what's everybody's uh opinion about the second Thursday of each month? Works. It works. Works. I think so. We'll need it in the form of a motion since this uh Mr. President like to make a motion that we move our meeting to Thursday. The second second Thursday. I I apologize. Second Thursday for the RDC meeting at 4:30 at 4:30 for each month. Each month for calendar year 25 for each for each month calendar year 2025 after today. Okay. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion for approval to select the second Thursday of each month as our meeting date and we have a second uh supporting that motion. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, same sign. Motion approved. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, now we've reached our public comment section. Uh just uh you show me a a a raise of hands of who would like to make comment. Just raise your hand. Okay. Not not too many. Okay. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to give you um I'm not big on giving people two or three minutes to speak. I'm going to give you the time you need to speak, but please don't abuse it. Um, so if you come up, state your name, where you live, and uh we'll start there. So microphones here. We got a microphone here and you got a microphone

there. Who would like to come first? Oh, come on now. All right. That's right. That's right. No, it needs to be turned on, sir. All right, thank you so much. John Hunter, 255 East US Highway 6, Valparezo, Indiana, representing Union Township Schools, 599 West, 300 North, Swed Valparezo, Indiana. Obviously, we're here because we want to know more about what's going on with the data centers. There's there's pros and cons to data centers. We recognize that. Uh we are concerned about the columns specifically from a school standpoint. Uh one of the potential locations of this is just over the railroad tracks directly to the north of our middle school high school. Obvious that c obviously that causes us great concern due to uh traffic uh concerns that may may appear environmental concerns, noise concerns, uh emissions of gas, the amount of electricity and water that's required for data centers. Uh, but I'm also going to say because of potential tip districts that could be uh given or tax payments that could be given to the company that's presenting data centers. Obviously, that has a direct financial impact on school corporations. If you're following the Indiana legislature at all, you can see that not only county governments, but schools are going to potentially be harmed by some of the legislation that's going to already impact our operations funding. So we would also like consideration of that. Uh and finally I would just say uh

as an initial discussion point if if we were here today to build school and we wanted to do that near an industrial area. I am sure that because I've been before this board on several occasions that you would have lots of questions about why we want to put a school next to an industrial area such as a data center. I respectfully request that you have the same considerations about why you would want to put a data center that close to a school. Thank you. [Applause] before I think this will help everybody too before we have our next person to speak a little bit. Mike, here. Can you hear me now? Before before we have another person speak, what I'm going to ask I think this will help everybody. I'm going to have the executive director of the planning commission, Mike Jabbo, to to briefly explain the process here of of how this case is going to be heard, not by this body, uh, but by the plan commission. So, Mike, if you could please. Okay. First to set the record straight, it was a land owner who m put put in a petition to change the zoning of their land to allow obviously a construction of a data center. Everybody has a right. They can submit that in, but it's not automatically granted. It has to go through a step process according to our unified development ordinance and more specifically the Indiana code that addresses. And that first stop is of course our office to make sure they satisfied all our unified development ordinance conditions. And then after that when it's fully vetted for that it goes to the plan commission. The plan commission is the only one that'll hear that

initially. It won't be the council as it is in the cities and towns. In county government it's a little different. The council is a uh fiscal body and the commissioners are the legislative bodies. The planning commission serves to make recommendations to the commissioners. So ultimately this question will be put before the commissioners. But first according to Indiana code it must go through the planning commission. Some of you are in government and totally understand that process. There's been no petition to the RDC or the council for any kind of financial incentives or anything to our knowledge and therefore at the council uh has really no stake into this thing until such time as that occurs which will all be public. The process for it according to the Indiana code is very robust in its public involvement process both at the commissioner level as well as the starting level of the plan commission. It is required. no decisions can be made unless there's a robust public hearing process which we always do on all our cases that appear before going for an ordinance. So, uh just so the public may know and for the press that are here I see there will be a public involvement process where everybody will get a chance to speak and they will all be heard so that the case can be weighed in a proper way according to to the code and to our ordinances. All right. Thank you, Mike. Now, just one more uh I'm going to ask the county attorney or the board attorney here um to give an explanation is why can't the county just kill this thing? Just make it disappear. The most simple answer is that we all as American citizens have due process. That larger term or legal meaning simply means that everyone uh in this room or anyone in this county can

