City Council - Regular Meeting

(INAUDIBLE CHATTER) GEORGE ALLEN: Can I have your attention, please? It is now 6:00, and I will call this special council meeting to order. Call the roll Mr. Jones. RUSSELL JONES: Ms. Holmes. JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Here. LEIGH WHATLEY: Here. CHUCK BEAMS: Here. TODD RAUCH: Here. GEORGE ALLEN: Here. RUSSELL JONES: Alright. CHUCK BEAMS: You sure? RUSSELL JONES: We're all here? GEORGE ALLEN: OK. Let us all stand for invocation and our Pledge of Allegiance. RUSSELL JONES: I don't have it scheduled. I mean, you can't... You can pray and we can do the... GEORGE ALLEN: We'll do that. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pause at the beginning of this meeting to seek your guidance and your wisdom. We thank you for the opportunity to serve the community and for the trust placed in us by those we represent. Grant us clarity of thought, fairness in judgment, and unity of purpose. Help us to listen with open minds, to speak with respect, and to act with integrity. May our decisions reflect what is just, compassionate, and beneficial to all the residents of this city. Guide us as we discuss important matters tonight. Help us to set aside personal interests and work together for the common good. Give us patience in disagreement, courage in difficult choices, and humility in leadership.

May our efforts contribute to the safety, prosperity, and well-being of the entire community. In your holy name we pray. Amen. (IN UNISON) Amen. GEORGE ALLEN: Pledge. (IN UNISON) 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. GEORGE ALLEN: And at this time, we will have an adoption of the agenda. Council members, are there any items that need to be added to, removed from, or changed to the order of the presented agenda? Having none, is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? TODD RAUCH: So moved. CHUCK BEAMS: Second. GEORGE ALLEN: Any discussion? Having none, call the roll Mr. Jones. JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Aye. LEIGH WHATLEY: Aye. CHUCK BEAMS: Aye. TODD RAUCH: Aye. GEORGE ALLEN: Aye. RUSSELL JONES: All voted aye to approve the agenda. GEORGE ALLEN: Thank you. Public hearing, Mr. Jones. RUSSELL JONES: OK, now's the time. If you would like to speak on this matter that is a public hearing before you, please come to the podium to my left. If you do, please state your name and your address. Please keep it to three minutes or less. This is a public hearing for the project development agreement with Faith Technologies Incorporated. GEORGE ALLEN: I declare this public hearing open. Anyone who wants to speak for or against this matter, please come to the podium to my left and state your name and address. Remember, you have three minutes to speak.

TOM: My name is Tom (UNKNOWN). I live at 305 North Fourth Street. What are we talking about here? RUSSELL JONES: This is not discussion. You can make comments. TOM: About what? RUSSELL JONES: The project development agreement with Faith technologies. TOM: There's nothing there to tell me what you're doing. RUSSELL JONES: We posted it online. There's a project... TOM: I read it. It doesn't say anything. What are you doing there? The word on the street is it's a data center. Is that what it is? Is it? RUSSELL JONES: And let me remind you, if you speak, please sign in to the sign in sheet. OK. We need your contact information. JASON: My name is Jason Landes. I live at 410 North Ninth Street. Public notice was published about two weeks ago, buried at the bottom of the journal, with no meaningful context of what this entailed. The meeting agenda and agenda packet weren't published until 1pm on Friday. The information in that package, look, is almost entirely boilerplate garbage. There's no real context in there. My perception is that nobody seems to know what this was about, what this company does, what they were going to do at this specific location, let alone have any idea of the details that made this deal compelling for city investment. That's just my perception, just one person. It's only on page 29 out of this 40-page document that there is any information about the company

and the project, air quotes in the document, not mine. The company specializes in construction, engineering, and manufacturing. They'll be building basic electrical components. That's just buried in a 40-page document. I'm not an executive, but an executive summary of what this project was would be nice and would probably save us a lot of trouble and consternation. If I was responsible for calling a meeting of this size, $600,000 in budget, I'd be mortified if this was the information I put together for public comment. You're asking for public comment, and as this gentleman said, we don't even know what we're here to comment about. That's embarrassing. I wouldn't be doing this in business. I'd be shown the door. This doesn't even amount to 1% of the city budget, even less than that when you look at it on a per-year basis. But when all we have to do is look at these top-line numbers without any summary, what are we supposed to think when we come in here and look at how this is going? There's no cost-benefit analysis to the city, barely a mention of what this company even does, and even that's vague. Somehow the city decided to give out $600,000 in tax credits. It's not all monetary. Some of it's trade with the Sportsplex and stuff like that. But there's no information at all presented on how the city arrived at this decision. I'd be mortified if I put this together. I'm sorry. It may be a great deal, and it probably is a great deal for the unused and idle property over there in the industrial complex. But please, just to save everybody a lot of trouble, just tell us what's going on. I don't think it's a big ask. Thank you.

