Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

yes commissioner as per section 881 of the sunshine act

Good evening commissioners, Chris Molesky, Norwegian Township.

Before I begin, I respectfully ask that all responses be retained until after I've completed my three minutes of public comment. Tonight, I'd like to speak about transparency, accountability, and the public's ability to understand how county government operates and sends taxpayers dollars. First, regarding financial transparency, only certain treasurer's reports appear to be available online. As a taxpayer, I should not have to wonder whether reports are missing or whether they can be found. Reports should be posted consistently and in a timely manner so the public can review them. More importantly, the treasurer's report currently available provides only a basic summary showing beginning balance, funds received, funds distributed, and an ending balance. Taxpayers deserve more than a bank account balance. Residents should have access to a detailed monthly financial report showing the revenue of source, Expenditures by department, investments, reserve activity, and other significant financial transactions on the county website. More importantly, these reports should compare actual revenues and expenditures against the county's adopted budget. Are departments operating within budget and what percent of each department's annual budget has been spent to date?

Are county revenue meeting projections?

Exceeding expectations or falling short of budgeted estimates? There are basic financial accountability measures that allow taxpayers, elected officials, and department heads to monitor the financial health of the county through the year rather than waiting until year end. Second, I reviewed the findings of your right to know submitted by another resident seeking information, seeking information regarding town board and authority appointments. According to the response, there are none. That raises an important question. If there are no records identifying appointments, representatives, or terms of service, how does the county track who is serving on these boards or authorities? How does the public identify potential conflicts of interest? How are the stipends per diems, meeting compensation, reimbursements, or other county-funded payments associated with those positions monitored? Transparency requires records, accountability requires records, and public trust requires records. Finally, under children and youth, There is a proposed detention service agreement with Central County Youth Center in Bellefonte at a per diem rate of $667. A per diem rate alone provides very little information. Is that 667 per juvenile per day? And what is the projected annual cost to the taxpayers? Without discussion and context, taxpayers are left guessing about the financial impact of the agreement before a vote is taken. I believe agenda items involving contracts, expenditures, grants, agreements, and policy decisions should include discussions by county staff, discussion by the commissioners, and an explanation for the public before an action is taken. The public should understand what is being approved, why it's necessary, and who requested it, how much it will cost, and where the funding will come from. So let's just end it with this. Transparency is not simply posting information online. Transparency means providing enough information for the public to understand the decision being made on their behalf. So the residents of Schuylkill County deserve a clear financial reporting, meaningful discussion before votes are taken and access to information that allows them to hold their government accountable. Thank you for your time.

Good evening.

Good evening. Lara Wiscount, Tremont. Given the three-minute time limit, I respectfully request that I be permitted to complete my remarks without interruption. On March 18th, Cheryl Mack presented each of you with a resolution opposing the establishment of an ICE detention center in Tremont. That resolution carries no legal obligation. It does not require funding, legal action, or policy changes. It simply asks whether you are willing to publicly stand with the people you are elected to represent. Nearly three months have passed, and that resolution remains unsigned. That is not opinion. That is fact. Over the last six months, residents have attended meetings, asked questions, and repeatedly voiced concerns. Yet the gap between the board and the people, who will be forced to live with consequences of these decisions every single day, has only become more apparent. And before I continue, I would like to confirm for the commissioners and the people from the media that the people attending this meeting tonight in this room are actually Schuylkill County residents, because sometimes that gets lost. So I would appreciate it. Those of you that are Schuylkill County residents, please raise your hand so they know that we are actually here. I would like the press to know, and I would like the commissioners to know We are not paid protesters. I got a big bill, if we are, that's going unpaid.

We are not outside agitators.

We are Republicans. We are Democrats. We are independents. We are veterans. We are business owners. We are taxpayers, parents and grandparents, and lifelong residents. We are the peoples whose health and safety and property values and quality of life will be directly impacted by the decisions made here today. I will now use the remainder of my time to introduce you to some more good people of Tremont and Schuylkill County who are actually your constituents. I heard from Roger, he lives in Tremont Borough, he's 76. He's lived in Tremont since 1964. He likes Tremont because it's quiet, He knows who his neighbors are. It's a friendly place to live. His concerns about the ICE detention facility in Tremont are water, sewer, and more traffic flow. He would like me to communicate with you. He does not want all of the hardship to be put on our town. That's his message to you. Lane Jr., 61, Tremont. He's lived there 55 years. It's his hometown. His family lives there. His kids and his grandkids live there. His concerns about the ICE detention facility. We can't afford it. There's not enough police coverage. He has safety concerns. The sewer and the water concerns. Increase in traffic. Can't handle it. Will impact our health negatively. His message to you. You seem to have forgotten who you work for.

That's too close.

Never enough time. Our communities are being asked to absorb landfill expansion, data centers, biosolids, and now massive detention centers, one project after another, each carrying significant long-term consequences for all of us that live there. When election time comes, we will remember who stood with the community, who listened, and who had the courage to speak up. We will also remember who remained silent.

Commissioner Perdoa, Commissioner Hetherington, Commissioner Hess, Joe Wisdom, Tremont. I'm here today with serious questions regarding your positions on two significant matters affecting our communities, specifically the Brad's Lennon Cook trucking issue and the proposed Tremont Detention Center. First, we want to acknowledge that during the last Commissioner's meeting on June 3rd, you, Commissioner Perdoa, along with Commissioner Hetherington, publicly agreed to send a letter opposing the proposed additional truck traffic required for operations at France Landfill. Your concerns, and it's not enough, the letter's not enough. Your concerns regarding increased traffic, public safety, and significant wear and tear on our local highways are well-founded and reflect exactly the kind of advocacy our residents deserve from their elected officials. However, this raises a critical and troubling question that demands a direct answer. Why are you both unwilling to take that same stand for the residents of Tremont? The proposed Tremont Detention Center would house 7,500 detainees and employ 2,500 additional personnel. A total of 10,000 people would have required an estimated 365 or more daily truck trips simply to address the water and sewage needs of that level of population. That's not a minor inconvenience. That's a daily convoy that would subject our roads to the same, if not far greater, levels of traffic, safety risk, and infrastructure damage that you cited as justification for opposing the Brad's Landfill truck traffic with a written and signed objection. The residents of Tremont's surrounding communities deserve the same protection you're willing to provide elsewhere in this county. Furthermore, the concerns surrounding the Tremont Detention Center extend well beyond traffic and highway damage. Our water supply and sewage infrastructure, systems that serve existing residents and businesses, systems that deficit currently, are also in serious jeopardy. The sheer volume of water and sewage demands generated by a facility of this size has not been adequately planned for, and the impact on our local capacity could be devastating. We ask again, why is this not equally worthy of your opposition? We also question why you Commissioner Fedora and you Commissioner Herrington have taken the position of choosing to work with the federal government on this project when by all accounts, they have no credible or comprehensive plan to work with them. They have no plan at all. No plan currently exists to address these critical infrastructure challenges. It is deeply concerning that you both would extend cooperation to a proposal that lacks even the most basic framework to protect our roads, water, and the quality of life for the people that you were elected to serve, would you be willing to move forward with any other major county project under such vague and unplanned circumstances? You must be consistent in your advocacy for the residents of your county. You've set a clear and appropriate standard by opposing truck traffic tied to the Brad's landfill operation. We wish that consideration and concern would have been expressed prior to natural soil products being allowed to truck their stench producing filth into our community that same standard protecting our highways our safety our infrastructure and our communities must be applied equally to the tremont detention center proposal anything less is a failure of equal representation for the community residents of our county we therefore respectfully but we firmly ask of you both will you commissioner pedora and you commissioner heatherington sign the proposed resolution opposing the tremont detention center tonight as Commissioner Hess has previously stated he would. The residents of Tremont and Schuylkill County, they deserve the same level of protection, advocacy, and representation that you have demonstrated you are capable of providing to other areas of Schuylkill County. The West End is sick and tired of being dumped on and not being represented by our county suburbs. Please do not let us down. It's never too late to do the right thing.

Thanks for listening.

Good evening, Commissioners. I'll try, I'll try. I think I'm good. I think I'm good. Good evening, Freedom Fighters. This room has a big crowd.

Good evening.

