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432. One. Chair calls to order public hearing for bill 260 ten low. Sapp amendment. Length of

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service. Award. Program benefits. I'm going to go ahead and do the presentation on this.

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first of all, I want to thank our firefighters for being here tonight. I thank them for

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everything they do for our community. I threw a couple notes down here and I just said,

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our community members and volunteers have been coming to our aid in time of need for

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fire, literally as far back as we can document from bucket brigades, horse drawn carts to

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modern day apparatus, million and a half dollar engines, $2.5 million aerial units. The

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personal gear, $5,000 apiece. And the technology that they need today to keep them safe.

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they continue to volunteer their time for us protecting or saving our lives and property

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every day. Our volunteers continue to be the backbone of our fire service. Harford

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county's length of service award program was established in 1975. It's to find a small

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way to recognize and give back to our volunteers for the critical service they provide.

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I've had the honor and privilege to amend this program twice, working with chief hurst,

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the harford county volunteer fire and ems association and others. In 2020, we did one

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amendment, and in 2022 we did a second amendment to enhance the program, making it more

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beneficial to the volunteers while providing a valuable tool to enhance our recruitment and

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retention efforts. We know that it's cost us now what it costs us now to for a paid ems

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service with 17 units on the road and 17 units in waiting if we need them. The challenges

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that we face in trying to find personnel to service those units. Mr. Overbay is here

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tonight. I'm sure he could. He could attest to that. And retaining those positions. To

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date, we're budgeted about $60 million annually for ems service. The county treasury

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has shown last year there was a balance in the volunteer firefighters trust fund of over

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$47 million, up from 39,000,000 in 2022. It continues to grow while paying 788 payees in the

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system. The legislation will change the monthly benefit for these dedicated volunteers from

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$325 a month to $375, as I said to county auditors, fiscal note shows the 788 788 payees in the

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system, and this bill will cost the county an additional $550,000 annually, with a total

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investment of about 2 million a year for our firefighters losap program. We also know that if

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we are forced to go to a full time paid fire service, the first year will be well over

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$200 million. And I hate to talk about the cost that they're saving us, but it's

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it's real. Seeing the success that we've had with a blend. And chief covey can talk about

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that. A blend of career people with volunteers at abington, at the new station there with paid

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drivers and firefighters. It's extremely successful. This has helped with reducing response

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times again, ultimately helping to save lives and property. I want to thank all of my

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colleagues for cosponsoring this legislation, and we believe it's a necessary step

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to maintain and extend our volunteer fire base, and it helps to keep it alive and

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benefit to all of us. So with that council, mr. Ginger, thank you, council president. So I

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agree with everything council president said and then some. I think, you know, I met some

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some young firefighters over the past, I don't know, 7 or 8 years. And they all say they go

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down to pg county and some of the other counties, they work down there full time, but then

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they, they come back up here and they work. They work here. You know, they, they come back

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because this is where they got their start. A lot of them still live up this way, but they go down there and they stay down there and they work. But the camaraderie that they

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have up here and what they learned up here, it's invaluable. I can't thank the the fire departments enough for what they do. We know this is a a small amount, and I know

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we've looked at increasing it. And then there's some concerns. If you go over too much of how

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that affects you guys. So, you know, we're always looking at ways to, to help support you

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guys. And like you said, you know, now some of the drivers and everything are paid in the

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hybrid. And we know it would cost a significant amount of money to start off, you know,

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probably, you know, not only that, because just what happened with ems, we had to replace a lot of the fire ambulances because they they weren't up to par, you know,

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and I've heard that to order a fire truck, it's like some 36 months out to get a fire truck.

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and there are probably $2 million a piece. So that's not cheap. So I just want to say we

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appreciate you guys. Thank you for being here. Look forward. Totally support this bill. And

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thank you, everybody. And thank you for being here, mr. Bennett. Good evening. Thank you all for

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being here tonight. And a special thank you to all of our volunteer firefighters for all

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they do every single day. I hope the community truly recognizes what a value our

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volunteer system is here in harford county. Even if you never have to be the one to

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call 911, the amount of money that we save on insurance for our homes, thanks to having a

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well staffed volunteer service here in the county is tremendous. And I know that's

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something that chief hurst often speaks to, the value that, you know, in having degrees,

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having an iso class one fire company brings to our community. And it's so important that

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these people who give up their weeknights and their weekends, their a little bit of free time.

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they have to be with friends and family that they give up 25 years. That's to get the full

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benefits of, of this program is 25 years of volunteering for $375 a month. No one's doing it

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to, you know, get wealthy. If they are, it's a very bad plan. But in order to give people

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that thing at the end to keep them going at 21, 22 years to keep our volunteers in the

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program, I just think is incredibly valuable. I was concerned hearing from multiple

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firefighters in the community at a recent meeting with the county treasurer representing the administration and talking about this bill, the county treasurer emphasized over and

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over again in the meeting. Every dollar we spend somewhere has to be taken from somewhere

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else. You know, this bill, which gives an extra $50 per eligible beneficiary, will cost

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about $550,000 annually. What what was the meaning of the county treasurer saying that

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representing the administration in that meeting, that every dollar given has to be taken from somewhere else? And I'm asking that to mr. Overbay, because he's the representation

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of the administration here tonight. Mr. Everybody, having not been here to comment on

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this bill, and I wasn't at the meeting, I certainly can't speak to what mr. Sandler's was

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addressing with the council at that time. Certainly something I'd be happy to bring back to

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you, sir, as part of follow up with the council, because I you know, I just think it's

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important to emphasize to the administration that we have to keep our volunteers strong. We

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also have to be planning for the future to be able to pay for and fund a career system or

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a hybrid system. And we're not there yet. But in order to have the runway to get there, we

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have to commit to supporting our volunteers and any sort of action that would threaten to

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cut funding from our volunteers is unacceptable in that long term vision of taking care of

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our community. So I really wanted to emphasize that and support our volunteers tonight,

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that funding this does not mean taking from those people who serve us each and every day.

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and if something was to happen to your home while we're sitting here, would service you right now. So I think that's very important to emphasize tonight. Thank you, mr. Bennett.

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anyone else, miss simmons? I just again, want to thank all of our volunteer firefighters

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and ems crew. I've been very well connected with the fallston fire company. Honestly,

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my entire adult life. My dad's a volunteer over there as well. And a couple of years ago, we

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were able to donate a house to use as a controlled burn. And if anyone has ever been able to

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watch you guys do what you do, it is remarkable. I was able to share that experience and being

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able to show my girls the amount of bravery and dedication that you guys put

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forth, and being able to learn the best practices, to be able to make sure that you save

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people that you've never even met before. And so for that, I just want to say thank you and

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that I will always support whatever you guys need. Thank you, miss emhoff. Anyone else?

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miss roberts? Thank you. And I too, would like to thank you for your service. I know in my

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jurisdiction I rely a lot on volunteers. I have the joppa community and the edgewood

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community. And I will be power walking through the streets. And I can see the firemen

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waiting for the volunteers to show up to go make that run. So I really appreciate everything

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you do for our community. And you guys are pretty quick, and I've watched that happen

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recently. We did have a fire in our area, so thank you. And one more thing, mr. Riley. Yeah,

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I'd like to thank the administration because what they did is they put $1 million

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in for whiteford firehouse. So I know that's at their that's in mr. Kessler's heart. And

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also, as I was looking up these three helmets here, I'm trying to figure out which one is ed

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ed watkins. And I thought maybe it would probably been the cleanest one there. But you can.

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but you can correct me when I'm wrong. Thank you, mr. President. You're welcome, mr. Dana. Yeah.

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one more thing. 30 years ago, I started working with iso and those iso codes, and they

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always talked about harford county having some of the best volunteer fire departments and

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have some of the iso ratings that were better than some of the paid firefighters areas

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around the state. And that does certainly translate into premiums on your homeowners

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being less. So. Thankfully, we've always been able to keep and maintain a lot of those,

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you know, from havre de grace 701 you know, three and five in bel air. And they used to do

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things a little bit different back then. If you could see ten homes and they would, they

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would also credit that. So we're lucky to have you guys and your dedication in the long

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run. And it's, it's people don't realize the amount of money that you guys have saved them over the last 35 years. But I know it's a lot. So thank you. Thank you, mr. Giordano.

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and I think because the room is full and a lot of you probably are not familiar with how these

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fire companies work when they respond to calls. I just tonight, I just have level bel

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air and susquehanna hose company here in front of me. But it doesn't matter if

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there's a call in joppatowne. It's not unfamiliar to see a bel air truck there, a

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susquehanna hose truck there. If there's a call up in whiteford or morrisville, same.

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these guys run wherever they need backup and fill in. So I want to thank you for that. But

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you're going to hear from some of our dedicated firefighters. Next. We have anyone signed up

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for want to call you first speaker christopher gibbons, followed by scotty hurst. Keep

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it clean, keep it clean. I apologize, I didn't dress as snappily as mr. Hurst did, but

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I did come to work. So can I have your name and zip code, please? Christopher gibbons,

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forest hill two 1050. Thank you sir. Currently the president of the fallston volunteer fire and

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ambulance company for my 20th year council president vicente and distinguished council

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members. On monday, may the 1st of 1989, 37 years ago, as a 16 year old high school student,

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my application was read in to become a volunteer member of the false and volunteer fire

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and ambulance company. One of the benefits explained to me was lozap. I was an eager kid,

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ready to go on calls and take classes. All I remember about lozap was the old guys around

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the table talking about their monthly check and how it was a car payment, the base pay to a

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volunteer who had accrued 50 points in calls, meetings, training and other categories

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combined in that year for 25 active years and the age of 55 was given $300. In 2007, the

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council raised the approved the addition of a death benefit for surviving spouse of 50% of that

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benefit. And as you had taken some of my thunder in 2020, you guys approved as a council a

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raise of the base rate from 300 to $325 to a maximum benefit of $475, with $6 added for every

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additional year over 25 years, $6 a year. In 2022. Again, the council approved and lowered

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the age to collect from 55 to 50 with 25 years of service, and there is also a benefit for

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people that join later in life that at that time was 70 years old and ten years of credited

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service. They received a partial benefit. They lowered that age to 60 in 10 years. So

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we greatly appreciate all of that. This is really the first time that I've paid any

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attention, because when you lowered the age, that's when I actually was eligible to accept

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that benefit. But in 2023, this was no longer a car payment, more likely a fuel bill or a

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big bill. I and many other volunteers are grateful for the allotment provided, and believe

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me, I didn't join at 16 with the thought of making an extra $300. Some 39 years later, I

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joined because I've always wanted to be a volunteer fireman and am one of the small

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groups that have actually stayed and remained very active, responding to calls, as well as

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handling the myriad of tasks and activities required training, fundraising, building

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and equipment maintenance, and just ready for calls. I urge the council to support and it

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certainly sounds like I really don't need to do that. The raising of the base from 325 to

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375 is. This is now more of a retention tool for us with the rising cost of everything,

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everything, keeping members in the building to handle calls and tasks is more difficult when they could be out working a part time job to make that money. I know you as a council,

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realize the citizens of this great county get a whole lot of bang for very little of the

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budget. Comparatively. I know that when the audits are submitted, there's a calculation included that shows what it would cost you salary wise and what is saved by the

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county. And it pales in comparison to a small increase in allotment for the lozap

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program. I know the county treasurer spoke to us at about the actuarial studies involved

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and the budget, and I, at the end of that meeting, agreed to be involved and lead the work

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group to have meetings with them and the actuarial not only for this project, but another

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project that I've proposed. You're out of time, buddy, so thank you all. Thank you for

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your service. I appreciate you, thank you. And as you can see, while we're sitting here,

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they're getting calls and leaving. Good evening sir. Name and zip. Scott hurst, zip codes

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21078. Chief of the susquehanna hose company. Good evening, council president vincent and

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county council members. First, I'd like to thank you for your continued support of the volunteer fire companies in harford county and for your support of the length of

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service awards program increase. As you know, volunteer fire companies across the nation are struggling to survive as times change. With training standards, the economy and the general

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lack of volunteerism due to time constraints due to family and work priorities, harford

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county is very fortunate to have the volunteer firefighters continue to provide services, which saves harford county hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Harford county is one

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of the few all volunteer counties left in the state of maryland, and certainly the

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busiest. The growth of harford county has mandated 50% of our fire companies to. In station

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response and has pretty much killed home response. Thus, volunteers must spend more time

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away from home and in the station, those 50% of the fire companies cover 75% of harford

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county calls. This issue is one of the volunteers have no control over. The program is by

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far our best recruitment and retention tool that companies use each and every day to promote. Joining the local volunteer fire companies continue. Improvements like

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this are needed to keep up with the ever growing demand of being a volunteer firefighter.

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we recognize that due to an increase in the budget, money will need to be allotted or cut.

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as we were told, however, that money well spent the savings account gets from the hundreds

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of millions of dollars we save harford county each and every year. A number of the county

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flat out would not be able to fund or support in the foreseeable future without major tax increases. In closing, we look forward to working with everyone in the future and

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improving the volunteer fire service recruitment and retention programs and issues that come along with it that will hopefully in the future include property tax credit

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that we've been discussing for several years now. Thank you. Thank you chief. Thank you for

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your service. Paul d'amato, followed by scott pannowitz. Name is it sir. Good evening.

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paul demonaco 21014. I came here to talk about data centers, but then I realized that bill

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was on the agenda. So I decided to talk to this. If I asked anybody in the room, would you

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volunteer to run in burning buildings to commit over 500 hours to get firefighter one.

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firefighter two emt would you take that job for $15 a year for 25 years? That's what

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they're getting. Basically, they get $15 a year for 25 years with this new bill.

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that's peanuts. They're basically responding to calls on holidays, christmas,

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thanksgiving, anytime that there's a high school graduation or something in

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their family's lives, they're running out the door, they're going to the fire station and

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they're helping us in our time of need. I honestly think this bill doesn't do enough. We're

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increasing it $600 over a year. So I just heard it's costing the county 550 k. If you look

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at our budget and you look at in the back where they have where reserve funds and all

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that other stuff, we have the money in this county. We should be doing more for these

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volunteers. Thank you. I fully support this bill. I'm glad that the county council is

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unanimous sponsored this. Thank you, sir. And I would also say you need to increase that death

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benefit. 5000. You can't bury anybody. I'm sorry. Thank you sir. Name is up. Chief scott

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pannowitz two 1015. Good evening, mr. President and council members. My name is

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scott pannowitz, chief of the bel air volunteer fire company, and I am speaking in support of

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bill 2610. The length of service award program is vital to sustaining the volunteer

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fire and ems service in harford county. The demands placed on our volunteers continue to

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increase. One of the most significant challenges is the growing call volume throughout the county. As our communities continue to expand while activities such as training,

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meetings and administrative duties can be scheduled, calls. Emergency calls cannot.