MORGAN: Mr. Beams, Morgan Carpenter, I sent you an email ten days ago asking about this very thing. The two things that the gentleman has asked about, these two gentlemen, is that a data center? I don't know that anybody responded to that question. Do we deserve an answer? TOM: Absolutely. MORGAN: We do. Are these representatives of Faith Technologies? I'm sorry, are you mute? Do you represent Faith Technologies? RUSSELL JONES: Sir, this is not a time for discussion. You can make comments to the city council. MORGAN: I understand. Apparently, though, the city Council's mute as well. RUSSELL JONES: They're not. They're not allowed to discuss with you during citizen communication. MORGAN: OK. RUSSELL JONES: This is a time for citizens. MORGAN: Sorry. I'm new at this. I've been a lifelong resident of this city since 1972. I have family here for a very long time, as I'm sure that most of us do. The disappointing thing that I'm here to convey is that I heard about this data center through a mailbox stuffer that was received on Highway 29. Rather than reach out to my 30-year friend, Eddie Smith, I called Chuck Beames. Actually, I emailed him, and Chuck has not had the time to even respond to my inquiries. That's disappointing. So, I'm asking the questions here tonight, is this a data center? And if it is, has there been a feasibility study done? Impact on the environment? Have there been any studies done on the use of our local power grid, or perhaps even Tallapoosa River Electric? And what about our water usage to cool the data center servers, which I understand is substantial?

I'm not sure about the $600,000 tax credit. I did not have the liberty or the justice to be able to read some of the things that these other gentlemen have. But it's awful suspicious that no one knows a lot about this. And now we have an emergency, or I'm sorry, a special called meeting agenda. Who called this special meeting? RUSSELL JONES: President of the Council. MORGAN: Mayor? RUSSELL JONES: The President of the Council. RUSSELL JONES: Mr. Allen is the president of the council. MORGAN: OK. I'm sorry, I don't have my glasses with me, so I didn't catch that. And the purpose of the called meeting was for? RUSSELL JONES: To hold a public hearing and pass resolutions or consider resolutions. MORGAN: OK, so on your agenda it says to approve project development. Sounds like a decision has already been made. RUSSELL JONES: No, they have to vote in a public meeting. MORGAN: OK, well, my time is up. Thank you for yours. SUE: Hi, I'm Sue Ellen, and I live at 910 David Street in Opelika. They didn't put the announcement that there was a work session, but we came a little early and we got to see some photos being taken with the Faith Technologies folks here. And we got to hear Joey Motley say that AL.com already has the information. It'll be official tonight.

So yeah, they are maybe going to hear what we say, but it sounds like the decision's already been made. I would like to ask the city attorney, can he respond? RUSSELL JONES: No, ma'am. SUE: OK, well, I just want this on the record that I'd like to ask if there's any reason that any elected, hired, or appointed city official should sign an NDA or a nondisclosure agreement in any official capacity for the City of Opelika. And if so, would all the citizens be bound by those terms, even financial penalties, which are typically included in NDAs, I think? And with the city council members, I had wanted you to raise your hands if you had signed an NDA as an official of Opelika, but they probably can't raise their hands. No. MORGAN: They work for us, maam. SUE: And if they had hypothetically signed any NDAs having to do anything with tonight's agenda, faith, technology, or any other data center or related items, I would like to know if they would recuse themselves from all votes and/or governance dealing directly or indirectly with all issues and entities having to do with said NDAs. And if not, I would love a commitment that they will not sign any NDA with anything that has to do with any data center or anything having to do with the data center. We heard a lot at the last city council meeting and during the campaigns about responsible growth, measurable outcomes, accountability, transparency. And I cannot see how the representatives, the officials who I not only voted for, but for some of you