I remember last week you spoke about the brass major permit modification. I would just like to read the first sentence, or the first paragraph. of that letter that was sent to the commissioners and interested parties. In accordance with section 271.141 of the regulations adopted under the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act, this letter informs you that Brad's Landfill Company intends to file a major permit modification of their existing solid waste permit. The modification proposes to incorporate hauling of leachate as the principal means for managing leachate at the Brad's facility. Of course, hauling leachate brings a whole host of problems. Increased risk of public water supplies. It's a temporary solution to a permanent problem. It brings increased traffic and public safety concerns. It's indicative of a lack of long-term infrastructure planning by grads and the DEP, and it brings climate and air quality impacts. And very significantly, reliance on trucking means that large volumes of leachate must be stored onsite while awaiting transport. This increases the risk of tank failures, leaks, overflows during heavy precipitation events, equipment malfunction, and most importantly, the release of mal-orders. Has anybody ever been hit with hydrogen sulfide? It's horrible. It's like getting hit with tear gas or pepper spray. It burns your eyes and it burns your mouth. We can't even practice on the little it feels. Under Section 504 of the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act, I am asking the Schuylkill County Commissioners to exercise your statutory authority and formally object to Brad's proposed major permit modification. Filing that formal objection gets placed in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. All your letters don't get placed there. You said you're going to send a letter that is completely unacceptable. It's not going to accomplish anything. If you file that formal objection that forces a strict administrative process by the DEP, The DEP must thoroughly evaluate the County's objections and their technical and scientific evidence. They must provide a written justification if the DEP chooses to disregard the County's objections. The County can object. They can recommend tonnage restrictions. You can recommend a disapproval of any permits. You can recommend and request that a public hearing be held. I urge you to file that formal objection. No letters, formal objection that gets placed forever into the state records. No less. Formal objection. Thank you for your time.

Go ahead. Thank you. Last diploma, possible resident. I'm going to use my three minutes to say this. Thomas Jefferson eloquently stated when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Among those rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Back then, those words only covered white Americans. While indigenous tribes were driven off their lands and black Americans were held in chains and treated like cattle. I started that off with a history lesson because sometimes people forget our country's prejudiced doings in the past, yet today, We're seeing that same prejudice happen as we speak. As a nation, we're watching immigrants being put in so-called detention centers. 80 years ago, they would have been labeled concentration camps. The current administration would have been labeled the Third Reich. I ask here on attendance, is this who we are as a nation? Thank you. In my opinion, it could be better than this. Most of us are descendants of people who came through Ellis Island. Sit with this thought for a moment. Imagine your ancestors being held captive for speaking Italian or French or even Polish. Wouldn't that be awful?

You didn't do that for the Italians. Yeah, that's a fact.

Okay. This is what... This is why I'm here today speaking against the nice counter-concentration here at Schuylkill County. It goes against human rights. It goes against the likely pursuit of happiness to talk about. And it goes against Merlin Luther King's dream of a society where people are judged by their character and not skin color, faith, or ethnicity. Let's not forget how much Islamophobia, antisemitism, and other bigotries have hurt communities of people. Also, a nice concentration camp would cripple Tremont's economy and power supply, not to mention the water system. I say these words not only as a concerned American, but as a humanitarian. I pray to God that our county doesn't get put in the history books later on in the future as a participant of the president's war against immigrants and human rights.

I'm sorry, but they're not the same. I'm sorry, but they're not the same. They're not the same. They're not the same. It is true. They killed five to nine little people. Families with other children. That is not the same as that. They're killing other people. That's not the same. Same thing. I'm sorry.

Stephen Moyer, Mechanics Girl. I'm talking today about my grandchildren and my great grandchildren because from my borough to my city to you guys to the state and the federal government, you are making decisions based on who's getting it back in office. You are not listening to them. No doubt. We've made commissioner fedora for two months because we heard about the ice center coming and i know now that congressman musser knew it was coming here and you knew that you said yes completely false well that is completely not true and i'm not going to let people lie i'm not lying we knew i didn't their time back we did not know until the deed was reported

That is 100% true. I don't care what you say and who told you it. And she knows that too. That is completely false. That's my opinion. It's not true. You said it was a fact. No, I meant it was my opinion. So for my great grandchildren, the data centers that you had in the paper today,

that you said three of them could bring $50 million more into this community. I'm telling you, we don't need it. We got the dumps, two dumps. We got the coal holes all over this county. We don't even own our mineral rights on the land that we pay you guys taxes for. And the ice center, we don't need it. We are better than that. But the one thing I want to say about, you know, your decisions today and all them other governments are going to affect my great, great grandchildren. You aren't going to be around. Well, my children live in Sweden. Well, okay.

And my grandchildren.

Well, if you're okay with our county getting dumped and the ice center and the data centers, that's not good. Well, let me just say this. Because 15 million a county will get it. We will pay $15 million more a year in electricity. The electricity we've raised today, believe me, we get the data, son, we're going to pay for it. And the last thing I want to say, if you guys are for it, and I know you are, Larry, you said it in your pocket.

In the right location, in the right way, yes, I am. generate tax revenue, then we don't have to raise taxes on it.

Wait, this is the last thing I want to say, and this is for my grandchildren. Put, get four of them. One behind your house, Boots. One behind your house. One behind this house.

Yeah.

And one behind Thomas and Russell's house.

If we had four lands that they weren't affecting up in, I 100% would be because New England is one. Listen, you gotta get some control here, but you cannot keep out outbursts.

We have a lot of them.

But what I'm saying is, you are just looking at all the negatives. We're gonna have somebody here. We're working on having a round table discussion. We're bringing people in for the event of Pennsylvania. Chamber of Commerce is setting up, we're gonna try to set something up in Penn State with a round table discussion on data centers. I have been in contact with, I don't want to say it right, Lauderdale County, Virginia. I asked them about how their experience started with data centers. They sent me a ton of information, which I just got today. We're gonna review it. In Lauderdale County, Virginia, it generates $1 billion in tax revenue. It pays half of their entire budget. So you don't have to raise taxes on the residents, they don't have to do anything. And the people down there said, if it's done the right way in the right areas and the newest cell data centers are not using the water consumption, the PUC and all those are putting out stuff that they have to produce their own electricity. How are they different than any other industry? The only good thing is there's not truck traffic. They don't need to be on farmlands and they don't have to be on 81 or 61. They can be in the middle of nowhere and generate a huge amount of tax revenue that stabilizes the county, school districts, and municipalities' tax rates for years and years to come, if you do it right, how is that a negative?

Well, real quick, Larry.

What do I mean?

The Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce works for big business. So that's what you're going to get from them, their comments on how good these are.

No, they do have really good negatives and positives on it. That's what we're trying to get the information on. Thank you for letting me speak.

We're going to invite the entire public.

We're going to try to have it at Penn State. That's what we're working on. We're trying to educate people.

We're trying to make sure they're on the right locations.

We're trying to make sure that they're done right. Because you can't restrict an industry. You can't. And we're going to make sure it's open. In fact, in the next week, I'm not 100% sure, but in next week, it's AWS, I think it is, the one, the Klein Township project. She's going to come here and speak to, I believe it's at the next meeting. Go ahead, General. If don't go, I'll go.

If don't go, I'll go.

Okay, order, please.

So for everybody that's new here tonight, there are two other additional meetings. They won't tell you this, but there's two other little meetings after this, public comments available for each one of them. You get three additional minutes. They won't tell you that because they don't want to be here all night, but you can come back up if they cut you off for three minutes. And listen, this is your chance to use your nine minutes. They promised more night meetings. Use them tonight. So we did have hands raised about how many were school county residents, I just have a question if you could raise your hands. How many more people here in attendance would show up if there was more night meetings? Just raise your hand. You guys see that? You want to look that way? Look that way. Okay. There are two a year. Oh, got it.

Hey, Chris, if there wasn't a nice detention thing or lighting threading up, even at the night meetings, before all this was on, nobody showed up.

Oh, there is. and i also just to the public i did send an email to all commissioners requesting that they open up courtroom one

to facilitate this so we're not on top of each other. And who denied it? Who denied it?

So I counted over 75 people in attendance. I didn't even get through the hallway yet. That's not counting the 13 county employees, three media. So thanks everybody for coming out.

speaks volumes for everybody that's here. I couldn't do a drive-by tonight to see who was here prior to the meeting, but I was here Monday twice to do business in the courthouse, once at 11 and once at 1.30. Seven officials, the same seven officials were not here at 11 a.m. as they were at 1.30. All of them collected $100,000 a year salary benefits. Ms. Stevens will skip over that. Ms. Gaffney, for all those people here that aren't familiar with this, she stood up at this podium over a year ago and claimed that she took some FMLA time when she was confronted for working less than 100 hours in six months. Plenty of people would get away with that at your job. 100 hours in less than six months, making $100,000 a year in salary and benefits. She still doesn't show up for work. So I'm still calling her out to the public. Come and tell the taxpayers why she deserves $100,000 a year in salary and benefits when you show up less than 100 hours in six months. It's despicable. Also, I've got a few phone calls about access for title searches for closures and liens. Since Dr. Mullen was here last week or the week before and brought it up, apparently now there's some more changes in the Protonotary's office where you must pay to do this. A lot of counties, they don't charge. Alton County, free, free to print. Carbon County, flat fee to do it, free to print. Here, $55 fee a month and a per page charge to print. And you use your own computer printer and paper at home. Where does it end? I mean, this is just mind blowing that this happens. You know, and then if they have a title search for the same LLC, they can't view it like they used to. So now they've got to print out every LLC for closure. Some are 30 pages, some are 120 pages, just to see what they need. I'm not sure if you're familiar with that, Linda, and there were changes recently?

