City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening, everyone. I want to welcome you to this regular called meeting of the Temple City Council for May 7th, 2026. Please rise as Deputy City Secretary Liz Caraway leads us in the invocation followed by our pledge and the Texas pledge led by City Secretary Jana Luallen. Dear Heavenly Father, God, I come before you tonight with gratitude for the opportunity each of us have to serve in together as a community in this place. I ask for your presence in abundance this evening and for your guidance over this Council meeting. Lord, tonight as we recognize National Police Officers Week and Police Officers Memorial Day, let us pause to honor and remember the brave men and women who serve and protect our community. God, we thank you for their courage, their sacrifice, and their commitment to keeping us safe. We pray for your hand of protection over every police officer, dispatcher, and first responder. Give them wisdom in difficult moments, strength in times of stress, and peace in the face of danger. God, help them serve with honor, compassion, and fairness. I also ask for your blessing over Coy Brown as he is sworn in as Temple Police Chief. God, grant him wisdom, integrity, and a steady hand as he leads. Surround him with good counsel and give him a heart for justice, service, and mercy. Tonight, I also pray for our newly elected council member Mack Emmons as he begins his service to this community. Give him insight, humility, and discernment in the decisions ahead. Bless him and lift him up as he takes on this new responsibility. And God, I also give thanks for the service and dedication of council member Zo Grant. As she is sworn in following her re-election, we pray you would continue to guide her with wisdom and compassion. Grant her strength for the responsibilities ahead as she enters into another term on this council. Father, lay your hands upon this city and each citizen, the city council, city

leaders, and staff, first responders, and all who serve our community each day. Grant each of us patience and understanding. May your peace in the hand of the Lord remain with us in the days ahead and always. In your name I pray. Amen. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance 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. Please join me in the Texas pledge. Honor the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

[clears throat]

Get it up. We've got a few um administrative type items tonight before we dig into the heart of the meeting. So, first up, we will um have the uh oath of office for the newly elected officials first, and who who do we want first? Dr. Graham. Dr. Graham? Mayor. You have a mic if she wants it. Oh, I sure do. Thank you. Testing. Maybe better. Testing. I feel like I'm loud enough, but Yep. Please raise your right hand. I, Iso Grant I, Iso Grant do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly affirm that I will faithfully render the duties that I will faithfully render the duties of councilmember of councilmember to the best of my ability to the best of my ability and will and do resolve to Sorry. I'm so sorry.

[clears throat] and will faithfully execute the duties and will faithfully execute the duties of the of the Let me just begin again. I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm nervous. Maybe it's so many people. I, Iso Grant I, Graham Do solemnly swear Do solemnly affirm That I will faithfully execute the duties of the office That I will faithfully execute the duties of the office Of council member Of council member And and Of the state of Texas Of the state of Texas And will to the best of my ability And will to the best of my ability Preserve, protect, and defend Preserve, protect, and defend The constitution The constitution laws of the state of Texas

And the laws of the state of Texas So help me God So help me God Congratulations. [applause]

Good evening. I'm truly honored and grateful to stand before you as I begin my second term Serving district two In the city of Temple being first elected in May 2023 It was a humbling experience And to be entrusted again with this responsibility Is something I do not take lightly. [clears throat]

I give honor to God And I want to thank everyone who has supported me Through your prayers and encouragement Conversations And your continued belief in the work we are doing together. Your support means more than words can express. I want everyone to recognize before you start mentioning my name tonight. My name is Zoe Not Zoe. So, my mom called me Zoe. I was the last kid out of eight And so that's my name. So Throughout the night if you want to mention my name, my name is Zoe. I'm also I also want to recognize that not everyone in this room may share the same views. And that's okay. That's the strength of democracy and it's how we continue to grow as a community. Over the past term, we have made meaningful progress in District 2. From improvements in our parks infrastructure to increase community engagement and investment, we are moving forward. And while there's still work to be done, I remain committed to ensuring District 2 continues to grow, improve, and thrive. Keep in mind, nothing moves fast in the city of Temple. I would also like to thank my fellow council members and our mayor for our continued support to District 2. I've learned so much from each of you and I value the opportunity to serve alongside leaders who are committed to the city. To Mike Emmons, District 3, I look forward to learning more from you and your background and expertise. And I'm especially grateful for the opportunity I had with Carl Kirkendall. His exper- experience and encouragement and leadership have truly made an impact on me. To our community, stay involved. Know what's going on. Even if you are not able to attend a meeting, take time to review the agenda. But don't just stop at the agenda.

Read the entire packet. 400 to 700 pages, read it all. That's where the details are. Before each and first and third before each first and third council meeting, we are reviewing those materials. We take the time. We go through it. We visit sites. And we make sure that we know what we're voting on. And that's being present and any even before we take any vote. So, when you see something come forward, please know it's not often not the first time it's been said or discussed. I encourage you to watch the replays. Stay informed. I'm talking because I may not get this opportunity. Include me. Including me. I'm very accessible. Your voice matters and your encouragement makes our community stronger. Public service is not always easy, but it's always meaningful. It calls for listening, learning, and making decisions that consider both today and the future of our community. As I enter into this next term, my commitment remains the same to serve with integrity, to lead with purpose, and to continue advocating for the well-being growth, opportunity of every resident in District 2. Thank you to everyone here today as we continue to move forward. Together, the work continues and I am ready. Thank you.

[applause]

Dr. Grant, [clears throat] it's a pleasure serving with you. Thank you. You work hard, you're a quick learner, and um and you've got uh you've got the backbone that it takes to serve. So, thank you for your time here. Thank you for re-upping for another year. 3 years? Yeah, got to do all three of them. And uh we're we're glad you're here. Glad you're back. Thank you. Please raise your right hand. It goes up beside you camera. I, Mike Emmons, I, Mike Emmons, do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of council member of the office of council member for the state of Texas

for the state of Texas and will, to the best of my ability, will, best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution the Constitution and the laws of the state of Texas. and the laws of the state of Texas. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. THANK YOU. [applause] [snorts]

I CAN'T CALL YOU MIKE ANYMORE. I'VE JUST GOT TO CALL YOU COUNCIL Member Immons. I understand.

have anything you'd like to say? No, it's my first time here, so uh I didn't know to prepare a speech, but I want to thank everybody uh for everything that we've uh gone through so far and uh the learning experience and I'm glad to be here. We're glad you're here. Thank you. You bet. Okay, next [clears throat] item is to uh item four, it's consider adopting resolution electing uh the mayor pro tem for the city of Temple. And uh Council, I um as we talked about during uh workshop, I would like to nominate um Mayor Pro Tem Walker. I didn't uh I didn't get with her earlier in the week because I was afraid she would say no. So, um I asked her during workshop, she's agreed to do that, and so that's my nomination and um I will accept a motion or if anybody would like to nominate somebody else, that's fine. But right now I'll accept a motion to uh to reelect Mayor Pro Tem Walker as the uh Mayor Pro Tem going forward. I move to elect Mayor Pro Tem Walker as the Mayor Pro Tem going forward. Second. We have a motion by Council Member Pilkington, we have a second by Council Member Grant. Council, please cast your vote. Can I vote? Yes. Be one no. Mine's not showing up. It just says waiting. Just Okay. Mike. I approve. I vote yes. Council Member Pilkington. Yes.

Very good. Item four passes uh five to zero. Mayor Pro Tem Walker, thank you for your willingness to serve again in that capacity. Next item is to administer the oath of office to the new Temple Police Chief, Coy Brown. Chief, come forward, please. Please raise your right hand. I, Coy Brown, I, Coy Brown, do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear and affirm that I will faithfully execute the duties

that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of Chief of Police of office of Chief of Police for the city of Temple for the city of Temple and of the state of Texas and of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and to the will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution the Constitution and the laws of this state and the laws of this state so help me God. so help me God. Congratulations.

[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause]

Chief, would you like to say anything? Where'd the mic go? You have to turn it back on now. Flip it up. There you go. Mayor, council, city leadership, thank you. Thank you for trusting me to be y'all's chief of police. Truly honored, truly grateful um for the opportunity, for sure. Um Chiefs in the room, I appreciate you. [snorts]

Community, I know you have high expectations and you should be. You should have them in the police department. But I promise you, there'll be no higher expectations than the men and women of the Temple Police Department. To the men and women of the city and to the PD, thank you for the warm welcoming uh this first week. It's been amazing. Many things have occurred that uh just checked that box that I made the right decision. Pro- promise to support you. Promise to be fair. Promise to hold us to the highest standards possible. And just this week alone in the last few days, it proved to me the dedication, the work ethic, the professionalism that the agency has and I'm truly honored in that piece. Chief Mike Carman, thank

[snorts] It's an honor to serve under you for the last 20 years. Jessica, Briana, my wife and daughter. We didn't do this. I didn't do this myself. We did this together. Truly appreciate the support that you all give me to make this happen. [clears throat] And uh just thank you, Temple. Truly honored and I'm truly proud to uh call the PD my home for me and my family. Thank you. [applause]

Chief, as you know, we're expecting big things. You're inheriting a uh a department that is first class right now with uh from administration on down and we just expect you to take that uh to even higher levels. We're looking forward to working with you and for you. You bet. Thank you, sir. [snorts]

Okay, as I often do, I'm going to move a few things around. We're going to We have a few special presentations uh tonight and we're going to do those first. So, um I'm moving down to item seven on the agenda and that item is to uh recognize the 2026 Little Sprouts Program graduates. Brittany? I'm down there now. Oh, you want this? Okay. You want this or not? Good evening. Should I use that mic? You go. Good evening, everyone. My name is Stephanie Miller and Keep Temple Beautiful and the City of Temple Housing and Community Services Department created and implemented the Little Sprouts program, which encompass key components chosen to educate and help shape our future leaders in environmental sustainability. The mission is to empower youth to take action to improve and beautify their environment while working with their community towards an eco-friendly future. Tonight, we are so proud to graduate five students from Temple ISD's Thorn Elementary School, our second graduating class of Little Sprouts. This program was was led by Belinda Garcia and myself. On the application, students were asked why environmental sustainability is important to them. Jordan, is one of our students, is going to share his response with everyone here tonight.

Environmental sustainability is more than a trend to me. It is It is a necessity for my generation's future. Personally, I feel a deep responsibility to help and protect our world that sustains us. Whether it is reducing our plastic use or conserving energy, I believe that small consistent personal choices define who we are. I want to look back knowing I can I contribute to the solution rather than adding to the problem. However, individual [clears throat] action is not enough. This is why sustainability is vital for my school. As a large institution of our our school consumes massive amounts of paper, energy, and resources daily. By By adopting green practices such as compressive recycling or waste reduction, the school does not just reduce its carbon footprint. It leads by example. If the school prioritizes the environment, It teaches hundreds of students that stewardship matters. Together my personal commit commitment and the school's leadership can help build a cleaner, greener future.

[applause]

Yes. Yes. Thank you, Jordan. At this time I will call on the Little Sprouts graduating class of 2026 to receive their certif- their certificate from Mayor Tim Davis. We have Jeremiah Cravers.

[applause]

Owen Franklin. [applause] August Langsjoen. [applause]

Jordan Molenauer. [applause] And Aaron Reynolds. [applause] [applause]

Thank you. Okay, next we're going to recognize May 10th through 16th, 2026 as National Police Week. So, I've got a proclamation I'd like to read. This proclamation is from the office of the mayor of the city of Temple. Whereas, there are approximately 800,000 law enforcement officers serving in communities across the United States, including the dedicated members of the Temple Police Department. And whereas, our community will always appreciate and commend the risks that police officers take every day to ensure the safety of our community. And since the first recorded police death in 1786, there are currently more than 24,500 law enforcement officers in the United States that have made the ultimate sacrifice and have been killed in the line of duty. Whereas, in 2026, the name of 363 officers killed in the line of duty were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. These 363 officers include 109 officers who were killed during 2025, and additional 254 officers who were killed in previous years. And whereas, the service and sacrifice of all officers killed in the line of duty will be honored during National Police Week at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Funds annual Candlelight Vigil on the evening on the evening of May 13th, 2026. And now, therefore, I, Timothy A. Davis, mayor of the city of Temple, Texas, do hereby proclaim the week of May 10th through 16th, 2026 as National Police Week throughout the city of Temple, and I urge all citizens to salute the

service of the law enforcement officers in our community and in communities across the nation. In testimony whereof, I witness my hand and the seal of the city of Temple, Texas, on this 7th day of May 2026. Chief, would you like to step forward? Thank you, Mayor and Council. Um thank you for recognizing Police Memorial Week. And unfortunately, we have officers um from the Temple Police Department that are on the Texas Memorial down in Austin and also on an uh memorial in Washington, D.C. Officers from your community that made the ultimate sacrifice. Um so, it's always an honor for us to recognize those that from our department that have made the ultimate sacrifice, but also to know that our council and community supports us as well. So, we appreciate it. You bet. Yeah. Thank you. [applause] Next item is a proclamation [clears throat] recognizing May 2026 as Water Safety Month. Leah? Somebody? Okay. You'd like to read the proclamation? Would you like me to read the proclamation or Okay. No, I know I'm going to read. You're better at it than we are. All right. If you guys want to step up, y'all can say a few words afterwards. Okay. This proclamation is from the office of the mayor of the city of Temple. Whereas each May, communities across the country observe Water Safety Month to raise awareness and equip families with life-saving knowledge. And whereas as temperatures rise and school doors close for the season, adults and children alike head outdoors

to enjoy the neighborhood pools, splash pads, lakes, and rivers. And whereas with increased activity in and around water comes a renewed responsibility to prioritize safety and prevention. Whereas time spent in water offers offers countless benefits from physical fitness to meaningful moments with family and friends. However, without proper precautions, these activities can quickly turn tragic. [snorts]

And whereas, drowning remains one of the leading causes of accidental death among children nationwide and many incidents occur silently and swiftly. However, consistent supervision, formal swim instructions, the use of life jackets, and understanding of water conditions are critical tools in protect in protecting life and ensuring safe recreation for all. And whereas, through educational campaigns, swim programs, and community outreach, national and local organizations work together to promote responsible water practices and reduce preventable fatalities. Now, therefore, I, Timothy A. Davis, mayor of the city of Temple, Texas, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Water Safety Month in the city of Temple, Texas, and I encourage all citizens to remain vigilant, model safe behavior, and take proactive steps to protect themselves and loved ones in order to fully enjoy the season's many opportunities for water recreation. In testimony whereof, I witness my hand and the seal of the city of Temple, Texas, on this 7th day of May, 2026.