request or apply uh for a given uh request. In this case, it's a reszone. Everyone has that opportunity. Everyone has the has the right, excuse me, has the right for that process to be uh fulfilled. And then as that process goes through at that point in time, there's a decision at the end. But uh the county doesn't have any individual authority to stop a petitioner or a land owner from making a request. it's incumbent upon the county to process to process that request uh fully and legally bring it to the board in which we'll make the decision and allow that board to have all of the information in front of it uh so that it's ready to make that decision whatever it may be. So ultimately the due process allows anybody and we do not have the ability to stop them at the beginning. The ability for us is to process the application, gather the information, get it to the board, and have the board make the decision. Thank you, Scott. Who's the next speaker? Yes, sir. State your name, please. And you don't have to give your house address. Hi, my name uh I'm Balo. I was right next to the last data center proposal. Oh, yeah. I was I live right next to the last data center data center proposal. Um I'm sorry I'm not used to public speaking. I normally sit in the back and bus but industry and everything take its place. Um and I feel that I I greatly appreciate everything that you guys have done and um everything will make changes because I think a lot of people here feel that the people have been treated unfairly. A lot of us don't know the

processes. I appreciate you guys putting people first, letting us speak, feeling our concerns. That's that's why we elected you guys. And we know that we know that you're not making these decisions, but you represent us and you talk to these guys all the time. And obviously, not only Berts Harbor, Chesterton, and Valerezo, we've all had a big unlike that I'll say of this for a lot of reasons. Okay. Um, very big on everything in America, like you guys just stated, which I greatly appreciate that everybody's got their own right to do their own thing, but we all know how business and government works and especially what just happened in Valpo. I'm not making any accusations, but it seemed really fishy and a lot of bad stuff came out of all that. And I hope that none of that happens here with you guys. And obviously, there's a lot of people here that are outraged. When it was next to my house, I was outraged, too. This is on the completely other end of the city. I still consider those people my neighbors and you people are representing them and we're talking three of possibly the biggest cities I'd have to do my research in Porter County that were absolutely outraged. Um I personally got 200 people who signed up for yard signs against the one in one week. That's a strong statement. Uh, I think everybody here, as you just said, you're not voting on this, but you talk to these people. You do business with these people every single day. And I normally don't come to these county meetings, but I don't think you get a turnout like this. Do you guys? No. Typically, no. So, and this just started. And by no means am I threatening or anything. You guys are doing great by trying to control and be transparent with the Valpo uh stuff. There's people that have requested documents like you were just talking about. They're being blocked and denied. They're just asking for the estimates on the park and stuff and I feel as an

American we we're just asking for the transparency and the people they're terrified. The guy from the school that is a huge concern. We I I feel that these things I welcome large industry to the area creating jobs. Business is a give and take. You have to give up some environmental issues or whatever. We can debate on but you have to give back and the governor, the house and the senate just passed I don't know the bill but uh requiring the people are eventually going to pay for all these upgrades to the grid and everything. Okay. Are you going to bring a bunch of value to our community? I feel that these companies are only threading the needle through the loopholes and extorting the facts of the people because they're giving the tax abatements. Well, if they're not bringing money to the area, it's nothing but negative. You know, look at your computers. After three or five years, you got to go get a new computer. What do you think these big ones are have? By the time their tax abatements are up, they're gone. So, they're just why don't they build them 50 miles south where nope. Unfortunately, there's always somebody want to be involved. And as politicians, you guys need to draw the line. Well, how many people can this affect or whatever? That's a very hard decision. One of the reasons I'm not a politician. I don't want that burn on my shoulders. So just the school alone, I feel that this thing, and you're right, they can go do whatever they want. But we're urging you to make sure because from what I've heard, and I don't know, but there's only three or five people that actually can put a stop to this once they go through the whole due process. Three. That's why these people are terrified. There's three people that as everybody The government has a lot of problems and it'll never be perfect. We get it. But you guys have represented us and you work with them and all of these people are terrified that it's up to