There were recent changes.

Okay. And people are not happy about it. Am I right with that?

They're working on some of the changes, Adam.

Okay, hopefully they get fixed because I'm sure I'm sure you're able to.

I tested it after the complaints last week and I've had conversations with Bridget Miller, Sharon has too, and we're trying to address it that we want to pay for just certain pages, not a whole hundred page document and those types of things. There were some adjustments I think they have to make with software and their vendor.

The way they use it versus the way we use it are two different things.

Bridget was thankful for the feedback. We tested a couple of things. We tried a couple of things. We know what the public is looking for. And we're working on that. We dealt with that last week.

One thing that you guys mentioned last week is about refunding the unassigned fund balance totals. Years ago, it was over $40 million. This is like the rainy day fund that the county has. It's not true. It's basically, we just have it. Okay. You use it for George Alcoa, which is lawsuit. You use it for budget shortfalls. You're probably going to use it for George's pending lawsuit that's still going on. So, You had over $40 million in there at one point. Okay, as a trustee, it's pretty nice. 2024, there was 25,900,000. In 2023, it ended at 21,447,000. So you didn't reimburse $4 million there. And then back to 2022, 29,960,000. So it's not being refunded like you stated. And one last thing before I close up here, the flag outside. it's despicable it's tattered it's ripped to shreds you just have memorial day you have the 250th grade that's going to go right down the street right here uh when it ends uh biggest biggest parade in a generation we'll make sure we'll make sure and for the twice coming up so to make sure the flying is never right i asked for that last time i had to bring it up when it was tattered the other time i bring it up when it was upside down Excuse me, if you guys would look at him, if he's ever come into work, you'd be able to see.

It was indicated in the Republican Herald. And I appreciate that.

It was indicated in the Republican Herald that $32 million of county savings have been burned through over the last few years. The article is grossly inaccurate. What happens is that when you have a budget, you put forward a lot of contingencies in that budget, like your home budget. Let's say that you put aside for repairing a roof. Let's say you put aside for repairing a roof. You put aside for repairing your garage. You put aside for purchase of a major automobile. County does the same thing, puts aside money But that money legally must be accounted for in the budget when the commissioners pass it at the end of the year for the preceding year, the following, the next year, the coming year. That is why the numbers that were represented in the newspaper represented what was contingently going to be spent. What actually was spent, as was just indicated, is that in 2022, the unassigned fund balance of $29,960,000. At the end of 2023, it was $21,447,000, but at the end of 24, it was $25,900,000. The actual total fund balance, which includes restricted funds for particular projects, in 22 was $39,100,000, I'm rounding, with 23, it was $36,400,000, but at the end of 24, it was $37,628,000. The county is in excellent condition Unlike many counties, which went after temporary tax notes with budgetary issues that occurred at state and federal level last cycle, Schuylkill County did not have to borrow a dime. Schuylkill County is in great financial shape. I appreciate the commissioners doing the job that they are doing.

Thank you. One question, though. The money is not fully, fully reimbursed. It was up there. It wasn't previous year by no means, correct? Correct.

It's not. You also have to account for the fact that there are state and federal funds that are reimbursed. It is a very complicated task not to simply want to buy the money.

No, like anything I'm saying, like, we save at least $1,000 in health care. Right. We just got a wellness credit of $950,000. That gets put all back into that. So, and as we said, well, it is. It's exactly what we do with it. But that's your taxpayer money. That's what it's for. And if I may, Mr., I appreciate Mr. Westman's concerns. Mr. Westman.

Desire to ensure transparency.

That's the biggest factor. Transparency, please.

And I'm happy to provide transparency. One of the problems with your solution, though, is that if we were to put it on the website, what you want to put on the website, you can buy 600 pages at a time. It makes about that many lines.

So there has to be a different department. Well, that's fine. So this will also be i'd like to comment on last week's commissioner's meeting which i sadly missed apparently schuylkill county is in great financial shape we just heard it from this gentleman

If I heard correctly through the, you know, the whatever, we stand to gain 15 million from potential data centers. This would balance our budgets for years and pay union contracts and purposes and a lot of, you know, miscellaneous charges. I believe I also heard that if we had a sales tax in the county or in the state, we wouldn't need data centers. If this is- No, I didn't say that.

What I said is if the county- Okay. in the counties, Philadelphia County and Allegheny County.

It's not public debate, it's public comment.

I am answering her and I'm allowed to, okay? So she's saying something that was not said. What was said was Philadelphia County has a 2% sales tax, they give 8%. Allegheny County has 7.5%. All other 65 counties only have to rely on property tax and property tax only. So what was said is that they would allow other counties like Schuylkill, Carbon, everybody else, have one to one and a half percent sales tax that went directly to the county, it would generate roughly, we re-emit 59 million a year from Schuylkill County to Harrisburg, we re-emit 59 million a year in sales tax. If we would have one and a half percent sales tax, that would generate about $15 million that could go to direct reduction of property taxes and help fund county government way into the future so we don't have to raise property taxes on houses. Counties are only allowed to tax your home, and that's it. They're not allowed to have any IT tax, LST tax, any other type of form. And Philadelphia and Allegheny County have been taking the benefit of that sales tax before I was born. And so why can't the other 65 counties also benefit by that? Because that would have a direct impact and help the people of Cooper County that pay the taxes. So I don't see anything wrong with that.

I don't see anything wrong with that either. I've been actually hearing from Dave Warhol for the last like 35 years. I've been hearing from him that he's going to stop the property taxes. When is this going to happen? If enough of counties, how many counties in Pennsylvania, if the people go to Harrisburg and make phone calls and yell, that'll be enough. How do you make that happen?

I agree. I am working with CCAP right now. We have three or four counties on board with it right now. Montgomery County is one of the biggest counties that agree with this, that they want the same benefit as Philadelphia and Allegheny County. And so we are trying to get a group of counties together through CCAP to try to get something like this. Because honestly, I agree. You've been hearing it forever on your school portion of your property taxes. Well, if you can't get it on that, do you care if you get a reduction on your county portion or your school portion? So let us have it on your county portion.

Well, I'd rather pay a mill in taxes than have data centers in my backyard. Yes. And I'm sure that a lot of people would.

You're right. You said that if you're done in the right way, the right location, at the right studies, you're okay with it.

The right way, meaning the directed shift, not the, we're going to get Jed Clampett's jalopy here. We're not going to get the Lamborghini here.

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

It's true. It's true. And you know it. Everybody in here knows it.

When do we get the best? Can we ever get the best?

I would like to address a unique position that the borough of Gordon finds themselves in regarding payout centers. They are at the mercy of a most ugly Butler Township ordinance that was given a D minus D minus, not B, D, like academic probation, D minus by the Pennsylvania Data Center accountability people. Those people from Gordon are not allowed to speak or ask questions at Butler Township meetings, even though they are directly impacted, far more than people who live in Butler Township and Gerardville. Is there something that can be done about this? I mean, they're certainly going to reap all the benefits of the Higher Edge Data Center, including noise pollution, thermal pollution, water raffling, dried off wells, lots of storm water, and who knows what else. By the way, the people who live in Butler Township, we don't even know if we're getting a data center yet. No one has come out and told us. The lack of transparency over this issue is beyond disturbing. Everybody talks about it. It's coming. Oh, you're from Butler. Don't. You're getting a data center. How come we don't know this? I've heard. I know things. I've heard about conversations that have happened. And we are still in the dark. And no one is being honest with us. And if someone is not being honest with me, I question everything about them. I question their claim that they are good neighbors.

Sorry. I'm sorry.

Well, actually, I'm not. And I'm so fired up about it. I'm fired up about it.

Three minutes are up now.

Are they?

Yes.

Because will you talk through the whole thing? I have one more thing to add. And I don't know very much about the Brass Landfill. But this is another thing that I heard last week in my hour and a half of sitting there. And I was also hungry listening to the meeting. So the Brass Landfill didn't request an increase in acreage. for the landfill, but an increase in the tonnage received. So that's like, seriously. So if the five pound bag to hold the five pounds that you don't know what is already causing like stench, why do we wanna put 10 pounds in? And that's just ridiculous.