campaigned for, can apply those same things to this situation, how those things can be applied to one type of development but not to this one, because I don't see how we could be convinced about anything that can't legally be discussed. If you guys have signed an NDA, how could you discuss anything with us? Period. And if you can defend it, defend it. Let's talk about it. We're here for it. And so, in closing, I would just like to know what would matter. What would matter to you guys? Opelika has, what, 37,000 residents, maybe. How many signatures do we need to get the city to pass an ordinance that says that you guys can't sign NDAs as officials of the City of Opelika? And I would like to know how many signatures, how many phone calls, how many emails, how many letters do you guys need to understand that the City of Opelika does not want a data center? What would it take? Is there a number? So, if you could answer me, maybe you would. Perhaps you'll send me that in an email. Maybe you'll talk to one of the reporters and put it in the paper. Because I really believe that you guys are good guys trying to do the best that you can for the City of Opelika. I know you, I believe in you. I think you work hard and I appreciate that. But if it's great, come on out and defend it. Thank you. RUSSELL JONES: Again, please put your contact information on the sign up sheet so that they can contact you if you if you wish to be contacted. GREG: My name is Greg Hill. I'm at 3021 Anderson Road, Opelika. I don't know what a data center is.

I just heard about this this evening. I wanted to let them know that I'm their downhill neighbor. I would like to talk to somebody at some time just to discuss some things that have been going on over the years. I'm the adjoining property. MIKE: My name is Mike Bass. I live at 805 Forrestal Court, Opelika, Alabama. I just want to ask y'all, since I don't really see any transparency in any of this, that y'all consider tabling this until information can be shared with the citizens of Opelika, and so we know what's going on, so y'all can get some input from us. You can't get any input from us when we don't have a clue what's going on. So, if y'all would table it and just give a little time so we can find out something. Thank you. JUDY: I'm Judy Blackman. I live at 401 Hill Avenue. These meetings are very interesting.

So, I can't ask you questions, but I'll make a comment. I'm your resident conspiracy theorist. And data centers are not good. You know why they need them. You know why there's so many popping up all over Birmingham and down in Baldwin County. And big, huge parcels of land. Must be a real financial incentive for somebody to get these up. It's government-sponsored. Because who else has got that kind of money? We don't want it here. Because why do you think they need so many of them? To surveil every single thing everybody does and keep up with it. That's what they're for. I don't know if this is a data center coming. I certainly hope not. But that's what they're for. And we don't want it here. Do y'all think that we don't want it here? GEORGE ALLEN: Any others? If not, I declare this public hearing closed. Agenda related public comments, Mr. Jones? RUSSELL JONES: Yeah. So again, if you'd like to speak about anything on the agenda tonight, please come to my podium on my left. Name, address, telephone. Please sign the sign-in sheet. Or name and address. If you speak, keep it to three minutes or less. You got another three minutes if you want it. (INAUDIBLE CHATTER)

JASON: The invitation of another three minutes on the website. It says five minutes. On the agenda, it says three. I'm still the same person I was before. RUSSELL JONES: Please state your name and your address. JASON: Sure. Jason Landes, 410 North Ninth Street. Just four or five, six blocks north of here. So, there had to have been some information presented to council to make some sort of decision on this, and I'm now more shocked than I was when I walked in here. I now know less about what's going on because of all the other comments. Look, I'm sorry. This isn't some, or maybe it is. I don't know if this is some classified project or not, but regardless, that's insane. This is stupid. We wouldn't accept this. We wouldn't accept this at Lockheed Martin. This is nuts. All right, so look, just give us a PowerPoint chart, redacted PowerPoint chart, on how you came to this decision and just tell us that this is what you're doing, regardless of what we say and that our comments don't matter. Sorry. TOM: I'm still Tom. I live at 315 North Fourth Street. This is ridiculous. Y'all are trying to railroad something through without letting the citizens know what's going on. You should be ashamed.

GEORGE ALLEN: Moving along. Resolution. RUSSELL JONES: She's coming. GEORGE ALLEN: OK. RUSSELL JONES: She's coming. TESSA: Hi, my name is Tessa Tallaksen. I live at 1022 Renfro Avenue, very close to here, and I have been trying to get some answers. I've spoken with every single member of the City Council this week, and my conclusion is that there isn't a straight answer, that Faith Technologies seems to be going to use this building to be manufacturing. What I would like to know is specifically, what will you all be manufacturing? Faith Technologies appears to be an electrical engineering firm with several companies underneath them, and they're out of Michigan. And my concern is, number one, on their website they do work with different organizations. They do work for hospitals. They do work for universities. They also do work for data centers. And my concern, and I would just love to know what they're going to be manufacturing in that building, is that even if Faith Technologies is going to be using that building to manufacture data systems for, say, Bessemer, we don't want to be Bessemer. I will tell you that. Even if it's we're going to make things and then export it, I'm all for jobs, and bringing 200 jobs here would be great. But I am concerned, as someone who has been doing a lot of research about data centers, that just even having Faith