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volunteers routinely leave their families, friends and workplaces at a moment's notice

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to respond to emergencies and serve the citizens of harford county. Many volunteer fire

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companies still rely on a home based response model. However, growth throughout harford

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county and the town of bel air has increased increased traffic congestion, resulting in longer

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response times for members traveling to our stations, to staff, to staff apparatus. At

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the bel air volunteer fire company, we have adapted by implementing an end station crew model to ensure we continue providing the high level of service our community

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expects. The changes. The change requires members to spend even more time at the

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station, away from their families and personal commitments during the transition. During this transition, losap has been one of the most important benefits

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we have promoted to both current and prospective members. The enhancement proposed in

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bill 2610 will strengthen the benefit and help us retain the dedicated volunteers who make

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our service possible. Recruiting and retaining volunteer members remains one

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of the greatest challenges facing fire companies throughout harford county. When

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speaking with prospective members, losap is consistently one of the first benefits we

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discuss. While new members recognize its value, losap becomes even more important as

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volunteers continue their service. We have seen numerous senior members remain active

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and engaged because of the benefits provided through losap. Losap has been and continues to

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be one of the most effective tools for attracting and retaining volunteer firefighters and ems personnel in harford county. I strongly believe the changes proposed in

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bill 2610 will help all volunteer fire and ems departments recruit new members,

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retain experienced personnel and continue providing the high quality emergency services our

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citizens depend upon. I respectfully ask for your support of bill 2610. Thank you

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chief. Yes, sir. For the citizens call volume for bel air. We had 26 2675 calls last

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year, and we had 5703 responses, unit responses. So how many for abingdon 1800 1800. So I mean

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we're talking thousands of call amongst the 1011 fire companies in the ambulance corps and

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havre de grace. So I just wanted everyone to know that. Thank you for your service,

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chief. Thank you. So this will conclude the public hearing for bill 260 ten. I want to thank

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all of you for your service now and in the future and in the past. And this bill will be

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looked at tonight. We will act on this bill tonight. So thank you very much. And we're going

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to take a short recess so that they can get out and we'll bring other people in.

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five. 4321. Chair calls the order bill 26011. A public hearing for zoning and zoning

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data centers. Mr. Overbay, whenever you're ready. Thank you, council president. For the

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record, my name is steve overbay. I'm here this evening representing harford county

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government and would like to read the following statement on behalf of county executive castle administration. Good evening, council president vincente and council members.

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thank you for the opportunity to provide a statement about bill 26011 detailing my

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administration's legislation banning data centers in harford county. As we sit here today,

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data centers are not permitted, not a permitted use under harford county zoning code.

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some may reasonably ask if that's the case, why is this legislation necessary? The

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answer is simple. As county executive, I became alarmed by another bill that could have

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opened harford county's door to data centers. That bill created a moratorium to plan for

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guardrails on data center development. Over the past two years. As data centers began to

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proliferate, the nation, we conducted extensive research and examined the experiences of

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communities across the country that have embraced large scale data center development. After

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that review, we reached a clear conclusion data centers are not in harford county's best

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interest. Among our significant concerns are the high energy demand, noise, water usage and

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the overall impacts on our environment and the quality of life. A single hyperscale data

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center can consume enough electricity to power more than 100,000 homes. Approximately

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the number of households in harford county today. In practical terms, one facility

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could double the county's residential electricity demand, sending our residents and

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commercial community energy bills even higher. Maryland is already struggling to meet its

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energy needs. Demand is increasing faster than supply. Last summer, baltimore gas and

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electric warned of potential reliability issues and brownouts during peak periods

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of demand. Today, maryland relies heavily on electricity generated outside of its

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borders, with more than 60% of our current power needed at peak load being generated

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outside of this state. At the same time, many of our neighboring states that

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currently supply much of that power through the pjm cooperative have expressed

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growing concern about continuing to subsidize maryland's energy shortfalls

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while we pursue data center development and policies that further increase demand. The

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reality is simple our electric grid is already under strain, and large scale data center

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development would only make this situation worse. Data centers are also on a collision

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course with maryland's green energy policies that have greatly reduced in-state energy

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production. The state is requiring 50% renewable energy in two years and 100% renewable

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energy within seven years. This super reliance on renewable energy is completely

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incompatible with data center development and energy consumption. Some proposals

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seek to allow data centers to generate their own energy through nuclear or fossil fuel

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powered facilities, while residents, businesses and manufacturers remain subject to

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increasingly restrictive state green energy policies, that is neither equitable nor

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sustainable. Our state's commitment to renewable energy is driving our residential

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rates higher each and every day. Given all of this, why would a local government consider data

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centers? The answer is tax revenue. As data centers produce very few local jobs,

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communities such as northern virginia, which did have available energy capacity,

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embraced data centers based on promises of extraordinary tax receipts. Years later, many

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residents in our nation's data center capital are now confronting the unintended

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consequences of unchecked growth. Industrial industrialization of rural

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landscapes, increasing energy demands, environmental concerns, and diminished quality of life.

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these troubles are not isolated to this country alone, as reported in this week's wall

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street journal, ireland has just issued a halt to all data center development as rapid

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deployment of data centers quickly consumed one fifth of the country's entire power

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supply. Harford county has the benefit of learning from these experiences rather than

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repeating them. Bill 26011 takes a proactive approach. It provides certainty to our

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residents, protects our communities, and makes clear that harford county will

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prioritize public health, environmental stewardship, responsible growth and quality

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of life over speculative promises of revenue. We cannot leave this to chance. Our

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communities, our natural resources and our quality of life are not commodities to be

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traded. That is why my administration has brought this legislation before you today,

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and why I respectfully request your favorable consideration of bill 26011. Thank you, bob

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cassilly. If I may, only because I didn't see you when you dropped this up here. Mary

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catherine mccall, are you in the audience? Thank you. Thank you for your note. We

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appreciate it very much. I just wanted to recognize you for that. Thank you. Steve, do you

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remember when it was that you came and sat with miss allegy and I and asked us to consider

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putting together a work committee for data centers? I would have been. I believe that

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would have been over a year ago or right around a year ago. Council president, I don't know,

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I don't remember. I believe that just curious. Yes. And are you aware of the information

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that I have in front of me with the planning advisory board and the comments in there? I would

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need to see it, sir. I'll give you a copy of it before you leave. I just want to be sure.

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all right. Council. Mr. Bennett. Hello. Thank you for being here tonight. I do want to reference

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the minutes from the ppab meeting on march 11th that I had physically shared with me

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earlier today. Because I think it's important to state something that's in those

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minutes. A few things, actually. But the first is that it states until legislation is passed,

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battery storage data and data centers are handled on a case by case basis, which, as a

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reminder, was my whole initial point when I introduced the moratorium, was to make sure

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that nothing could be moved in a discretionary manner until permanent legislation was

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passed, because a case by case basis means inconsistency, and that means insecurity for our

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community. It's also important to note that attending this ppab meeting on march 11th was

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the owner of mountain branch, along with a relative of theirs who spoke at that meeting. It

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was stated at that meeting that the pab is going to do research and draft proposed zoning

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amendments for battery storage and data centers, and the owner of mountain branch spoke in

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support of this action at the meeting. And then later in the meeting notes, it talks about

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the question of timing. At the planning advisory board meeting on march 11th, 2026, the

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harford county director of planning and zoning acknowledged on the record that

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the executive office would not introduce data center legislation before the election

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cycle concludes and welcomed the possibility of a council member drafting legislation

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independently. Board members themselves made clear that they wanted legislation drafted and

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introduced now before the election, not after. When I originally introduced the

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moratorium, the whole point was I had concerns over the possibility of someone. The day

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after election day, for example, changing their tune on this issue and potentially opening

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up our community to harm with no longer having the pressure on them of an election. And

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these notes to me recognize a possibility that the county executive was thinking along

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those lines. Why else would you need to wait till after election day to work on

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introducing regulations around data centers? Unless you're concern is that the community might not like what you have to say about data centers. This also aligns with comments made

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by the county executive and public that he's not anti data center. He can just read the

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tea leaves. So what do you say to those comments from march 11th at the pab meeting? Well,

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I would certainly say that, again, having not been at the march 11th meeting, I assume

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you're talking about former director grimm that was making those meetings that mr. Kropp.

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okay. Very good. So having not been there, mr. Kropp has been involved in these very

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discussions, as has he been involved in the bill that ultimately is being considered

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by this council this evening as it relates to the county executive's comments about not

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being anti data center. I think, you know, the belief is that data centers, there is a

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there's a place for data centers and that ag land certainly is not some of that.

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these are not something that's permitted currently. So a lot of that discussion that

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happened over the last two years I can speak to because I had been in conversations with

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the county executive about that, but that was about identifying and trying to learn, again,

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from communities. One thing that we learned is that these are very valuable commodities,

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meaning that there is a lot of tax revenue that comes into communities based on these, but

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that one by one across the nation and across the globe as it relates to now, what you're

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hearing is that from residents, both those in very close proximity as well as those that

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are much further away than perhaps what was once believed to be problematic. All have a

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very consistent theme. And in the discussions that were had in speaking with all of those

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communities, had they had a chance to kind of rewind the clock and go back and do things

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differently, they would. So I think, you know, the idea is this is a rapidly evolving

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technology and, you know, trying to make quick decisions about these things really does

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not make sense. I certainly am happy, I think, on behalf of the administration that, you

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know, this, everybody seems to be in support of a commonality here. And that's that's not

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always the easiest to do. But I think in this case, for the betterment of harford county.

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for the details outlined in the county executive's letter, that the belief is that this is the

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right thing for the county. And I just think it's important that I state on the record that

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inconsistency in the county executive's stance, because I have been very consistent for a

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long time now on the fact that we have to push back against this industry from coming into

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harford county. It's what I've been working on for over a year now, and I took umbrage to the

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county executive's comments suggesting that when I introduced a moratorium, it was

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some sort of sneaky effort to let data centers into harford county because it was nothing

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of the like. Meanwhile, the county executive has not been fully transparent with the

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public and had stated that he didn't want to work on anything until after the election. So I

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just think that's important to clarify so that people understand tonight this bill is

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going to pass 7 to 0, and I'm thankful for that. And I'm thankful that community

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pressure and reading the tea leaves led the county executive to landing in the right place.

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it's unfortunate that he can't be here tonight because he's at a fundraiser for his personal

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campaign, but it's good that we're able to get this work done tonight. Thank you. Thank

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you, mr. Bennett. Miss emhoff, good evening. So we keep referencing the p b the

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planning advisory board. And so first I want to actually thank councilman bennett. Since he

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started creating this legislation, he has been willing and able to meet with

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me more than, you know, half a dozen times. And I've been fully supportive of tightening

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up all of our zoning legislation. I'm a believer in even if your name isn't the top

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of the legislation, that as long as the work gets done, that's the biggest priority.

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now, going back to the planning advisory board, just for full transparency. So this is the

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same board that said the count, the county council member who has proposed the moratorium has

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separately stated in public testimony that he has spent months studying this data

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centers. The analytical work has been done. The professional planning apparatus of harford

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county has signaled openness to council initiated legislation. So that's coming from the

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planning advisory board. Can you give a little bit of background as to who makes up

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the planning advisory board and how they get appointed? Actually, I would need to bring

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in planning and zoning to provide you with detailed information about that. That is

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certainly not my role within the administration, but I appreciate the question. Happy

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to, you know, happy to provide clarity for you. I'll do that directly, and we can do that publicly as well. So we have a list of the people who are in the attendance to the march

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11th meeting who made these statements. And so, just so everyone knows, the majority of

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the people on the planning advisory board are appointed by the county executive. As with

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most of our boards and commissions and committees. And so we just found it to be

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interesting that while these boards are there, meeting minutes are posted online. The

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meeting minutes that we were provided earlier today were omitted. And I can't help but

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wonder why. There's been several copies of the meeting minutes that, in their full

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effect, that have now been made available. And I would like to know if the county, the county

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is planning to actually publish the full meeting minutes. I assume you received those from

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the county at some point today. Is that what you were referencing? Okay. Thank you.

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mr. Riley. Steve, as you can tell, it's an election year. Mr. Chandler. So first of all,

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whether I'm just grateful that the bill is forward, that we're going to look to ban the data

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centers. I think it's clear nobody in the county wants it. Most of the state doesn't want

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it, especially in the rural areas, especially in a golf course surrounded by

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communities that within six miles, that noise, low hum, transmits through buildings,

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through people. And it's going to be hazardous to the health in the long run. Everything is

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changing with data centers, and in two years they might not need these humongous data

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centers. They're talking about putting them in space. They're talking about them being the

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size of an air conditioning unit, sitting outside of your of a brand new home or

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something, and not these football field size of data centers that are taking up

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electricity and power and water. You know, we're trying to bring a gas line 18 miles all the way

390
00:40:36,061 --> 00:40:36,061
in. And that's been my other concern is that, you know, how if I've talked to mr. Leggit

391
00:40:41,194 --> 00:40:41,194
about it, you know, can they come in and build a, you know, an electricity center and then

392
00:40:45,961 --> 00:40:45,961
do that? And she's told me, no, we cannot do that. Because that's been my other biggest

393
00:40:50,428 --> 00:40:50,428
concern is that can they slip it in the back door somehow? You know, if they build a

394
00:40:55,528 --> 00:40:55,528
nuclear thing, you know, and they give power, can they say, hey, we got this extra power as

395
00:40:59,694 --> 00:40:59,694
long as we ban the data centers. And I and I think you heard it from councilman bennett, you

396
00:41:04,961 --> 00:41:04,961
were all in agreement that we're going to pass this, move forward, get this band. And I'm

397
00:41:13,194 --> 00:41:13,194
just grateful that, you know, there's a lot of people out here. I'm sure we're going to

398
00:41:17,961 --> 00:41:21,228
hear from everybody in all different reasons. Maybe there's 2 or 3 people that are for it. You know, I got some of these letters up here, but they're from maryland tech

399
00:41:25,961 --> 00:41:25,961
council and fasto consulting. So, you know, you know, they're they're looking their way, but

400
00:41:31,561 --> 00:41:31,561
everybody else is going to be like, nope, we don't want data centers. So, so I don't know

401
00:41:37,328 --> 00:41:37,328
about the tax benefits. I'm not worried about the tax benefits. I'm worried about the people,

402
00:41:42,294 --> 00:41:42,294
people's health and our community. So for me, I'm voting no doubt as. Did you

403
00:41:56,794 --> 00:41:56,794
have your hand up? I did, I thought so I was reading something. Yeah. So the, the

404
00:42:06,328 --> 00:42:06,328
email today from the pab meeting that that came to light to me today. And I, I I was

405
00:42:13,761 --> 00:42:13,761
kind of churning on it because, you know, I remember after bill v, I can never pronounce his

406
00:42:24,194 --> 00:42:24,194
name, had emailed the council with all of the information and everything. I was the one that

407
00:42:31,394 --> 00:42:31,394
set up a meeting with him, because some of the language made me wonder how far along he

408
00:42:35,894 --> 00:42:35,894
got with the county executive's office. And then I saw this and I thought, well, I'm glad I met

409
00:42:42,194 --> 00:42:42,194
with him because he truthfully was saying he got further along than what everyone expected to

410
00:42:48,761 --> 00:42:48,761
do. And as I stated to him, you know, I was doing my own research on the data centers

411
00:42:55,561 --> 00:42:55,561
and talking to frederick county and their council and knowing about the pause and knowing

412
00:43:02,428 --> 00:43:02,428
that council member bennett was putting in the moratorium. Thought that was great. I do

413
00:43:06,461 --> 00:43:06,461
think that the county executive putting in the data center ban. He did. I know the citizens

414
00:43:14,494 --> 00:43:14,494
were like emergency, emergency, but he didn't do it as an emergency request or emergency

415
00:43:20,861 --> 00:43:20,861
legislation, which led us to have to amend it in order to make it emergency legislation

416
00:43:24,928 --> 00:43:24,928
so we can answer what you guys wanted to do, which was to ban the data centers. And I am in

417
00:43:30,594 --> 00:43:30,594
agreement with that because of the fact we have no idea what is going on with that, what the

418
00:43:35,894 --> 00:43:35,894
effects are. If I've been reading more and more about the water and health and all of

419
00:43:40,894 --> 00:43:40,894
those things, and we cannot move forward with something. Coming into our community that

420
00:43:50,228 --> 00:43:50,228
we are unaware of the effects of for our community. So I am definitely for banning the data

421
00:43:57,894 --> 00:43:57,894
centers, but I do want to make that known that, you know, in the back of my mind, and as mr.