And like I said, we made that with TEP. I gave Dr. Portland's, I don't know if she's serious, I gave Dr. Portland's entire packet that she sent us on the grads landfill i gave dave the same opportunity or if you wanted to provide anything to me to give to dep you made sure everything that was given by the residents to us we presented the dep gave them to the secretary herself and uh dr portland gave a very in-depth report with all kinds of figures and facts and everything and we made sure that was given directly to the gdp secretary shirley wagner gave us a letter and we made sure that was given the dp and we addressed All the concerns that were brought up here about RADS, NSB, the data centers, and the detention facility. We asked all the questions that were presented to us about it and asked what DEPs were doing there.

Okay. One more thing about Loudoun, residents of Loudoun. Did you talk to the people who live there or the people who are the data center people?

No, I actually talked to their county government.

That's not the people. These are the people. This is the people.

We are trying to set up a trip to their town.

I think we all want to go up.

Okay, well, there's other people in the county that wasn't before because they have 236 of them. So, okay, thank you.

Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to exercise my freedom of speech.

good evening thank you for um allowing us to speak tonight uh my name is gina campbell and i am a resident of the walnut manor section of fractal you're very familiar with it i hope what's going there honestly i don't know if anything's going on they say i help you do that a lot of this is speculation A lot of this is people. I'm going to add on my thoughts on non-transparency. There's been complete non-transparency from the Newcastle Township supervisors. They weren't even allowed to speak at their zoning meeting. The lawyer talked for them. When the engineer tried talking, our poet said, don't give away all of our secrets.

Extreme non-transparency.

Are you allowed to accept things at these meetings?

Yes. Say it again. You can hand it to the solicitor.

Okay. Solicitor?

That's it.

And your name?

Tyler.

Hi, Tyler. What I have here, and I'm going to get to that loud. What I have here are ordinances from Newcastle Township. Check it out. Thin, right? This one is a draft from Luzerne County. They're not done yet. This is six months of work, and they're not done yet. This is a complete resident protecting document from Luzerne County. Look at the thickness of their ordinance for data centers. I'd like to present those and put them on the record, and I want you people to review them. review the differences between the good ordinance that protects people. Oh, sorry.

I know what this is.

It won't be my last time. Wow, look at the thickness of that.

No one's abiding by any of that.

We're reviewing this, and like I said, I explained to people before, we only have about 48% of the county is in counties planning and development. All the rest of it Pennsylvania law is in their own municipalities. Butler, Newcastle, all of them have their own planning and zoning. So it's okay for them to... That's what I'm saying. They have the ability to do what they want without the county's input.

And that's okay.

I think that's Pennsylvania law. I can't tell municipalities But you do have a voice. Okay. Why? Please share why.

Why do you feel that Newcastle Strip is not good?

Don't you think so? Yes, it is. That's why my policy has been consistent on Davidson in the right location, done the right way. We are looking to have the ability to tell that we have tons of abandoned.

They stop allowing Newcastle Township and everybody other township to do what they want. You people have the power and the voice. You have a voice. I didn't say you could stop them. You have the voice.

And I am trying to draft. We're trying to find responsible things for Schuylkill County that you cannot legally restrict one industry over another.

I understand that. I fully understand that now over the last year. I've learned a lot. I've also learned, save the Schuylkill. You people are here to save the Schuylkill. We're tired of being dumped on, am I right? Yeah. Okay. That being said, you talked about Loudon in Virginia. Loudoun County, Virginia is not Schuylkill County. Loudoun County is extreme wealth. They do not have data centers that are 80 feet high, as are stated in that Newcastle Township ordinance. 80 feet high on that mountain is their, can I say piss poor? Piss poor ordinance. Garbage. They are 200 feet of a setback. Homes. Fotech schools. that also houses a preschool program. The nursing home, 117 residents in that nursing home, it's on top of them, 200 feet setback. This is wrong for every township in this state to be able to do whatever they please and create ordinances that cater to the developer. Final question field, why don't developers rush in and build townhouses next to industrial sites.

Why?

Did anybody answer that?

I don't know.

I'm sorry. Again, I'm new at this. I apologize. I apologize. I'm new at this. Of course. NO ONE WANTS TO LIVE THERE. YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE IS DESTROYED. NEWCASTLE TOWNSHIP. YOU SPOKE BACK AND THEN. PLEASE USE YOUR VOICE. STAY IN THE SCHOOL BOAT COUNTY. DO NOT ALLOW GREEK TO MAKE DECISIONS ANYMORE. MAY I GIVE THESE PICTURES OF MY NEIGHBORHOOD? FOR THE RECORD, MY NEIGHBORHOOD.

HAVE A GOOD NIGHT.

Maybe I'm trying to with count from Tremont Borough and I'd like to follow up Gina. In support of some of the things she was saying, I am submitting for the record a list of independent studies and assessments that should be completed and made available to the public before any data center projects are approved in Spokane. If these projects are truly beneficial, then there should be no objection to providing the public with the facts before decisions are made. Residents of Schuylkill County officially request health impact assessment, environmental impact assessment, noise impact assessment, including low frequency noise and infrastructure analysis. Water resource impact assessment, including water withdrawal and wastewater impacts. Air quality impact assessment. Traffic and infrastructure impact assessment. Emergency response impact assessment. Property value impact assessment. cumulative impact assessment, evaluating the combined effects of proposed data centers alongside existing and proposed industrial developments. These studies should be conducted by independent third-party experts and completed before any permits or approvals are granted, ensuring that residents are fully informed of the potential short and long term consequences to their health, environment, quality of life, infrastructure, and local resources. That's the kind of transparency I think we're looking for. And some of us felt blindsided by the lack of transparency as far as the detention centers were concerned. And if there's a possibility of knowing more, before, it certainly is the responsible way to go. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Ava Miller and I am a resident of Horrocks I would like to open with a story. This is something that happened to my sister.

A little while ago, she was at the public library that's only a few blocks from here.

She had just finished a club that she was at and she was waiting to get picked up. And then she saw something on the street. A man was being followed and yelled at by two people saying that they were ICE agents. They were not wearing ID and Of course, I'm sure the man was terrified. My sister was terrified, and she actually went inside the library so that she wouldn't be near them. Things like this will only get worse once that facility is built. It's known that ICE agents do not wear proper identification, and people just won't be able to tell who's law enforcement and who's not. People want to be able to trust the police, but this won't be possible with this facility built. These facilities are destroying trust in law enforcement, in our local governments, and sometimes even in our neighbors. And that's just wrong. Now more than ever, I think we need to be able to stand together and trust each other. Thank you.

Hey there.

Hi. So I come in here and the first thing I see, I can't see it now, but it's that big flag.

And I've been seeing that flag.

Sorry. Anyway. So as I come in here, you see that big flag. And I've been seeing that flag a lot lately because we are coming up on 250 years of American freedom. That's a lot. I mean, It's not the oldest country, not the youngest country either. But as I'm seeing these detention centers being built, and I'm seeing us, we're represented liberty and freedom for all. But as we build these detention centers, I'm just curious, as we're seeing children, we're seeing asylum seekers, and we're seeing American citizens dragged into these concentration camps. And I'm just curious, are my representatives going to keep us at 250 years? Or is this going to be the Independence Day that we lose our independence? Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening, commissioners. Kathy Baniak, Northman. I respectfully ask that you give me my full three minutes without commenting. So, what do data centers mean for Pennsylvania's energy, economy, and communities? They did not write all these words. This was put together by another organization, but I feel compelled to share them. Data centers often run on dirty fossil fuels, worsening our environment and their quality. And while they can require new transmission lines, there are no rules in place to make them pay for their own infrastructure. They also damage our forests, cause noise and light pollution, and replace our farmland in green spaces. Unless, of course, Mr. Heatherington, you'd like to donate your farmland. I will add that. what should a community know before signing off on a new data center if there's going to be a data center in your community developers and state and local leaders need to share the facilities expected water usage and where the water will come from impacts on the local ecosystem and wildlife the amount of noise and light pollution expected air pollution from fuel emissions whether the company is receiving tax breaks How much farmland, forest, or open space will be paved over? Any plans to decrease unnecessary use of AI and e-waste like dark data? Regarding the water usage, will it be recycled and will it in any way benefit the community? Who will pay for the infrastructure? I know I certainly don't want to. How will old servers be disposed of? How will you monitor compliance after it's built? I don't know if you've ever heard of Reimagine Appalachia. I suggest you highly get involved with that organization to learn a little bit more. I'd like to close by saying, oh, one other note. Can you make all commissioner meetings involving these topics evening meetings? As you can see, we're all very interested. I work a full-time job. I am not at liberty to take vacation time whenever I feel to attend these meetings. I have obligations with my job. To put it bluntly, for the most part, communities bear the cost while corporations rake in profits. Please don't let that happen in Smithville County. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Good evening. Unfortunately, you don't get Dr. Portland today. You get Adrian Portland, St. Clair. A couple things. One, first of all, I want to thank you guys for having an opportunity for someone like myself who can't get off work to come and speak. And I would urge you to have more than two evening for. Okay. Well, if we could have a couple more, that would be appreciated. I want to echo what Mr. Plasko said and request that you fill out the formal documentation to stop the trucking of food chain. This is something that Brad's from the original permit. We're never supposed to do. It was supposed to be taken care of very early on. And you know, here we are, even after they spent money on the pipeline. It is, it is, but they're not going to take it and rightfully so. So I would request that you form out that official documentation. Second, I appreciate you guys speaking to the secretary, but if you could follow up with the secretary and make sure that the secretary tells Roger Bellis the same things that she's saying, that EEP is doing because they're not on several occasions. Well, he probably wasn't listening because there's trucks that are still going through St. Clair. As a matter of fact, there was one that went through on Monday, almost sideswiped some cars and almost took out a few people that were walking thanks to a citizen who took a picture and contacted the police. they were siding. So again, I appreciate what you're doing and continue to advocate for that. And please continue to do the same thing for the rest of the county. We do not deserve this. Thank you.