[snorts] So, thank you. Straight up. You Is it on? You're on. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, City Council, um staff. We just want to make sure that everyone is really aware of Water Safety Month. This is Clarice Free. She's the manager of our Aquatics Department, and she and her staff do amazing things to keep our community safe, um to run the facilities in a really safe manner, and we're looking forward to the summer. Our pools will be opening soon, and um we hope we see all of you guys out there at our pools. Thank you. [applause]

Okay, next item is to receive a presentation regarding the considerations related to data center development. Ms. Myers? Thank you, Mayor and Council. So, [clears throat] I know there's been a lot of community interest in data center developments in Temple, and so I wanted to give a presentation tonight to just brief you on some topics to keep in mind as you're making decisions about these about these proposed developments and provide some education, especially since there's just a lot of questions that our community members have around what land use requirements we can adopt, our water and power usage, financial and economic impacts of data center developments. And so, I I wanted to provide this briefing to give some basic information to help educate on this topic. So, tonight we're going to talk a little bit about what authority the city has, some of the community impacts of the proposed data center developments, some of the local protections that we have the opportunity to implement, and the role of the city within this process. So, first I would want to start out just with a little bit of basic information on the city and our authority. As you may know, cities are political subdivisions of the state of Texas. So, cities are governed by and must operate within the authority provided by the state constitution and state law. State law authorizes home rule cities, which Temple is, to operate under what's called a city charter. Essentially, a set of rules that are approved by the voters of the city and can only be changed by the voters of the city. City councils are elected to make decisions within the authority that's

provided by the charter and state law. City council members in Temple are volunteer positions and receive no salary. The state does provide for uh some land use uh control or land use tools that cities may use in order to help uh shepherd orderly growth. Some of those tools include annexation and zoning. So, annexation is the process of bringing property into the city limits. So, property that is uh that is outside the city limits of is of course not subject to city regulations, to city taxation, um or to city standards. So, when you annex a piece of property, it's brought into the city limits and it then becomes subject to those things. In Texas, annexation is voluntary only. So, the only time that a city can bring in a piece of property into the city limits is if the property owner request annexation. So, this is not something that the city can, you know, unilaterally do. Involuntary annexation has not been allowed in Texas for some years. So, the only way uh that's that a piece of property is brought into the city is the property owner has to petition or request the city council to do that. And the city council can then make a determination if that is in the best interest of the city, if they want to bring that property under uh the city authority, and they can do so if if the property owner has requested and they agree that it is in the best interest. Once the property is in the city, then it is subject to a process called zoning. So, zoning divides land into land within the city into districts, and then it regulates how property can be used. So,

typical zoning districts are things like residential, commercial, industrial. Those are the the three main categories of zoning. There are sub-zoning districts, of course, within those, uh but generally speaking, every piece of of of property within the city has a has a particular zoning, and then that determines what type of use can occur within that that district. Zoning can also uh introduce certain development requirements, such as setbacks, meaning how far a uh a building has to be uh from the property line. If there's any height requirement, so, you know, if if a if a really tall building uh can't be built build built, excuse me, next to um a residential structure. It can address parking requirements, landscaping and screening and buffering requirements, noise requirements, and traffic control. When a property is being introduced to be rezoned, it requires public notice and public hearings, and that process is governed by state law. There's a specific state law that sets out what a city needs to do in order to notify the public. That the uh state process requires that a mailed notice be sent to the property owner who owns the property that is subject to rezoning, and also owners within 200 ft of that property. So, those folks would get an actual mailed notice in the mail. We are also required to post uh a notice in our local newspaper, which for us is the Temple Daily Telegram. We are also required to post agendas of all of the public meetings in which the rezoning or annexation request will be considered. Zoning requests are heard first by another body before they come to the city council, which is called the Planning and Zoning Commission. So, those agendas are posted, they hold public meetings. They hold a public hearing on the request and they consider

public input and then make a recommendation to the city council. And then the city council has a separate meeting where the item is heard again with another public hearing and re-zonings and annexations require two readings by the city council. So you will hear all zoning and annexation requests twice at the city council level. All will be posted as a public as a public meeting and require posting of that agenda at least three business days in advance of when that meeting will occur. So that process is laid out in state law and that's what state law requires us to do when we're considering re-zoning or annexing a piece of property into the city. So I said this presentation was about data centers and it is. So I want to orient you a little bit. There's there's obviously a particular data center proposal that you have some have been seeing action items have action items on your agenda tonight about and that's a proposed development by a company called Rowan. They are looking at developing data center campus in what's called our synergy park. So that is a a industrial park area in the southeast portion of our community just south of our city's regional landfill. So zooming in a little bit on that area. Again, this area is south of the city's service center east service center and our regional landfill. It is a industrial park area and just to give you an orientation. Again, this the project that that we have had several action items on and you have action item on your agenda tonight is related to projects a project proposal by Rowan. This is a three-phase development proposal. The first phase the company calls project temple. The second phase the company calls project stampede and the third phase the company calls project Ranger.

So that's generally where we're talking about when we talk about these data centers that that we've been discussing. So what does what's what type of authority does the state give cities in decisions like these? So the city has the authority as we've already talked about to annex property if that annexation is requested up by the property owner and then to zone that property. Once zoned the city can implement development standards and permitting requirements. We can require utility agreements in order to access our water and waste water utilities. As part of the zoning process we can require traffic studies and improvements necessary from those traffic studies. We can implement noise standard requirements and enforce those standards. And other local ordinances and agreements can can be implemented in order to encourage orderly development and protect surrounding properties from from an impact a negative impact from the proposed development. However, there are there are several things that the city does not control. The state has not delegated that authority to the city and are beyond the the authority that you have at the city council to regulate or to influence. That includes really most everything around electricity. The state has has not delegated authority to cities or related to electric policy. There is a statewide electric policy. There's ERCOT and that is again that is something that is controlled at the state level and that cities have little to no input or impact on that policy. We also don't control the local electric company, which is Oncor. We don't control their infrastructure planning,

and so that's that is outside the scope of your authority as a city council. We also don't control state programs for tax exemptions and incentives that are offered for data center developments. The state of Texas has a program where they exempt from state sales tax much of the servers and equipment that go into data centers. So, as you might imagine, that's a pretty significant incentive that the state offers for data centers, making it attractive for data centers to locate within the state of Texas. That is a state-level program. We cannot opt out here locally. It is only the only what the only entity that has the authority to change, repeal, amend, or stop that program is the state legislature. It was adopted by them, and they are the only ones who can control that. We also don't have any significant authority over the proper the private property rights framework that exist in Texas. So, Texas, for really all of its history, has been a very strong private property rights state. That is embedded in the state constitution and our state laws. And so, much of what you can and can't do as a city points back to the fundamental right that Texans have over private property and what they do with their own private property in Texas. You can obviously also not control whether similar projects locate elsewhere in the region or whether they locate just outside the city limits. And you thus don't control the regional impacts created by projects that remain outside the city limits. So, speaking a little bit more about private property, the property uh for the for the Rowan project is private property. It does not belong to the city. It was not sold to

the developer by the city, and the city did not buy any property on behalf of the developer. They purchased all of this property on their own, and it is their private property. The city cannot force land use. So, you know, I I know that there's some that um that are concerned about the loss of agricultural land in our community, but cities do not have the authority to force a landowner to keep land in agricultural use or any other type of use. They can't You can't You have no authority to prevent lawful development of property. Again, that goes back to the embedded private property rights in the state of Texas. We can't tell somebody what they can and can't do with their property um with some caveats. You can regulate impact. So, if the if the property is within the city of Temple, then again, we can use those zoning and development standard authority uh within the authority that the state has given us to regulate the impacts of that development through zoning, development review, noise standards, traffic control, drainage standards, building code standards, and utility agreements. So, that's why uh uh that uh the local plan has vote around these data center uh proposals has focused on requiring annexation, incentivizing annexation again, cuz you actually can't require it. Uh the property owner has to uh petition for annexation, and then zoning, development standards, and enforceable agreements. Annexation matters because it gives Temple more control, not less. Again, without annexation, Temple cannot apply its zoning and development standards. We can't enforce utility, noise, traffic, or infrastructure protections. And the development is not subject to city taxation, so that so the annexation

ensures the the project contributes to the city's revenue, which supports city services like police, fire, streets, parks, things we've talked about tonight already. Without annexation, there's limited local regulation. Again, inside the city limits, development can be shaped through those zoning tools, but outside the city, projects can be built by right with far fewer local controls. And why is that? It's because, again, the city is a subdivision, a political subdivision of the state of Texas. So, we operate with within a certain set of authority that's granted by Texas Constitution and state law. Counties are also political subdivisions of the state of Texas, but they have a different set of responsibilities and a different set of authority. And they have far less authority in dealing with land use than cities have been granted by the state. So, for example, counties do not have zoning authority. So, counties cannot require property, can can cannot guide development within the county based on zoning districts. You you can't tell uh a property owner within the county what they can and can't build in a certain location. Development can proceed by right if it meets the limited county, state, and federal requirements that exist, which again are very limited. Out outside the city limits, again, there's no zoning, there's no building permits, and there's no development standards. And that's why you get acres and acres of solar panels. Yes. So, that's why part of your strategy has been to encourage and incentivize annexation so that you can apply regulations to shape

how this development occurs. But, there are limits to our zoning authority. So, while we do have zoning authority, it's not an unlimited authority. There are certain things that you have to do. So, what we Again, we can limit uses to specific zoning districts. So, for example, you can say an industrial project cannot locate within a residential district. We can apply development and operational standards through the zoning ordinance. We can require mitigation of project impacts, for example, in in requiring a traffic study and traffic and and and transportation improvements as a result of that study. And we can use the tools provided through planned development and overlay zoning districts. Again, local regulation examples include things that we've already talked about like setbacks and buffering and landscaping and noise and lighting and screening and traffic and infrastructure and water use. Cities generally cannot though prohibit a lawful land use citywide. So, you what you cannot do is say we do not want this use in our city at all. The state of Texas does not allow you to do that. One of the most common ways that people remember this or or or or learn this is things like um sexually oriented businesses. So, a lot of cities, they would they don't want to have strip clubs in their community. But, the state of Texas does not allow a city to universally say you cannot have a certain use within your community. You have to allow it somewhere in your community. You can say what zoning use it goes in, but you can't all out ban it. You can't apply arbitrary or discriminatory standards when you're zoning, and you can't adopt regulat- regulations that are so restrictive that they essentially

function as a de facto ban. So, if it's a otherwise lawful use, whether you like it or not, you have to you have to allow it somewhere within your community. One thing that that I I want to go back on on annexation as well, and we can talk about this a little bit more when we when we talk about water, but one of the other things that being inside the city limits allows the city council to do is to consent or deny the drilling of water wells. Outside the city limits, a project can, without the city's consent, drill a well to access water from the aquifer. Inside the city, we can either consent or not consent to a water well being drilled. You have historically his- council here has historically disallowed drilling of wells to deplete our aquifer. Outside the city, without annexation, you can't control that, and a project could use groundwater to meet their water needs. Did want to make that that point, I forgot. So, more about water. Data center projects in Temple are required to enter into a utility services agreement in order to access city water and wastewater services. So, these are these utility agreements are are based on for Rowan are based on each phase. For phase one, which is Project Temple, the utility agreement requires the following. It requires what's called a closed-loop cooling system. That's again, that's contractually required, which is a system that that has a single um upfront charge of the system, meaning uh water is is is um