422
00:44:02,928 --> 00:44:02,928
riley said, it's an election year. I'm still churning on what's going to happen in the

423
00:44:08,261 --> 00:44:08,261
future. And that's why we wanted to make sure there were parameters that were

424
00:44:14,028 --> 00:44:14,028
enforceable. Thank you. Thank you, miss robert. Anyone else? So for me, I know there's been

425
00:44:24,461 --> 00:44:24,461
some questions about some emails, but as council president, everything that goes

426
00:44:29,261 --> 00:44:29,261
on in this county comes across my desk at some point. And I always am grateful for the

427
00:44:35,194 --> 00:44:35,194
records that our council keeps and has kept for years. We've seen time and time again where

428
00:44:42,894 --> 00:44:42,894
we have to dip back into them to clarify something. And I'm, like I said, I'm glad they do

429
00:44:49,628 --> 00:44:49,628
that. Whenever I get an email that has to do with any type of project in this county, and all

430
00:44:57,594 --> 00:44:57,594
you need to do is talk to any of these folks on this council. We thoroughly investigate it.

431
00:45:02,661 --> 00:45:02,661
we look at all sides of it to make sure that it either is good or bad for the county.

432
00:45:09,494 --> 00:45:09,494
this is a no brainer. None of us have ever said that we support data centers. Do we

433
00:45:15,228 --> 00:45:15,228
listen to the people presenting thugs to us? Yes. When the group that was here presenting

434
00:45:22,061 --> 00:45:22,061
and telling us their side of the issue, remember they presented at the abington

435
00:45:27,028 --> 00:45:27,028
library? First members of the administration were there listening. One of my council or

436
00:45:32,828 --> 00:45:32,828
two of my council colleagues were there. I was not there, and my colleagues suggested

437
00:45:37,928 --> 00:45:37,928
that we have them come in just to listen, to hear what they have to say. Not to support it,

438
00:45:43,661 --> 00:45:43,661
but to make sure that we have all the information needed to make a decision and do our due

439
00:45:49,461 --> 00:45:49,461
diligence as we do every day. So hopefully that will answer some of the questions that you

440
00:45:55,194 --> 00:45:55,194
folks have. The greatest resource that I've had with your group is through brian

441
00:46:00,228 --> 00:46:00,228
cornell. I've had an opportunity to speak to brian on multiple occasions. I gave

442
00:46:04,594 --> 00:46:04,594
him a copy of the documents that we're talking about here tonight. As far as the planning

443
00:46:09,528 --> 00:46:09,528
advisory board actually goes into more detail that I have a presentation here that I will

444
00:46:15,328 --> 00:46:15,328
give him a copy of afterwards. I actually brought the copy out the night of the bully rock

445
00:46:24,694 --> 00:46:24,694
candidate forum in reference, and talked about it in front of the county executive. So I'm

446
00:46:31,528 --> 00:46:31,528
just trying to be transparent on everything. I've never talked about being supportive

447
00:46:38,894 --> 00:46:38,894
of data centers. And I never will. I said from this dais months ago, harford county is

448
00:46:46,061 --> 00:46:46,061
not the place for data centers. Our ag preserve ground, our ag ground period is not the place

449
00:46:53,228 --> 00:46:53,228
for data centers. And try to be very clear on that. And again, as mr. Riley said, it is an

450
00:46:59,961 --> 00:46:59,961
election cycle that we're in. So things get twisted. Things get out there. For whatever

451
00:47:04,728 --> 00:47:04,728
reason, I will be voting to kill this or to support this ban to kill data centers. Got a

452
00:47:14,594 --> 00:47:14,594
lot going on today, and I did reference. Mr. Overbay came to me and miss lg early on, asked

453
00:47:24,194 --> 00:47:24,194
us to consider putting together a workgroup for data centers. And I told, you know, that it

454
00:47:29,961 --> 00:47:29,961
should come from the administration if it's going to come at all. And I told you why

455
00:47:34,561 --> 00:47:34,561
all the experts are on your side of the street, not ours. So, and, and I think that we

456
00:47:41,428 --> 00:47:41,428
did the same thing for the impact fee study. We brought together a large group. We

457
00:47:46,128 --> 00:47:46,128
talked about it months later. We had a draft piece of legislation that was sent to me

458
00:47:52,694 --> 00:47:52,694
from the administration, and it took miss lg six minutes to look at that and come back to

459
00:47:58,394 --> 00:47:58,394
me and said, this is illegal. We can't do this. The state has guidelines in this violates the

460
00:48:06,261 --> 00:48:06,261
guidelines. So we had to send it back across the street. And, you know, not too much later,

461
00:48:12,628 --> 00:48:12,628
we got a bill that was correct and we were able to move it and look forward to adjusting fees

462
00:48:18,561 --> 00:48:18,561
again if we have to. As far as, you know, impact fees, that's the way it should work. We

463
00:48:24,561 --> 00:48:24,561
should all work together on everything and stop all of this division that's going on in our

464
00:48:30,428 --> 00:48:30,428
county today. So with that, anyone else on this desk have anything to say? I'm used to

465
00:48:40,861 --> 00:48:40,861
saying, miss dixon, are you over there? Who's calling him out? I'm over here. So how many

466
00:48:46,961 --> 00:48:46,961
speakers do we have? We have 47 this evening, mr. President. Well, that's a lot less than I

467
00:48:52,461 --> 00:48:52,461
thought. I thought it'd be more. I thought so. As I said earlier, because mr. Giordano made a

468
00:48:59,528 --> 00:48:59,528
statement at our last meeting where he said, every voice needs to be heard. Yep. We're

469
00:49:04,461 --> 00:49:04,461
going to do it again tonight. Sounds good. So the only thing I ask is that you be respectful

470
00:49:10,028 --> 00:49:10,028
of the citizens speaking that are recognized and that no applauds, no outbursts because

471
00:49:15,394 --> 00:49:15,394
we want to get through this. I had anticipated 50 plus and I had anticipated 2 to 3 hours.

472
00:49:23,328 --> 00:49:23,328
so just for public comment and we have a full agenda after that. So we may have to extend

473
00:49:29,794 --> 00:49:29,794
our step down from our rules and procedures and allow this meeting to run past 11. So with

474
00:49:37,428 --> 00:49:37,428
that with that, miss dixon, call your first speaker. Candace hart, followed by simon

475
00:49:46,128 --> 00:49:46,128
hewitt, greg fox, and ann blocker. Can't hear you. That that microphone is that one's

476
00:49:52,894 --> 00:49:52,894
done. Yeah. That's not going to go. Call that first speaker again. She's outside candace

477
00:50:05,061 --> 00:50:05,061
hart she's outside. Very first one's outside. She just told me she's been waiting for 20

478
00:50:13,094 --> 00:50:13,094
minutes. So I was like, call your second one. Simon hewitt, greg fox and ann blocker. Good

479
00:50:20,894 --> 00:50:20,894
evening sir. Name and zip code, please. Good evening, simon hewitt 21085. I live just

480
00:50:27,761 --> 00:50:27,761
downstream on mount the mountain branch. Stream runs right at the bottom of our yard.

481
00:50:33,928 --> 00:50:33,928
just downstream from mountain ridge golf club. So you can imagine I'm interested in this.

482
00:50:38,661 --> 00:50:38,661
I'm extremely grateful to all of you that you're going to vote for this ban. There are

483
00:50:45,561 --> 00:50:45,561
two reasons that I want to focus on the second one. The first one is kind of obvious. A

484
00:50:52,361 --> 00:50:52,361
speeding train was heading without any control, straight for our neighborhood for a to

485
00:50:58,328 --> 00:50:58,328
spread mayhem. And this bill, thank god, puts brakes on that speeding train. The

486
00:51:05,861 --> 00:51:05,861
inappropriate placement of a huge industrial plant in our gorgeous neighborhood is just

487
00:51:11,394 --> 00:51:11,394
an absurdity. So thank you for that. I've had another surprise tonight. I was born and raised

488
00:51:16,428 --> 00:51:16,428
in ireland, and I've just heard that ireland has had this problem too. So it's everywhere.

489
00:51:22,461 --> 00:51:22,461
so the main point I wanted to make was that we'll all celebrate your achievement

490
00:51:28,594 --> 00:51:28,594
tonight in combining, as you said, we should, chairman, and passing this bill. There may be

491
00:51:36,561 --> 00:51:36,561
a tendency or a temptation to say, great, it's done. We're over, it's over. I have had an

492
00:51:43,294 --> 00:51:43,294
experience in arizona with a with a developer that I was a consultant to, who built big

493
00:51:50,528 --> 00:51:50,528
planned communities and new towns, and they wanted to build a community in a place in

494
00:51:57,794 --> 00:51:57,794
california that had a 40 year, every single development that they had been offered, they had

495
00:52:03,494 --> 00:52:03,494
shot to smithereens. So it was the last place in the world you would expect to pass. Five

496
00:52:09,228 --> 00:52:09,228
years later, after expenditure of a lot of money, a lot of that rose, rose tinted

497
00:52:17,194 --> 00:52:17,194
presentations of reality, kind of like the hartford energy one. A lot of paid lobbyists, a lot

498
00:52:24,394 --> 00:52:24,394
of high paid lawyers, a lot of community people who were actually enlisted to help. They

499
00:52:31,194 --> 00:52:31,194
succeeded in getting their development into that community. It took five years. Now all the

500
00:52:37,994 --> 00:52:37,994
signs are there that this is what will happen here. So the main reason that I'm thrilled

501
00:52:44,161 --> 00:52:44,161
about this data center ban is it establishes the right team and the right starting point

502
00:52:49,928 --> 00:52:49,928
for that five year struggle. So when we vote in this election, I would ask you all to consider

503
00:52:58,328 --> 00:52:58,328
what is the right team that has shown and we've heard different versions from the bench just

504
00:53:03,328 --> 00:53:03,328
tonight. What is the right team that has shown in their actions over the last many years, not

505
00:53:09,394 --> 00:53:09,394
just at election time, that they will be thoughtful and forceful leaders in resisting

506
00:53:16,194 --> 00:53:16,194
the override from maryland, the override potentially from the feds, all the forces that will

507
00:53:22,328 --> 00:53:22,328
descend on us. You've probably heard that the owner of the golf club said this week, we

508
00:53:26,994 --> 00:53:26,994
are going to get this done. One encouraging thing that I just heard this afternoon, I'm

509
00:53:33,594 --> 00:53:33,594
nearly out of time, is that he had stopped all long term bookings on the golf course for

510
00:53:38,894 --> 00:53:38,894
next year, since the ban has come in. He has told them to sign up. Thank you. Next year.

511
00:53:44,594 --> 00:53:44,594
thank you. So in closing, thank you sir. You're done. Thank you. Okay, one last thing. Thank you

512
00:53:53,494 --> 00:53:53,494
sir. Good evening sir. Name and zip code, please. Greg fox 21085. I have a study here that

513
00:54:09,061 --> 00:54:09,061
was released two months ago by cambridge university. It was a study of universities in five

514
00:54:15,894 --> 00:54:15,894
countries. Got together to look at temperature effects, which hasn't been discussed so far.

515
00:54:21,294 --> 00:54:21,294
this goes in line with not knowing what you get with a data center. They looked at

516
00:54:27,494 --> 00:54:27,494
6300 non-urban data centers worldwide. They looked at five years of temperature data

517
00:54:33,161 --> 00:54:33,161
surrounding that prior to them going online. And then they looked at the temperatures

518
00:54:38,594 --> 00:54:38,594
afterwards and they found effects out to six miles. Now I'm going to do this. There's a

519
00:54:45,628 --> 00:54:45,628
lot of equations and charts in this, but I'm going to do this a way by way of example. Two

520
00:54:50,628 --> 00:54:50,628
weeks ago when we met on this bill, it was 95 in the parking lot. Hot day. If there were a

521
00:54:57,561 --> 00:54:57,561
data center put in on the big car lot out on route one, the used car sales lot, it would

522
00:55:05,961 --> 00:55:05,961
have been 98 degrees based on the average of those 6500 data centers would have been a three

523
00:55:12,161 --> 00:55:12,161
degree increase. Now, averages in this case are misleading because the data, the data they

524
00:55:19,594 --> 00:55:19,594
used was from 2004 to 2024, data centers that came online in 2025 used 5 to 10 times more

525
00:55:30,894 --> 00:55:30,894
electricity than data centers that came online in 2020. So they're getting bigger and more

526
00:55:36,161 --> 00:55:36,161
powerful. So I would want to look at one of the maximum they saw. They saw an 11 degree

527
00:55:44,861 --> 00:55:44,861
increase in some cases, which would have put it at 106 degrees in the parking lot that

528
00:55:50,228 --> 00:55:50,228
night. Now power consumption keeps going up and there's no way to do zoning or permitting

529
00:55:59,194 --> 00:55:59,194
on temperature. That's just not something the technology supports. And you can't beat

530
00:56:05,361 --> 00:56:05,361
the second law of thermodynamics. All the heat that goes into these things, or

531
00:56:09,394 --> 00:56:09,394
all the power that goes into these things as electricity has to go somewhere and it turns

532
00:56:14,261 --> 00:56:14,261
into heat and it spreads into the surrounding areas. And we don't know how to model this.