Thanks.

Anybody else want to make public comment?

Hey, hold on.

If you want to make public comment, if you're out in the hall, come down to the side.

My name is Ellen Miller. I was going to say that your earlier comments stated that there were no similarities between what has happened today and what happened a few years ago in Germany is false. Well, they're not exactly the same. This is how they were similar. A pattern of powerful men using their power to enforce racism and other bigotry in the streets of their countries is something that happens constantly throughout history. And dismissing that is dismissing the thousands of people, whether Americans or not, who are being placed in prison camps across our country and are being denied basic human rights, health care, food, and comfortable living conditions. Saying that is dismissing the human beings, whether Americans or not, who have suffered and are continuing to as we speak. That's all I wanted to say. Thank you.

um probably less for the commissioner and more with the crowd just how many of you here are concerned about your electric rates rising because of ai it will be directed to you but this is some additional knowledge for you guys as well as those in the meeting tenants um the reason that your electric rates are rising, it's not data centers. In Loudoun County, their electric rates are actually rising the slowest in the nation. The issue is our state has decided to annotate, it will take 10 years to permit new electric generation facilities. That is the largest reason why, because it takes forever to permit and then build these facilities. So we can't get new electric generation. If we were able to permit these quicker and get new generation online, We would not see the costs that we see now going up. And then the other question I have is, how many of you have ever been in a data center? How many of you have ever been in a data center? I work in IT. I have been inside data centers. Yes, they use a lot of electricity. Yes, they can be loud when you are inside them. I have stood outside of them 10 feet. And when they are ran properly, you barely hear them. I'm not saying this to say that we need them in the County. I believe we need to have the appropriate ordinances in place to make sure that we are protected, but they are not the doom and gloom that you hear all the time. If they are correctly and built correctly, it is actually an asset to the County. It's an asset to everyone that uses an app on their phone

or anything and i know there are a lot of people that say well i don't need it that's fine i work on it i use it every day so thank you just a little additional inspiration i do the one thing i want to say is that it's true about our state we are the most after gas bridge safe over its gas stream and actually will we we should be paying so little kilowatt per hour It's unreal, but you can't get, they shut power plants down. They didn't replace, you said you worked with power plants. They shut power plants down and didn't replace them with anything. And that's the problem. It's, yes, data centers are what they are, but we need more generation. And people have been advocating for that for years now, that you can't get a new power plant permitted. Even a natural gas power plant, which wasn't really efficient and clean.

So that's really hard.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Bernie Karkovich, and I live on Laurel Street in Butler Township in Fratville. It's not an official proposal yet, but there is a proposal to build a data center on Laurel Street, 200 feet from my house. But it's not official yet. but it looks like the developer's most likely working on it to make a proposal. I've talked to some Newcastle Township people yesterday, and they said it is not on their radar at all to change the 200 foot requirement. We're asking for a thousand foot requirement. It is not on our radar to make any changes to their ordinance. We're practically begging you to help us stop the 200 foot requirement, making at least a thousand feet. If the requirement was a thousand feet, the data center there would have to build on the opposite side, up the mountain on the opposite side of 81. We're okay with that, but not 200 feet behind my house. And to give you information, if anyone wants to look this up, either Google, or YouTube, type in the dark side of data centers. It's a 31 minute and 10 second video. And it talks about the data centers in Loudoun County. The houses, the data center was built right up against these extremely expensive houses. And one lady they interviewed lived there 35 years. And all of a sudden, a data center popped up out of nowhere. No one knew anything about it. And they're facing leaving their house and walking away from it because no one will want to live there because of the noise and the light. No one wants to live next to a data center, especially 200 feet away. They were around 200 feet. In the video, if you watch that video, you'll see, and they talk about Loudoun County, these people, the windows, all the homes that were facing the data center, their windows were vibrating. It had that vibration 24 seven. And the one family they interviewed, the child woke up with nightmares and said, the dad went in to talk to him and said, what's wrong? He said, daddy, there's a spaceship outside. I guess from the noise and the light. At nighttime, in this video, at nighttime, it seems like it's daylight. The interviewer interviewing the family went inside the house at midnight and they looked outside and it looked like daylight. Three minutes are up. Okay, so I want to make sure that everyone gets informed to look at that video, dark side of data centers. 31 minutes and 10 seconds long. And you will be so well informed what's going on, especially in Loudoun County, they're saying it's quiet, but it's not as quiet according to that video.

Thank you. Yeah, just to clear up a couple of things that I heard earlier. Larry, you said Italians were put in concentration camps.

Uh, yeah. Yeah.

Japanese time starts. Yeah. Would you consider that a shameful episode in our history?

They were here leaving. My grandparents were here. They came here through Ellis Island.

I'm just saying you consider it shameful that we did that too. Okay. Just another thing is about the data center.

Citizens. The Japanese, the Italians, and the Germans were equalized American citizens.

They're taking them too. They're taking them too. So the data centers, I would, when you're doing your research, I would recommend you look into water usage. I thought like you did. I really thought that we had all these cold lands and there was all this stagnant water in them. We could use that, create a closed circuit. Unfortunately, it does burn off that water while you're running it through those data centers. And not only is it no longer potable when it comes out, Less comes out than goes in. We can and we will run out of water, and you don't want to tell your constituents that they have to conserve water for the data center. I agree.

So water consumptions, like the one that was proposed up in the fine towns, the first proposal was 150,000 gallons a day. It's now 60,000 gallons a day, but that is only on the hottest days because they are now a closed loop system. Some of our mindful in the area, like outside Smockville, I believe they're discharging 300,000 gallons a day of line pool water.

Which also sucks.

So I don't know if they can use the line pool water.

If they can, but when they run out of that, then what? If there's a line pool water. So I wrote you guys some...

There's a lot of tips on both sides. So that's why we're trying to get the information. We're trying to make sure they're not in the right locations and educate on how they're done. So that's what we're trying to do.

I'm looking forward to the roundtable. So I brought you guys some reading material here. Yep. So when you were kids, did you read Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy? Yeah, you did. All right. Well, that's a chapter from that. It's about Edmund G. Ross. Do you remember Edmund G. Ross from that? No? Anyone? No. No one remembers Edmund G. Ross because he only saved America. Edmund G. Ross, and I have a 30-minute lecture on this. I'm not giving, I will give this as three minutes as I can. Edmund G. Ross was the swing vote in the Andrew Johnson impeachment case. Edmund G. Ross was a radical Republican. Andrew Johnson was a Democrat, actually, that he and Republican Abraham Lincoln ran together in a National Unity Party, right, in 1864. Lincoln, sadly, did not get to enjoy the fruits of the victory of the Civil War. Johnson took over, consistently vetoed the things that the radical Republicans wanted to do to fix the South, to deconstruct it. All he wanted was reconciliation, bring it back together as quickly as he could, right? Well, the Republicans set him up. They wanted Johnson out of office. They created legislation they knew he would break to get him out of office. He broke that legislation and they impeached him. First president ever to be impeached. Every senator's vote was known coming into the vote except Edmund G. Ross, radical Republican from Kansas, who was put in that spot because they expected him to vote the right way. You guys have heard all kinds of stuff tonight, right? You've heard about eight senators, you've heard about The Brad's, Lane, Philly, you've heard about the detention center, you've heard about the biosolids. Governing's hard, right? Don't you know it? But even harder is doing the right thing. Edmond G. Roth did the right thing, and he didn't get to go back to the Senate. And, you know, if he'd done the right, you know, the other thing, the thing all his friends wanted him to do, the thing his body wanted him to do, he would have been a senator until he died. He would have gotten a lot of money out of it. He would have gotten all kinds of stuff out of it. But you're doing the right things hard. Don't I know it. It's going to cost your friends. It's going to cost your opportunities. It's going to cost your sleep. But you owe it to yourself. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your neighbors. You owe it to your friends to do the right thing.