these three people after all of this work comes through that whether it's money grab whatever extorting all the loopholes. The citizens paying for the upgrades to the grid to bring in new industry. Great. I just heard Hyundai is bringing jobs to the United States building a huge plant. You're going to put that there. If the school wasn't there, you'd probably have me all on board. But there's not a lot of people that work at these things and mostly security guards. The people that do work them are probably far away. They're not giving back. It's only take. It's not give and take. And I feel that that's why everybody here is so outraged that we all took time out of our day to come here. And we're terrified that those three people are going to make the wrong decision just for test selling out the people's health, the environment, the the list goes on. So that's and why just for the kids in that school, the noise I've worked I've been in every single steel mill up here. I've been in GM stamp brand uh stamp press facilities, Chrysler. My family was a oversized trucking company. I no longer work there. when I started my own business, but that stuff's not good by people. Now, if they were paying for the grid upgrades and like we can go through all of that, they weren't just leeching off of the people and they were putting in a great spot. You might have me on board for data centers, but every single one here that's happened just in Porter County, much less across the United States, it is extremely questionable. Thank you. Thank you, guys. And folks, I ju I I filled the the mention that we have a county council meeting after this meeting. So, let's try to keep it, you know, so keep things

uh rolling. And I just want to clarify you mentioned uh eventually if everything goes through as as it may uh eventually becomes it comes in front of your border county board of commissions which I am a member of uh we don't have the other two are not here um and we will hear we during that process I'm positive well we're doing it right now we're going to hear from you uh our emails and our phone numbers are published. Uh you can reach out to us at any time. Um the only thing I I do is to ask you is this is please let this process take place because it's going to take place whether I don't like it or whether you don't. It's going to it's going to have to happen. Let's see what we can learn by it. We may at the end of the day it may be crystal clear that we don't want this in our economy. I don't know. I know I know basically what you know at this point and u but on the other side is wouldn't that be a wonderful thing if it is a good thing for our county that some of the fears that we have are not founded I don't know they may they may very well be founded I don't know yet but let's it's due process according to this constitution of the state of Indiana they get their debt so let's all keep Keep that in mind. And if and again, if you have any questions, uh the commissioners meet every three weeks. You're you're you know, you're entitled to come in and ask us questions anytime you want or call us or email us or text messages. I get all three of those right now. So, a few more are going to make a difference. Who else would like to speak? Yes, sir. Oh, I'm sorry. speed.

What? Yeah, if you could if you could come up here and that way you're ready. We speed this up a little bit. I'm sorry. Go ahead. That's okay. Thank you. Uh my name is Melissa Reid. I live in Center Township in Balpo. Um hello, Mr. Vasquez. Um can can you hear? Can it be turned up? No, just put it close to your mic. I can't I can't eat it. Um I have a couple of questions. Um, maybe that's just me being quiet. Sorry, I'll be loud. Um, my dad always said I was anyway. So, um, as to a deadline of due process, um, for the county attorney, um, in an email I sent, uh, to, uh, Mr. Biggs and the other council members, the township people, the city council people, and ask them to forward that to other boards, the school boards. Um, I I asked you for a pause um because this is a huge uh endeavor and it's probably going to be the biggest money deal that goes down in Porter County since the mills or since one of the mills. So, the tactic being rush rush rush of these companies and this one in particular. Um, I'd like to know as a pause button um in interfering with that due process that you're required to give everybody. Are we doing a question and answer? You don't have to answer. That's just that's just I'm going to allow it. I think it's a it's a legitimate question. Scott, if you can, we'll go ahead. There's a there's a statuto requirement that I believe when we plan com by statute when the plan commission is in receipt of a completed application I believe we have 30 or 45 days it's 30 30 it's either 30 or 45 days it must go to plan commission