is put into the cooling system initially, but then that same water recirculates for 10 or more years without requiring additional recharge or or um considerable amounts of additional water. So, the uh utility services agreement that we have entered into with Rowan for project uh for the for their phase one project Temple, uh allows them an initial charge of 2 million gallons of water, but that can't be taken at one time. That is phased over a number of days and has to be coordinated with the city of Temple at our consent to make sure that that's taken at a time where it doesn't have negative impacts on our ability to operate our water system. So, if it's a really hot day and a lot of people are using water, watering their lawns, you know, then that might not be a day that that uh an initial charge is allowed to happen. Um we will coordinate with them and they um will need to seek um our uh consent on on the best time to do that initial charge. And again, that initial charge then recirculates for at least 10 years. Our agreement has enforcement provisions. Water usage is monitored and and enforced through advanced metering, and enforcement tools are included in the contract, including mechanically limiting devices that physically do not allow more water to be used than we have contractually agreed to if we deem that necessary. Their daily domestic water use is capped at 4,000 gallons a day. For perspective, the average Temple home uses 240 gallons a day, and a typical restaurant uses 7,000 gallons a day. So, um this uh a a day a project

um uh and so again, this is project specific, uh phase specific, so there's three phases proposed for Rowan. So, this would this you you would expect a utility agreement for each of those three phases. So, for one phase, one of the three phases, they are capped at 4,000 gallons a day, which is less than what, you know, a typical restaurant, whether that be a a, you know, my daughter's favorite restaurant is Cracker Barrel, so we'll we'll use that as an example, would use less than um than that per day. And again, that is a contractually capped number. I do want to put that in perspective related to Temple's long-term water position. Temple is in a strong long-term water position because the city has spent decades securing water rights, expanding treatment capacity, and planning for future supply. We have 43,000 acre-feet of water rights. The majority of our water rights are what's called state adjudicated, meaning that we do not contract with the Brazos River Authority to rent water. We own storage rights in Lake Belton. We own 20% of the of Lake Belton storage rights. Um and many of our rights are senior to almost anybody else in the basin, including rights of BRA. So, we Senior rights mean we have stronger legal protection and higher reliability of uh our water rights, especially in times of drought, we get water first. When you look at capacity, we have an average daily demand of 18 million gallons a day. In recent years, our peak usage has been 33 million gallons a day. That means on the hottest day of the year, when

everybody's using the maximum amount of water, that's what we've capped out at, 33 million gallons a day. Our treatment capacity is 54 million gallons a day. We've recently added 13 million gallons of treatment capacity, and we have 4 million gallons additional capacity in planning stages. We also have a project actively underway to secure future investment of additional water supplies. And that's uh in part through our aquifer storage and recovery project, which will um is estimated to add an additional 15 million gallons a day, which equates to 16,000 acre feet a year. That helps us to have more water, but also helps us to diversify our water from not just surface water in Lake Belton, but also groundwater available and stored in essentially evaporation-proof uh as you store it in um in the aquifer. 43,000 acre feet a year is 15 billion gallons a year. So again, 4,000 gallons a day compared to 14 billion gallons a year of water rights. Just to put that in perspective. So the other big consideration, another big concern, is noise. Noise is taken has been taken seriously by the council, and you've directed staff to work um uh hard to uh negotiate and to implement some pretty significant noise protections for this project. So, the project is required to use um all commercially available efforts to design, build, and operate the facility to minimize noise impact. You have hard standards of decibel limits, but layered on top of that, you have the requirement

that all that that their construction and operation has to use anything that's commercially available to help reduce the noise that uh might be generated from uh the facility. There has to be buffering um at the facility, and they have to hire an acoustical engineer to develop a noise mitigation plan before they even get a building permit. Then, they have to build the facility with all of the all of the recommendations and requirements that are developed in that noise mitigation plan. And then, before occupancy, they have to test to make sure that what they anticipated uh would happen with that noise mitigation plan and the the reduction in noise that would occur by that is actually achieved. At any time, if the city receives a complaint uh that that meets the reasonable person standard that we say that's that a reasonable person would find that noise to be a nuisance, then um the contract the agreement requires that the zoning ordinance, rather, requires that they um work with us to add additional noise protections, and we have multiple enforcement options, including citations, arbitration, and other contractual requirements. Uh we've heard some concerns related to traffic and road impacts. Um the zoning ordinance requires that a traffic study be performed by the developer before platting. That traffic study has to determine if there are going to be any improvements that are required in order to mitigate the traffic impact of the development. If those traffic improvements are identified in the traffic study,

then the developer must either complete those improvements or financially guarantee those improvements to the city's satisfaction before a certificate of occupancy will be issued for any building as part of the development. We've also talked about environmental requirements. While the city is not a lead regulator in environmental in environmental regulations, that's primarily falls to at the state level, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and at the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency. The state has given the city some limited authority in what we can do related to environmental regulations. So, we do have some requirements that we can enforce related to flood plain, storm water, and environmental impacts. The development must comply with all city, state, and federal environmental requirements. They are required to submit a storm water and erosion control plan before construct construction. They are required to address spills, waste, dust, drainage, and site cleanup. And they are required to complete post-construction storm water requirements before occupancy. The city can require additional information or third-party review when needed to ensure that the developer is meeting the environmental requirements. Related to the economic and workforce impact, we'll talk a little bit more about this specifically, but these are significant private investments and result in long-term tax base growth. They provide ongoing revenue sources,

including both primarily property taxes and electrical franchise fees. Related to job creation, they they do create technical and higher-paying IT engineering and operations jobs on the ongoing permanent basis, but they also have, uh, construction support, uh, that that during construction they support, uh, temporary jobs and contractors. There's also partnerships that are formed typically with schools and workforce programs, uh, in the tech industry in the tech space. So, a little bit more information about the the financial impact of these projects. There's been some questions about tax abatement. Tax abatement is used as a tool to secure city oversight. Again, I've mentioned that annexation is not you you have no authority to require annexation. The property can be developed outside the city limits with none of the development requirements we've just talked about and with no financial benefit to the city, but with all of the impacts to the roads, aquifer, electric grid, but with no city oversight or no city revenue. So, abatement has been used as a tool to, uh, to get the property annexed and developed to city standards. During this abatement period, the project will result in approximately $7 million annually of revenue to support city services. That is a significant number. It represents approximately 7 cents on our property tax rate, which as council will recall is about 10% of our total tax rate. And I do want to point out that this is per project phase. So, as I mentioned, there are three

project phases proposed by Rowan. So, the total revenue would be 21 million dollars during the abatement period, and then per phase would be 12 million dollars after the abatement period when when the full taxes are stepped in along with the full amount of the franchise the electrical franchise revenue. Again, this revenue supports essential services, police, fire, streets, parks, without adding that burden on our existing taxpayers. And then it also that that I'm just speaking to the city of Temple impact right now. The project also provides funding for other taxing entities, and this also doesn't include sales tax or other revenue generated during the construction phases of the project. Feel like you have a question. So, um 7 million dollars abated. 7 million dollars to to the city per year.

during the abatement in that piece of property we discussed at the last meeting last year brought in the brought in about 300 dollars in tax revenue to the city. Phase three, which is the the the part Phase three, which is the annexation and zoning case that is on the agenda. Um that I I believe it was 350 mayor, but in in that in that range to and that was city of Temple taxes only. Well, that's not really corporate giveaway. Right? Even though you're abating something, you're getting $7 million versus $350. Um annually. So, talking a little bit about local protections. So, again, um annexation brings the property into the city's jurisdiction and control. Zoning and development standards are what we use to influence the development of the property. The The zoning uh ordinance that you'll consider tonight requires a utility agreement, which limits water use, includes staging requirements and enforcement tools. The zoning ordinance that you consider tonight is where the noise mitigation plan, the acoustical engineering review, the compliance report, and the enforcement options are held. That's also where the traffic study and developer-funded improvement requirement is located, as well as the requirement for public infrastructure improvements as determined either by the traffic study and the for the for transportation impact or the utility agreement for water and wastewater impact. And again, that is both of those items are required as part of the zoning ordinance. So, the zoning ordinance is what lays on those requirements.

Outside of that, if you leave it outside the city, and then it won't be zoned, and those requirements are would not be enforceable. We've talked a little bit about the about electricity, but the state policy sets the state sets electric policy in Texas. And Texas's policies around electricity do encourage this type of development, especially electric deregulation, that has a significant impact on why Texas is attractive to data centers. These policies are set by the state and not you. You can't change them. Projects elsewhere still impact regional infrastructure and the grid and a location outside Temple doesn't eliminate that impact. The local question is whether you secure oversight, protections, and revenue if the project's going to move forward in this area. So, a couple of other specific questions that I've that I've had asked are can this can the city council issue a moratorium on data centers? The state of Texas has given cities some very limited ability to do moratoriums. You may have heard about moratoriums in other states and of course other states have have other laws that apply, but in Texas it's a very limited tool. Um you can address a very specific local issue if you have written findings that that particular use and it has to be very narrowly tailored to that specific use that there is there is something that you need that you can put into place that is already in your control that is not yet in place that if you had 90 days you could get that in place, but it doesn't give you more enforcement opportunities. It just gives you a chance to put in regulators regulatory authority that you already

had. So, it doesn't create new regulatory authority, but for example, if you didn't already have a requirement for a utility services agreement, you you could try to get that in place during a moratorium. That as an example. But it cannot be used to prohibit a lawful land use. It doesn't apply outside the city and recently the state has made has made these requirements even more stringent uh requiring a 30-day uh notice before you can even start the process. So, uh uh data centers that are already under consideration, you know, that even if you even if you felt like there was a piece of regulation that would be helpful that you that you have the authority to implement that we don't already have, which staff hasn't identified any of those things for you. We we have all the tools available. Uh we don't know of anything else that you could use. Um but even if you decided that a moratorium was necessary, you you couldn't stop the the current proposals because they're already the the the notice has the the state doesn't allow that. There's a process that has to be followed, and the state process doesn't allow for that. Other question that um that I've heard asked is um can the council put this uh to a vote of the of the general uh of the of of the general voters. And the answer to that question is also no. State law does not give um the city council authority to send a zoning decision to the voters. So, voters can't um can't have a referendum on a single zoning case, and the city council can't put that on the ballot. So, that's a that the state law doesn't allow for that authority. Um so, that is not something that is at your discretion. You have to follow Again, we've talked a lot about zoning. State law has a very specific process that you have to follow

for zoning. You have to follow that process, and you cannot have a public vote a a general vote on a single land use decision. That has to be made by the city council. It cannot be sent to referendum or general public vote. It's just not allowed by state law. One other question that um that I've been asked is there are some confusion um over whether the city purchased property, um, for Rowan. Um, and the answer to that is no. Um, I think a little bit of the confusion stems from this, so I wanted to clear this up. There is a parcel uh, that, uh, this property, uh, it's about a 100 acre tract, this property was under contract as part of Rowan's phase one project. So, they had a contract to purchase this property from a land owner. They were going to buy it and develop it as part of their phase one project. At the same time, the city identified, and this is we just heard the landfill master plan in workshop, the city identified this as the only viable landfill expansion site. So, the we we have recently hired a, uh, consultant to develop a landfill master plan. They determined that if we want to expand our existing landfill, this is the only place that is that you that is viable in order to do that. So, the city negotiated with Rowan to essentially take over or have them assign that purchase right to the city so that we could buy the property from the land owner instead of for a landfill expansion instead of Rowan buying the property from the land owner for a data center. So, that that was the the, um, relationship and property purchase from Rowan. We we assigned the we were assigned the

contract from Rowan to the city of Temple in order for us to do a landfill expansion. As we talked about in the, um, workshop today, our current landfill has, um, under 25 years of life, and this landfill expansion area would add up to 50 additional years of life to our capacity to serve our community. And again, that you can see that in relation to um the the total project here, just showing this slide again. That's in the city of Temple land for expansion area. So, again, that was originally part of Rowan's phase one project, but we negotiated with them to take that to buy that land instead of them buying it. So, what has occurred with this project so far? Uh the first public um uh hearing on this project occurred on September 4th of 2025. That's when the voluntary annexation for phase one occurred with the second reading being on the 18th. That is also the same timeline that the plan development zoning for phase one was considered. On September 18th and October 16th, we had the tax abatement reinvestment zone for phase one uh public hearings and action items. On October 16th, uh the agreement for tax abatement was considered by the city council. On November 20th, the development agreement for phase one and phase two were considered and approved by council. That day, there was also the assignment of the property purchase that we just talked about for the landfill expansion. You all approved that on that day. On January 15th and February 5th, we had the plan development uh zoning for phase two. That included public hearings and public public action items on those two dates for that zoning. On March 5th, you approved the utility

service agreement for phase one. On March 19th and April 2nd, you approved the tax abatement reinvestment zone for phase two. On April 16th and May 7th, you approved the voluntary or you on first reading you approved it. Tonight, it's on the uh on the agenda for second reading for the voluntary annexation for phase three and the plan development zoning for phase three. On April 16th, you approved the development agreement for phase three, and there are four remaining action items. I'm sorry, three remaining action items for this project in total for all three phases, and that's the utility services agreement for phase two and three, and the tax abatement reinvestment zone for phase three. So, um you know, there's been a lot of recent attention, but this this has been an extended timeline. There's been lots of public action and public meetings held on this project dating back to early September of last year. So, in summary, the city does not control ERCOT, Oncor, state electric policy, state tax incentives, or the broader legal framework around private property rights in Texas. We do have local tools, including annexation, zoning, noise mitigation, traffic review, infrastructure requirements, utility agreements, and other enforceable contracts. The city's responsibility is to ensure that Temple is protecting and well positioned to benefit from these developments rather than passively absorb their impacts. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to cover that. I would obviously be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you, ma'am.