And if it costs you what it costs to Edmond G. Ross, you can still wake up every morning and put yourself in here.

I know you did the right

Sabrina McLaughlin-Wolinski, Minersville. I'm going to read so that I don't ramble and that I don't take up more time than has already been extended. As preface to my comment, I want to give the disclaimer that I am here as a private citizen and resident of this county. I am not representing my employer and any public comment I give or opinion I have should not be assumed to be shared by or reflect upon my employer. I want to emphasize my comments here tonight reflect my personal beliefs only. Respectfully, my personal belief is we should not be inviting large AI data center development into our community at all, not even in coal lands or ground fields. I have a reasonable concern that the harm that will be done will prove out to be far greater than any short-term profits or tax benefits for the people of Schuylkill County. And I would like to clarify that there is a difference between a conventional data center and a hyperscale artificial intelligence center. We've already raised the issue of noise with pollution and has been reported that communities who have already had these hyperscale data centers imposed on them are suffering from a constant ever present humming sound in a very wide radius, which has been described as hearing a vacuum cleaner running 24 seven. Even if you put these things in isolated areas, that saturation of low frequency sound will travel very far. The same goes for light pollution. The same goes for the heat islands that these large facilities have been described as creating which raise ground and air temperature surrounding them by as much as 30 degrees. This will cause severe quality of life issues for anyone residing within the breach. I know the tax revenue these facilities can contribute has been raised as a reason why we should try to have some of them here under certain conditions. I wonder though if the tax revenue generated will be offset by any tax revenue we may lose from people and other businesses who won't move here or who won't stay here if they're even able to leave. because they don't want to be near these data centers. If all stays well with my employment and our finances, my husband and I are hoping to mortgage a home within the next few years, as some of you know, I will absolutely not do that in any municipality that has a data center in it. I don't think we'd be alone in that. Respectfully, I really want to ask for careful consideration of whether the long-term costs are going to outweigh the short-term benefits of these things. Thank you, with respect.

Good evening.

Good evening, Commissioners. And last week it was good morning, Commissioners, because I was here at the 10 a.m. meeting. Carol Cooney-Syzdak, Barnesville-Ryan Township, 1.5 miles from Mountain Valley Golf Course. You're pretty much going to hear what some of what I've said last week. I did attend the township meeting, and it is correct, and I've known it was correct. Townships and boroughs that control their own zoning. That is what they do. However, and that's the law. However, those municipalities are also located within this county. And I am not, and Commissioner Padilla, you and I see eye to eye on this. I am not totally against data centers. We need them with the ever advanced technology. However, they should not be dumped. near the residential or agricultural areas, even if various sections of the township or borough zoning ordinances were rezoned for it. Common sense for municipalities does not always apply. We all know that. To the individuals that may not be aware of this, Maine proposed, I did say this last week, Maine proposed a moratorium which puts a ban on data centers moving in excess of 20 megawatts. In Nevada, Amazon signed an agreement with an energy company to add geothermal, which would be the carbon-free power as a source. I mentioned that last week. And again, locations such as mining reclamation sites. Inactive Cogen, which we discussed, northeastern in Nacogdo, and Klein in Klein Township. Others that are going to become inactive, should be cleared and utilized. Already existing areas not suitable for residential, agricultural, should be used, should be cleared. If it can't perk, it can't house anything for use. In 2026, Schuylkill County received over $8 million in state and federal grants to reclaim coal mine sites. So that's where we agree. Reclaim them. Use the coal mine. Claim them and use the coal mining sites. And I will close with, and you've heard this, the county reassessment affected residents in various ways. Not all residents with increased taxes appealed. Some actually thought it was just, however, Please do not hurt us now by decreasing our property tax value, which is what data centers do. Lastly, we need to get the state law changed. Anyone starts this, I will hop on board. Thank you very much.

Good evening, my name's Suvi, live in Pottsville, in a bungalow.

You know, I remember.

Yeah, they have it as a Cape Cod, though. I don't have no beach in front of my house, though. But I'm going to talk about Brad. I don't live in St. Clair, but according to people here, they think, I mean, it smells. I don't smell no matter what. And then you're talking about putting the ice center up there. All right. My taxes doubled with the county. I don't know what the school is doing yet.

I didn't get that bill.

But I want to know, where are you going to build high rises for the seniors who can't afford those bills anymore? For the simple reason, I only got a 1.9% increase in my pay. Everybody else Got at least three percent, if not more. Well, you know that 1.9 put me back. I'm in the hole. So instead of using these for data centers or ICE centers or whatever you want to use them for, why don't you reclaim that land and put it there for the elderly? Because unfortunately, depending on my school taxes, is whether or not I will have a home next year. And another thing I'd like to say, you should always have your council meetings at night. You've got people here who, you had young kids here tonight. Any other time, they can't come because they're either in school. You have a lot of elderly people here tonight. They might be afraid to talk up. I'm not.

i say what i say the way i mean it and it comes out straight forward so you should think about the elderly population before you think about a data center or an ice facility data centers sorry i know i've said this time and time again with more tax revenue we get in from alternate sources the less you have to raise taxes on people's homes and a sales tax in the county to help alleviate property tax. Older seniors usually don't spend as much. Upperly mobile people spend more, so they would pay a larger portion of the sales tax.

But they'd be paid more.

Yeah, but then with the- I'm being paid less. But what I'm saying to you is it's a way to help facilitate stabilizing the tax base, and if they give us the sales tax, so much of it could go toward property tax reduction on the county level. I can't do anything about a school district municipality that i am talking about the county okay i hear you well that's what that would that it's either growth or we need all good forms of revenue other than poverty yes but you also need some place for the elderly to be living because you're pushing us out of the house yeah the county thank you sorry i don't think you know that

I returned tonight simply because I had a number of people approach me about the last time I spoke. And they mentioned that the high tech communications that was coming out of here was core. and they were curious what i spoke about to reiterate like to be very simple i as a teacher had to put up with mandates from the state sometimes federal government that i had to abide by even when i thought they weren't in the best interest of the children i taught which are more important than those mandates And what I simply asked that day was, I understand if you are forced by the state or federal government to comply with certain orders. They have the power to do that. But especially, and I've heard Gary talk about his opposition to the pension center. I'm asking you again, as gentlemen, who were elected by a huge majority here in Schuylkill County, and especially those people from the West End who will have to deal with this atrocity, you have the power to say, I am against it. They're going to make me force, they'll have to force me to do it because I stand by the people, put us in office, I'm begging you to stand up, let them know where you stand. Thanks.

I just have two questions.

First of all, when you set up the meeting with Jessica Shirley,

Did you find the contact person yet? Or a phone number that's going to be local rather than Wilkes-Farrell?

Well, they said you just have to call this office. That's what they called it. Is his name Jacob? Do you have any of his known? I believe they said Jacob. That's what I believe. That's who follows up with rats. It's Jacob. Well, they said they put somebody on here that could go up to the west end of the county to be able to respond faster. Yes. I didn't get the... We have the payment number. I don't have it. Yeah, we have the payment number.

And my second question is, are you aware, Larry, that it's the lands, the coal lands are in the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. They have to have a permit to withdraw the water? Yes. Oh, okay.

They all have to. And the Delaware River Basin is the same exact thing.

So, okay, let's move on with our meetings. Well, she already had a public comment, so we're gonna move on.

You can cut off that announcement.

Oh, sorry.

That's good. I'll volunteer to drive into Virginia, and I think a busload of us would like to.

That's what I'm trying. I am trying to actually, this is one of the things I'm trying to set up, is to set up a floor behind the city center.

Will you make it public? Yes.