Technologies come to our town would be opening a door for bringing that industry here. It's like you manufacture parts for Kia if Kia is down the road. And so, I just have concerns that this will be opening the door in some way for something that the citizens are all very opposed to. Because in my cursory research, I'm not a researcher, in my cursory research, I've found that data centers are linked to some really negative impacts, such as increased rates of cancer, increased rates of heart disease, lung disease. Having one here would jeopardize our water supply. It would increase our utility bills. It would decrease our property values, which is something I'm concerned about. And it would just overall put our community at risk. I know there's billions of dollars on the line for these things, but we don't even want to do something that would just open the door to that risk for our community, especially without you all giving us time to gather our thoughts and understand. Thank you for your time. I know you love this place. DUSTIN: Good evening, Dustin Howard, 1022 Renfro Avenue. Tessa briefly mentioned the population health effects of AI data centers, and I know this may or may not be a data center. We don't really know. Several other people have talked about it, so I just wanted to put some of those health effects into perspective with a little epidemiological data and some air pollutant data.

AI data centers use massive amounts of power. Those are generated by power plants and backup diesel generators that are on site. Those power sources emit substantial amounts of air pollutants. Of those, fine particulate matter, which are particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less that can penetrate deep into lungs and cause negative effects, is one of those. Sulfur dioxide is another. Nitrogen dioxide is another one of those. Particulate matter is the worst of those. Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter, even at low levels, is directly linked to numerous negative health outcomes, including premature mortality, heart attacks, asthma, stroke, lung cancer, and even cognitive decline. Short-term exposure, as in hours to days, is also very dangerous, contributing approximately 1 million premature deaths per year globally from 2000 to 2019. These health tolls of heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer, especially in Alabama, could not be overlooked. In case you didn't know, heart disease in Alabama is third in the nation, with 204 out of every 100,000 deaths being credited to heart disease. Stroke: Alabama is a member of the stroke belt, indicating its stroke mortality rate is 10% higher than the national average, as well as being twice as likely to have a stroke if you were born in a stroke belt state. Lung cancer, per the CDC, the entire Southeast has lung cancer death rates that are significantly higher than the national average, and an AI data center would only make these statistics worse. I understand that the state of Alabama is pushing for AI industry. I know back in November, when they had the 2025 economic meet-up, whatever they call that, I know AI data center industry was pushed very hard on the state of Alabama and from the lawmakers up top. But Opelika should not be a city that contributes to the health degradation of Alabamians, but rather, Opelika should be a shield and a protector, an example of a city that cares about its citizens. So, I urge the city council, even if a data center is not

on the agenda or whatever Faith Technologies does or does not do, I ask the City Council to act now to put preventive measures into place so that we can protect Opelika from AI industry, so these things don't happen to us. Thank you. GEORGE ALLEN: Any others? Move along to agenda resolution, Mr. Treese. ROBBIE TREESE: Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight's resolution is for approval or rejection of the project development agreement with Faith Technologies Incorporated. Item two is to approve certain tax abatements and exemptions for Faith Technologies Incorporated in association with that development agreement. GEORGE ALLEN: Well, we will look at them individually. Or is there a motion for approval? JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: So moved. GEORGE ALLEN: Is there a second? CHUCK BEAMS: Second. GEORGE ALLEN: Any discussion? JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Yes. Is it possible that we can get an explanation of what Faith Technology actually does and how we would get, and what we'll be doing on the second part? Is there a way we can get that done for the people? GEORGE ALLEN: John, can you come and speak? JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Thank you. JOHN SWEATMAN: Members of the Council, President. Thank you for calling this session. It was something that really just helped the company on their timeline. John Sweatman, Director of Economic Development for the City of Opelika.