okay so I guess the easy answer is no we can't pause okay that um information and I was the person that put the written um Freedom of Information Act request out there. All of those completed applications are dated February 20th. So, we should see that meeting in a couple of weeks. I don't want to get into a game of semantics, but the plan commission staff have to deem it complete before it moves forward. Okay? Just because a developer or a landowner submits an application, that doesn't mean it's completed. Okay? there are there are no check boxes checked on it from staff. So that makes sense. Um uh I believe we were notified by one of these council members, a commission member through one of the adjacent land owners. Um, and in my email to some people here, I I believe what I said was for a company to come in and choose a location next to a school, pretty much making any other adjacent land not suitable for anything else other than the same industrial use. Does that not speak volumes as to their character to choose a location by a school? Um, I I just don't know that people understand this company is a $140 billion company about ready to get set with cash from a Wall Street IPO. So, it's very possible they do this without asking you for handouts. And I just want people to be aware that I'm I'm shaking right now and it's not near my yard because I don't know that anybody is convinced in the government that the intention is clearly bits and pieces zoning because once you take a 100 acres

what do you do with the next door neighbors and it'll end up or 800 or thousand acres and then the school will be really stuck and it will you know people will move right now. The one owner and in their ordinance they want these buildings 120 ft plus a 20ft parapit wall for 140 ft height. Three Walmarts tall, 50 foot setback surrounding in a C-shape around a nice little three-bedroom, two-car garage ranch house on a couple of acres. I don't know if you've all seen the movie Up. It's a cartoon movie. the old guy in the house floating up with balloons. But that's what this proposal looks like and that's what I mean by it speaks to their character. And I think everybody needs to be aware that they don't care coming in here about any of us. And when you have a one-sided negotiation, you have to filter it through. Is anything they say really true? And will any of it come to fruition in a harmless way? And then the amount of money that they've told you that you should be able to reap once you do sewage bonds. I'm going to say something and it's going to upset people. You don't. But no, I I I will. Uh on June 2024 meeting, a member, non- voting member was heard hot mic saying, "Well, tell those Chesterton data people to come over here. We'll have the zoning all ready for them. But I'd like to know what the level of expertise is to realize that this zoning is not light industrial. These are new creation from 2022. They've just built the first ones in 23 and 24. No effects of these have been studied. They're such a big scale and I don't think Porter County has any business becoming their lab rat.

So, um I just I just want you to know that that's that's what we are feeling as a county, even people that it doesn't affect. And thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. [Applause] Say your name and where you Kevin Roberty 336 North 375 West in Bel. I'd like to start by saying that I think Porter County is a great place to live. Agree. And I think Union Township is a great place to live and it's not some place that you land by accident. I grew up in Union Township, graduated from Wheeler. As soon as I could, I came back. I've got a 16-month old daughter and I was tickled to death to see her become a Bearcat. And thinking about this type of a development directly bordering the schools feels unconscionable to me. To the point made earlier, data centers are new. I'm not against any progress. I'm not against any construction, but I'm not interested in running this experiment a quarter mile from where my kids spend seven hours a day. I understand this process and I respect that process. I don't want to interrupt the process. You guys have to work through this throughout all the appropriate channels. What I'm concerned about is the end. I think that in Border County, the residents have spoken briefly. We had a proposal on Birch Harbor and there was outrage. We had a proposal in Chester and there was outrage. There was a proposal on Bel Union Township doesn't have the numbers that Chesterton or Bel has, but there's still outrage and we deserve to be heard

just like everyone else. So, while I respect this promise, I would encourage you to continue to listen to your constituents as you did with the Men Solar when we say this is not something that we want in our backyards. I would appreciate your Thank you. Who the question who who who was your dad? Scott. Yeah. I think I went to high school. Did you go he graduated from Portage 77? Yeah. Yes. Yes, ma'am. All right. I don't Is it on? It should been on. It seems very quiet and I'm a very loud talker. There you go. Okay. All right. I'll try and hold this real tight. Okay. All right. I don't have a great grand speech prepared for today. It'll be coming. Don't you worry. Um I know we're in the very beginning stages. I know this isn't even on currently the agenda. So today I just have a couple of questions. Um my biggest question is who is Barnes and Thornberg and why are we bringing them in? You guys are saying we're bringing us in only for a tiff issue in South Haven. Is that correct? Yes. Yes, ma'am. Okay. because they also have represented multiple hypercentered dat hyper scale data centers in Indie and Monrovia. So to me that's a big red flag and I don't like how that looks. Um I also am a little biased probably or burned on this process in general. Um because I know some of you in here know me from this. I know Jim probably knows me from this. I have been fighting tooth and nail against the Willow Creek extension. Have it what you will. I understand it would be great if you didn't live there, but some of us live there. So, um, one of the big concerns that we had with that, which that project is still not even propo or not even complete. I know it's probably a done deal. Um, I'm going to keep

