Data centers: A hot-mic conversation leads to a discussion of what government transparency means
This summer In Miami County, a citizen coalition fighting data centers was sent a hot-mic conversation between county commissioners. They say it shows county officials aren’t taking citizen concerns about the large projects seriously. But those county commissioners say having rules governing data centers protects the county. IPR’s Daniel Huber explains.
Audio Transcript
The coalition received the audio – more than five minutes long – from an anonymous email. The recording took place after the Miami County Drainage Board Meeting adjourned on July 6 between county commissioners Fred Musselman, Brenda Weaver, and Mark Horner. They were discussing a data center ordinance.
In a hard-to-hear recording, Musselman says, “If this goes through, and it will…” and Weaver replies, “Right.”
Members of the coalition say it shows the board had already decided on an upcoming vote on the ordinance before a scheduled July 20 meeting. They also claim it violates Indiana’s Open Door Law.
Makayla Tubb is Vice Chairman of the Miami-Cass Counties Coalition for Utility & Environmental Protection. Its Facebook group has nearly 1,400 members. She posted the hot mic audio on her Facebook on August 3.
“I would say after the hot mic situation… we’ve been frustrated and frustrated,” she said, “and now people are just kind of fed up.”
By the time of that August 3 posting, commissioners had already unanimously approved the ordinance governing future data centers in the county. Meeting minutes from July 20 show commissioners said they’d heard from the public in multiple meetings that lasted several hours each time.
One member is Tori Pindell, the coalition’s chairman.
“We had a moratorium,” she explains. “They had no time limit on that moratorium. So, if the silent majority really wanted that, then turn it to the people and let the people decide, which is what they should have been doing all along.”
Read More: Nearly a third of Indiana counties have moved to restrict data centers
Commissioner Fred Mussleman said there’s a lot of misinformation about data centers. He thinks such projects would bring employment to the county.
“We had nothing. We were not protected in any way, shape, or form of any rules. That was the whole point of doing an ordinance was to put rules and regulations. We’re not pursuing a data center,” Mussleman said.
And he has a different view of the recording.
“We accidentally left a mic on, and they heard three people having a conversation. It’s not newsworthy. There was nothing revealed.”
Further in the recorded conversation, the commissioners discussed businesses and residents leaving anti-AI signs on their property, with Musselman saying, “I just feel like they are being led astray on so many levels.”
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Setbacks in the passed ordinance include that a data center must be at least “500 feet from any residential dwelling,” it must be granted Special Exception by the Board of Zoning Appeals to be in A-1 Agriculture, A-2 Agriculture and A-3 Agriculture zoned districts, and that “any component of the data center shall not exceed 55 decibels (dB), measured at the property line.” 55 dB is the equivalent of a normal conversation.
For residents like retiree Duaine Bowen, who has lied in Miami County for 75 years, they are concerned that even with the ordinance, it’s not enough. The county is predominantly agricultural, though there is also a U.S. Air Force base.
“They’re going to still come in. They’re going to get their way, and then after they become obsolete, we’re going to have to clean the mess up.”
Next door’s Cass County passed a development ban.
Read More: Madison County commissioners extend data center moratorium for full year
Miami County already has two data centers that host servers for wireless communications, one owned by AT&T and another for Comcast.
The coalition’s discussions have fostered two local candidates, both running as independents. One is Jason McClure, an apple farmer running for county commissioner. McClure is also the coalition’s secretary.
“Our current commissioners seem to think that data centers are industry, and maybe they’re industry to a certain degree,” said McClure. “But I’d rather see actual industry that provides jobs to the community come in lieu of having data centers…”
Tubb said they will continue to pay attention to their local government and have members attend meetings.
“People are making decisions, and they are not going to be around to see the consequences. And that is something that makes me so upset as somebody who has a five-year-old. What are we leaving for her future, and why are people who won’t be around to see it making the decisions?”
“We do have a true sense of community,” Pindell said. “Regardless of political party, we’ve been able to stand shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, and fight a lot of these issues that have come to our local government and to our local community.”
Daniel Huber is a news fellow with Ball State Public Media’s Public Media Accelerator student fellowships.