Faith Technologies is not a data center, and I can't say that more clearly. We've made that clear to all of our council members. It's unfortunate that my office never got called once by the public. I would certainly have said that. I could have cleared up a lot of things a long time ago. They're a manufacturing operation, just like our automotive manufacturers that we were so blessed to have here in Opelika, our pharmaceutical manufacturer, Pharmavite, Niagara Bottling Waters, and other manufacturing operations. And they're going to make great products for the electronics industry, whether it's hospitals or data centers that need parts, emergency management agencies that need emergency power in times of disaster, or EV power charging stations. It's a great company. I'm going to welcome Matt to come up here in a minute to tell you a little bit about the company and their history. We're really fortunate that they decided to look at Opelika, make an investment, commit to that investment here, and create these great jobs. These are going to be jobs that our children are going to have for generations to come, starting off at $31 an hour as an average wage. That's a great wage. It's better than what most of our companies offer here in Opelika. So, we're really fortunate to have them. I'm happy to answer any other questions. GEORGE ALLEN: Any questions? LEIGH WHATLEY: Yes, sir. Can you reiterate this is not a steppingstone for a data center to come, and it is not a data center. JOHN SWEATMAN: It is not a data center. It is not a stepping stone. In fact, this building, this facility was the former JOANN Distribution Center. It will never have the power capacity available at that site to ever entertain the idea of a data center. TODD RAUCH: John, can you explain why we're having a special session for this? JOHN SWEATMAN: Yes. So the way abatements work,

for only certain companies and operations in the state of Alabama, by statute, state law can qualify for tax abatements. They have to be a manufacturing operation or a logistics wholesale warehousing operation. And for them to, when they make a commitment like Faith Technologies is doing of 79 plus million dollars to bring in equipment and bring this building back to life and create these jobs, the tax abatement has to be in place and approved before any equipment can arrive to Opelika, or it doesn't qualify for the abatement. So, if they had $10 million worth of equipment arrive before the abatement was approved, then they wouldn't get the benefits on that $10 million of equipment. So, it's beneficial for the company for us to have that in place. The way our schedule works for having to legally advertise for a regular city council meeting did not match up with the company's timeline. So, in eight years that I've been doing this, we've never had to call for a special meeting, and we had tried to get it in for the February 17th meeting, but we couldn't get it advertised in the paper quickly enough to meet legal timelines. But we couldn't afford to wait. The company couldn't afford to wait until March 3rd for the next scheduled council meeting because they're going to have stuff arriving on site in Opelika. So that's the only reason we called a special meeting. LEIGH WHATLEY: Thank you. CHUCK BEAMS: Go ahead. JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Also, can you just also explain how the tax abatements work? It does not affect any of our schools. The taxes. JOHN SWEATMAN: No. So in the city of Opelika, statewide it's a state law that you can't abate taxes that are allocated to our schools. So, our school systems have always been protected in that. So, the minute an investment is made here in Opelika, our schools benefit day one. We've also decided as a city that we also will not abate any taxes that are earmarked for a hospital or for our dependent children services.

So those three entities benefit from day one. CHUCK BEAMS: Now, I was just going to get you to maybe talk a little bit about the abatement process. And so, when a company... GEORGE ALLEN: Excuse me. If we will... We're just going to handle it one at a time. We'll come back if we want him to come and talk about abatement, we will. CHUCK BEAMS: OK. GEORGE ALLEN: But let's deal with the very first one now. TODD RAUCH: John, for full transparency, I sat down with Economic Development and Joey Motley a week ago. In full transparency, can you explain what that process is like for economic development and how we, as council members, are briefed in this process? Because I do feel like everyone deserves to hear how we hear about this and the information that we're given. I know I've talked to numerous people in the audience tonight about this to try to get out ahead of it as much as I could. But can you explain that process? Well, in the economic development profession, we respect the privacy and the confidentiality of the projects we work. Sometimes I do operate under an NDA, and most times projects will come to me in the beginning under a code name. A lot of times I'll work it for a year, and I won't even know the company's name. I know the sector, I know the type of business, but sometimes it takes a while to. And it doesn't matter if I've worked on a project for two or three years, I can always, when I find out all the information, say no. And we do say no a lot. We get a lot of, we're blessed in Opelika here beyond the I-85 corridor, we get a lot of folks reaching out to us wanting to come enjoy what we have here. But we are very selective of what we allow in our community, what we would bring to you for potential approval. TODD RAUCH: So, you brought up a good point in NDA. So, you operate and can operate under an NDA. Are we operating under an NDA at all? JOHN SWEATMAN: I'm not qualified to answer that question.