533
00:56:18,828 --> 00:56:18,828
we don't know the effects. If you put seven proposed data centers into mountain run, then

534
00:56:27,761 --> 00:56:27,761
everybody living within several miles of that would experience a summer similar to living in

535
00:56:34,194 --> 00:56:34,194
death valley or las vegas or phoenix, arizona. Thank you. Thank you sir. Call your next

536
00:56:45,694 --> 00:56:45,694
speaker. Mr. President. We do have candace hart. Good evening ma'am. Name and zip. Candace

537
00:56:57,694 --> 00:56:57,694
hart 21085. I'm here tonight as a candidate for the house of delegates in district seven b

538
00:57:07,294 --> 00:57:07,294
on may the 1st, I submitted a proposal to the county council calling for a ban on data

539
00:57:12,328 --> 00:57:12,328
centers in harford county at the state level. And my sponsor, delegate andre johnson, agreed

540
00:57:18,894 --> 00:57:18,894
to move it forward in the next legislative session. I stand in support of a bill 26011, which

541
00:57:26,361 --> 00:57:26,361
would prohibit data centers in all zoning districts in harford county, and I support a full

542
00:57:32,161 --> 00:57:32,161
ban being addressed at the state level. This is about bringing clarity and

543
00:57:37,461 --> 00:57:37,461
consistency to our land policy, land use policy and ensuring decisions like this are made

544
00:57:43,261 --> 00:57:43,261
thoughtfully and transparently with residents in mind. Thank you. Thank you ma'am. Folks,

545
00:57:52,028 --> 00:57:52,028
please, I want to remind you no applause because it all takes time. I want to be able to move

546
00:57:56,661 --> 00:57:56,661
through here in a timely manner, and we're all happy with every comment, I'm sure. And locker,

547
00:58:02,761 --> 00:58:02,761
followed by gary johnson, jimmy packet and paige keel. Good evening ma'am. Name and zip. My

548
00:58:10,328 --> 00:58:10,328
name is anne blocker 21085. I guess I really don't need to remind the council that harford

549
00:58:18,961 --> 00:58:18,961
county residents do not need or want a data center on the mountain ranch golf course site,

550
00:58:25,028 --> 00:58:25,028
or any other green space or land area in harford county, where a data center siting is

551
00:58:30,528 --> 00:58:30,528
likely to cause irreparable damage to our land, our water, our homes, and our quality of

552
00:58:36,494 --> 00:58:36,494
life. The owner of mountain ranch golf course, as he stated on june 2nd at the county

553
00:58:44,828 --> 00:58:44,828
council meeting, will have us believe that without data centers, the economic future of

554
00:58:49,761 --> 00:58:49,761
harford county is at risk. He suggested that the consequences of pursuing a ban on data

555
00:58:57,061 --> 00:58:57,061
centers will be severe, that we will become a county of solar farms producing energy for data

556
00:59:04,994 --> 00:59:04,994
centers in other maryland counties, and that these counties will benefit from the

557
00:59:09,694 --> 00:59:09,694
jobs and revenue that could have been ours. That argument is deceptive and desperate. It

558
00:59:18,928 --> 00:59:18,928
appeals to fear and relies on false claims, and I feel pretty certain that none of the other

559
00:59:26,594 --> 00:59:26,594
22 counties in maryland will be lining up to buy our fictional solar power in order to feed

560
00:59:33,761 --> 00:59:33,761
data centers that nobody wants. We are not a struggling county. In fact, I learned at the june

561
00:59:42,128 --> 00:59:42,128
2nd county council meeting that harford county maintains a triple a bond rating, and I

562
00:59:48,494 --> 00:59:48,494
have reviewed the proposed 2027 budget with a total operating budget of $1,145,966,650. I

563
01:00:02,894 --> 01:00:02,894
think we will be just fine without a data center, with no data centers spoiling our land,

564
01:00:09,861 --> 01:00:09,861
our homes and our county. Young families will continue to buy homes here, start businesses

565
01:00:17,261 --> 01:00:17,261
here, spend their money here, educate their children here. I trust, and I know from what

566
01:00:25,594 --> 01:00:25,594
you've said, that every member of the harford county council values the people of this

567
01:00:31,061 --> 01:00:31,061
county more than the purse, and will vote today to pass the emergency bill to ban data

568
01:00:37,161 --> 01:00:37,161
centers in harford county. Thank you. Thank you ma'am. But we're getting fewer and fewer.

569
01:00:47,961 --> 01:00:47,961
mr. Johnson, before you start, I owe you an apology, and I may as well do it right now. I, I

570
01:00:53,694 --> 01:00:53,694
jumped to the conclusion the other night that you had said something that you did not. My

571
01:00:58,361 --> 01:00:58,361
apologies. Thank you, sir. And I should take a moment to thank you for the birthday card you

572
01:01:04,428 --> 01:01:04,428
sent me. Name and zip code, please. Gary johnson 21087. Winking offend some people.

573
01:01:16,694 --> 01:01:16,694
opacity offends me. Opacity is a lack of transparency. Something that politicians

574
01:01:21,628 --> 01:01:21,628
always promise but seldom deliver. Opacity keeps citizens from knowing the truth. The

575
01:01:27,928 --> 01:01:27,928
truth is that someone on this council invited a group of hyperscale data complex

576
01:01:32,861 --> 01:01:32,861
promoters to make a presentation regarding a proposed mountain branch site.

577
01:01:37,928 --> 01:01:37,928
no one on this council admitted to inviting them, but it is my understanding that such a

578
01:01:43,361 --> 01:01:43,361
presentation could not occur without the president's approval. Thus, you allowed

579
01:01:47,794 --> 01:01:47,794
them to spew their sunshine and unicorns, saying that this data complex would be all gain with

580
01:01:53,561 --> 01:01:53,561
no downside. You permitted that, but you didn't arrange for us to hear from experts who might

581
01:01:59,728 --> 01:01:59,728
have a different opinion. No environmental experts, nor any experts in the field of

582
01:02:04,128 --> 01:02:04,128
industrial safety and compliance have yet to appear before this council. Shouldn't

583
01:02:09,294 --> 01:02:09,294
you have asked for their testimony? Wouldn't that be the job to serve us all? Sure. You.

584
01:02:14,694 --> 01:02:14,694
you let us speak. But we're not experts. Citizens have an expectation that their county

585
01:02:19,794 --> 01:02:19,794
council will represent all of us. And not just a few. But that's not the way this feels.

586
01:02:25,561 --> 01:02:25,561
this feels like the fix is in. We don't expect elon musk and his ilk to care about us, but

587
01:02:31,294 --> 01:02:31,294
we do expect you guys to. Some of you contend that we can keep these data wolves at bay with a

588
01:02:37,061 --> 01:02:40,694
moratorium. Some of you, including mr. Cassilly, believe that we can strengthen our zoning code and thus ban these hyperscale data centers altogether. But wes moore has

589
01:02:47,094 --> 01:02:47,094
made such data centers a priority, and our legislature is with him. In may, the daily

590
01:02:53,128 --> 01:02:53,128
record reported that our general assembly has concluded that local processes stand in

591
01:02:57,961 --> 01:02:57,961
the way of broader statewide priorities, and they, the general assembly, are willing

592
01:03:03,661 --> 01:03:03,661
to displace local zoning authority to advance these priorities. So what does this

593
01:03:09,428 --> 01:03:09,428
council intend to do? Here's a thought. Put aside your petty squabbles and your political

594
01:03:15,561 --> 01:03:15,561
vendettas and come together to fight for us. For too long, annapolis has worked to

595
01:03:20,294 --> 01:03:20,294
undermine our charter. The maryland court of appeals disregarded our laws pertaining

596
01:03:24,994 --> 01:03:24,994
pertaining to the qualifications of someone to sit on this council. The

597
01:03:29,561 --> 01:03:29,561
legislature forces its agendas on our schools, but then doesn't fund them. And now they

598
01:03:35,328 --> 01:03:35,328
disregard our right to be the stewards of our own land. Transparency says that you

599
01:03:40,361 --> 01:03:40,361
should provide all the information we need to know before a vote takes place. What

600
01:03:45,161 --> 01:03:45,161
are the risks to our water, our ears, our people, our livestock, our property values, and our

601
01:03:50,494 --> 01:03:50,494
way of life? History has proven that data centers don't belong everywhere, particularly they

602
01:03:56,228 --> 01:03:56,228
don't belong in residential areas. They also don't remain. Once erected, they come and

603
01:04:02,028 --> 01:04:02,028
they go. Who will pay to restore the mountain branch property to its original

604
01:04:06,628 --> 01:04:06,628
condition when this one leaves? If you want us to trust you, then do something to earn our

605
01:04:12,361 --> 01:04:12,361
trust. Thank you sir. James packett, followed by page. Neil keil. Judith breuer, followed

606
01:04:38,694 --> 01:04:38,694
by stan randall. Good evening sir. Name is it? Good evening. My name is jimmy paquette.

607
01:04:45,528 --> 01:04:45,528
21078. Lifelong habit of grace resident and I currently attend texas tech university, where.

608
01:04:50,728 --> 01:04:50,728
let me tell you, the zoning laws are much different out there. So you guys should be

609
01:04:56,328 --> 01:04:56,328
proud that at least here in maryland, we have some kind of restrictions on when passing

610
01:05:01,761 --> 01:05:01,761
stuff like this. In lubbock, things just kind of get done without anybody having a say.

611
01:05:07,161 --> 01:05:07,161
so I do support bill 26011. I hope it passes. And this is obviously it's going to. But I

612
01:05:12,994 --> 01:05:12,994
do want to leave this council and this community with one thought before we go home. We

613
01:05:17,894 --> 01:05:17,894
actually already have a data center, and that's the mci facility at 2606 carsons run

614
01:05:23,728 --> 01:05:23,728
road, which has been operating quietly next to the stoney demonstration state forest for

615
01:05:27,961 --> 01:05:27,961
years with minimal water use, minimal electricity, zero community complaints. And

616
01:05:33,794 --> 01:05:33,794
that's because they only process telecommunications data. So not every data center is the

617
01:05:38,428 --> 01:05:38,428
enemy. The enemy is the hyperscale ai data centers. That's what we need to be

618
01:05:43,494 --> 01:05:47,494
against. And that's what we're all trying to prevent. But the language that's in this bill does not define the difference. When a developer challenges this in court and they're going

619
01:05:52,494 --> 01:05:52,494
to, a judge will ask harford county to define what a data center is. And this bill will

620
01:05:58,594 --> 01:05:58,594
not have an answer. And that's a vulnerability. They're going to walk all over that. There's

621
01:06:03,294 --> 01:06:03,294
individuals that I see over there that are clearly not residents. They're typing away

622
01:06:07,994 --> 01:06:07,994
and they're ready to tell their their people back in their big corporations, hey, this is what

623
01:06:12,128 --> 01:06:12,128
we got to do to fight this. That's what they're doing. And so tonight's a win and we

624
01:06:16,994 --> 01:06:20,928
should treat it as one. But shortly after tonight, this county needs to define exactly what a data center is and what one would look like if it were ever permitted here. I have

625
01:06:26,394 --> 01:06:26,394
drafted a proposed amendment. It's I mean, I'm 23. I'm trying my best. It's at bill, the

626
01:06:32,428 --> 01:06:32,428
website. You guys can look it up. Bill 26011.org. That's bill 26011.org. Very basic, but it

627
01:06:42,594 --> 01:06:42,594
could be the start of us being the first county to actually put legislature in place that

628
01:06:48,328 --> 01:06:48,328
other counties can take, and they can take that master plan and duplicate that across other

629
01:06:53,694 --> 01:06:53,694
counties to allow for a very small data center model like we have on carson's run road. So

630
01:07:00,161 --> 01:07:00,161
again, not opposed to data centers opposed to ai, hyperscale crazy bs. That's

631
01:07:04,928 --> 01:07:04,928
that's the issue. So this would grandfather in mci, which is a verizon co-op and limits any

632
01:07:12,794 --> 01:07:12,794
future facility to telecommunications use only, which is what mci is used for.

633
01:07:18,194 --> 01:07:18,194
this also will cap development at or below the size of mci's existing footprint, with

634
01:07:23,628 --> 01:07:23,628
mandatory wildlife preservation of the surrounding land. When this bill gets challenged in

635
01:07:28,628 --> 01:07:28,628
court, the kind of defined structure will give harford county something to actually

636
01:07:32,861 --> 01:07:32,861
fight with. And again, bill, bill 26011.org. Thank you jimmy. Are you jim paquette son? Yeah.

637
01:07:42,994 --> 01:07:42,994
your dad put an alarm system in my store when I was having trouble with theft. Put it in

638
01:07:48,394 --> 01:07:48,394
in 2:00 in the morning. Oh my gosh. And when we opened at 11:00, we caught the guy that

639
01:07:53,861 --> 01:07:53,861
fast? Yes. Oh. That's awesome. Thanks. Thank you. Good evening, madam. Page 2185. I live on

640
01:08:05,361 --> 01:08:05,361
stockton road, very close to the proposed data center. I'm a civil engineer with a

641
01:08:11,061 --> 01:08:11,061
concentration in water resources, and I am for the data center ban. There are

642
01:08:15,761 --> 01:08:15,761
several issues that people have been discussing. But I would like to focus on the water

643
01:08:21,828 --> 01:08:21,828
issues associated with a project of this size, because the hartford energy website

644
01:08:28,361 --> 01:08:28,361
that looks like it is a wonderful thing for our county, has a lot of misinformation. So

645
01:08:35,661 --> 01:08:35,661
the first thing that I noticed when I went on and started doing some research was that it

646
01:08:40,194 --> 01:08:40,194
said zero public water for cooling, no discharge to the public sewer. We don't use

647
01:08:48,161 --> 01:08:48,161
public water or sewer. We are on well water and we use septic systems. I find it offensive

648
01:08:56,428 --> 01:08:56,428
that they assume that we won't know the difference. There's also they also state that they

649
01:09:01,961 --> 01:09:01,961
will use closed loop and air cooling systems. They will also, and I quote, use no routine

650
01:09:08,294 --> 01:09:08,294
water consumption or discharge. This is misleading in two ways. While air cooled systems do not

651
01:09:14,628 --> 01:09:14,628
use water, they require a substation, a substantial amount of power, and you're

652
01:09:19,094 --> 01:09:19,094
just trading water usage for energy usage. The closed used closed loop systems that they

653
01:09:25,694 --> 01:09:25,694
are talking about. Nobody asked questions about that. They just say it's closed loop and that

654
01:09:31,094 --> 01:09:31,094
there's no water usage. But that's not true. All of these lines have to be flushed and

655
01:09:36,728 --> 01:09:36,728
backwashed. There are also chemicals added to the water. There was a. Food and water

656
01:09:46,461 --> 01:09:46,461
watch.org website that says even closed loop systems, you lose 25% of their water volume

657
01:09:52,128 --> 01:09:52,128
per month. So you're still using water. You're not using millions of gallons, maybe, but

658
01:09:57,594 --> 01:09:57,594
you're using a lot. In february, the michigan house of representatives had a

659
01:10:03,794 --> 01:10:03,794
subcommittee meeting and tammy clark spoke. There's a youtube video that's an hour long with

660
01:10:08,728 --> 01:10:08,728
her speaking. She is in the industrial hygiene sector for 20 years, and she works with

661
01:10:15,161 --> 01:10:15,161
large industrial companies. She's not against data centers. She says that. But she said

662
01:10:20,694 --> 01:10:20,694
that the misinformation coming out from the data centers about closed loop systems is a

663
01:10:25,694 --> 01:10:25,694
blatant lie, and that people need to be more informed that the systems are still picking

664
01:10:30,728 --> 01:10:30,728
up water, chemicals are added to the water, and then the water is discharged and flushed,

665
01:10:36,628 --> 01:10:36,628
and that water is usually discharged and flushed just back into the river, back into

666
01:10:42,694 --> 01:10:42,694
the groundwater. And there's no. There's no rules or laws right now stating that they can't do

667
01:10:50,994 --> 01:10:50,994
that. So I just really worry about our well, water nearby. And that's, that's really all I

668
01:10:57,728 --> 01:10:57,728
had to say. Thank you ma'am. Judith brewer followed by stan randall, nathan regula and

669
01:11:09,994 --> 01:11:09,994
billy boniface. Good evening ma'am. Name is judith brewer 21085. I'm actually not going

670
01:11:16,194 --> 01:11:16,194
to start the way I was going to. I'm actually pretty angry at you, mister bennett. And you

671
01:11:21,894 --> 01:11:21,894
miss imhoff for the unprofessional way that you talked about our county

672
01:11:27,594 --> 01:11:27,594
executive when it was not when you were doing that for your own personal gain. That is,

673
01:11:33,828 --> 01:11:33,828
you're not there to sway our opinion. You were on that side of the podium. If you were on

674
01:11:40,028 --> 01:11:40,028
this side, it would be different. So I just want to start with that. And now I'll

675
01:11:44,128 --> 01:11:44,128
continue. I'm not going to go over all the harmful effects of data centers because you

676
01:11:49,928 --> 01:11:49,928
already know them. But what I want to point out is how ridiculous bill vassilakopoulos,

677
01:11:56,028 --> 01:11:56,028
owner of mountain branch, sounds when he tries to tout the benefits as if you, the

678
01:12:01,161 --> 01:12:01,161
county council and we, the residents of harford county, are stupid. At the meeting of

679
01:12:07,528 --> 01:12:07,528
june 2nd, he says that the data center will bring jobs. Actually, mountain branch golf

680
01:12:13,761 --> 01:12:13,761
course employs more people than a data center would after construction. So we actually

681
01:12:19,728 --> 01:12:19,728
would be losing jobs. So if it's jobs he cares about, keep the golf course open. He said

682
01:12:27,061 --> 01:12:27,061
it would bring tax revenue. What good is tax revenue when no one wants to live in harford

683
01:12:32,694 --> 01:12:32,694
county anymore because of the effects of data centers? And if the county needs money, maybe

684
01:12:38,228 --> 01:12:38,228
bill should pay the approximate $1.22 million or more owed in tax and bankruptcy liabilities.