I'll join you. Listen, I'm trying to get them here. I'm trying. I know everybody's against it. And the biggest thing I can do is don't raise my taxes. We don't want our taxes to go up. Well, there's only two ways that happens. The taxes don't go up. We need more growth. I don't want all of our farmland developed into housing authority or into houses or into warehouses. So data centers do often give a cleaning opportunity that they don't have to be in the middle of, they don't have to be on 81, they don't have to be on 61. They can be in the middle of nowhere and give us a tax, a new tax base. We only take in about $300,000 more in new tax revenue a year. And the expenses for all the stuff, like you said, that we're mandated to do, goes up by about 3 million a year. With children and youth, the courts, everything. So we need new sources of revenue. They don't let the counties have anything. We have one thing only, property tax. They don't give us anything else. So we've got to either look for ultimate sources of revenue or development that can come in, not impact all your farms, not impact all your homes, and generate new tax revenue. So if it's done responsibly and done the right way, I do still think it could be a benefit from the tax basis of the calendar. Now I'm not saying I don't want them next to homes and I don't want them on farm lands. We are in a unique situation where we have tons of old lands that can't be used for anything else. Why not take your negative and turn it into a positive that benefits the county? That's all I'm saying. And there's a ton of regulation. They're saying there's no regulation. The PUC is coming out with guides and everything on data centers. There's two bills right now moving in the House and Senate about data centers on their power sources, water consumption, environmental impact, all those things. So they're trying to be addressed. And then Governor Shapiro and treasurer stacy gary they're both saying the same thing about having responsible infrastructure and all that both of them are saying so well that's why we're trying to act on it too and they are acting on it like i said there's bills moving right down the house so let's finish your public comment they're going to move on hi my name is iowa essler i reside in school haven i request that you do not interrupt me during my three minutes

Now, I don't have a personal story to share or anything specific to say about the landfill or the ice detention centers or the data centers, but I would like to make a comparison between what is going on now and a piece of literature. Now, just a show of hands, who here has read Animals?

Your comments are directed at me. I said the same thing twice. He said the same thing. Yeah, she said the same thing. Yeah.

so what is going on currently reminds me of this book in the fact that we the constituents are the one putting in our time and money into this county and we are being given things that we have voiced that we do not want from our our our commissioners we do not want the data center most of the time with the data center we do not want the the ice detective center and we did not want the landfill and whether it's because of ideology or concerns about water and sewer we just want you to listen to all of us thank you yes

Can I motion to approve the June 3rd ordinance?

I move, Trevor.

Second. Can I motion to approve the June 3rd ordinance? I move, Trevor. Second. Can I motion to approve the June 3rd ordinance?

I move, Trevor.

Second. Can I motion to approve the June 3rd ordinance? I move, Trevor. Second. Can I motion to approve the June 3rd ordinance?

I move, Trevor.

Second. Can I motion to approve the June 3rd ordinance?

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Motion to approve the final repository tables.

Second. Second. Commissioner Medora. Yes. Commissioner Edmonton.

Yes.

Commissioner Atkins.

Yes.

Can't vote to approve. Oh, finance office. No, no.

No for the item this evening.

Thank you, Commissioner. Okay. County Administrator .

Good evening, Commissioners. In Children and Youth, we have a promotion of Caleb Horton County Caseworker 2 from County Caseworker 1. Effectiveness is 1526. The rate is 23.7467. three times in the prison. The appointments of correction officer part-time at the same rate, 26.4555. All the same date, 6-15-26, the rate for the contract. The candidates are Anna Kupenbach, Greg Sterner, and Daniel Waltz. In 911 communications, the appointment of three telecommunicator trainees at the same rate, $20. David Hoffman, effective 6-15-26. Russell Yerger, effective 6-15-26. Mary Epperly, effective 6-29-26, so the raiser for the contract. Also in 9-1-1 communication, the equipment of Frank McDonough, telecommunicator training for DM, rated $20, effective 6-15-26. Two informational items. In adult probation, the appointment of Teva Umberger, secretary one, effective 6-15-26, ready to spread the contract. In the coroner's office, the appointment of Hunter Hagenveldt, unpaid intern, effective 5-18-26. All appointments pending drug tests and physical were appropriate to all actions involving salary or for positions being graded or pending salary or approval. Thank you.

I have a motion from the Children and Youth, the pre-president, and the 911 communications. move charlotte second mr fedora yes yes yes um before we adjourn sir you've had this and then i just want to bring up uh from congressman user the county got a 1.6 million dollar grant towards the refurbishment of student county courthouse so we would appreciate the congressman and his uh staff and working on this with us it'll bring much needed improvements that were deferred for the courthouse preferred maintenance They have that. We're doing elevators, have that, and windows that are sadly needed. This gives us the ability to bid everything out at once instead of doing a piecemeal so we get an economy to scale. So we appreciate the congressman getting this on behalf of us. There was a press release without a ballot. It was covered by the whole region canary and school fields, I believe. So hopefully, just want to thank the congressman's office for that. all right good evening good evening commissioners chris malucky your region township

Glenn, that comment that was made prior, and I know I'm addressing you, those figures were pulled off of budgets and things that were online from the county website. So you indicated that it was where your representation had indicated that the Republican had done incorrect reporting. They were reporting on the numbers and the figures that I had spoken about. So the Republican did not do wrong. It would have been the numbers that I had researched. in regards to transparency. That's what we're here for, transparency. You know, you're seeing a 500-page document. Well, guess what? Make it available. Do I have to go to Wright-Snowing to come in to review something from past July? Can I come in and ask for that financial document that's 500 pages? Can I review that?

Yes.

Thank you. So going forward, we should be able to review that.

My understanding is that probably the budget

I'm asking for individual revenue expenses that are occurring on a monthly basis, looking at it from that aspect.

Is that available?

Because if you go to the financial department on the website, which Glenn, you're the director, the only thing that I'll be able to find is the budgets for the previous year's loan gap for 2022. And it states on there, if there's anything that you would like to speak about, bring it to the people that are listed on that submenu. So moving back to 2022 budgets to 2026, do we not have budgets for previous years? Do we not have electronic forms? And why is that information not available to the public? That's the information I'm trying to get to you people. This is in our archives. Okay. So then how do we receive that? We don't have to do right to knows?

Wonderful.

Wonderful. The Republican reported on the numbers that I said.

Okay. So again, they reported on what I had.

So when Glenn said about the misrepresentation on the reporting, it's not their fault if there's some sort of discrepancy, because at the end of the Axelrod, Zelenskovsky-Axelrod audit, the unassigned balance was $25,700,000 at the end of 2024. I'm sorry? Correct. So take another 5.8 out to balance the budget for 2026. That's all I'm saying. So respectfully, I'm just throwing out those numbers, okay?

Correct, 25, seven? You're correct, 24, but the point is that the representation was worth $32 million today.

Okay. I just want to briefly, I'll kind of make this kind of quick, or I'll go into the next public comment session when we do the salary or the retirement board.

Yeah, you're going to have to do that for your three minutes. Okay, wonderful news. Thank you.

Mr. Timekeeper?

Thank you for your time.

Okay, go ahead. When will we be here?

That is in planning and zoning right now, and we're viewing it, and we're looking for other ordinances, other stuff from other states, and they're pulling information from other counties, so hopefully, sometime soon like i said we're trying to get that round table discussion on data centers at uh penn state we're working on that i know um suddenly uh one of the people involved with the development of the data center in pine township is going to be here at the meeting on the 17th for the day meeting she's going to come here because i have to come here so we can put a piece just data center so we know who's actually what company it is who it is so the information's out there That's the only known one in the account. And that's so far, that's the only 100% one that we know is going.

I mean, it's not going to be next week that it'll be approved.

No, it won't. It's going to be a little bit. And like I said, I'm trying to put this information session. Thank you.

If I ever move, you're going to be screwed up.

I know, I'm going to have to.

Jeff Donahue, Palo Alto, two quick things, both good things for a change. Is there any update on the grant for the 9-11 trail? Has anybody heard anything? County heard anything?

I don't know. We got some of them. I know we got some of them. Okay. That's the one that goes from Palo Alto over the bridge and connects.

Yeah, because over in Palo Alto, we're having a huge 9-11 ceremony at 5 o'clock, so hopefully you gentlemen can make it. It's the rededication of the Michael Ferugio monument. It was a local resident of Palo Alto that passed away that day in one of the towers. So we have a very special unveiling that week that we're not going to let out of the bag hopefully until then. So hopefully you guys can make an appearance for that. And also 5 p.m. September 11th. I'll get his name by now. And also the 250th parade, the deadline is coming close to that. Okay. So the registration is at 9 a.m. Parade starts at 11. Still open to all the fire companies, EMS police, businesses can put a float in, any organization, nonprofit. I believe there's close to 50 entry, 50 floats.

I believe so.

And about 100 entries. So Thursday is the next meeting. Hopefully we have more full parade lined up. And that's June 27th. Registration at 9 starts at 11. So hopefully you guys can help get more done. lining up from 18th Street all the way out. Once you register, then you'll get a location on which way to come in, what time to come in. You're lining up from 18th Street, around Club 18, all the way out to Westbrook. How are you doing on the municipal contributions?

Yeah, I think maybe you want to make that announcement that all the municipalities have been contacted and requested to donate. Even some sponsors.

And we do have raffle tickets to help offset the cost. We got away from trying to charge per registration per float.

yeah so there are raffle tickets uh that are going to be that are for sale now yeah i don't know all the and we're assuming county is sponsoring it we're going to be on a float are you going to be on a float

I'm about to figure something out.