I didn't even I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express. So that'd be up to City Attorney to answer that. TODD RAUCH: City attorney? I haven't signed anything. That's why I'm asking. ROBBIE TREESE: Right. Often, the city employees are asked to execute NDAs for various purposes associated with things having to do with competitive advantages, trade secrets, that kind of thing. If they go and visit a facility somewhere, so that those kinds of things aren't made public unless later they're required to by a judge or public policy. TODD RAUCH: What of we as counsel. ROBBIE TREESE: You as counsel, I hope you haven't done that. I would instruct you not to unless you let me take a peek at it first. So I've not asked you to sign any of those so far. TODD RAUCH: Thank you. JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Thank you. GEORGE ALLEN: Any other questions on the... RUSSELL JONES: Project development agreement? GEORGE ALLEN: Yeah. TODD RAUCH: John, you said you were going to invite someone up here to talk about this real quick. I'd love to hear... JOHN SWEATMAN: At any point? TODD RAUCH: Yeah. JOHN SWEATMAN: Is now the right time, Mr. President? GEORGE ALLEN: Yes. JOHN SWEATMAN: OK, Matt, would you mind coming up? Thank you. MATT REHBEIN: Good evening. I'm Matt Rehbein. I'm the Real estate development manager for FTI. We're excited to be in Opelika. I'm hopeful today we can answer a lot of the questions and allay a lot of fears and concerns. As John stated, we are not a data center. We're not working toward being a data center. FTI provides solutions for power management. Usually I get the confused look when I say that.

What does that mean? We provide that through three different businesses. We have Faith Technologies Incorporated. That's our legacy electrical contracting business, 50 plus years in the business. That's how we got started. We also have EnTech. That's our clean energy division. So that's the EV charging, the solar arrays, the biodigesters, off-grid systems, battery backup systems, that sort of thing. And Excellerate is our manufacturing. And that's what we're looking at bringing here to Opelika. What we manufacture are electrical assemblies and modular systems to support those power management needs of our clients. And so that can really be anything, depending on the client demand and what the client need is. John ran through what some of those are. And that's what we will be doing at this facility. In terms of the project itself, we are anticipating investing a minimum of $72 million, creating 200 jobs, and hoping to hire as many locally as we can. And those jobs are at about a $65,000 average salary. So that's just high level, but I'm happy to field questions. CHUCK BEAMS: I was just curious, in your manufacturing, has there been a shift? Have you seen a shift lately in domestically bringing things back from overseas manufacturing? Is this part of that in any way, like bringing things that were made overseas? MATT REHBEIN: So, what we do is primarily assembly of equipment. And so that equipment could be things like switchgear. It could be transformers. It can be skids with EV chargers. And those can come from anywhere in the world. So really, the impact of international and U.S.

is not as crucial for us, depending on what our client is demanding. Sometimes they provide us the raw materials to assemble and put together, and we aren't even doing that acquisition. TODD RAUCH: Matt, in Ward Five, we have the industrial park, and Joann Fabric is a part of Ward Five. We have a lot of residential neighbors out there, a lot of subdivisions that are currently getting built that are going to put more neighbors out there, which is great because I assume you all will be great neighbors with them. One thing that I talk to my constituents a lot about, especially in that area, is transportation-wise. Can you explain the truck traffic, if there's going to be an increase of truck traffic, or if this is light industrial assembly? Explain that transportation side of it. MATT REHBEIN: Yeah. In terms of the assemblies themselves, they can be large or small, depending on what we're making there and who the client is. In terms of the truck traffic, we don't have a tremendous amount of traffic. We're not a distribution or logistics-type warehouse. We're actually manufacturing it on site and then sending it off. We aren't a heavy user. That said, I can't tell you truck numbers. I don't know that off the top of my head, but unlike a Frito-Lay warehouse, where there's a lot of trucks, we would not be along those lines. TODD RAUCH: And does this facility use, um, traditional, like, industrial water levels and electricity, or is there an increased capacity that you need? MATT REHBEIN: No, we aren't looking for any