685
01:12:50,128 --> 01:12:50,128
so now it's almost time to vote. And it comes down to whom can we trust? This scares me. You

686
01:12:56,594 --> 01:12:56,594
know the old saying, beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing. I've seen the video of mr.

687
01:13:02,628 --> 01:13:02,628
vincente winking at the maryland data center alliance, and I was at the meeting when

688
01:13:07,861 --> 01:13:07,861
he allowed the general manager of mountain branch to speak longer than the allotted two

689
01:13:13,194 --> 01:13:13,194
minutes, ordering everyone not to interrupt her when her time was up. Mr. Vincente, are you

690
01:13:19,261 --> 01:13:19,261
that wolf in sheep's clothing? I did hear bill vassilakopoulos try to throw bob cassilly under

691
01:13:25,761 --> 01:13:25,761
the bus, which gives me more reason to vote for bob cassilly. So again, when voting. Think

692
01:13:33,728 --> 01:13:33,728
hard and do your research. There are some that invite data centers in, and there are some

693
01:13:39,661 --> 01:13:39,661
that want to ban them out. Let's keep our county green and approve this emergency bill to

694
01:13:44,894 --> 01:13:44,894
ban data centers in all of harford county. Thank you ma'am. Stan randall. Call your next

695
01:14:00,261 --> 01:14:00,261
speaker, stan randall, followed by nathan regula and billy boniface. Nathan. Good evening,

696
01:14:12,494 --> 01:14:12,494
sir nathan. Nathan regula two 1014. I have a phd in computer science and engineering from

697
01:14:18,394 --> 01:14:22,328
the university of notre dame in indiana and a law degree from george washington university. I have a lot of experience with computing and storage infrastructure that is housed

698
01:14:25,628 --> 01:14:25,628
in data centers, and have had access to data centers owned or leased by the university of

699
01:14:30,761 --> 01:14:34,494
notre dame, a fortune 500 company, and the federal government. I have worked at three fortune 500 companies in my career before starting my cybersecurity company

700
01:14:38,861 --> 01:14:42,394
headquartered in hartford county. All of these roles focused on large scale data analysis or cloud infrastructures. Data centers do not belong in hartford

701
01:14:46,061 --> 01:14:46,061
county. At hyperscale, the benefits aren't worth the cost, and I'll explain why. I used to

702
01:14:51,161 --> 01:14:51,161
live in northern virginia and had access to data centers and data center alley. So when I

703
01:14:55,728 --> 01:14:55,728
worked at a fortune 500 company, it was on a private cloud team that designed and operated

704
01:15:00,394 --> 01:15:04,061
significant internal cloud infrastructure across multiple data centers. Essentially, we designed the cloud and bought servers by the tractor trailer load and then operated the

705
01:15:08,028 --> 01:15:08,028
systems 24 over seven. We could remotely manage and update the systems in the data center in

706
01:15:12,461 --> 01:15:12,461
the industry. The people that provide hands on support are called smart hands because they

707
01:15:16,928 --> 01:15:16,928
might plug in a cable or install a server in a rack. They provide basic physical

708
01:15:20,961 --> 01:15:20,961
labor in a noisy environment. I'm not criticizing these individuals jobs. I'm providing

709
01:15:25,994 --> 01:15:29,628
reality as these aren't jobs that are going to support purchasing a home in harford county. Data center companies don't usually design the applications. That is the role

710
01:15:34,228 --> 01:15:37,528
of the customer or the corporate engineering and architecture teams. If we are talking about a hyperscale cloud provider, if there are engineers and cloud architects,

711
01:15:40,928 --> 01:15:40,928
they will likely be shared across the country and located outside of harford county. So

712
01:15:45,828 --> 01:15:45,828
there are very few high paying jobs per acre, which is one of the benefits touted.

713
01:15:51,794 --> 01:15:55,361
construction jobs will likely be temporary, and it seems unlikely that electricians and other trades will all be local companies. The presentation from the maryland data center

714
01:16:00,061 --> 01:16:03,728
alliance talked about 240 electrical apprentices for frederick county, but I don't think harford county has ever had 240 electrical apprentices. So it is likely some of these

715
01:16:08,094 --> 01:16:12,061
individuals would be from out of the county. News stories are full of out of town tradespeople that work on data centers because of their specific experience and skills

716
01:16:15,861 --> 01:16:19,494
that are required to wire data centers such as medium voltage and significant arc flash training. And of course, working 24 over seven helps. Harford county law allows

717
01:16:24,928 --> 01:16:28,894
restricted electricians within a facility, so it would seem obvious that a hyperscale provider will have an internal restricted electrician instead of hiring a local company 24

718
01:16:33,794 --> 01:16:33,794
over seven, it's 17 minutes and 48 seconds into the video from the maryland data center

719
01:16:39,028 --> 01:16:42,528
alliance, miss schultz says there is no data center that has come online since we have been having this conversation, so the energy usage right now has nothing to do with the data

720
01:16:47,194 --> 01:16:47,194
centers that are here. This statement is not transparent because it does not factor in

721
01:16:51,828 --> 01:16:51,828
energy increases to existing data centers. What can happen is equivalent to increasing the

722
01:16:56,161 --> 01:17:00,161
size of your power feed from bge to support an electric vehicle and saying, no new houses have been built and therefore houses are not the cause of the power increase.

723
01:17:04,028 --> 01:17:07,294
but if you and your neighbors upgraded their electrical equipment to support electric vehicle charging and more demand, there is more electric demand. Even though new no new

724
01:17:11,994 --> 01:17:11,994
houses have been built in this example. So I'm confident that examining existing data centers

725
01:17:16,661 --> 01:17:20,594
in maryland would support that. At least some maryland data centers are increasing their electrical load to support ai within the same physical footprint. I suspect most

726
01:17:25,328 --> 01:17:29,261
existing data centers in maryland are not generating the power on site, but consuming power from the grid because that is more cost effective and the state just enabled on site

727
01:17:33,628 --> 01:17:33,628
generation on april 13th. So we don't build houses with natural gas fired whole house

728
01:17:38,628 --> 01:17:38,628
generators as the primary source of electricity. We would all find this absurd. I think

729
01:17:42,728 --> 01:17:42,728
it is obvious that a. Thank you sir. I'll continue. Thank you, thank you. Sir. Billy boniface

730
01:17:58,061 --> 01:17:58,061
21034. I'll keep my comments brief because it's quite apparent each one of you are

731
01:18:02,461 --> 01:18:02,461
going to support this tonight, and I commend you for doing that. As jim said, it's an

732
01:18:07,094 --> 01:18:07,094
election year and very easily any one of you could have played election shenanigans on

733
01:18:13,594 --> 01:18:13,594
this, but you're supporting the county executive because it's the right thing to do. And it

734
01:18:19,328 --> 01:18:22,928
including you, council president, you control the agenda. You introduce legislation on behalf of the county executive. So you could have made this a tough process,

735
01:18:27,594 --> 01:18:27,594
but you did not, and that is commendable. Thank you. I do hope that you continue to work

736
01:18:33,694 --> 01:18:33,694
together with meiko over the summer as you take your summer recess, because this is not

737
01:18:39,494 --> 01:18:39,494
going away. This will become a state issue at some point. I do want to take one minute to

738
01:18:44,928 --> 01:18:44,928
recognize brian cornell. If you would have told me he called me several months ago because he

739
01:18:50,261 --> 01:18:50,261
heard about the data center going in, and he asked, how do I get involved? Because he

740
01:18:55,728 --> 01:18:55,728
didn't even know that there was a county council. And I said, I, I explained to him who to call

741
01:19:02,261 --> 01:19:02,261
and who to get involved with, that it would grow from that. And having that first meeting

742
01:19:07,861 --> 01:19:07,861
to all of you being here and still lined up and down the street, that is commendable.

743
01:19:12,294 --> 01:19:12,294
that is him and his family. That that shows true activism in its finest. So thank you.

744
01:19:19,128 --> 01:19:19,128
and he even has his own first facebook page. He'll probably regret having that at some

745
01:19:24,094 --> 01:19:24,094
point. But thank you very much, council. So all of this is your fault. Is that what you're

746
01:19:28,994 --> 01:19:28,994
saying? You have to ask him that. Thank you. Diana sadowski followed by jay kiel and amber

747
01:19:43,928 --> 01:19:43,928
metallo. Name. Is it? Diana sadowski 21047. Tonight I stand in support of the county

748
01:20:02,028 --> 01:20:02,028
executive's bill 26011, the data center ban. The fact that we're even here debating this

749
01:20:08,561 --> 01:20:08,561
issue is the direct result of a lack of transparency surrounding the proposed plans

750
01:20:14,228 --> 01:20:14,228
for mountain branch golf course. For more than a year, conversations occurred quietly.

751
01:20:22,828 --> 01:20:22,828
discussions with the property owner remained behind closed doors. The public was largely

752
01:20:29,361 --> 01:20:29,361
left in the dark until the prospect of a data center was finally brought into these

753
01:20:35,461 --> 01:20:35,461
chambers. Why? Because everyone knew what would happen when the public learned the truth.

754
01:20:43,794 --> 01:20:43,794
people would ask questions. Residents would demand answers, communities would push back.

755
01:20:51,294 --> 01:20:51,294
and that's exactly what's happened. The people of harford county have spent weeks

756
01:20:56,561 --> 01:20:56,561
educating themselves. They've attended meetings. They've reviewed reports, they've

757
01:21:02,361 --> 01:21:02,361
spoken to experts. They've shared concerns about energy consumption, water usage,

758
01:21:09,628 --> 01:21:09,628
environmental impacts, noise infrastructure strain, and the long term consequences of

759
01:21:16,494 --> 01:21:16,494
placing massive industrial facilities in our communities. Meanwhile, we've heard every

760
01:21:22,628 --> 01:21:22,628
sales pitch in imaginable. We've heard promises of opportunity. We've heard

761
01:21:28,694 --> 01:21:28,694
promises of prosperity, and we've heard promises that everything will be fine.

762
01:21:35,928 --> 01:21:35,928
they've even given these projects a friendlier name. They're not data centers

763
01:21:40,594 --> 01:21:40,594
anymore. They're campuses, a campus that sounds welcoming, doesn't it? But no amount of

764
01:21:50,628 --> 01:21:50,628
rebranding changes what these facilities are, or the impacts they can have on the

765
01:21:56,428 --> 01:21:56,428
communities around them. So tonight, you have an opportunity to do something

766
01:22:02,894 --> 01:22:02,894
simple and important. Protect harford county and protect the communities you were elected to

767
01:22:11,928 --> 01:22:11,928
represent. And I'll be honest, every night lately I've found myself thanking god that this

768
01:22:21,361 --> 01:22:21,361
happens to be an election season because without the scrutiny that comes with

769
01:22:27,761 --> 01:22:27,761
elections, without citizens paying close attention, without accountability, who knows where

770
01:22:35,328 --> 01:22:35,328
some people's allegiances might have been. So tonight is your opportunity to show exactly

771
01:22:41,494 --> 01:22:41,494
where they are. Vote yes on this bill. Vote yes to ban data centers in harford county. And

772
01:22:50,028 --> 01:22:50,028
finally, a message to mountain branch bill. If this doesn't work out, don't worry. There's

773
01:22:58,661 --> 01:22:58,661
always that solar farm option thanks to wes moore. Wink wink. Excellent. Good evening sir.