[clears throat]

It's a thorough presentation. Council, do you have any questions for Ms. Myers? I have one. On tax abatement, um how often do we do tax abatements? And not just on data centers for Rowan. I mean, just in general. Uh cuz I remember when Cinemark came here. We we encouraged them trying to get entertainment here and all sorts of different things. It it really depends on um you know, private development and and and the the general economy of of economic conditions and what, you you private investment is doing. But I would say, you know, it's typical for um we have a economic development policy which includes our tax abatement policy. We're actually considering uh updating that tonight. You're required to update that every 2 years by state law. Um and so, projects that um meet those requirements can make an application for tax abatement to the city. Um those are typically industrial uh projects like advanced manufacturing, but they can include um retail projects when those projects are deemed by the council as catalyst projects or important projects to the community. I would say, you know, anywhere It It does vary, but I would say, you know, three to six a year at most is what I've seen. Tracy, do you uh have a different number? Uh we currently have 14 active abatements. Those aren't you know, those weren't done in a single year, but I understand. Um yeah, so

So, I just wanted to say that wasn't just for Rowland. We do it commonly for other Right. other people also. For for other uh industries and different uh other other projects that meet the the requirements, which is, you know, having a significant capital investment or job creation is generally uh the requirements and that you um you feel it necessary to incentivize that um uh that development into um to be able to to gain the benefits of that investment and that job creation. Thank you. Anything else? [clears throat]

Very good? Okay. Thank you, Ms. Myers, for that. And thank you for taking the time to put that together. I know that's a lot. Okay, moving on. Um Now is the time that we typically uh have public comments. As I usually do, whenever we have lots of people that have signed up for public comments, I'm moving those to the end of the meeting. There's about 25 or 30 or so, so we're going to we're going to move that that uh toward the end. But we have a fairly short agenda, so we're going to go ahead and go through the rest of the agenda before we get to the public comments. So Council, I will direct you please to item number 11. 10. Item 10? Yeah, the consent. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I skipped that over that. We're going to move now to item seven first, which is the consent agenda. All items under the consent agenda are are considered to be routine by the City Council and may be enacted in one motion. If discussion is desired by the Council on any of these items, it may be removed from the consent at the request of any Council member and will be considered separately. Um as discussed in workshop, we're going to remove item 10F uh just for separate voting consideration. So Council, at this time I'll entertain a motion on consent items 10A through 10S less item 10F. I make a motion to approve the consent agenda and items 10A through 10 S minus 10 F. I'll second it. We have a motion by Council member Cockington. We have a second by Mayor Pro Tem Walker. Council, please cast your vote. I'll say I since mine don't work. I.

[snorts] I'm Sam. I'm Mike E. I'm still waiting over here. Do you need to put Um [clears throat]

Consider agenda passes four votes yes. I'm sorry, five votes yes. Moving on to item F is consider adopting resolution authorizing a change order number one to the construction contract with RT Schnaider Construction Company Limited of Belton for the Friars Creek Detention Pond project in the S made an amount of $107,187.50. Council, any questions on that? If not, Council, I'll entertain a motion on item 7F. Here, I move to approve item 7F. I'll second. We [clears throat] have a motion by Council Member Grant. We have a second by Council Member Emmons. Council, please cast your vote. I vote I. I. That item passes four votes yes, zero votes no, and one abstention. Kathy, we have lots of folks on 11 and 12. Do we need to go ahead and have the public comments before that? Okay. Very good, then. I will uh I will not move the public comments this evening. And so, we will just dive right into those. We'll start with uh Horacio Marquez. That's good timing. You walk just walked in. Oh, yeah. Um

Okay, that's probably better. Let's think. So, we'll do 13, 14, and come back to 11 and 12 and do the uh do the consent before 14. We have one person that's signed up for 14. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah, Mr. Marquez, we're going to Cool. We're going to move some things around. Again, Okay, so we are skipping 11 and 12. We're going to move to item 13, which is a first reading and a public hearing to consider um repealing ordinance 2024-0019-0 for conditional use permit on 0.97 plus or minus acres in the Kegley Crossing addition, subdivision, lot one, block one, city of Temple, Bell County, Texas. Address is 3404 South Kegley Road. Ms. Smith. Thank you, Mayor and Council. So, this property is just under 1 acre in size. It's located along South Kegley Road. Um in 2024, this property was rezoned with a conditional use permit to allow for an automobile storage facility. The tenant that was going to operate that storage facility decided to no longer occupy the building, and now it is converting to an office use. You can see the location there along Kegley Road. It currently has the commercial zoning with the the conditional use permit. Here's the current site. They are not recommending any changes to the buildings. They are doing an internal remodel. This area in our future development plan is designated as regional commercial. So, the zoning is commercial is appropriate here. There are other appropriate zoning districts allowed as well, such as general retail, commercial

office one, office two, plan development, and the I-35 corridor overlay. This property, as I stated earlier, is on Kagley Road. It's a minor arterial. Those are roads that typically have anywhere from two to four lanes and 110 ft of right-of-way. They can handle traffic volumes of 12 to 24,000 trips per day. So, with the expected vehicle trips of an office, that would be around 125 trips per day. A typical commercial use has anywhere from 700 to 800 trips per day. So, Kagley Road is sufficient to handle the traffic of the office use. There are public utilities available to the site, a 6-in water line and a 6-in sewer line. We did send out notifications to all property owners within 200 ft of the boundary, and we received one response in agreement and what and zero responses in disagreement. At the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on April 6th, they voted 6-0 to recommend approval of this, and we recommend your approval this evening. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you, ma'am. Council, anything from Ms. Smith? Discussed in workshop, this one's come back in different iterations two or three times the last couple years, so.

Yes. Yeah. Okay, very good. Council, if there are no questions on this item, I will entertain a motion on item 13. That's public hearing. We'll have a public hearing first, then we'll do Sorry, Alan. You got to keep me going. Do I need to wave you down?

No, sorry. I was I was focused. All right, this item is subject to a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on the old FedEx building? Come to the podium, state your name for the record. Please. See, I knew nobody wanted to say anything. All right, very good. Then I will close the public hearing, and now I'll entertain a motion on item 13. Motion to approve item 13. Second. We have a motion uh by council member um by Mayor Mayor Pro Tem Walker. We have the second by council member Grant. Council, please cast your vote. I'll vote aye. Item 13 passes five votes to zero. Moving on to item 14. Actually, Joe Royer, you were wanting to speak on item 14. Uh you signed up for public comments. This item's also subject to a public hearing. Would you rather just wait until the public hearing? Sure? Okay. Well, if we're going to do that, then we need now to move to public comments. Does he not need to speak on public comments first for the item? No, it's because he can speak at the public hearing. The There just have to be an opportunity for someone to speak on the item.

Okay. I got it. Very good then. We'll do that. Ooh, sorry. It's okay. We're all over the place tonight. So, moving on to item 14 is the first reading and a public hearing to consider adopting an ordinance renewing and amending the economic development policy for the city of Temple. Thank you, Mayor and council. To hold two things. Okay. So, we have a economic development policy in place right now. Um right now we are under a two-year time frame, so it is time to renew that. Uh so, this is basically a formal framework for evaluating and approving any economic development incentives. Those economic development incentives are provided for projects that typically support job creation, capital investment, and high-quality development outcomes. This ordinance would allow for us to have tax abatement on which is allowed under Chapter 312. This could provide some property tax relief that's tied to any new value creation. Also providing economic incentives through Chapter 380 agreements. This could be through grants, land, and other negotiated tools, as well as strategic investment zones. Those are our targeted reinvestment areas, and we have two within the city of Temple right now, which is your downtown core and your commercial. So, as I stated, this is a policy that includes a 2-year sunset provision. It was last adopted in May of 2024 and is expected to expire this this year. So, we ask you to regularly review this. It allows you to look at and have the ability to adjust to economic and market conditions, update incentive thresholds and assumptions, as well as maintain legal compliance and best practices. So, we are proposing some revisions to

this, but I would say that there's nothing really substantial here. It's It's as you have it as you had it written before. Uh we've made some administrative updates, just some slight formatting changes, making sure that some of those defined terms are consistent language throughout. Just very minor updates to the definitions portion. We have I would consider more substantial is the wage threshold and the annual salary. Those are your two substantial items there. We have increased those from a little over $17 an hour to $19.52 per hour, and that is what they would need to pay the employees hourly. That is based on the American Community Survey data. We have also proposed to update the annuals annual salary equipment. That would need to be increased we're proposing from 35,439 a year to 40,640 a year. So again, that's that's those job creation thresholds in order for them to get those incentives. We updated the Chapter 380 authority that increased some flexibility for our city manager, especially within our SIS corridors, which is also subject to funding. And then this would continue the 2-year review cycle. So approved tonight, that would be done again, you would be able to review in May of 2028. So a little bit about the tax abatement framework. All the requests are reviewed case by case. So incentives are just not automatic. We review those case by case. They must meet the minimum investment or job creation thresholds that are outlined within that policy. And they have to satisfy at least two of the qualifying criteria to even be eligible. Eligible facilities include but are not limited to manufacturing facilities, research facilities, regional distribution center facilities, regional service facilities, research and development facilities, as well as other basic industry facilities. It also

includes retail stores, apartment buildings, restaurants. A part of the evaluation considerations, we always look at the level of capital investment, the number and quality of jobs that are being created, and the overall economic and community impact. We have the ability in this as well to offer additional incentives. That can be through a Chapter 380 agreement, as I mentioned earlier, which could be grants, land participation, or city services to support projects. Through our strategic investment zone, as I mentioned earlier as well, which is targeting incentives along our priority corridors such as downtown and those other commercial corridors that we have designated and that is hopeful that we would kind of to encourage reinvestment and improve those underutilized areas. We also have enterprise zone participation. This would allow for potential sales and use tax refunds and as well as permit fee waivers for qualifying projects and then the tax increment financing that can fund public infrastructure that's tied to new development as well as providing a flexible project specific approach to economic development. And as I mentioned earlier, not many substantial changes, but we're bringing this before you today and as you stated mayor, it is subject to a public hearing. Great. Thank you. Council, anything for Aaron? Okay. As stated, item 14 is subject to a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter may do so. We just ask you step to the podium and state your name for the record. I was hoping somebody was going to step up before me. Oh, you're going to go along?