increased capacity. What's at the site for traditional industrial is going to be satisfactory for what we're doing. TODD RAUCH: So just to address the public concern, this facility isn't going to be used for the purpose of hosting a third party data center now or in the future. MATT REHBEIN: That is correct. TODD RAUCH: Thank you. MATT REHBEIN: I might also add that our process is not excessively loud or dust creating or vibration creating or anything like that either beyond regular industrial standards. GEORGE ALLEN: OK. Thank you very much. TODD RAUCH: Thank you, Matt. MATT REHBEIN: Thank you. GEORGE ALLEN: Now, before we ask for a roll call, if the tax abatement will have an effect on you voting for or against, then now we're allow you to come back and ask questions about the tax abatement. John. JOHN SWEATMAN: As pointed out earlier, I'm still John Sweatman. JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Okay. CHUCK BEAMS: I was just going to ask if you could explain a little bit about the abatement process. I learned a lot during our two-by-two about how that process works and how, when an industry is looking to come here, maybe two things to explain, the statutory requirement of that and what that means. To me, it means required by law. Then explain the process we use to take the information from, in this case, Faith Technologies, the estimates of equipment costs and the estimates of improvement costs on the build. All those things go into a system that goes to

the state, and the state sends us back the information. I guess I’m kind of explaining the process, but just talk about that, because when you see that abatement number, there is oftentimes miscommunication about us taking money out of our budget and giving it to a said industry. In the case of this, other than the little things with the Sportsplex and the little things with Shop Opelika Local, the vast majority of that number is money that we don’t have currently because they’re not doing business here. JOHN SWEATMAN: Sure. So when we're working on a project, especially one of this magnitude and quality, we do it in partnership with our state partners at the Department of Commerce at the state level. As a matter of fact, the state has already approved the project agreement for Phase Technologies. They're waiting on us to approve it before they can ratify theirs, though. The abatements are there. They're statutory. It's state law. My office is the processor of the applications for tax abatements, and our City Council is the granting authority. You grant the abatements for the local, county, and the state portion. You even grant what the state's going to give. When the state Department of Commerce is talking to a prospect, they're talking about abatements also when they start talking about incentives. It's this body that would grant those abatements when it came time to come before you. The abatement process starts with two applications. They're state applications. One is to handle the sales tax abatement, and the other one is to handle the property tax abatement. Those are fill-in-the-form applications. I can't change them. I can't avoid answering some columns and answer just others. They have to be filled out in full. We do that in partnership with the company.

The company provides us the information for those applications. We also ask the company, if they say they're going to invest $50 million in a project, to give us a detailed spreadsheet of how they're going to spend that $50 million, how much is going to a building, how much is going to manufacturing equipment, how much is going to desks and computers for the new employees to use. Then we take those two applications and that spreadsheet, and we send them off to the Alabama Department of Revenue. They analyze it. The first thing they do is make sure the code that each company has, every company in America has a NAICS code that says what kind of business they run. They have to make sure they qualify as a manufacturing operation or logistics warehouse operation. If everything looks good, they'll send it back to us with a tax analysis that they prepare for both the sales tax and the property tax. We take the numbers off the state's spreadsheet and plug them into the development agreement. TODD RAUCH: So, John, a couple of questions. First, whenever we typically do a tax abatement, I can understand what people are saying, where this seems like a foregone conclusion because we are the deciding body on whether we do this or not. But Phase Technologies has already purchased this building. JOHN SWEATMAN: Correct. TODD RAUCH: So do we with this tax abatement and everything, is this typically how the process goes? JOHN SWEATMAN: No. Projects happen in all kinds of different ways. Sometimes they move really fast. Sometimes they take a long time. As I said earlier, the tax abatement is the best incentive we have to offer to attract business. We compete against other states and other cities all the time, cities much bigger than Opelika. We do very well in competing and landing these great projects. That's a tool that we use to make sure that we have an opportunity to win some projects. TODD RAUCH: So, whenever it's brought up and brought into

the community, at what point when it gets to us, is it just estimated that we'll just say yes and that this will just go through or I mean, should this been brought to us earlier? JOHN SWEATMAN: I wouldn't dare try to predict what you would do, but I would hope that you would continue supporting this. You have voted for over 50 abatements without disqualifying any of them. We have had a long history, I think since Mayor Fuller came into office 21-plus years ago, of being pro-business and approving tax abatements to support the companies that are investing in our community. Over the last 20 or so years, we've added over 6,000 jobs to our city and over $2.6 billion in capital investment. We did that by using the tools that we have at our disposal, and abatements are certainly the number one. TODD RAUCH: So, my other question is, you said something about incentives. Can you explain the difference between city and OIDA incentives and give us a little bit of elaboration on what those include? JOHN SWEATMAN: Well, if a project is located in one of the industrial parks that are managed by the Industrial Development Authority, then they have the opportunity to also add an incentive. TODD RAUCH: So, what are the city incentives? JOHN SWEATMAN: On this particular project? TODD RAUCH: Yes, sir. JOHN SWEATMAN: We proposed the abatements. We proposed the jobs incentive, performance incentive, Shop Opelika First, relocation incentive, Southern Union tuition reimbursement for additional training for employees. Off the top of my head, I think that's it. It's one that has been pretty much in every agreement you've approved. TODD RAUCH: So, what is the total number for the abatement for this? JOHN SWEATMAN: You should have it in front of you. It's in the development agreement. I didn't bring my notes up with me I apologize. CHUCK BEAMS: I think it was... JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: 600,000.