Yeah. Hey, they went down a price.

Can't say that. I'm here to talk about salaries. I was just listening to the man talking about salaries for the employees around here. My question is, has there ever been a year that nobody has gotten a salary increase?

Yes. How many times? You've got to understand, we have seven different unions that negotiate seven different contracts that can be from three years to four years, some of them. The Teamsters unions negotiate it completely different than the rest. So, yes, there have been people that have not gotten salary increases in years.

Because I know when I used to work, and I worked at a hospital, there were years that we did not get a raise. at all. We got nothing.

Why are you even giving them 3%? Yeah, but why are you settling for that? You don't know what it is from year to year, what the cost of living is going to be.

Why don't you give these people what the seniors get for a raise?

reiterate once again, there's union contracts and we have to abide by union contracts. And if we don't abide by union contracts, if we kind of do something outside of the union contract, we will get sued. There are unions allowed to be in courthouse employees. I think we have about eight, seven or eight now. So we have to negotiate seven or eight different union contracts. So it all depends on what union contracts are. And then if you don't negotiate, then you end up in arbitration And they decide what everything is. So it's not a simple matter of saying, no, we can't give anybody else.

Yeah, but what I'm saying is, you know, that's the reason why our taxes go up, because you keep giving up.

It is.

That is not true. It is. This lady sitting here walks about eight years.

In 2015, we decided they were not. giving elected officials raises that for our last three terms we've not gotten raises so it's so weird that all of us elected officials have voluntarily said we don't want the raise we're going to make an example and we're not taking raises so elected officials act okay no raises for the last 12 years all right i mean that's that's good of you i mean you're thinking of the of the

But the problem is, I just want to say this. The thing I'm telling you about the percentage of times is we have mandated expenses that we have to defy. We have no choice in that direction. And we have to provide all those services that the county government has to provide. And like I said, this ties right back into data centers and ties right back into having a sales tax. The lower ultimate revenue we have, unless you have to raise taxes on persons individual so you don't have the impact on your problems so if the county can get one and a half percent sales tax and we get a couple data centers that generate tax revenue that means we don't have to raise taxes on your home my bungalow your bungalow k-pop k-pop yeah k-pop they say it's a cape cod it's the bungalow thank you have a good evening okay is there any more public comment Okay, can we move on to the minutes that are supposed to approve the meeting minutes of May 27th?

So moved, Mr. Chairman.

Second. McLaughlin? Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Hetherington?

Yes.

Commissioner Haas? Yes. Comptroller Yatensa?

Yes.

Those to approve the work session on June 3rd minutes? So moved, sir. Second. On the question? Commissioner Fedora? Yes. Commissioner Hetherington? Yes. Commissioner Haas? Yes.

Comptroller Yatensa? Yes.

Human Resource Office? On 911 communications, we have set salary for Frank McDonough at the rate of $20, effective 6-15-26. He's a telecommunicator trainee per diem. In the Veterans Office, great position of director, exempt, effective 6-17-26. The number of retention bonuses in the Public Defender's Office. Deborah Smith, Jackie Pekarski, Kent Watkins, Laura McDonald, and Nicholas Watt, Stan Burke, they are all Assistant Public Defenders part-time. The bonus is $2,475, effective 6-17-26. The rest of them are full-time employees. And that is Andrea Thompson, Assistant Public Defender. Ashley Sable, Assistant Public Defender. Jessica Klein, Chief Investigator. Karen Domolakis, Chief Public Defender. Sheila Finney-Rarick, Fiscal Administrative Assistant. Cassie Allen, here and all. investigator stephanie hillbush investigator christine dormer investigator fiscal reimbursement officer luis benitez dominguez secretary one and actually jacobu secretary three and the amount for all the full-timers is 5200 and those are all effective 617 26. that is all and before anybody asks this is paid for by grant the public defender's office was allowed to apply more this is not coming down to the taxpayers general fund

some type of grant that was available for the public center office for a long time only county will not do this going forward in any way shape or form okay so can i do nothing wrong can i do 901 in the veterans office yeah you can do this one motion okay so can i have a motion for the nine will look at the invasions in the veterans office commissioner yes commissioner yes commissioner yes yes before you go to this parent here yeah anybody from the public defender's office so you don't have to just yeah so i have a motion for the public defender positions for bonuses i'll go to the second second on the budget commissioner yes commissioner hetherington yeah commissioner hess Yes.

Yes.

Any new business for sourdough? Close to retirement. Oh, sir.

Retirement report. Report of any executive assessments for retirement report.

Public comment for retirement report.

Get that stopwatch ready.

Hurry up.

All right, let's get off the financial wagon here.

spoke about this a while back uh but i would again would respectfully ask that any response was just told until after the three minutes before you start does this relate to anything on the agenda or that could become before the retirement this is public comment sir it's public comment limited to what's on the agenda for items that could reasonably come for the retirement is that is that in your policy sir it's the law can you provide that to me right now

Your policy.

Okay. We don't have a policy.

That's the law.

Just for Retirement Board? For Salary Board, it's okay. For Salary Board, it's supposed to be the same thing. Either what's on the agenda for Salary Board, or what could reasonably come before the Salary Board.

We literally interpret that over the years.

Okay, well, just... If you're the first individual to ever come up with a public comment on retirement... Is that wrong? It's wrong unless you're talking about something that's on the agenda or it could reasonably be on an agenda for the Retirement Board. So basically what I'm asking for is, is what you're going to talk about have anything whatsoever to do with the Retirement Board?

Sure, it does. So what it does have to say is about transparency for the Retirement Board and The ability to live stream, remote participate, discuss the overall quality of public access to meetings for the retirement board. Don't roll your eyes at me. That is very unprofessional. I asked prior before where are we implementing live streaming and hybrid public comment options? Great. The auto quality, somebody said it earlier. JP said something earlier. You could even hear in the back of the room today. Fortunately, my voice carries, others do not. So we're working on it.

We got a price for a new audio thing, and I think it's low-accessible. So they're getting another company to give us a price, because the price they gave us was really, really high.

So I'll just wrap it up then, since we're already working on that. Let's just move it to the top of the list is what I have. So that any type of public comment or anything in relation to the retirement board, can be heard clear, can be streamed live, can be commented on by the public.

I would like to get a system that actually heard what people are talking about.

That would be fantastic. And one of my comments was going to be Lancaster County. They have a great system. They have a great feature.

I don't want to reach out to Lancaster to see what that's like. I can't say exactly what it's like. I want to reach out to some county. They have a system that swivels when people talk, and it does... things and I guess stuff to be projected on the TV and everything.

Some places have split screens.

Split screen that it has public on. I want to try to do something that's split screens so you can see us, see the people, and see the audience.

First off, being done in Penn State, I think it's in Baltimore, or Penn State, or I think it's in the top of Paul Classroom's camera when it turns into the person speaking.

So yes, we are fantastic. We got a price. It takes a little bit of people, but we got a price of 25, 30?

Okay, so again, just a couple of things, live streaming, audio. Thank you for your time.

Sometimes you can't even hear. Well, it was difficult tonight. That's right. I just got a question. Do you have a cell phone? No, I just want to ask a question. Okay.

Did you use your computer?

Did you... Do you have a cell phone or smartphone? No, I don't have a cell phone. Then you don't have a cell phone in any way. Well, that's a data centers. Anybody that has this is what data centers are. People are fighting data centers by creating AI technology through the ads and everything. So... Okay. So, is there any other public comment before the motion to approve the monthly meeting of the U.S. in May 13th?

Who will adjourn?

Second.

On the question?

Commissioner Medora? Yes. Commissioner Hetherington? Yes. Commissioner Hathaway? Yes.

Controllers in attention?

Yes.

Treasurer Yeager?

Yes.

Controllers in support? Aye. Full speed read it.

Oh, it gets to you. It gets to you. It gets to you. It gets to you. It gets to you.

It gets to you. It gets to you. The retirement board report for May 2026. We have one member receive a retirement of $57,372 with a pro rata payment of $417.

We had six members receive refunds of $24,156. One member received a rollover of $82,511. The market value of the retirement fund as of May 31st, 2026 was $199,408,922. The retirement value as of today, June 10th, was $196,338,740. That's it. I do have people that are requesting the vest, but why? Okay. I have one, I have one employee asking to vest. I have another employee asking to buy back their leave from 2026, and we actually had a vested Rest Haven employee who now elected to take their retirement. That's all.

So we have motion to approve the retirement. So moved and seconded.

So moved and seconded.

So moved and seconded. So moved and seconded.

So moved and seconded. So moved and seconded. So moved and seconded. So moved and seconded.

So moved and seconded.

Yes. Yes. Yes.