fighting it though. Um, but we were also promised that on either side for a mile on either side of that road there would be an overlay. And obviously that was Bob Thompson still happened. Mike I have already talked to and he has agreed that he would um respect our wishes on that. So we wanted to keep even if that highway did split our farms in half and our homes in half, we did want to keep that area residential and agricultural as possible. And here we are, that project's not even done. And now we have an industrial park in our backyard, which is the extreme opposite. I think any of us would rather have a Walmart instead of a data center next to us if that's what we really had to choose between. So, um, I mean, like I said, I'm a little scorned on that topic in general because I know what it's like when the county keeps telling us, "Oh, don't worry. Don't worry. There's nothing yet. There's no information. This is down the road. This this committee doesn't even have anything to do with it, but I know there's internal discussions. I know there's stuff going behind closed doors." And you're getting your ducks in a row so that when we do actually have that information, then we're hit with a brick wall and then it's useless. I can't do anything. you guys already have all the information inside that you need, but you didn't give it to us. Um, so it just puts us at a huge disadvantage. We're already at a huge disadvantage in this scenario in general. So, like I said, it's something I personally am a little scorned about. I know there is a lot of issues with allegedly there are issues with our revenue in this county and I understand that this is a big revenue maker. The only thing I did look when I looked online there was a lot of information missing. Um, so if someone is able to provide some type of is there some type of financial information we can find for 21, 22, or even 24. I know it's not posted yet, so I don't know if anyone is able to give us that information so that we could compare and see if we're supposedly in trouble, what trouble

we're looking at. Um, and then really, uh, last but not least, like I said, I know there's a lot. I've sent I sent an email today. Um, to me, this is killing an entire community. This is not just I mean, at what cost? You know, um, the old adage, money doesn't buy happiness, money doesn't buy everything. Um, so yes, there can be some perks. I'm sure this Statican Center can bring. I just think it's in the wrong spot. Um, personally, uh, this, and people take this the wrong way all the time, but why is some place like Gary not being considered? I mean, Gary has the power resources that they need right there. Gary has the highways they need right there. Gary has an airport right there that they need. Gary is closer to Chicago that they say they need. Literally, they have all of these things. What does Wheeler, Indiana have to do with any of that? It does not have those things. So if they want those things, those things will come. And that is a whole different animal in itself. And like you said, that's just something we're worried that it essentially comes down to three people at the end of the day to to determine our fate. So just there will be more to come from me, but for now, that's all I have. So appreciate. Thank you. Yes, sir. Yes. My name is Kyle Dwarte. I also went to Wheeler. uh bought my first home in Wheeler. Um I in that three bedroomedroom couple eight house that is right in the middle. So obviously uh pretty heavily impacted by this decision. Um, I was going to touch on the Willow Creek stuff as well, but obviously that's been uh already discussed a little bit, the overlays and how this massive bill would uh no longer keep us residentially zoned.

Um, obviously you have your power consumptions, water consumptions, um, your noise, your backup generators. All these generators have to run for maintenance weekly on most occasions. If you have 500 generators that run weekly, well, by the time you get to the end of the generators, guess what? You got to start back over. So, that's all noise pollution, air quality pollution right next to your school, right next to me. Um, and all the residents that are here. Um, uh, h the hypers scale data size is it's pretty massive. I know people that work in the new car out and it's um amazed. I mean it's it's impressive and terrifying at the same time. Um I've seen that uh I am empower um was saying that these hypers scale data centers uh by 20 uh by 27 will use 50% more than the 420,000 residents residential residents that they serve. Um the power densities have doubled in the last two years and they're projected to double again in the fall the next two years from now. Um so none of that obviously going to stay the same. It's only getting bigger and worse. Um the other thing it's talked about so much is the revenue from uh Indiana residents on average pay 14.42 42 cents kilowatt hour while industrial pace happen. Um I don't see how it's fair for a massive multi multi-million dollar company to come in and be charged half of what someone making $100,000 $80,000 whatever the