774
01:23:15,994 --> 01:23:15,994
name and zip. Brennan kiel 218085. Did you say kiel? Kiel. Thank you. Keil. I've been a

775
01:23:23,228 --> 01:23:23,228
resident of harford county since I was ten years old. I was lucky enough to buy my

776
01:23:27,861 --> 01:23:27,861
family farm on stockton road in 2018 to raise my own children right here in our beautiful

777
01:23:31,994 --> 01:23:31,994
county. Speaking in support of the data center ban, no one is asking for ai, google, facebook

778
01:23:38,661 --> 01:23:38,661
and every other internet service I use work just fine before ai. It's being forced on

779
01:23:43,361 --> 01:23:43,361
us by these tech billionaires. Every day I'm disabling a new ai feature that came up with

780
01:23:49,728 --> 01:23:49,728
the update that downloaded overnight on my phone. An ai and data centers are not

781
01:23:55,561 --> 01:23:55,561
popular. 70% of americans view them negatively. I'm confident that any council member where

782
01:24:01,628 --> 01:24:01,628
you foolish enough to vote against this ban would not be sitting in that seat come

783
01:24:07,061 --> 01:24:07,061
november. It's already happened in multiple districts across our country where entire

784
01:24:12,828 --> 01:24:12,828
councils have been voted out for, not for allowing these data centers into their

785
01:24:17,194 --> 01:24:17,194
communities and for the data center itself. Ai and data centers are absolutely a bubble,

786
01:24:22,928 --> 01:24:22,928
like the subprime mortgages like the dot coms. There's currently 5000 proposed data

787
01:24:29,194 --> 01:24:29,194
centers across our country. Elon and spacex want to put them in space. Once that land

788
01:24:35,561 --> 01:24:35,561
is developed, it's gone forever. Even when the proposed data centers shuttered, it's going

789
01:24:40,328 --> 01:24:40,328
to be an abandoned industrial eyesore in the middle of an otherwise pristine agricultural

790
01:24:45,861 --> 01:24:45,861
and residential area. And let's say I'm wrong. It's not a bubble. The proposed site is

791
01:24:53,861 --> 01:24:53,861
300mw, with aspirations of expanding to 1.3mw gigawatts. I apologize, one gigawatt is

792
01:25:00,728 --> 01:25:00,728
enough energy to power every single one of harford county's 100,000 households three times

793
01:25:06,461 --> 01:25:06,461
over. So here we are in a statewide energy crisis, discussing solar farms all over

794
01:25:11,794 --> 01:25:11,794
our green spaces of this county. But suddenly, one facility on mountain branch golf course is

795
01:25:17,394 --> 01:25:17,394
going to generate three times the power the entire rest of our county uses. And they claim

796
01:25:23,161 --> 01:25:23,161
that they're going to do it completely emissions free. What happened to global warming, the

797
01:25:28,794 --> 01:25:28,794
dangers of fossil fuels? Apparently, we've had the technology all along, and bill

798
01:25:34,894 --> 01:25:34,894
vasilopoulos and his partners have been holding out on us. There is the alternative,

799
01:25:40,328 --> 01:25:40,328
though. Bill and his friends are lying about their emissions and capacities. And let's

800
01:25:45,294 --> 01:25:45,294
discuss that much power usage. The heat islands have already been brought up, so I won't

801
01:25:50,761 --> 01:25:50,761
bore you with that, although I will say the heat islands can expand up to 6.2 miles from the

802
01:25:57,594 --> 01:25:57,594
site right here where we all sit today. You're four miles from it. So the temperature

803
01:26:02,794 --> 01:26:02,794
spike would be right here today. So with that said, that's what I have to say. And I just want

804
01:26:08,528 --> 01:26:08,528
you to know all these notes are handwritten. There was no ai involved with this, nor will

805
01:26:13,294 --> 01:26:13,294
there ever be. Thanks. Good evening ma'am. Name and zip. Good evening. Amber. Metallo

806
01:26:32,861 --> 01:26:32,861
21014. But I'm not here tonight to advocate for my house in bel air, which, for the record, is

807
01:26:38,294 --> 01:26:38,294
within the noise distance of a proposed data center at mountain branch. I'm here

808
01:26:42,961 --> 01:26:42,961
tonight to advocate for my parents farm, my farm, my future, which is located across

809
01:26:48,828 --> 01:26:48,828
the street from mountain branch golf course. You know, it's easy to take a place for

810
01:26:53,594 --> 01:26:53,594
granted when you're living there because that's what you're used to. The mature oak

811
01:26:58,094 --> 01:26:58,094
trees, fresh air, bird singing, crickets chirping, sitting on the back deck, watching the

812
01:27:03,828 --> 01:27:03,828
horses graze, and hearing that flick and swish of a tail when a fly annoys them. As dusk

813
01:27:10,294 --> 01:27:10,294
arrives and you see the first few lightning bugs come out, that quiet and stillness washes

814
01:27:14,928 --> 01:27:14,928
over you. It's almost palpable. If someone asked me to define home, that's how I would

815
01:27:21,494 --> 01:27:21,494
describe it. I spent eight years of my adult life outside of maryland, four of those in

816
01:27:26,861 --> 01:27:26,861
florida working on a graduate degree and four in alaska. Building my career. When I got

817
01:27:32,661 --> 01:27:32,661
the opportunity to take a lateral job move to baltimore with my agency, I didn't

818
01:27:37,628 --> 01:27:37,628
hesitate. No promotion, no increase in benefits, actually a significant pay cut. But that

819
01:27:44,161 --> 01:27:44,161
move brought me home. There's that word again. Home. Why do you ask? Because there's

820
01:27:51,361 --> 01:27:51,361
nowhere else where I wanted to put down roots and start a family. I want to raise my kids

821
01:27:56,528 --> 01:27:56,528
how? I was raised on a farm in the country. I can't think of a better childhood. Most of the

822
01:28:03,594 --> 01:28:03,594
people I've heard speak have addressed the council directly, so I'm going to take my

823
01:28:07,961 --> 01:28:07,961
remaining time and address the people in this room and our neighbors who couldn't be with

824
01:28:12,261 --> 01:28:12,261
us tonight or are still standing outside. This vote tonight is not the end. It's

825
01:28:18,328 --> 01:28:18,328
just the beginning. Our fight is just getting started. Data centers shouldn't be in harford

826
01:28:24,594 --> 01:28:24,594
county. Data centers shouldn't be in anyone's backyard. I'm proud to stand with all of you.

827
01:28:29,894 --> 01:28:29,894
and I will see you in annapolis. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Scott perdue, followed by

828
01:28:38,961 --> 01:28:38,961
victoria virgil. John gaffney and chrissy flatau. Good evening sir. Hello, I'm doctor

829
01:28:50,428 --> 01:28:50,428
scott perdue from 21014. And I would like to highlight an issue with ai data centers that

830
01:28:55,861 --> 01:28:55,861
I haven't heard discussed in the previous meetings. The proposed upside of building ai

831
01:29:01,194 --> 01:29:01,194
data centers in anywhere is the tax revenue that would be generated from them. However, I

832
01:29:07,328 --> 01:29:07,328
think we should be skeptical of that premise. There is currently no profitable ai data

833
01:29:12,428 --> 01:29:12,428
company, not open ai, not xai, not anthropic. They're all all currently operating at a loss

834
01:29:18,461 --> 01:29:18,461
funded by venture capital investments. These companies operate at a loss on every

835
01:29:23,928 --> 01:29:23,928
customer, every prompt sent to chat. Gpt costs openai money even their highest tier

836
01:29:31,061 --> 01:29:31,061
subscription that costs $200 a month is reportedly unprofitable. And this is

837
01:29:35,861 --> 01:29:35,861
happening while data centers are operating with the fewest restrictions possible. I'm sure

838
01:29:40,828 --> 01:29:40,828
we've all heard claims that the ai industry is massive and expanding, but the truth behind

839
01:29:45,161 --> 01:29:49,128
these claims is that most of these profits are given to chip manufacturers and infrastructure builders like nvidia and broadcom. Once the ai is built, it generates less

840
01:29:55,361 --> 01:29:55,361
than no value. It actively destroys value with heavily subsidized services that are

841
01:30:00,694 --> 01:30:00,694
funded by private investors. Much of what has been discussed in these meetings is whether

842
01:30:05,728 --> 01:30:05,728
the value this data center will bring to our county is worth the damage it will do, but I

843
01:30:10,128 --> 01:30:10,128
believe we should be asking, how can this data center provide any value when it can't

844
01:30:14,194 --> 01:30:14,194
provide any value for itself? I support a full ban on ai data centers in harford county.

845
01:30:19,228 --> 01:30:19,228
thank you for your time. Thank you sir. Good evening ma'am. Victoria. Virgil 21009. Good

846
01:30:38,828 --> 01:30:38,828
evening, council president, members and guests. My name is victoria virgil. I'm a

847
01:30:43,794 --> 01:30:43,794
sophomore at bel air high school and a member of my high school student government

848
01:30:47,828 --> 01:30:47,828
association. I am sure we can all agree that harford county is a beautiful place to live,

849
01:30:52,561 --> 01:30:56,561
with a rich history and natural beauty from the suburbs and more populated areas to the rural farmlands. Imagine waking up to the smell of diesel exhaust and a persistent

850
01:31:00,361 --> 01:31:04,328
humming sound as loud as a highway while watching your community's water supply run low. As resident harford county, this is not something I would ever think of happening, but

851
01:31:09,394 --> 01:31:12,961
this will become a daily reality. Due to the massive water and energy demand of nearby data center. Data centers are an extreme threat to sustainability of harford

852
01:31:18,128 --> 01:31:18,128
county and its quality of life. According to the environmental and energy study institute, a

853
01:31:23,461 --> 01:31:23,461
medium sized data center can consume about 110 million gallons of water per year for

854
01:31:28,461 --> 01:31:28,461
cooling purposes, equivalent to annual water consumption of about 1000 households. A larger

855
01:31:34,561 --> 01:31:34,561
data center could consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, which is about 1.8 billion

856
01:31:39,928 --> 01:31:39,928
gallons annually. Chemical runoff in these cooling systems can contaminate soil and

857
01:31:45,094 --> 01:31:45,094
waterways, which has the potential to travel directly to our crops and damage the

858
01:31:49,361 --> 01:31:49,361
environment. Supporting local farmers it is also important to mention that fossil fuels are

859
01:31:53,694 --> 01:31:53,694
heavily relied on by our data centers, emitting air pollutants and fine particles

860
01:31:58,461 --> 01:32:01,928
that raise serious public health risks and worsen the condition of residents that have respiratory diseases, such as asthma. A legacy is planting seeds in the garden you never

861
01:32:06,894 --> 01:32:06,894
get to see. Do we wish for harford county's legacy to be built around data center that

862
01:32:11,594 --> 01:32:11,594
strips it of its sustainability and quality of life, or a place that offers somewhere to thrive

863
01:32:15,761 --> 01:32:19,728
for the citizens that live there and its future. To build this legacy, we can start making efforts to find sustainable and water efficient ways to support innovating

864
01:32:22,828 --> 01:32:26,728
technology and eliminating the construction of a data center in harford county. As a community, we must focus on what's truly important, providing the best possible

865
01:32:30,428 --> 01:32:30,428
life for the future and building a place we are proud to call home. Thank you, thank

866
01:32:34,828 --> 01:32:34,828
you ma'am. Good evening sir. Name is it? Good evening. My name is patrick gaffney from

867
01:32:54,461 --> 01:32:54,461
joppa, maryland 21085. Thank you for this opportunity to oppose dennis centers in

868
01:33:01,628 --> 01:33:01,628
harford county. Thanks to the council members already in opposition. However, the state

869
01:33:06,061 --> 01:33:09,594
of maryland can always supersede the council's authority and undermine your zoning decisions, issue special permits, and shift harford county into a spiraling

870
01:33:16,061 --> 01:33:16,061
industrialization hazard. We're all aware of the impact of data centers on water power,

871
01:33:20,228 --> 01:33:20,228
pollution and the community. You simply cannot put one in a residential area on well water

872
01:33:25,461 --> 01:33:25,461
unless the goal is to cause a disaster, one like we've seen in newton county, georgia. The

873
01:33:30,094 --> 01:33:30,094
dalles, oregon, and amarillo, texas. Entire town, entire towns were destroyed. So we

874
01:33:36,628 --> 01:33:36,628
need to stand up against the state, make sure we keep these data centers out of areas with

875
01:33:41,228 --> 01:33:41,228
limited water supply such as joppa, fallston, bel air, everywhere in harford county.

876
01:33:45,261 --> 01:33:45,261
right. So I'm confident the council will do its part and block data centers at the

877
01:33:50,494 --> 01:33:50,494
county level, but you need to oppose the state of maryland, and that's going to hit us soon.

878
01:33:55,328 --> 01:33:59,261
the citizens of harford county can help, but we need your expertise. We need you to inform us, provide impactful, powerful guidance and action items to fight against. Data

879
01:34:04,328 --> 01:34:04,328
center battle with the state. We need you to harness the power of your people. Can you

880
01:34:09,328 --> 01:34:09,328
please put together and advertise a website, for example, which includes contact

881
01:34:14,761 --> 01:34:14,761
names and email addresses for state officials, phone numbers to call, suggestions for

882
01:34:19,794 --> 01:34:19,794
impactful comments, references to legal precedents, timeline of events, you know, time

883
01:34:25,128 --> 01:34:25,128
sensitive data and e mailing lists so we can all be alerted quickly so we can act. And

884
01:34:30,594 --> 01:34:30,594
whatever else you would feel would be helpful to sway the state's decisions in our favor.

885
01:34:35,294 --> 01:34:35,294
there are a lot of concerned people who want to fight. Data centers. Use us to be a tool so

886
01:34:40,794 --> 01:34:40,794
we can be seen and heard at the state level. I mean, you've seen miss robert, mr. Bennett,

887
01:34:47,028 --> 01:34:50,961
you've seen what we can do when it comes to things like ridgely's, reserve, days cove, the park and rides, you know, the warehouses, zoning conflicts that we have. So, you

888
01:34:55,461 --> 01:34:55,461
know, we've got a voice locally, but we can take that and we can develop a plan before it's

889
01:35:01,194 --> 01:35:01,194
needed, and we can start telling the state what we want and how to react when it's time

890
01:35:05,928 --> 01:35:05,928
for us to do so. So I'm asking whatever you can do to facilitate the people in your

891
01:35:11,994 --> 01:35:11,994
favor. So we have a strong force and a strong voice now rather than later. Man against

892
01:35:20,294 --> 01:35:20,294
machine. Right. Thank you for your time this evening. Hold on just a second. I'll let that

893
01:35:35,228 --> 01:35:35,228
big crowd get away from you. Folks, can you find a seat, please? Ma'am? Whenever you're

894
01:35:55,961 --> 01:35:55,961
ready. Name and zip. Chrissy flato two 1085. Good evening. Tonight, I want to speak not

895
01:36:02,394 --> 01:36:02,394
just as a resident of stockton road in harford county, but as someone who believes in the

896
01:36:06,761 --> 01:36:06,761
responsibility we have to protect the land that sustains us. Many of us grew up reading

897
01:36:11,228 --> 01:36:11,228
doctor seuss. The lorax is a children's book. Yes, but it's also a warning. And as someone

898
01:36:17,494 --> 01:36:17,494
who works in a library, I turn to books because they help us understand the world around us

899
01:36:21,928 --> 01:36:21,928
and the choices we face. In this story, the onceler looks at a beautiful, thriving

900
01:36:26,861 --> 01:36:26,861
landscape and sees only what he can take from it. He cuts down the truffula trees one by one,

901
01:36:31,894 --> 01:36:31,894
insisting I'm doing no harm, I'm being quite useful. And each time he takes more, the

902
01:36:36,961 --> 01:36:36,961
lorax appears to say, I speak for the trees tonight. I feel like the lorax is speaking

903
01:36:43,328 --> 01:36:43,328
through most of us, because what is happening in harford county mirrors that story far

904
01:36:47,428 --> 01:36:47,428
too closely. Just like in the lorax, this project is presented as harmless, even

905
01:36:53,228 --> 01:36:53,228
beneficial. But the cumulative impact tells us a different story. Noise pollution,

906
01:36:58,961 --> 01:36:58,961
industrial lighting, miles of pipeline, and the permanent loss of agriculturally zoned

907
01:37:03,261 --> 01:37:03,261
land. These are not small things. These are not temporary things. And once this land is

908
01:37:08,261 --> 01:37:08,261
gone, it is gone forever. In the book, the onceler keeps asking more and more of the

909
01:37:13,694 --> 01:37:13,694
land until there is nothing left to give. And that is the question before us. Now, how

910
01:37:18,061 --> 01:37:18,061
much more can harford county give before the damage is permanent? At the end of the

911
01:37:22,928 --> 01:37:22,928
lorax, the onceler hands over the last truffula seed and says, unless someone like you cares a

912
01:37:27,728 --> 01:37:27,728
whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. We are the someone. We are the

913
01:37:34,128 --> 01:37:34,128
ones who care. We are the ones asking you, our elected officials, to care with us.