And may I ask, well, we're looking at that. So even once we look at the incentives, I did some numbers, and it makes me feel a lot better. And just so I'll let the citizens know that at the job, about 65,000 a year and you're getting 200 employees, that's like 13 million, and we'll receive 130,000 in occupational tax every year. And if you do the math on five years, that's 650,000 back. So, it's going to continue. So, when you do look at these projects and look at these abatements, what the city of Opelika in the end will receive is much greater than what we're giving up from the beginning, if that makes. JOHN SWEATMAN: Yes. So, over the last 3 to 4 years, we've lost close to 1,500 jobs in the city of Opelika, with three closures, with Baxter International and JOANN closing. So, we've been working hard to try to bring in new jobs to help those folks that lost those jobs find work again. CHUCK BEAMS: And just one note on that job performance incentive. It's a tiered approach. And so, if you only hit 50 jobs, you only get a portion of that. So, I thought that it's, we say 200 jobs and that number is at 200. But if they only come in, say at 100, we hope y'all have 400, that changes. So, there's some safety in that. JOHN SWEATMAN: All of our incentives are performance based, or they're a reimbursement for something that we have budgeted. So, when we say $25,000 in Sportsplex memberships or to Southern Union, that's money that's already in the budget that we've set aside for these type of projects.

GEORGE ALLEN: Any others? Thank you, John. JOHN SWEATMAN: Alright. Thank you. GEORGE ALLEN: Any other discussion? Call the roll Mr. Jones. On the first... RUSSELL JONES: Yes. To approve the project development... GEORGE ALLEN: ...resolution. JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Aye. LEIGH WHATLEY: Aye. CHUCK BEAMS: Aye. TODD RAUCH: Aye. GEORGE ALLEN: Aye. RUSSELL JONES: All voted I to approve the project development agreement. GEORGE ALLEN: And repeat the (INAUDIBLE). ROBBIE TREESE: The second resolution is to approve the tax abatements and exemptions for faith technologies. GEORGE ALLEN: Is there a motion for approval? CHUCK BEAMS: So moved. GEORGE ALLEN: Is there a second? JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Second. GEORGE ALLEN: Any discussion? Having none, call the roll Mr. Jones. JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Aye LEIGH WHATLEY: Aye CHUCK BEAMS: Aye TODD RAUCH: Aye GEORGE ALLEN: Aye RUSSELL JONES: All voted aye to approve the tax abatements. GEORGE ALLEN: Second roster of public comment, Mr. Jones. RUSSELL JONES: If you would like three more minutes. Please come to the podium to my left. Please state your name and your address. Please sign in the sign in sheet. (INAUDIBLE CHATTER) MORGAN: Again, my name is Morgan Carpenter, 2100 Sanders Creek Drive. The distinguished Chuck Beames is my neighbor. He lives just right around the corner from me. I think everything here tonight, the consternation, the confusion, the concern, could have been avoided if we'd had more transparency from you guys and from you guys, period.

And, John, I'm not holding you unaccountable as well. I know that you put this together, and that's great. I've been in small business for a long time. I understand how deals are made. I understand that we have to look forward. I understand we have to make up losses with Joann leaving and Baxter International leaving. But this could have been done a whole lot better than what was done tonight. Thank you. TOM: Tom (UNKNOWN) again, 315 North Fourth Street. I'm just going to second that. This could all have been avoided because everybody got like, what? They're doing, a data center, and they're going to just pull this. This is a great thing for the city. There's no reason that any of it should have been hidden from us. So anyway, I'm glad that I don't have to be ashamed of y'all. GEORGE ALLEN: And if there are no others, I will now entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting. TODD RAUCH: So moved. LEIGH WHATLEY: Second. GEORGE ALLEN: Motion properly seconded. That we'll adjourn. Call the roll, Mr. Jones. JANATAKA HUGHLEY-HOLMES: Aye. LEIGH WHATLEY: Aye.