[laughter]

This is going to be a minute. Oh, one thing that I didn't do last last council meeting. The council has a policy of 3 minutes during public comments like we spoke about before, but 5 minutes of public hearings. So, I'm going to limit everyone to 5 minutes tonight for the public hearing and um you will be able to come up one time tonight and be able to speak. I think last week had folks come up two or three times. Again, that was way outside our normal uh normal procedures because I wanted to be sure that everybody had an opportunity to speak. But tonight I'm going to enforce our our ongoing policies. 3 minutes during public comments, 5 minutes during public hearings. And I have this little bell here. And when you've got about 15 seconds or so left, I will ring the bell uh lightly just to get your attention. Is is this published somewhere? I was under the impression that public forums did not have a time limit. The council has an adopted policy called governing standards and expectations and it is covered in that in that policy. Okay. This is a lot to cover in 5 minutes. All right. So, I've read through the policy very carefully. And uh this is actually not my first economic development policy that I've read. I've actually read quite a few of these in different counties around Texas and even some in Oklahoma. And there are some really unusual things about ours, I thought. Um for example, um the tiers of tax abatements as they correlate to different numbers of jobs created. Um most of the economic development plans that I've read um would not allow any sort of abatement under 50 jobs because 50 jobs is the federal threshold at which a company has to offer benefits to their employees. So, I find it really odd that we would even consider putting a company with

less than 50 jobs in a tax abatement agreement or in the economic development policy unless it's an expansion. That's that is I've again, I thought it was very strange. Um the $19.52 for uh the rate wage increase according to the MIT study, that should be 1977, but that's with no kids. So, if you actually want to be able to support somebody who has kids, that's closer to $32. And so, that's that seems a little bit discriminatory to me. Um the definition of eligible facility is really not a definition at all. It's not at all specific. I would expect a policy to have some things like guardrails in it where we have a very clear list of what types of businesses it is that we're trying to attract and that's not here. It's basically just ah, whatever, right? I'm a I'm personally I would love to see no data centers on that list. Um a lot of things that the policy talks about as purpose is quality of life, but a lot of things in here seem to be opposite to that. Again, back to the kids issue. Also, I I thought it was really interesting that you didn't mince words. You spelled out in almost plain English that any company investing more than $250 million does not is not subject to the rules. Like the way the policy was worded, it's like case-by-case basis which may or may not be subject to the entire policy. So, rich people just don't have to follow the rules is what I'm reading here. Um also the uh I forget the term that it was for the uh strategic I'm trying to rush through this. Um uh the fact that the taxpayers are paying for the utility upgrades to accommodate these large builds, I think is wrong. If somebody's going to come in and invest, you know, millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, why can't they pay the extra, you know, 6 to 10 million for the utility upgrade to accommodate their own business? Why are the taxpayers paying for this? That does not that doesn't seem appropriate for this policy. Um uh also the non-tax abatement section

doesn't have any rules at all. It's just city discretion. That's not a policy. Again, I think a policy should have something resembling guardrails. And, you know, specifically I would love to see, you know, those guardrails include things like well, obviously the community doesn't want data centers and I'll talk more about the the ability to exclude them in the in the 3-minutes um a section as as more of a rebuttal to the data center presentation. Um I would love to see us specifically exclude any companies related to AI or AI surveillance or surveillance at all. I mean, AI notoriously destroys jobs. I mean, Meta's promising us that they're going to lay off 80% of their staff in the next 5 years. I mean, I think surveillance companies are simply un-American. And any company that's paid zero income tax in the last 10 years, any year in the last 10 years, if if they're already dodging taxes, we don't need to be giving them tax abatements or any kind of special treatment. Like we we need companies that are going to come here and create good jobs and a lot of jobs. Most of the development policies that I've read required a minimum of 80 jobs to get any sort of perks or benefits. And And depending on the case-by-case situation, that could be as high as 120. So, I think I think our our wage requirements are way too low. I think the number of jobs is way too low. This is I mean, this is kind of an embarrassment as economic development policies go. I mean, I don't mean any offense to the people that I know put a lot of hard work into this, but there's a lot of details here that I don't think had any intention on them. Um uh Also, I've been learning more and more about the Open Meetings Act, and I'm pretty sure we have to table this to next meeting. We cannot vote on it because exhibit A is missing from the packet. So, until the public has the opportunity to get a full picture of what this encourage en- encompasses, I think we have to table this for the next meeting. Thank you.

[applause]

Who else? Oh, Alan? If anybody else would like to speak on this topic, if you'll go ahead and get on deck, that would be appreciated. You don't need to put the timer on for me cuz I've got a very short question. I promised myself I was not going to come up and come up here and lie to you, but I'm going to. Uh-oh. I'm going to be petty. When I read the packet, it seemed to indicate that this policy already has expired on May the 2nd. So, how can we renew it if it's already expired? If there's a gap of a week or two, as long as council does not adopt any um agreements within that time frame, it's fine. Then when it's re-adopted on second reading, then it will go forward and be effective for the next 2 years after that date. Okay, so we don't have to make up a whole brand new one just cuz it ran out. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Alan.

[clears throat] Anyone else?

[clears throat] Honorable mayor, I hope just want to talk about economic issue, uh but I want my time for the later. Can I do that, honorable mayor? Is this um Uh I'm just talking to the number 14. Number 14.

Yes, as long as Uh I just want to let you know this economic uh economic development policy, I think it's a great idea. I work with the governor's office. We go around the entire state of Texas, help with the each community, help bring jobs. I'm a product of that's reason I want here today. We need jobs. The state of Texas have a great economic policies from top to the bottom. So, I'm excited. I told that lady, in case if you need a help, glad to help her and work with them cuz I'm uh planning to give a speech to the uh south of Texas in Maricopa County about the economic impact, how we can help those uh areas. So, that's why I hope give my time back. I need uh talk about the other issues later. So, did you Did you just finish talking on Just the number 14. Just the number 14. Yeah. Yeah. You're coming back on Uh about the comments why I support for the data centers in Temple. I wrote a letter for you and so that's why. Uh I I think I ask you this every meeting. Yes, sir. Please tell me how to pronounce your last name again. All right. Uh it's a J. You can tell You can call me JJ. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. And a congratulations to the new uh councilman and both of the that lady, I'm sorry I make sure I can pronounce your name correct and Mr. Mike and also the other Zoe, Zoe, okay, I apologize. And also the other new new police chief with the $53 million budget. I'm really excited. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

you. Any Anybody else on item 14? Kathy. Can we address Mr. Royer's um question regarding maybe a missing exhibit? Um what the open meetings act requires is that the agenda that's posted um clearly identify each topic that will be addressed by the council during the meeting. And so what we go by is the the wording that's printed on the agenda. And so as long as that language is correct and it gives everyone notice about what will be discussed, then that is what's required by the open meetings act and that requirement is met by the agenda language. So the um information in the packet, it's it is just that, informational, but it's not required to be provided in advance by the open meetings act. The only thing the open meetings act is that requires is the agenda language and that it be posted publicly at least um three business days before the meeting. Okay, very good. Thank you. Can I ask a clarification on that? Um that's a little outside the public hearing. Yeah. No, we're good. You bet. Thank you. Then I'm So the public doesn't have the right to be informed on this. Can I ask a question about it then? Sure. Great. What am I asking? No, we don't have the right to be informed on this. As long as it's Sarah, as long as it's on topic to the economic development and not about open meetings.

is this is about that. Okay, very good. So um why are we not allowed to see the um amendment A? Exhibit A. Why is that not public record? Why is it not something that we can see? You're going to pass it through, but we don't get to we don't get to see what's happening. I mean, this is pretty typical, right?

It is public record, and if you wanted to file I I'm not sure why it was not attached, but it's not legally required by the Open Meetings Act to be attached. If you wanted to request a copy of it after this meeting, we would be happy to provide it. After after you voted on it, that's fun. Um okay, there are several parts of this policy that uh we have a problem with. Um $19.52 an hour is not a living wage. According to the experts, $19.77 is a living wage in Bell County for a single person with no kids. So, obviously, we're not looking to bring children into Bell County. Um you claim that one of the purposes of this policy is improvement of the quality of life, but many items in this policy are the opposite of that. The rules do not apply to the companies who spend more than 250 million. Thank you for being honest about that. If a company wants to come build a new facility, the taxpayers should not pay millions for utility upgrades and service them. They should pay for that. We should not be the ones paying for the roads that were built and all of the city services taken out there. When I had lands in the country, I had to pay for those upgrades. I guess when someone has more money that they don't have to pay for it, which doesn't make sense to me. The term eligible facility is very vague. This policy should have specified definitions such as no data centers or no AI or surveillance. The section for non-tax abatement has no guardrails. City discretion is vague, and we already know what you guys do when you're left up to yourself. The point of this is useless. No rules means no policy, so I'm not even sure why you decided to put this together. Thank you. Who else?

[applause] Anybody else? Ms. Davis, if we um went ahead and tabled this until the next meeting until we could get exhibit A in there.

Good job. Is that going to uh have an impact on anything on anything going forward? Or or if it did we could we could delay that project if we needed to. All it means is there would be another 2-week period where you would not be able to adopt any economic development um agreements. I don't think that we have anything that would be occurring before the first meeting in June. I just want I don't think so but just a reminder that this does require two readings so you could you could adopt it on first reading and there's still a a second reading that um just but you could you also could table it if that's your preference.

But the the uh to to meet the uh the utmost level of transparency it could be attached for the second we could we could go ahead and adopt now if we wanted to attach it in the meantime to the next meeting and then if we wanted to we could simply pull that for for uh special consideration. Okay, we'll do that. Very good. All right, then um anybody else want to speak on this public hearing? All right, very good. I will close the public hearing. Uh the first reading of the public hearing the uh um the the missing information will uh will be in the packet next time and we will pull this uh staff you would just go ahead and make note that we're going to pull this item uh at the next council meeting for its own consideration again. So uh council I will entertain a motion on item 14. I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. We have a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Walker, we have a second by Councilmember Emmons. Council, please cast your vote. First vote. I vote I. There it is. Item 14 passes five votes to zero and this will be on the regular agenda at the next meeting. Okay, let's move back now to item Let's move back to public comments prior to items 11 and 12.

Mr. Marquez. You're the only one allowed to come up twice tonight. Again, I I I think I read this in earlier. Uh This is public comment period. We ask you please keep that your comments to uh no more than 3 minutes and please understand that no uh discussion or final action will be taken. Yes, sir. Be ready for the bell at 2:45. All right. All right. Uh my name is Horacio Marquez. [clears throat]

I'm a Marine veteran, a husband, a baseball coach, and a proud member of Local 529 Plumbers and Pipe Fitters. I'm here tonight not as a politician or corporate representative, but as a working class man who believes in this community and the people who live uh who live here. I stand before you in support in approving the data center project because I believe it represents something bigger than just another construction job. I believe it represents opportunity, growth, and the future that uh the future that working families can actually be a part of. The men and women in the skilled trades built this country. We built the roads, the schools, the hospitals, the power plants, the infrastructure that keeps America running every single day. These are the hard-working people who wake up from sunrise, work long hours in the heat and cold, and sacrifice time away from their families to provide a better life for their children. We take pride in the built in building things that matter. Projects like this create real opportunity for real people, not temporary handouts, but careers that allow families to buy homes, support local businesses, and keep money circulating in the community. This project will bring billions of dollars in private investment, hundreds in construction jobs, and long-term economic growth in this area. That means work not only for pipe fitters and electricians, but for the restaurants, hotels, suppliers, small businesses, and everyone connected in the local community. I understand there are concerns about growth and about outside workers coming into the area, but the reality is that a large-scale project requires manpower. Because there is already a shortage of skilled labor across the country, at the same time projects like this is opens the door for local residents, apprentices, and young people to enter the trades and build meaningful careers. If someone is willing to work hard and

learn the skill, the industry can change that their lives. We are also at a turning point in our nation's history. The world is moving rapidly into the ages of artificial intelligence, advanced technology, and digital infrastructure. Communities that invest in the future will grow and succeed. Communities that refuse to adapt risk being left behind. The data centers are becoming just as important to the modern economic economy as railroads, highways, factories that were previous generations. This is not just about technology companies. It's about whether our community wants to be a part of the future economy or watch it happen somewhere else. The facilities also require major investments into power infrastructure, utilities, and local development that can strengthen the area for years to come. As someone who has worked hard all his life, I believe the working class families deserve a chance to benefit.

minutes, sir. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. [applause]

Um Eric Rager. Eric, are you here? I am. Yep. And then on deck will be Michael Smith. Michael, you're up next. I'm going to bring it. All right, come on. My name is Eric Rager. I'm with Local 529 Plumbers and Pipe Fitters. I'm happy to know that people are concerned about wages here in Texas. You'll be happy to know that we'll be paying paying well well above those wages. I also uh want to talk about water. A lot of people picture these facilities constantly draining massive amounts of water from the community. But many modern data centers now operate using highly efficient closed loop cooling systems. What that means is the water's continuously recycled and reused within the system instead of simply being consumed once and discarded. It's designed to dramatically reduce waste and improve efficiency compared to older industrial cooling methods. The reality is that technology companies understand water and energy concerns. They are a serious issue and many of these facilities are being designed with long-term sustainability in mind because efficiency saves money and protects resources. In many cases, these systems are monitored and regulated far more heavily than people realize. It's also important to understand that large industrial projects across America from manufacturing plants to power generation facilities have always required utility infrastructure. The difference today is that modern-day data centers are often built with newer technologies focused on reducing environmental impact while maximizing efficiency. I think it's important that we approach these discussions with facts and balance. Every growing community faces decisions about how to operate and prepare for the future. The question is not whether growth will happen somewhere. It absolutely will. The question is whether this community wants to be a part of that future

and help shape it responsibly. I'd also like to note water usage that was laid out earlier. Modern data center, 4,000 gallons a day. Typical restaurant, 4,700. Niagara bottling, 815. 815 I hate to even say it. thousand a day. So, let's keep that in mind. Thank you. Mr. Smith. And April. April Herboth. Is that right? You'll be on deck. Brain, I wish I'd coordinated with you cuz you stole all my talking points. But if you know me, I got a backup, so don't worry. All right, Mayor, Council. My name's Michael Smith. I live here in Belton. And uh I rep I actually go back. Born here in Bell County. I live in Belton, and I work here in Temple representing the Temple Area Builders Association. I'm here tonight in support of item 11. Not necessarily because I'm advocating for data centers themselves, but because I recognize the leadership this council has shown in attempting to gain some level of control over a situation where frankly you may otherwise have very little. Normally when I'm standing before you, I'm here to discuss some sort of development regulation, some sort of housing issue, or matters pertaining to our industry. But tonight I'd simply just want to come and say thank you. Thank you for your service, your leadership. Thank you for your patience. As a recovering city council member myself, I understand how lonely that dais can feel. And while we may not always agree on every single issue, I want each of you to know that I sincerely appreciate your willingness to serve and your commitment to making Temple a great place to live, work, and

raise a family. I know each of you personally. I know your character. I know your hearts. Man, I don't know what just happened there. I know the difficult facts, competing interests, and tough decisions you're forced to weigh with the best interests of Temple in mind. It's easy for people to throw accusations, criticisms, and assumptions from the outside without fully understanding the realities and complexities that come with governing a growing city like ours. So tonight, I'm just going to close my comments with a quote quote from Teddy Roosevelt's famous man in the arena speech. And if you've ever been in my office, this is not the famous passage that hangs up on my wall, but rather an often overlooked portion that comes just before that. The poorest face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted cynicism. There are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy for respect than he who either really holds or feigns to hold an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in an achievement or in a noble effort, which even if it fails, comes to a second achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform. I'm going to go back to I'm just going to skip to the bottom. The role is easy to be a critic. There is none easier save the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance. Thank you, counsel.