914
01:37:38,394 --> 01:37:38,394
protect this land, protect this community. Protect the future we will hand to our children.

915
01:37:44,861 --> 01:37:44,861
last time I spoke here. I gave each of you a copy of the giving tree. And someone did

916
01:37:49,561 --> 01:37:49,561
offer for to purchase copies of the lorax for each of you. But instead of that, I asked for

917
01:37:55,728 --> 01:37:55,728
her to give to donate to the harford county boys and girls club. Because I feel like

918
01:38:00,094 --> 01:38:03,694
protecting the future of harford county means investing in the children that will inherit it. So I hope you guys understand why you didn't get another book today. Thank you.

919
01:38:09,294 --> 01:38:09,294
thank you ma'am. Nathan beck, followed by justine hendrix, daniel billings and paula

920
01:38:16,161 --> 01:38:16,161
etting. Good evening sir. Name and zip. Nathan beck 21050. I'm coming here today. As someone

921
01:38:38,894 --> 01:38:38,894
who has not only been to, but actively helped construct the data center out in frederick,

922
01:38:45,028 --> 01:38:45,028
I'm paid to go there and I do my job. Having said that, the proposed data center at

923
01:38:52,261 --> 01:38:52,261
mountain branch is the same style as up in frederick. The only difference being that they

924
01:38:57,661 --> 01:38:57,661
also intend to have a natural gas power plant. There's not much need for that in harford

925
01:39:05,894 --> 01:39:05,894
county, but at the same time, I disagree with the outright ban of all data centers. Most data

926
01:39:14,528 --> 01:39:14,528
centers since the invention of the internet are small scale buildings, which allow ip to be

927
01:39:21,794 --> 01:39:21,794
hosted websites, calling services, things that we use every single day without even

928
01:39:27,161 --> 01:39:27,161
thinking about it. The tvs you have on go through a data center at some point, unless

929
01:39:33,361 --> 01:39:33,361
you have a small locally hosted server in the building somewhere. If we ban all data

930
01:39:40,061 --> 01:39:40,061
centers, we're relying on the other counties and states around us to supply that to us

931
01:39:45,461 --> 01:39:45,461
in perpetuity. That's not guaranteed, and small scale data centers exist as close by

932
01:39:53,128 --> 01:39:53,128
as rosedale. It's not far away. You've probably seen it before. If you've driven through there,

933
01:39:58,861 --> 01:39:58,861
it just looks like a building and it's no bigger than the one we're in right now. I think

934
01:40:04,561 --> 01:40:04,561
it's actually smaller than this building. I believe it's working. It's number of workers

935
01:40:10,294 --> 01:40:10,294
is about ten people, and most of them are custodians. It's not much. But if we can make

936
01:40:17,994 --> 01:40:17,994
some of our abandoned light industrial land or heavy commercial land into that, if

937
01:40:24,328 --> 01:40:24,328
somebody wants to set that up, I don't think we should stop them. The impact is minimal,

938
01:40:28,794 --> 01:40:28,794
and it does provide something more than an abandoned building, which we have a a lot of. In

939
01:40:34,761 --> 01:40:34,761
some areas of the county. Thank you sir. Good evening ma'am. Good evening, justine hendricks

940
01:40:50,028 --> 01:40:50,028
21078. I am here to speak. Supporting the bill that bans the data centers in harford

941
01:40:56,528 --> 01:40:56,528
county. And I am hopeful to hear that it will be unanimously voted on today.

942
01:41:04,761 --> 01:41:04,761
there are more than 3000 proposed data center projects in the united states that have

943
01:41:10,794 --> 01:41:10,794
already been postponed or completely canceled due to pushback. Like you've seen and

944
01:41:17,028 --> 01:41:17,028
heard from this room in the last few weeks. That's because communities like ours have seen

945
01:41:22,794 --> 01:41:22,794
the short term implications of these projects in other areas. There are health issues, noise

946
01:41:29,494 --> 01:41:29,494
pollution, light pollution, and lots of water usage. The communities near these massive

947
01:41:36,394 --> 01:41:36,394
complexes have been asked to reduce water usage, while the data centers continue to use it

948
01:41:42,094 --> 01:41:42,094
for their servers. There are increased incidences of health conditions like asthma and copd,

949
01:41:49,661 --> 01:41:49,661
even among people who have not ever been smokers. In virginia, where there are plenty of data

950
01:41:57,261 --> 01:41:57,261
centers, they estimate that the annual health damages from pollution could be in the tens

951
01:42:02,728 --> 01:42:02,728
of millions of dollars. And those are just the short term implications. We haven't had

952
01:42:08,461 --> 01:42:08,461
massive hyperscale data centers of this size long enough to know the long term

953
01:42:13,628 --> 01:42:13,628
ramifications and consequences. Data centers bring short term jobs during construction, but

954
01:42:19,294 --> 01:42:19,294
as many people have noted, most of those are not local jobs. And even the largest of the

955
01:42:26,828 --> 01:42:26,828
data centers create fewer than 150 permanent jobs. That's according to a survey of 6300

956
01:42:32,294 --> 01:42:32,294
data centers. They do drive up energy costs. They have poisoned water in local wells

957
01:42:38,594 --> 01:42:38,594
nearby, which is a huge concern for this one. And they disrupt also the patterns of local and

958
01:42:43,994 --> 01:42:43,994
migratory animals. A monterey park, california voters just voted to permanently ban data

959
01:42:50,928 --> 01:42:50,928
center construction. The state of new york has introduced a moratorium, as has the city of

960
01:42:56,628 --> 01:42:56,628
denver, oklahoma city and tulsa and smaller cities in new jersey, illinois, wisconsin and

961
01:43:02,728 --> 01:43:02,728
pennsylvania. These are not popular projects because we have had the benefit of seeing

962
01:43:07,194 --> 01:43:07,194
and learning from the experiences of other communities, and this is our

963
01:43:12,894 --> 01:43:12,894
opportunity to stand up for ourselves, for our health and for the future of harford

964
01:43:17,894 --> 01:43:17,894
county by banning these data centers. Thank you. Thank you. Miss dixon. You say everyone's

965
01:43:29,028 --> 01:43:29,028
inside now? Yes. Thank you. Good evening, sir. Name and zip. Daniel billings 21771. Good

966
01:43:40,228 --> 01:43:40,228
evening, council leaders. I'm not currently a resident of harford county, but this is my

967
01:43:45,228 --> 01:43:45,228
childhood home. And it pains me to see this beautiful place corrupted by those who do not

968
01:43:49,928 --> 01:43:49,928
live here and won't suffer the consequences of their greed. Last session, there was a large

969
01:43:55,394 --> 01:43:55,394
portion of the speakers in favor of the ban who spoke to the strains of the county's

970
01:44:00,361 --> 01:44:00,361
infrastructure, and this is of great concern. I do want to add, as a generator technician, one

971
01:44:06,528 --> 01:44:06,528
of the facilities down in virginia has 55,500 kilowatt backup generators. Each one of

972
01:44:15,861 --> 01:44:15,861
those units being large enough to not so comfortably fit into a semi truck. But I want to

973
01:44:22,094 --> 01:44:22,094
speak on the parts that were glossed over missed entirely. That being of the looming ai

974
01:44:27,094 --> 01:44:27,094
bubble burst. Ai hallucinations and how the companies react. Now, I wasn't old enough to

975
01:44:33,494 --> 01:44:33,494
understand the.com bubble burst back in 2000, but I can clearly see the similarities to the

976
01:44:38,494 --> 01:44:38,494
current ai bubble, and that will soon that it will soon burst. One of the keystone

977
01:44:44,228 --> 01:44:44,228
companies behind ai, open ai is is begging other corporations to use ai while they are

978
01:44:51,094 --> 01:44:51,094
hemorrhaging money billions at a time, and as the potential of going bankrupt by mid next year.

979
01:44:57,561 --> 01:44:57,561
this will throw all ai development into chaos, which would leave the county with a

980
01:45:03,028 --> 01:45:03,028
massive facility with a big fat for lease sign out front. While the building leaches off the

981
01:45:10,861 --> 01:45:10,861
infrastructure. Along with this, new issues facing these companies of ai just making

982
01:45:15,728 --> 01:45:15,728
things up called ai hallucination. This can make up almost half of the responses

983
01:45:20,628 --> 01:45:20,628
that are spat out by the system, and is a glaring issue in the long term. Use of and brings a

984
01:45:28,161 --> 01:45:28,161
is a glaring issue, bringing the long term use of ai into question. And when a

985
01:45:33,661 --> 01:45:37,394
corporation starts to question whether or not something will be profitable, well, I'm sure we all remember the amazon fresh market that was supposed to be here. With this ban.

986
01:45:45,528 --> 01:45:45,528
we're not finished with this unpleasant business and must now push the advantage before

987
01:45:51,328 --> 01:45:51,328
annapolis can null the will of the people of harford county. This is a call to action to the

988
01:45:56,461 --> 01:45:56,461
council. Do not sit idle, for the opposition will scream long into the night, so they may

989
01:46:02,128 --> 01:46:02,128
pillage and pervert our beautiful county. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening mayor.

990
01:46:13,361 --> 01:46:13,361
good evening paula. Adding 21014. Good evening, president vincente and council members. I

991
01:46:19,461 --> 01:46:19,461
serve as the mayor for the town of bel air, and I am a candidate for district c, where

992
01:46:24,528 --> 01:46:24,528
I have lived for over 40 years. And I'm here tonight to speak to you in support of the county

993
01:46:29,528 --> 01:46:29,528
executive's bill on the data ban data center ban. I'm very happy to hear that. Apparently

994
01:46:34,961 --> 01:46:34,961
it's going to pass 7 to 0 tonight, so I have much fewer things to say. But the bill

995
01:46:39,928 --> 01:46:43,428
does the one important thing that we need, which is it permanently bans data centers here in harford county. We are fortunate that we have been able to learn from the mistakes

996
01:46:49,228 --> 01:46:49,228
of others. They were the guinea pigs in a terrible failed experiment, aberdeen on monday

997
01:46:55,361 --> 01:46:55,361
passed a data center ban. The town of bel air will have a public hearing on its data

998
01:46:59,561 --> 01:46:59,561
center ban bill on the 22nd of june, and this is our one chance to protect harford

999
01:47:05,728 --> 01:47:05,728
county from the damage that data centers will do to our communities and to our county.

1000
01:47:11,194 --> 01:47:11,194
we cannot let it go by. Once we've lost, we've lost. But the vote tonight, as several others

1001
01:47:17,728 --> 01:47:17,728
have mentioned, cannot be the end. We cannot let down our guard, governor moore and his

1002
01:47:24,228 --> 01:47:24,228
friends in annapolis have shown that they are very happy to take away local control and

1003
01:47:30,328 --> 01:47:30,328
force their bad ideas on counties like harford that have no interest in data centers or

1004
01:47:35,728 --> 01:47:35,728
high density housing, or any number of other things that are not appropriate for harford

1005
01:47:41,028 --> 01:47:41,028
county. Annapolis thinks it knows what is best for us out here in harford county, but we

1006
01:47:47,928 --> 01:47:47,928
know what is best for harford county. We live here, so we have to remain vigilant. The

1007
01:47:54,561 --> 01:47:58,561
report that was ordered by the general assembly on data centers in maryland is due to the legislature on september 1st. I'm anxiously awaiting that report. Once we have that

1008
01:48:03,394 --> 01:48:03,394
in hand, we'll have a better idea of where the state is heading. And then all of us

1009
01:48:08,794 --> 01:48:08,794
residents, everyone here in this room, elected officials, local, state, all of us have to

1010
01:48:14,628 --> 01:48:14,628
work together to prevent data centers from being forced on us here in harford county. And if

1011
01:48:20,728 --> 01:48:20,728
annapolis attempts to send data centers here, despite local opposition, which I'm sure

1012
01:48:24,961 --> 01:48:24,961
there will be, we have to be prepared to fight those efforts and minimize any harm that they

1013
01:48:30,728 --> 01:48:30,728
could cause to our county. I look forward to the unanimous vote passing bill 26-011, and I

1014
01:48:38,628 --> 01:48:38,628
thank you for your time this evening. Thank you ma'am. John astro, followed by rico alba,

1015
01:48:44,794 --> 01:48:44,794
carries j. Evans and christopher anderson. Good evening sir. Good evening,

1016
01:49:02,761 --> 01:49:02,761
council president. My name is john astro. My zip code is 210 nine three. Good evening. I'm

1017
01:49:09,228 --> 01:49:09,228
here on behalf of a light industrial landowner here in harford county, and I urge this

1018
01:49:13,561 --> 01:49:13,561
council to vote no on 2611. Much of tonight's concern has centered on agricultural land,

1019
01:49:21,094 --> 01:49:21,094
and I understand that. But there's been little contemplation of industrial

1020
01:49:25,828 --> 01:49:25,828
land here in harford county. This bill touches the property rights of every industrial

1021
01:49:31,294 --> 01:49:31,294
landowner in the county, because a blanket ban is the wrong tool, and because it

1022
01:49:35,528 --> 01:49:35,528
exposes the county to a real legal risk while foreclosing a better solution. The county's

1023
01:49:42,328 --> 01:49:42,328
zoning code permits by right, uses far more intensive than a data center. Within lee and g I,

1024
01:49:49,161 --> 01:49:49,161
rubble fields are permitted by right sanitary landfills permitted by right mineral

1025
01:49:54,961 --> 01:49:54,961
extraction processing equivalent to mining. Mining here in harford county,

1026
01:50:00,428 --> 01:50:00,428
permitted by right. So are concrete and asphalt plants, abattoirs and slaughterhouses

1027
01:50:05,394 --> 01:50:05,394
here in harford county. Yet this bill would make a data center the one use prohibited

1028
01:50:10,761 --> 01:50:10,761
in every district. And that is not that's not a measured land use policy. It singles out one

1029
01:50:17,628 --> 01:50:17,628
one use treatment that one use for treatment. And it's a treatment that we do not apply

1030
01:50:24,128 --> 01:50:24,128
demonstrably to heavier industrial neighbors. So the ban I would suggest to this

1031
01:50:30,894 --> 01:50:30,894
council is a riskier path. And it runs against state policy. Under the critical

1032
01:50:37,094 --> 01:50:37,094
infrastructure streamlining act of 2024, maryland statutory framework framework treats data

1033
01:50:42,894 --> 01:50:42,894
centers as critical infrastructure. A county that prohibits the use outright is

1034
01:50:48,294 --> 01:50:48,294
setting itself on a collision course with state law and inviting the exact preemption

1035
01:50:54,394 --> 01:50:54,394
concerns that the county has seen on energy projects. I would point to the council. I

1036
01:51:00,861 --> 01:51:00,861
would also point the council I sent to you this afternoon. The attorney general's letter to

1037
01:51:05,961 --> 01:51:05,961
delegate mark fisher, dated april 1st, advising that a temporary infrastructure based

1038
01:51:11,694 --> 01:51:11,694
moratorium is likely within the county's delegated zoning authority. However, the sharper

1039
01:51:17,828 --> 01:51:17,828
constitutional exposure takings and contract private contract impairment attaches to

1040
01:51:23,661 --> 01:51:23,661
restrictions that strip a property of its value. A permanent prohibition is far

1041
01:51:28,294 --> 01:51:28,294
more vulnerable to those claims than a temporary pause would have been. Passage of this bill

1042
01:51:35,461 --> 01:51:35,461
could lead the county to litigation. Councilman bennett, you had the right instinct with

1043
01:51:45,128 --> 01:51:45,128
the moratorium. A pause would have given this body time to write real standards. Real

1044
01:51:53,461 --> 01:51:53,461
standards on water, noise, environmental safeguards, just as the code already imposes

1045
01:51:58,194 --> 01:51:58,194
conditions on other heavy uses. Unfortunately, that pause was set aside in favor of an

1046
01:52:02,394 --> 01:52:02,394
outright ban. It should be considered that no maryland county has adopted such a ban.