case is half of what their energy costs them. Um I just kind of like to finish up with a quote here. Um, some of you guys may recognize it. Um, it was one of the better quotes that I have heard of politicians say in a long time. And it goes as follows. And do we really want to take away the choice of our local community? We serve the citizens of Porter County and we never want to serve anyone else's interest because that is who elected us. We do not have power. We have authority given to us by those who elected us for these positions. So, let's serve him 100%. And if the local people don't want something, then by God, we better pay attention. Thank you, guys. Jim, what you Oh. Any anybody else like to speak? Go ahead and step up over here. I'll try and make this uh kind of quick. Uh my name is David Heyman. I Valparezo. Like several others that have spoken today. I grew up here. Uh Jim, you and I spoke via email yesterday. Mr. Vasquez, we spoke on the phone. I appreciate you guys reaching back out. I think that's important. Um, I'm hoping that you guys can talk with other commissioners that they should be just as communicative as you guys are. Um, one of the things I wanted to bring up was, Mr. Vasquez, when we were uh, talking on the phone yesterday, you told me that you were unaware of the uh, contract for Barnes and Thornbo uh, is is that still accurate? That that is why

I abstained in my vote. Okay. Is that um uh common where somebody on the redevelopment commission is unaware of a vote uh of something that's as important as this? Is that is that common or do you guys have discussions prior to vote? May I answer that? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. I'm new to the commission. Okay. And I've been answering a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails. When people ask me a question, I deal with it as soon as I can. Uh as and I mean like I called you. Yes. The other uh Don there, Melissa as well and a bunch of others even some even though uh I talked to them. I was being called a liar and a few other things. But for me, I was looking at the packet today and I got a call from I'm gonna blame Mr. bigs here and he wanted to talk to me and I said I'm reading some of my emails and I just started reading some of the things that I needed to be and prepare for today. So I got this I believe Wednesday maybe last week last week but I've had about 130 phone calls that I've addressed and that is my fault in regards to not knowing this material and I was reading it while we were sitting here and that's why I abstained both. Yes, it's not normally the case where the members of this body are not getting this material and reading it, but I thought it'd be better if I addressed yours and everyone else's talk to me. And believe it or not, I got one call at 11:40 at night, but I talked with that individual, okay? Because I know everybody's concerned, but in order for me to uh say yes to this particular thing, I would have had to read it. And having not read it, I voted abstain. That's why, sir. I appreciate your honesty. I really do. and I appreciate that you have um I think that you know obviously like you said you're new to the court and like you I told you on the phone I am I am

very new to local politics and that's that's shame on me. Uh I I should be more involved. Um something else that I've I've read and again I don't want to get off on tangent but I've read and spoke to uh individuals about is these solar farms that you've discussed tonight. Uh it's made very clear that the commissioners have made a point that no solar farms, but is that not against the due process rule? I mean, can the commissioners come out and say, "Hey, we are not going to do solar farms, but we're going to still open up an opportunity for data centers. Um would a potential solar farm uh submitted application petition for an application?" You would have to give them that due process by law. But you guys have made it very clear. We don't want solar farms. Our constituents don't want solar farms. We're not going to have them. Obviously, it's a like Kevin Rybert already said over here, it it's clear that nobody in Porter County wants these things. When is the commissioner or the commissioners going to take that same stance as they did on solar farms? Let me let me answer that real quick. Yes. Um the board of commissioners have not come out with a a statement uh that we're we are not going to allow solar farms. Now I have made personal statements in the over the last year or two that I don't like and but I I do not represent as an individual porta county board of commissioners. Um if if someone wanted to come in and apply to to put a say a solar farm in Morgan Township, they can apply. Now, whether or not they get it or not is another is another, you know, story. They have that right. Uh we haven't we haven't put a moratorum on and several several