[applause] Is April Herboth here? I'm going to pass today. [clears throat]

Okay. Thank you. Kayla Arredondo? I'm going to pass. Robert Lara? Robert? He's going to pass. Okay. Margie Frazier? Okay. There's a couple of things brought up. Please state your name for the record, ma'am. Margie Frazier. FM 2086, out where I live. In 2020, we were told you can't drill wells out there. That's the northeast [clears throat] side, I believe. Because the sun rises in the east, and it kind of comes like this on our land. And we were told they weren't permitting wells. Why? Cuz you couldn't get water down there. And uh so that might be why they decided they wanted their annexation. Because if you don't get water from anybody, including the Brazos River Authority, who turned them down, and you're saying 4,000 gallons, but what about the 2 million to load them up along with all the chemicals that are going to ruin the land if there is a leak? And if there is a leak, you cannot say there won't be. Every time I turn around, we have our water company telling us, "Please boil your water." It happens every 2 to 3 months. Boil your water cuz there's a water leak down the highway. Okay? So you're not going to guarantee What What are the protections besides some electronics? Once it's leaked, it's leaked. Okay? So to me, all of us are going to be

affected in the end. It's time for humility and oversight to say we agree we don't need a ton of data centers. You've got eight. I saw the land that you showed up there. I'm using my time up because I got to thinking about what was being shown up there. That land is larger than all of your Temple city. I mean, I looked at that one piece, the phase one, it's bigger than Temple City. You have the other two together, that's another one. So you got two more Temple Cities on each side of you. All I can say is you're looking for destruction in the end when you hurry any kind of plans because it takes a few people. You've got people that came up and spoke for it. They're all Rowan people. We already know it. But then you get the other side, as they say. And you hear things that you didn't hear. Not just that, there's the things, you know, the true cost of the facilities, the not just the tax revenue, the electricity usage. You're going to have to cool that data center, water or not. Once it goes over 84°, which we have a lot of times where we have over 84°. You're going to have to cool it. No matter what, you got to keep it at 70° inside the buildings. Those buildings cover how many acres? How many acres of property do they cover? If they're bigger than the city of Temple, what are we saying here? You got two cities of Temple on each side in your industrial area. The noise pollution, all the different things that you need to look at. I mean, people say that they they had posted on online the noise, 90 decibels. That's way over hearing level. Thank you for your time. That's just a little of it.

[applause]

Two points of clarification. Um nee- these da- that data center project is not anywhere near the size of the city of Temple. And number two, for some reason there there's a lot of uh chatter about BRA um and and turning down a permit. BRA has nothing to do with this process. The city of Temple owns that water. As Ms. Myers said earlier, the city of Temple owns 20% of the volume in Lake Belton, and many of those rights precede the rights of BRA. So, BRA is not involved in this. BRA did not turn down an industrial water permit. Um this is the city of Temple's water that is going to uh going to Rowan. You're you're done, Margie. Okay, very good. Next will be uh uh Elena Voitko. Oh, yeah. Let's get somebody on deck.

[sighs and gasps]

Alan, can you be on deck? Y'all need to record this cuz they always censor when I come up here. Yeah, the last meeting when it turns black, that's when I'm up here. And they done it before when I sat on the board as the diversity equity inclusion uh board member, very conservative one, and we shut them down then. But um I have a lot of things to say. And I'll just sum it up because we know the truth and we don't trust a word that comes out of your mouth. We don't trust a word that comes out of your mouth. And I do want to sincerely apologize. Last time I was here, I'm glad you censored me because I was pretty passionate.

[laughter]

And I tried to operate in the love of God. And I want you guys to know that I love you and your daughter and your wife over there. God still has a plan for your life. Please speak directly to the council. I am. Um you guys talk about it bringing money in here. Well, our first day of gathering three, we gathered 3,000 signatures to petition to um get you guys out of your seats for not being transparent and not listening to the people. We have 3,000. Now all of a sudden it's 17,500 when Jessica you barely got 300 votes to get in this seat. But now we need 5,000 votes to get you out. You're You want to talk about the money coming into our city? Your husband came and visited us at Cotton Patch drunk with his finger in my face pointing at me. I have He said um I Well, first he said how it was going to bring money in and that you guys will be able to fix the fire stations that have mold that our firefighters are suffering in sickness because you guys allowed that. That's negligence. He was drunk in my in my face. But I pray for him because we all have suffered from things and I understand what it's like to have suffered from alcoholism and I pray for him and pray he will be delivered. So, since someone wanted to say a quote earlier, do not This is Psalm 34. Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong, for like the grass they will wither, soon wither like the grass plants, they will be no more.

Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pastures. You can turn from your ways and repent. Thank you. We'll have uh Is it Roberto Alfaro? Yes, sir. You'll be up after Mr. Lidel. I'm Alan Lidel. I live here in Temple. And like Michael Smith said, Brenda stole my talk. I was going to talk about the great things that the zone the zoning and planning commission do and and how the process all works. And the only thing she left out is I've attended a couple of the meetings since we last met here. And those people do a humongous job of trying to get the city of Temple on the right track and stay on the right track. I I can't say enough about them. They are citizens. They are elected by the council. They're not paid. And And they do but they are dedicated. They have packets just as big as y'alls that they have to look through every Well, in this case it's every 2 weeks. So, they That's the only thing I wanted to say that Brenda didn't say was you got to appreciate the zoning and planning and zoning commission. They're fantastic people as well as our planning department. But and I'll echo the others that we're certainly glad to have Coy with us as our as our police chief and to have Michael with us as representing my district. Thank you. Thank you, Alan. Brendan Watley.

[clears throat]

Thank you all for allowing me to speak. I truly appreciate it. My name is Roberto Alfaro. I'm a member 15 years long now of local union 529. One of the things that I want to bring up is for people to understand that data centers are not just big buildings full of computers. They become part of a backbone of modern economy. In today's world, everything we do depends on digital infrastructure. Hospitals, schools, emergency services, banking, businesses, manufacturing, and communication, data centers support all these and more. When a company invests in a data center, they are also investing in the surrounding infrastructure. These projects often often [clears throat] require upgrades to roads, utilities, water systems, fiber networks, and especially electrical infrastructure. In many cases, these improvements benefit the entire community long after construction is complete. They help prepare cities and towns for future growth instead of forcing them to play catch-up.

[snorts]

These projects also create long-term tax revenue that can help fund schools, public safety, infrastructure maintenance, and community services. That means stronger local budgets without putting the burden entirely on homeowners and small businesses. I know some people look at these projects and see only the construction or the temporary disruption. But, throughout all of our American history, communities that embraced infrastructure and industry were the communities that grew stronger over time. The towns that invested in railroads grew. The towns that invested in highways grew. The towns that invested in manufacturing and energy grew. Today, digital infrastructure is just as important as those things were generations ago. We are entering a future driven by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, advanced manufacturing, and technology. Whether people realize this or not, data centers are becoming critical infrastructure for entire country or the entire country. I'm sorry. If communities want to compare compete for future businesses, future jobs, and future investment, they need to be prepared for that reality. In closing, I believe this is an opportunity for this town to position itself for the future instead of watching growth happen somewhere else. I believe working families, local businesses, and future generations all benefit when communities invest in infrastructure that creates jobs, strengthens utilities, and attracts long-term economic development. Thank y'all for y'all time.

I wish y'all all blessings and good fortune in the future. [applause]

Edward Sufall, you're on deck. Good evening, Mayor, council members. My name is Brandon Whatley, Sweet Creek Road, Temple. I wanted to take the opportunity tonight to thank you, Mayor Davis and council members. I know you volunteer countless hours, as has been mentioned here tonight, uh on behalf of our city, and we appreciate that. I would also like to thank our city manager, staff, and first responders for everything you do to help ensure the continued safety, growth, and prosperity of our city. Today is a national day of prayer. Many of us know scripture, and it tells us to pray for our leaders, not only the ones we agree with, but all leaders. Sadly, over recent weeks, I've seen scripture manipulated manipulated, taken out of context, and misused as a curse. I believe scripture calls us to exercise wisdom, humility, truth, and self-control. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, we are instructed to pray for all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. So, tonight I simply want to express my gratitude to each of you who are willing to make personal sacrifices in service to the city and for enduring the pressures and criticisms that inevitably come with leadership, even when they become unnecessarily vicious and personal. And on this National Day of Prayer, my prayer, and hopefully the prayer of the citizens of Temple, is that God would grant you wisdom, discernment, courage, and peace as you lead our city. I'd like to close with a Hebrew blessing

from Numbers chapter 6 in the Hebrew language. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. [applause]

Is Edward Soufal here? As Mr. Soufal makes his way up, uh next will be Jose Martinez. Jose? Just a second. We've got one guy one before you. He's making his way to the front.

Ooh. So, I I wait for him? Sure. That's great. Thank you. Mr. Soufall Uh I'm Ed Soufall. Uh lived out of town about 5 miles all my life. Still there. I just moved across the creek. And I've run a business equipment business in Temple for many a year till I decided to retire. I'm still part of it. And uh working with uh the data center

[panting]

where we used to farm. They come in and they was so easy to work with. We had a crop and they said, "No, we're not going to stop. Get your crop out. Get everything you want to get done." And they worked with us and really compensated us uh for the land uh that we was leasing all these years. And they've been so easy to work with. And uh they're working with the communities. They uh uh I've got lots of friends that uh went to work there now. They're getting They're getting paid well. Our local restaurant there is so much they have so much business now from all these workers uh here, they can't hardly keep up with it. So, it's a uh Rohan is really really good to work with. Me as a landowner, me as a working with them and and all of that. And they've been really good uh in the farming industry. Our business has picked up uh uh quite a bit. And the digital in our farming operation, we use uh the data centers just with everything we do. With the auto steer, the uh all the information that the different machinery now can take and we analyze it and all that. Without the data center, we wouldn't be able to do that.

So, this is uh a big plus for Temple and the and the area. It's a lot different than solar, which is takes up lots of farmland compared to what data takes up, a few acres compared to everything what they provide. Yeah. Thank you. So, it's uh appreciate being able to say a few words and I've just got to I can't say enough for the data center out there working with those people. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sufall. Thank you. [applause]

Mr. Martinez, you're up and then Ms. Brenly, you're next. Uh Jose Martinez. Uh I kind of want to summarize a number of things. Some things which haven't been said and which are the reality, the sum of it all. In a word, Rowan sees the mayor and the city council as pushovers. That's why they're here. With data center's promises and a of technical things were said, they're promises. Not con- not all that much of contractual, not all that much of in writing overall. About closed-loop usage and whatnot. Nothing about evaporation, for example, and all kinds of issues. I won't get into all those type of things, but also about miles of heat islands, as they're called, which you didn't even mention at all. About deaths from pollution, which you did not mention at all. No one did. Yes. In Texas, that is. And while the mayor, on the other hand, ridicules the residents about circus and about fear and whatnot. That's the disrespectful of residents of the residents of Temple. It is the council who are the mouthpieces and the puppets of Rowan, per se. Those of you who count on the council, who say that education is important, that's false. That's a lie. Because education is is what you study. You study the research. You don't go on the word, basically, of what Rowan or whoever says. You don't go on their word. That's not education. So, don't say you're for education overall. Scholarships, some of your scholarships and whatnot, that's nonsense. Um A couple of other things real quickly. When news came out about the Killeen commission rejecting a data center, the news came out the next day the mayor Mayor Davis panicked and publicly emailed Temple about about Rowan had spoon-fed him. Why

do I point that out? Because last last meeting, he didn't say anything much. He didn't know anything until Rowan spoon-fed you you all spoon-fed him. And then he came out the very next day panicking after after Killeen. So, basically, and by the way, real quickly, a recent report shows that that the mayor falsifying about tax abatements. This is a television station and newspaper put this together only about a day or two ago. And basically saying that instead Texas quoting now, instead Texas will lose 3.1 billion dollars in sales tax revenues in the next two years because of data center tax breaks passed a decade ago. That's what is behind all this. Another false statement about jobs also. These are temporary jobs that people talking real rosy pictures about jobs. These are temporary. They when Killeen rejected the data center there, the folks there had to admit that only four people were going to be hired. Only four. And not even from Killeen. How about that? That and therefore they rejected. You don't You're puppets basically. And basically what it comes down to overall is that data centers are not required to answer. You're false You're falsifying things when you point that out. Nothing much in writing. And you all fall for it. At the cost of us. Of our health and whatever else as well. At our cost. At our expense.

Thank you. Ms. Brindley. [applause] Cliff Cliff Curry. [applause]

Ms. Brindley. Nell Brindley Temple. I just want to say Rowan didn't write my talk. Neither did Chat GPT. And I nominate Jordan and the Little Sprouts for mayor and city council. My favorite professor at Temple College, Harold Whittington, instilled in us not only a knowledge and respect for our government but the notion that one person's voice matters. He urged us to write letters, call, and show up to our elected officials and speak truth to power. So I'm here today, one voice, to publicly register a vote, sadly, of no confidence to each one of you. City Manager Brin Myers, So Grant, Mike Pilkington, Tim Davis, Jessica Walker, and my newly appointed council member Mike Emmons, the jury's still out on you. It's become apparent that you all have sold out our city to big tech billionaires and foreign investors. Your goal is to make Temple the largest data center hub in the United States in spite of overwhelming bipartisan opposition. You were tone deaf to the concerns of the people you were elected to represent. Scripture says, "When the wicked rule, the people groan." You can't hear the groaning because your pride has drowned out the voices of the people. Sadly, soon our voices would be drowned out by the incessant loud noise of the data centers you're trying to approve. We never should even be at this point. We shouldn't even be here discussing this. Mayor Davis and Mr. Little said we should have been here long ago to speak up. The truth of the matter is we thought it wasn't necessary.

We thought we could trust our leaders. Now we know we can't. All trust has been lost and your legacy will be destroyed. I look back at the years when we had servant leaders on the city council, like my father-in-law, Dr. Heinz Brindley, and Mr. Robert Martin, who sat beside him. They too served with no salary. But unlike this council, they received no contracts, no tax abatements, and no other perks for their tenure. They loved their city and they served with pride. You've left us no choice but to rise up and take action. God have mercy on you.

[applause]

Um Daniel Avila, you're on deck after Mr. Curry. Honorable council members, Mr. Mayor, honorable citizens of Temple, Bell County, I'm Cliff Curry. I'm business manager of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local Union 529 in Waco, Texas. So, I was asked by some of my members to appear here tonight. I'm not a member of this community other than I have about 250 members that live in this community and I represent them from time to time. They elected me. What it does for this community is [clears throat] it these jobs will help accelerate apprenticeship programs not in the length that we don't we won't make plumbers, pipefitters, and HVAC, and refrigeration techs faster, but we'll be able to make more of them in the same time with these types of jobs, power plants, data centers, industrial projects that are permanent jobs that stay in this community, buy homes, raise their families, pay taxes, use the local businesses, and support the local community. Uh so, for that reason, yes, I'm in favor of the data centers. I don't think they're an enemy of the council council members. I don't I don't think every everybody has a lot of passion and God bless them for that. I think the council has come back from the last session meeting and tonight and has shown a lot of transparency in their presentation. And I think everybody appreciates that. Yeah, it's just something we know. But but in the end, that's all right. It's our turn to discuss and we can agree or disagree. But still being neighbors, we got to figure this out. And that good deal is going to be a good deal and it will work both ways. If anybody wants to go along with it, all right. Okay. What's your suggestion? Let's discuss community and and and as a whole.

We're still being neighbors. We don't want to be enemies. So so Okay, if we can keep it working out for the for the better of this community, I thank Is John out there, Barry? John John out there, you're you're on deck. I beg your pardon? No no, your hearing's over. This this this is public comments. So you're you're up next. Al Chelsea. Go ahead, sir. My name is David Biddle. I've lived here in Temple Terrace for 27 years. And having lived in this area here is not okay. How many of you guys looking at this with your hands? How many of you guys? Tiny tiny code. How many of you guys understand this assumption of power? Everything very good. Just blink at me. Total 250 watts. Total 500 watts. Intel Samsung Motorola Intel and AMD. And everything Intel is technology. Me me all those chips come from Intel. And they build these ancestors. We are their ancestors. If there's going to be Do you lose me on the technology or not discuss this? What I'm trying to say is that medicine has no use here. It's going to skyrocket. A lot of problems. A lot of people say they have a new iPhone and have a lot of flash chips. It's going to skyrocket. Meaning that the one that you paid for $900 is going to skyrocket to $25,000. From a 256 gigabyte cell phone to a cell phone. Or or just my cell phone. It's going to skyrocket. Special cars, they chip chips with the

EV cars. It It's going to go up. It It doesn't create jobs. It creates jobs that have been eliminated from our lives. And when I say that, I mean that we're going to have a system that's that's going to go down the drain. The computer does all the job by itself. All you got to do is type in the information and that's it. There's There's no one behind the computer here typing in your information. Meaning that cell phones are going to be displacing any technology. And meaning that any man This this is a citizen's cell phone. This is just a cell I think it's very strange that it's not right. And And you can use different technology. I think that there won't be no human being for a long time after Please consider this. Because this is going to be a costly technology coming soon. We already know about the hackers. That's That's the crazy technology. What do you think is going to happen with the medicine? Our Our information is in the medicine centers. They They will know you know our personal information. We We agree about that. And medicine centers are like a medical online. Once they see open that up and see see what they have to see, they can they can download our information and use it against us. Cookies. So think about that, guys. And I understand there's going to be no good jobs. That's only temporary. Once this job is done, once you're done doing it, you're going to have to look for a new job. I understand I'm working in your session. So So think about it, guys. And think real deep.

[applause]

I'm going to wrap this up first before I try this berry. I'm going to jump on that first before I try this berry. I'm going to take a picture of this berry. Welcome to Texas Instruments. Good morning. Good morning, Governor Abbott. Good morning, my neighbor. I'm going to get the I got to get back with you in a bit. All right. I'm going to open up Texas on the website of your nice company. I'm going to ask a question. I'm excited to ask some questions. I'm also here for the answer and I have to go to the quickly as possible. We can get a nice presentation going. The position is the total water system is just a lot of different uh uh statuses at this point. I'm going to be up all all of your justices that are going to come down at this point. There are many different good good reasons. I think the people in Texas are just happy to have this industry. The environment is good because we have very inexpensive electricity. And since you guys are here, uh electricity is sold in the gas versus the state. They're about the same price compared to any business in the United States of America. And it's not it's it's extremely difficult to build these systems. I'm working on all of the presentation notes. I think the future transportation of electricity is going to be the future. And also uh storage excess electricity during periods of time when electrical is low. As we we mentioned earlier uh there, we have plenty of water for this data center. And um she ans- already went over that. But there's a part that she didn't tell. When when we have excess water in our lakes like Belton did last year. The core has to let that water out. And that water is open to anyone to take and store in the aquifer. We sit over the Trinity aquifer at this point. We And so, we can take that water.

Temple can put it in there, and it's their water until they need it uh for for a long period of time. As example, uh Lake Belton last year, if you remember when it was high, they had to let out 250,000 acre-feet of water to bring it down to 2594 level. At point, that that's millions and millions and millions of gallons uh at this point. If there's a question about any environmental concerns, you can you can also file a complaint with TCEQ uh about this at this point uh also. The taxes are a win-win uh for both the county, the city, uh and the school district at this point. And uh you can There There's just no reason why we shouldn't benefit from this taxes at this point uh also. We We have a new water well that has been drilled out on the east side of Temple with about 240 acre-feet of water. That's 80 million gallons of water a year that we have that we could use anytime we want to. They haven't activated this well yet, but it won't take that long to activate it at this point in city. Uh There. But anyway, I greatly appreciate the work, and I believe that Rowan will be a good neighbor. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll have J. D. After uh after Mr. Fletcher. Jeff Fletcher, Temple Texas During the past city council meeting, the mayor and the council members addressed the concerns of the citizens.

Subsequently, our recall was I don't know if the mic is on or not. Can you hear my time over there? Janet Just go and start Take the rest of the day off. Now am I on? Can you hear me? We going to start the clock again? Yes, sir. You got four extra seconds. During the last meeting you addressed the concerns of the citizens. A recall was inaugurated. Emails were sent out to address the concerns of the citizens. On the government page addressing the current concerns of the citizens. Eventually in the newspaper, there was an ad put out addressing the concerns of the citizens and it's I don't know if this influx of concerns were in response to the recall efforts. I also had a letter. The mayor had the letter in the uh newspaper. I also had a letter published by the newspaper, an editorial May 4th to the citizens of Temple and fellow Texans, we are being besieged by an influx of data centers. The mayor and city council

has demanded we adhere to their wishes. We have answered their demand and opposite with opposition and recalls. Our resolve stands firm. I shall never surrender my obligation as rightful steward of the land. Our local government has become stewards for the data centers. I call upon you in the name of everything dear to come to our aid. Support the recall. If this call is neglected, I am determined as long as possible and never for my forget my duty and honor. God bless Texas. I'm Jeff Fletcher, letter to the editor. Any questions? Any comments? I'm here for you. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

[applause]

Sarah Royer, you're next. Honorable mayor and a councilman uh council, again, thank you for giving me this opportunity. I saw that like a lot of citizens said, "I saw the email." I figured write an email. I I put a post on the X then the local newspaper I uh uh Telegraph Temple Telegraph say, "Hey, can you uh reduce that from 350 to 250?" Uh and they say they will publish that. So, openly I'm I'm talking I'm support of data center. I don't know anything about Rowan, but I I know their financials. I know what they do. They're part of the Facebook. And if you look at the data center why I support for the mayor because the AI boom is humongous. If you look at the last Friday economic data came out from a Wall Street Journal US economy, the economy is driven by AI. We need the data centers. So, why what I'm saying is it's a new industrial revolution. I remember one of my colleague marine friend army guy and he talk about the importance of uh this never revolution. So, when I hear these people and they're against the data centers, I hear sometimes I feel like Bernie Sanders talking. Or AOC is talking about this socialist ideas. We cannot push these ideas in this state here. These data centers, I'm telling you they use liquid Yeah, I'm saying Texas economy And then If you look at

And then data centers they have huge amount of assets. People against this economic impact This is under final at the federal

Thank you. Thank Thank you. Thank Thank you. Mr. Ryan, you're next. Sarah Ryan. Um I don't think this was ever about whether or not we like Rowan. I think this is about knowing that studies not putting in the time having no reporting about what this will do to our community. We have We found Rowan company has stated that to investors who are raising money and and selling to Blackstone which is a whole other thing that they had 16 gigawatts of power, 13 gigabytes and they're building Temple, the largest data center company in the United States. This is all before you guys had your first meeting. This is where we found out about this. All before you had your first meeting and all this stuff about this. You violated the open meetings act. There was no proper notice accurately in the meeting. It's nice to know that you have a lot of ways to tell us how you feel about it. You thought that this is the largest data center company in the US. It was great to put in a little tiny thing in the newspaper. Um it wasn't still a surprise to you. You You weren't elected to be a representative of the people of this city. All of you have. There are significant You were not elected to do this work. There are significant violations of nepotism in our in our appointments of science and time and stuff that doesn't make sense. You know what I'm talking about. And so everyone sees it as a great way to make money. It will take us about 10 years to recoup money from the government to to for what we spent $10 million profit for them. And I wonder who got those contracts. There are You stop ignoring this request now. Do that legally. This is a notice to

stop being the voice of Aurora. It's nice that you allow women to talk for 30 minutes. It's very nice. The consent needs to be We have no reports and you haven't given us enough time to recognize these consent statements. I like my servants that you've put on today. You need to bring representatives. This is This is your last chances. Open my boxes that are being refused to be opened by the powerful assistant. We will file a teaching non-stop Oh, and you can ask the two section 2.1 section 15 notices. Um We will file in district court and federal court with you so that you know this. THANK YOU.