counties have done that. They put a moratorum on u uh solar farms in their county and we have not done that. Uh but uh we took it we took a different route with it is that um if if and I think it almost touches on a couple of things that some of the people have said tonight. If we are going to allow that allow that it needs to be in the right place and it it has to be clear whether it's on paper or whether you whether you're you're speaking about it verbally that's clearly in the best interest of our county to let it in. If you if you got to take five or six hard looks at it, it's probably not So, but we have not we have not, you know, we you can apply to, you know, to put a solar farm in the county, but um yeah, I yeah, we we for for whatever reasons, we you know, for various reasons, I should say, uh we decided not to move forward with that. Uh but you know again let's because I can I can assure all you folks is is the emotionally invested in this is that you are there's people sitting in their homes right now in their recliners that are reading the paper about this that want it for whatever for various reasons. Yeah. Well, well, for very well, like you know, like it or not, I can assure you of that. What we owe ourselves as residents and taxpayers is to see this process through. So, we what if when it when it's over, we can without a clear conscious say, you know, this really isn't us here. You know, I I'm born and raised here. I'm seventh generation. I think we're we're kind of unique here. and and uh I I like that unique. I like that I can jump in a car and drive almost any direction and within five minutes I'm

I'm right next to a bean field. I like that. Um so this process we are going to take our time lift because we have never done this before with this type of project and we're going to make sure we get this right. And if we end up saying no, we're going to there's going to be clear reason for it. If we say end up saying yes, there's going to be clear reason for it and everybody's going to understand those reasons. You may not like it. Uh whether you're for them or whether you're against, but it's going to get its due process. So we know we know that we made have made the right decision because folks, you know, I'm just going to be real honest with you. We all we all pay taxes. I pay property taxes, pay income taxes just like you all do. But I can tell you emphatically, we have come to a a a fork in the road here in Porta County government where we need to decide who we're going to be. And that is if we enjoy the current quality of life that we have here in this county, we need to decide whether we're going to reinvest. Now, I don't know if that is a data center or whatever it is or an increase in our income taxes to fill the void, but we're going to have to do something because Most of what every everything that we do here is service driven. And the and the vast majority of our pay of of our income, our revenue that we collect each year goes toward personnel services. The vast majority of those personnel services are public safety. And it's it's a little more unique here than it is in the municipalities because we run a jail, we run a juvenile detention center, we run the courts, and we run the E911 center. So, I I as your commissioner, I'm sitting there watching

a vase roll off the table. I can do one or two things. I can set watch it rolled and hit the ground and break, or I can jump over, reach out and grab it before it does break. I'm trying to We need We need to do something before the the v the the the the vase breaks. And that's why we're looking at this. We didn't go out and ask somebody to, hey, apply here for a data center. They come they come to us. They knocked in the door. It surprised us as as much as anybody else. We did not hang a shingle out saying we're open for business for data center. But they have and we they they have the constitutional right to be to for due process and we as citizens, it is in our best interest to hear it out. So if we when we get to that point, if it is going to be no, we are crystal clear on why it's no and that's that just makes it better for everybody. So I I spoke too long. It's all right. Hold on. I know. And I appreciate that. I just uh I that was pretty much all the questions I had. Um just what quick circle back said uh about the solar farms is personal opinion. Um, I am hopeful and look forward to your personal opinion on data centers mirroring the same personal opinion you have on solar parks. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Hello. My name is Amy Herring and I am a stones throw away from this hyper data center. I am extremely emotional about this situation because not only is it in my backyard, but it's also where my child is going to go, you know, is in

school. I have an 11-year-old and my two older daughters graduated from Wheeler. I consider Wheeler to be the most amazing place to raise children. It is the best community that you could ever possibly live in. It's you're not a number, you are a name. And that is something that I do not want to lose for our community. And I am completely understanding what you're saying by hearing everything that everyone has to say. But the number one thing that Porter County needs to know and remember is this place has integrity. And that means that we're not going to let people come in and treat us like guinea pigs. Okay? And I'm not saying you can tell me tomorrow, you can give me all the data in the world. You can show me everything that these big companies are going to tell us are good for our community. But I've come to the conclusion or what I've been told is that these places they hire eight people maybe and they do come in and they and they leave quickly, they leave messes, they leave everything. But at the end of the day, if we're going to bring something into our community, let's build subdivisions and bring people into our schools and make more family atmospheres, not huge corporations that just want to tear down my whole block, my whole area. You know, they are sectioning us off. And I am a stones throw away. It's not my next door neighbor. But I can tell you this, I won't live here. I won't live by it. And I know multiple people that will not live by it. And if this was in your backyard, every single one of you, I guarantee you, there is not one of you that would want it. Not