[applause]

UH DAVID SHADDICK WILL BE AFTER MR. LAWYER. I'm Joe Lawyer. I'm the District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office. Um So first of all, Mr. Lawyer, I'd like me on the show. I'm a really big fan of your work. I love the language and you chose your words so very carefully to keep me very confused about what you were saying to us. So, so I didn't know what you were talking about at first but I I I [snorts]

I said that I can't argue with those things and zero of what you were saying was because you know something that you can't argue with. Like we we've seen there were thousands of research studies that say that we know this is a racist structure of power. Which means they are very racist. And it's it's going to make against the tribe, right? And it's it's interesting since the code of conduct for tonight but we can't reverse blame anything with regularly doing regularly doing personally so search for the letter K. And you also talked about how you can't out-racist business and you specifically used sexually oriented businesses. It's like what are these things essential and have any to do with business? So, fairly not somewhere where they are not, right? So, really what I'm interested in is one of those like the same kind of heart. You also talked about how drilling wells inside the city can prevent us from drilling wells outside the city but not outside the city zones. That was That was brilliant. That was very interesting. Very deceptive. In order to drill a well outside cities you've got to have approval from FEMA which is an operating well contractor and certainly not the size of business that is required. You may be able to drill a little 4,000 gallons per day. But there's no way they can drill a well that size. So, if we weren't giving them annexes, if we weren't allowing them to annex any of those zones, they would have no access to water. There is no need to be here. And you talked about how Tempe is in a superior water position, right? We are anti-development. The TWW has already drained the water out of the water in 10 years. It doesn't matter if we have superior water, right? It just means we're the last ones to lose water but we're still out of water in 10 years. So, if a superior water district is just giving us the water, I mean Uh somebody's supposed to have asked me that 4,000 gallons a day for a 40 people is outrageous. They were I think she said she ran a a summer camp with 80 employees and didn't use that much water. Like running around

outside in the heat, like that's something doesn't add up there. You also mentioned ASR wells, which really surprised me. I'm I'm assuming you're depending on the ignorance of the audience on this one because anyone who's researched an ASR well knows that these are really horrible ideas. It's very expensive. It's a very dangerous. You run a high risk of poisoning the aquifer. And the fact that you would even mention that, I mean, yes, I'm aware it's on TWDB's long-term plan for how to mitigate the our water crisis, but it's yeah, this is this is something that needs to be a last resort that sadly isn't. And suddenly the city can require environmental controls, but in the last meeting you said otherwise. It's Yeah. [laughter]

So, I guess I'm just going to wrap up there, but uh Um yeah, thank you for for your time. Thank you, Joe. [applause]

Uh Marie Marie Beat four messages from people. They haven't heard the last anything that the last four people have said. Oh, no. Of course they haven't. Okay. It don't matter if anybody hears me or not cuz I'm 62 years old and I'm dying anyway, so I don't care. I've watched Joe's body language all this time. I'm a veteran. I've been all over this world. And I'm a history fanatic. I love history. One thing my father always told me is do your research. Listen to both sides of the argument. Find the common common denominator in both sides, and search your research from there. I research these data centers all over this country. I listen to the people talk. I contact people who live near them. How they don't have any water pressure, there's chemicals in their water. They're having drug problems, treatment problems, cancers they didn't have before. Now, I love your speech, it was a great job, by the way. Excellent job. You're District 1? Guess what? My name is David W. Shatten. People call me Mr. Shatten, Master Shatten, Grandmaster Shatten, but my favorite name is Pita. P {period} I {period} T {period} A {period} because I'm at the point in my life I got nothing to lose. I buried my son in '22 in Brookwood Medical Center. I buried my brother, found him in his home dead for 6 weeks, so I got nothing to lose. But I don't think y'all researched anything. Really don't cuz I'm a layman. I didn't go to college. I'm a veteran. I'm a soldier. I'm an ex-aircraft worker. I worked unions. I crossed union pickets. And by the way, the jobs Rowan is a good neighbor, huh? Well, guess what? Every corporation a good neighbor. They want to be your friends, then get in the door. I don't want business. I'm

a good neighbor till I find out you're doing something wrong to me, and then I'm not going to be a good neighbor. That's what business does. It's just business. Don't take it personal. Don't take what I'm telling you personal. It's not personal. I'm just trying to put an idea in your head. Who is Temple? That's my question to you. Who is Temple? They don't even know. No, who's Temple? Are you Temple? Or everybody out here Temple? We are Temple. This is Temple. Temple is the people who live, work, and slave here every day. I am a Title 1 elementary school. You know who I work with? Underprivileged kids whose teachers left them behind. I got a second grader who can't even write his name legibly. I got kids who can't read in the their grade level. I get kids who can't do math. You know what I do? At 62 years old, I sit on them, read with them, and teach them how to write their name. That's what I do. That's where I have to spend my time. I have kids that are self-abusing cuz the system didn't care about them. I don't make money. I live on a disability check. I live hand-to-mouth. This is my good clothes. I don't care about money cuz it doesn't mean a stinking thing. You didn't know who Temple is. Temple is everybody who lives here. You look like you're on your phone for a while. You look like you were on your phone the first time even while she was talking. You actually look like you're paying attention. Bravo, dude. Welcome to the company. Good job. You look like you're angry. This is the body language you put off the the whole night. I've learned to read body language. I've been in combat situations. Okay? What I'm trying to tell you is y'all need to wake up and listen to these people. Cuz you build all these data centers, they ain't going to be here. They're gone. Cuz you're not going to have a choice. Look at your housing market. I watch the housing market prices. They're dropping 5,000 here, 10,000 there, 20,000 there.

Prices are dropping. Even the rents are dropping. Think. Do your research. Have a wonderful day. Oh, and if they do a recall, I'll meet you again and I hope you have a wonderful day. Feel the LOVE OF JESUS. [applause]

ON UH ON DECK IS KURT RILEY. And I get to follow that. My name's Marie Beebe. Um I do want to thank you for I do want to thank you guys for your service. I know this isn't an easy job, and I I commend you for showing up after the last meeting. Baptism by fire, I guess. Um Ms. Myers, it was very informative, and I am very sincere. Um I learned a lot. There were some interesting things, and I did have a few questions answered, but um And I know you can't answer my questions, but I'm kind of wondering like who I know Rowan builds for clients, and I know that they probably can't tell us exactly who their client is, but I think the city of Temple might feel a little better if we knew what they were building for. Um is it for medical? Is it for uh government um protections? But I do I do think a many people have a misunderstanding that whatever data is created here is for us here. Is this even data for an American company? Is this Are we outsourcing to China? I I don't know, and I hope that I can I'm going to attend some meetings and get some answers. Another question I have not heard asked are uh I know that contractually they're allowed a certain amount of water when they are charging and and all of that. If for some reason something breaks or something goes wrong, which things uh just just happen, um are there fines and penalties? And I'm really curious as a citizen what those fines and penalties are, and I'm imploring I'm I'm begging you if there is a fine and a penalty, that that fine

and penalty for going over that water usage is more than what it would cost for um water trucks. So, they have to get outside water trucks to bring it in just as a deterrent. I I read recently that uh SpaceX, they went over there for 3 years in a row. They had a contract of the amount of water that they were allowed to use, and they went over that. And it just worries me. Big companies have big pockets, and fines sometimes don't mean a lot to them if it doesn't hurt. So, just make it hurt. Um I love the hardworking men that were up here talking, and I appreciate that they are feeding their families, and they're doing it the hard way. My husband built a business. He busted his knuckles for 35 years, and then he moved his wife out here, bought her some pretty land, and not so pretty house, but that's in my backyard. He busted his knuckles, and potentially a company's coming to hurt it. So, this is I'm being selfish, cuz I am worried about my new neighbor. Thank you for your time and consideration, y'all. Kurt Riley? Is Kurt here? No Kurt? Robin Peoples? Thanks. Uh my name is Robin, and I live in the Jackson Park neighborhood of Temple.

I've spoken at a past council meeting regarding my data center concerns. So, today I'm just going to focus on a question. Um I would like to know if the Temple City government has a point of view about how many data centers the city and its resources, including any land that could one day be annexed can support safely. I'm asking about both the number of facilities, but also most importantly the total number of megawatts and the acreage of impermeable surfaces. Um I believe this question must have a concrete answer somewhere. Surely nobody believes that we can convert every acre of Temple into a data center just as we would not into auto manufacturing or strip clubs or whatever. Um so what what is that number? I haven't seen that anywhere. Um I've heard seven or eight facilities are in various stages um from being built already to just proposed, but without a concrete definition of what our council and planners believe is Temple's total capacity and without a clear understanding of the demand say in megawatts of the facilities in the planning pipeline, I'm not sure whether to interpret those seven or eight facilities as the end goal or just the beginning. Um I understand and appreciate the limitations placed on city government in these matters. The state wields almost all the power and cities are left to weigh the tradeoffs. Um but first and foremost, we all need to be taking these same concerns that we have to Governor Abbott and Representative Hickland and demanding change of direction at the state level. So please also remember data centers when you are voting in November. Um but ultimately annexation approvals and tax abatements, all of that still amounts to Temple's endorsement of these projects. So how can we Temple residents or the council know if we're overextending ourselves if we aren't um discussing our total estimated capacity

to host them. So thank you for your time. Thank you, ma'am. [applause]

Rayanne Brown I guess I'm not going to answer the question. Rayanne Eight. No Rayann? Okay, last Mr. Chuck Luco. Hello. Uh my name is Chuck Luco. Um and um I'm not here to speak to a particular agenda item. I'm here to give a few words of support for Tim Davis and for Jessica Walker and Mike Pilkington. Uh and the rest of the council. I don't know uh Mike Kimens very well. What I know about him and I've met him he's going to be great. So, welcome. Thank you. Um same to you, Zoe. Uh I don't know you well, but I'm impressed that with your heart for Temple. Um about Tim, I've known Tim about 25 years. He and I coached Little League boys baseball. Uh that's the first taste for Tim for politics. Uh probably more difficult than city council. Um I grew up here, so I'm a homer. Uh Tim and wife Jennifer, they chose Temple uh to be their home. They moved here from their home of Abilene. Uh Tim chose to run for city council in 2013, elected mayor in 2018. Tim loves Temple. Um Mike Pilkington, Mike has been a part of his family's business, Bell Contractors uh of Belton. Uh sewer and water drainage utility repair. When things go wrong in the middle of the night, he fixes sewer lines all over the place

and uh Mike's dad was one of the most generous and kind persons you could ever ever meet and he recently passed away and Mike took over for his dad a few years ago as president of Bell Contractors and he chose to use his leadership skills to give back when he chose to run for city council. He is honest and treats people like they want to be treated. Um Jessica, Jessica Walker, Jessica's family has been here three generations. She loves Temple. Her husband Bruce was in high school in Temple High when I was here back in the late 70s. Uh I know I look a lot younger but um anyway, their their family business Ling Field Lumber has been in the uh Walker family

[snorts]

for a very long time, almost forever. And uh Jessica's been a very big part of that. Um so I know she's a great lady and just a little nugget I wanted to mention when you go into a business the way the staff behaves and treats customers is a direct reflection of leadership. Um and the upper management here in Temple, our uh city council and city manager, they have an impact on the staff and uh we're lucky to have them. My opinion. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we have lots of sheets up here. I think that is everyone. Let me be sure I didn't miss a sheet. Very good. Uh thank you all uh that spoke. Thank you for taking your time to come to the meeting tonight. It's not always easy. Uh we're going to move on to item 11, which is the second and read uh, second and final reading to consider adopting an ordinance authorizing the voluntary annexation of 185.148 plus or minus acres located in the Maximo Moreno Survey abstract number 14, Bell County, Texas, and identified by Bell CAD property ID as parcels 7067, 7071, 7069, 234587. Um, Council, we uh, we've pulled this item just for voting purposes. So, um, I will entertain a motion on item number 11. I'll make a motion to approve item 11.

Second. We have a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Walker. We have a second by Council member Pukington. Council, please cast your vote.

[snorts]

I'm the last one, it looks like. Uh, aye for me. Item 11 passes, four votes yes, zero votes no, and one abstention. Moving on to item 12 is the second and final reading to consider adopting an ordinance authorizing a rezoning and binding site development plan request from ag to plan development light industrial on 302.67 plus or minus acres located in the city of Temple, Bell County, Texas, identified as parcel 7068, 7073, 7067, 7071, 7069, and 234587. Council will entertain a motion on item 12. Move to approve item 12. Second. We have a motion by council member Pilkington. We have a second by Mayor Pro Tem Walker. Council, please cast your vote. Vote I. Item 12 passes four votes yes, zero votes no, and one abstention. It is currently 8:00 p.m. Thank you all for attending and we are adjourned. How many we looking at? Yeah, y'all didn't answer that. Yeah, they didn't answer that. How many we looking at? How many? This uh as stated at the beginning of public comments, uh this is the time to take public comments and no discussion will be uh