one. Excuse me. I'm Leroy Bessler. came here from Wisconsin on July 3rd. So, I can't boast to be a of being a lifelong resident. At any rate, uh like all of you, I myself served in local government when I was back in Wisconsin. And um you know, you said uh Mr. bigs. I if I understood you correctly, you said that well there are people at home in their recliners who are in favor of this data center. Well, Mr. Biggs, there's no way for you to know that. There's no way to for me to know that. The only thing we know is these people have an opinion. The people who haven't come are not necessarily in favor of the project and they may not even know that it's coming. They may be indifferent. We don't know really what their opinion is. And the one thing I found in local government is that the the elected official are uh subjected to you know advocates for proposals. The people who come to local government to local government for a decision, they're not coming to to local government to do a favor for somebody else. They're coming to local government in their own interest. They come with attorneys. They come with high p highowered consultants. They do a you know and in my experience elected officials are frankly overreceptive to the advocates for projects. They're overly re receptive and they're given a a strong and sometimes persuasive message. So the fact of the matter is we don't know how the people at home feel about this.

[Applause] Thank you. Next. Anybody else like to speak? Yes, ma'am. Um, Mr. President, may I remind you that uh we'll be pushing pretty close. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna have to uh and I'll let you speak. Okay. Uh but let's just make this the final one. We got a we got a council meeting barking on our hills here outside. So go ahead. I'm sorry. Uh could you state your name, please? Yes. My name is Corey Griffith and I live in Union Township, also a stone throw away from this proposed out of Saturn. Um I just really I'm not going to say I've been involved in politics long or local politics. Obviously, I'm still pretty young. Um, but I just wanted to come to this council meeting today and say that I actually moved from Lake County to Porter County. Um, I'm a first-time home homeowner and my thing with Porter County is I love Balo. I think it's great. It's great for my kind of lifestyle. You guys have all the great things here. You're 20 minutes from the beach. You know, there's tons of restaurants here. It's great for young people to come and live. And when I tell people I live in Balpo, they are kind of jealous because they always say, "Oh, I love Balpo. I wish I could live in Balpo. Balpo is so awesome." Um, and so they're always like happy to come here and spend their money really on like restaurants and things like that. So, I really just wanted to speak on that. And I think having such like an industrialsized building like such a large scale data center would really ruin the Velpo experience especially for young people. Um it being industrial it

just it doesn't create a good atmosphere I think and being a stone throw away from the data center. I love where I live. I love my home. It's quiet and I brag to you all the time like, "Oh yes, I'm just 10 minute drive to downtown, but I have the peace and quiet here." I wouldn't have that anymore. And I think that is something that, you know, people need to think about is it would really change, I think, what Valpo is to a lot of people and how a lot of people see Valpo. Um, and another note, and if it's really just for like revenue purposes, I think that we can look into other ways, like you said, maybe raising the income taxes. And also, think of Chicago. Um, they have a food and beverage tax. If you go out to eat, if it's really that big of a deal, like if we're really missing that much money, there are other ways to make up for that money. If you go out to eat in Chicago, you're paying tax on that. That's just how it is. Um, and while maybe I I I won't like that either, I would like that a lot better than a datab center in my backyard. So, that's all I have to say. You did pretty well for a newbie. So, well, thank you very uh all of you very much. Uh, it's, you know, it's receiving information. It's this communication that gets us closer to making the right decision. I appreciate it. We're going to continue this um in another venue uh on on uh you know Mike Jour, the executive directors is planning something a little more formal, a little more comfortable and uh to where we can we can get the information that we need before decision is made. Thank you and all have a good night. Thank you. Recess.