1047
01:52:08,694 --> 01:52:08,694
not even loudoun county, the epicenter for data center development, has done this.

1048
01:52:15,028 --> 01:52:15,028
they have. And loudoun county has faced far greater pressure. It chose instead, in 2025 to

1049
01:52:21,494 --> 01:52:21,494
require and to regulate approval in its industrial districts, as opposed to an

1050
01:52:26,928 --> 01:52:26,928
outright ban. Council president members of the council. You should oppose this ban. Instead,

1051
01:52:34,061 --> 01:52:34,061
adopt an amendment that pauses the approval of any data center. Thank you, sir. Until, mr.

1052
01:52:39,128 --> 01:52:39,128
chair, I'd appreciate. Thank you, sir, your time is up. I would suggest to regulate and

1053
01:52:45,661 --> 01:52:45,661
set standards. Sir, your time is up. Sit down. Go ahead, sir. Good evening sir. Name and zip.

1054
01:52:57,928 --> 01:52:57,928
rico. Albert carries 21014. Thank you. Council president, county council members, as I

1055
01:53:03,428 --> 01:53:03,428
try to find an argument that might resonate with folks here tonight in the council. I know

1056
01:53:08,394 --> 01:53:08,394
where all of your heads are. I kept coming back to the same issue. It's hard for me to find

1057
01:53:13,228 --> 01:53:13,228
an argument that maybe would resonate, because I don't actually know the principles

1058
01:53:17,694 --> 01:53:17,694
that all of you hold dear. And what I mean by that is that harford county is a red county,

1059
01:53:23,094 --> 01:53:23,094
right? Like that's we all know that normally that means private property rights, free

1060
01:53:28,861 --> 01:53:32,861
enterprise, and keeping government out of the way of business. But tonight we're discussing a law that would permanently ban an entire industry, not regulate it, not

1061
01:53:37,528 --> 01:53:37,528
negotiate with it, not establish standards for it, just ban it outright. I've

1062
01:53:41,961 --> 01:53:41,961
heard warnings about corporate greed, putting people over profit concerns over money,

1063
01:53:47,261 --> 01:53:47,261
changing the character of our county. And those are arguments you usually hear from liberals

1064
01:53:51,328 --> 01:53:51,328
and progressives, something you might expect in montgomery county or pg county or

1065
01:53:55,494 --> 01:53:55,494
baltimore city, something I frankly did not expect here in harford county. Are we saying

1066
01:54:01,261 --> 01:54:01,261
my property rights only matter if my neighbor agrees? Are we arguing against private

1067
01:54:05,994 --> 01:54:05,994
investment making its way down to working folks? As a lifelong democrat, I find that

1068
01:54:11,361 --> 01:54:11,361
fascinating. And maybe I'm a little encouraged to hear progressive talking points like

1069
01:54:15,961 --> 01:54:15,961
concerns over global warming and corporate greed. I hope these democratic tendencies

1070
01:54:21,094 --> 01:54:21,094
manifest themselves in other places outside of this one conversation. Things like being

1071
01:54:26,528 --> 01:54:26,528
in support of clean energy initiatives, because I hear a lot of people talking about

1072
01:54:30,728 --> 01:54:34,728
energy prices, but some of those same folks are opposed to solar projects and battery storage projects, things that will lower energy prices and make make energy. Yes, ma'am.

1073
01:54:41,294 --> 01:54:41,294
yes they will, folks, but we don't want energy generation. We don't want new

1074
01:54:46,694 --> 01:54:46,694
infrastructure. We don't want new industry. We don't want new investment, but we don't want

1075
01:54:51,394 --> 01:54:51,394
higher utility bills. We don't want higher taxes. We don't want underfunded schools or

1076
01:54:56,328 --> 01:54:56,328
fewer job opportunities. An outright ban does not alleviate those problems. And I think as

1077
01:55:03,661 --> 01:55:03,661
a resident, the county will be better served having a discussion about where to build

1078
01:55:08,228 --> 01:55:08,228
infrastructure and industry and how to use it to our advantage. Thank you very much. Thank you

1079
01:55:12,794 --> 01:55:12,794
sir. Jay evans two 1050. Good evening, council president, members of the council. I'm a

1080
01:55:23,361 --> 01:55:23,361
resident of forest hill, but I raise my kids in fallston, not far from the mountain branch

1081
01:55:29,128 --> 01:55:29,128
complex, so I feel very tied to it. I'm a former planning and zoning commissioner, and I'm

1082
01:55:33,828 --> 01:55:33,828
also a candidate for county council in district d. I'm here tonight in support of this bill

1083
01:55:39,061 --> 01:55:39,061
and this moratorium. And let me be clear, I support this bill because I believe harford

1084
01:55:44,294 --> 01:55:44,294
county should prohibit large scale dentist data centers all together, not because I'm

1085
01:55:50,694 --> 01:55:50,694
anti-technology and not because I'm anti-business, but because I'm unapologetically pro.

1086
01:55:55,328 --> 01:55:55,328
harford county as a former planning and zoning commissioner, I've learned that

1087
01:56:00,361 --> 01:56:00,361
every major land decision comes down to one question what are we willing to give up? Because

1088
01:56:07,661 --> 01:56:07,661
every yes comes at a cost. We're told data centers bring jobs and tax revenues, but good

1089
01:56:15,194 --> 01:56:15,194
leadership doesn't simply ask what can be built. Good leadership asks if it should be

1090
01:56:20,894 --> 01:56:20,894
built at all. When I look around harford county, I see a productive farmland, open space,

1091
01:56:28,128 --> 01:56:28,128
forests and communities where families put down roots for generations. People choose

1092
01:56:33,828 --> 01:56:33,828
harford county because it still feels different. They want it to stay that way. What concerns

1093
01:56:40,594 --> 01:56:40,594
me most is what these facilities could take away farmland, open space in our

1094
01:56:46,494 --> 01:56:46,494
rural character, the very things that make harford county special. These facilities

1095
01:56:51,528 --> 01:56:51,528
consume enormous amounts of electricity, require major infrastructure and provide

1096
01:56:56,194 --> 01:56:56,194
relatively few permanent jobs once construction is complete. And once they're built, they're

1097
01:57:02,761 --> 01:57:02,761
built. You can't turn a data center back into a farm. You can't restore rural character

1098
01:57:10,228 --> 01:57:10,228
after it's been industrialized. Once that land is gone, it's gone. I want to thank the

1099
01:57:17,861 --> 01:57:17,861
members of this council for joining with bob cassilly by recognizing that some decisions

1100
01:57:22,494 --> 01:57:22,494
are too important to rush by supporting this moratorium, you're giving our community the

1101
01:57:27,861 --> 01:57:27,861
time needed to fully understand the long term consequences before before decisions are

1102
01:57:35,828 --> 01:57:35,828
made. Residents are here because they love harford county and believe some things

1103
01:57:39,928 --> 01:57:39,928
are worth protecting. Their message is simple, and I say to you and to annapolis, we don't

1104
01:57:46,594 --> 01:57:46,594
want industrial scale data centers in harford county ever. Not on our farmland, not at

1105
01:57:53,161 --> 01:57:53,161
mountain branch and not in our rural communities. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Good evening

1106
01:58:10,461 --> 01:58:10,461
sir. Name and zip. Chris anderson 21219. I am not a county resident. I am a

1107
01:58:17,594 --> 01:58:17,594
representative of plumbers and steamfitters local 486 data centers are rapidly growing

1108
01:58:25,928 --> 01:58:25,928
component in the nation's digital infrastructure and represent a significant income

1109
01:58:32,294 --> 01:58:32,294
opportunity for. For harford county, these projects support thousands of jobs throughout

1110
01:58:38,128 --> 01:58:38,128
the construction, maintenance and operation sectors. Local 486 represents nearly 3000

1111
01:58:44,961 --> 01:58:44,961
highly skilled plumbers, steamfitters, welders and hvac techs. 400 of those men, 472 of

1112
01:58:51,428 --> 01:58:51,428
those members call harford county their home. We are excited about the opportunity

1113
01:58:58,428 --> 01:58:58,428
to keep our members working close to home, while creating pathways for county residents

1114
01:59:03,594 --> 01:59:03,594
to enter rewarding careers through our registered registered apprenticeship.

1115
01:59:08,628 --> 01:59:08,628
these projects allow us to invest in local workforce while helping build the next

1116
01:59:14,761 --> 01:59:14,761
generation of digital infrastructure, as a lot of people have mentioned, you know

1117
01:59:21,328 --> 01:59:21,328
the construction, there is thousands of jobs and people always like to say, oh, it's

1118
01:59:26,294 --> 01:59:26,294
temporary jobs. These temporary jobs are what my career was built on up until two, well, 18

1119
01:59:32,428 --> 01:59:32,428
months ago, I was in the field building buildings, building johns hopkins hospital,

1120
01:59:37,328 --> 01:59:37,328
building data centers. That is what our livelihood is built on. That's what my retirement is

1121
01:59:43,994 --> 01:59:43,994
going to be built on, is building the infrastructure and the hospitals and data centers

1122
01:59:51,028 --> 01:59:51,028
that we use on a daily basis. With that being said, I also wanted to touch a little bit on

1123
02:00:00,294 --> 02:00:00,294
the water as an expert in the field and doing this over 20 years. The water usage, as you

1124
02:00:07,961 --> 02:00:11,828
know, people have mentioned here and there that it uses millions of gallons of water on a daily basis. It does not. They are closed loop systems. They the closed loop systems do

1125
02:00:17,261 --> 02:00:17,261
have flaws here and there, but they do not use the amount of water that is being portrayed

1126
02:00:24,128 --> 02:00:24,128
all over social media, a data center. And they are using air cooled. Everything that's being.

1127
02:00:32,428 --> 02:00:32,428
every data center that's currently being built is using air cooled chillers, not

1128
02:00:36,761 --> 02:00:36,761
evaporative cooling. With cooling towers where the water is evaporating into the

1129
02:00:42,161 --> 02:00:42,161
atmosphere on a daily basis, where you have that make up water of millions of gallons of

1130
02:00:46,528 --> 02:00:46,528
water. I kind of went off script. So I respectfully urge you to consider the long term

1131
02:00:58,028 --> 02:00:58,028
economic, workforce and fiscal benefits that a project of this nature would bring to harford

1132
02:01:03,428 --> 02:01:03,428
county, this opportunity to strengthen the local economy, create family sustaining

1133
02:01:09,228 --> 02:01:09,228
careers, generate significant tax revenue, and invest in the county's future. Thank you for

1134
02:01:14,228 --> 02:01:14,228
your time and consideration. Thank you, sir ray baker, followed by alan cichero,

1135
02:01:23,594 --> 02:01:23,594
nathan ogola, and christopher blocker. Good evening or good evening, sir. Name and zip. Ray

1136
02:01:40,061 --> 02:01:40,061
baker 20746. I'm not going to be here before you all long. I appreciate and respect that the

1137
02:01:47,394 --> 02:01:47,394
community has made their voice heard. The last time I was here with you, they made it heard

1138
02:01:51,561 --> 02:01:51,561
before I asked council president vicente when he asked me, how am I doing? I said, you

1139
02:01:55,594 --> 02:01:55,594
can make me do a lot better. And he said, no, no. And so I respect that council president

1140
02:02:00,661 --> 02:02:04,561
and I appreciate that. I also want to appreciate something that we heard a little bit earlier and speak about the notion of trade offs, the same way that we heard someone who

1141
02:02:08,661 --> 02:02:08,661
was a candidate for county council allude to. We cannot merely say yes without

1142
02:02:13,994 --> 02:02:13,994
understanding what we're saying no to what we're losing out on. I invite us to consider that

1143
02:02:18,328 --> 02:02:18,328
what happens when we say no? I recognize people have this strong and intense desire for a

1144
02:02:24,128 --> 02:02:24,128
complete and permanent ban. I stood before you all just some weeks ago, supportive of a

1145
02:02:29,828 --> 02:02:29,828
moratorium, believing that through a moratorium, we might get to a place that would

1146
02:02:34,028 --> 02:02:34,028
ultimately provide the people that I represent with the baltimore, dc building

1147
02:02:38,461 --> 02:02:38,461
construction trades an opportunity to come to work right here in harford county.

1148
02:02:42,894 --> 02:02:42,894
we even heard, well, we don't have enough apprentices in harford county. When I'm at

1149
02:02:47,861 --> 02:02:47,861
joppatowne high school, they're asking me, so how can I get in when I'm at harford tech?

1150
02:02:52,061 --> 02:02:52,061
they're asking me so. So what work opportunities do you have? And the only time that I can

1151
02:02:56,161 --> 02:02:56,161
expand our apprenticeship classes is if we have more work on the horizon. Again, I am

1152
02:03:01,861 --> 02:03:01,861
aware that you all are not interested in building a data center. What I am asking of us

1153
02:03:07,361 --> 02:03:07,361
to consider, even with the decisions that we're making around permanence, is that we

1154
02:03:11,861 --> 02:03:11,861
think about that which we're giving and that which we're getting. I understand that

1155
02:03:15,928 --> 02:03:15,928
we're all apparently very big fans of solar farms here. I understand we're not fans of

1156
02:03:22,994 --> 02:03:22,994
solar farms, and we're not fans of the state mandates telling us what has to happen. And yet

1157
02:03:28,161 --> 02:03:28,161
the actions that we are prepared to urge our council people here to take tonight

1158
02:03:33,194 --> 02:03:33,194
invite that same behavior. It invites that same hostility. Now, where we are now, we have

1159
02:03:38,628 --> 02:03:38,628
some degree of leverage. And I'm including myself in the why. Why? Because I am a resident of

1160
02:03:43,194 --> 02:03:43,194
maryland. I also pay bg and e prices. I also have to grab my energy from the pjm. And so I

1161
02:03:51,561 --> 02:03:51,561
understand some of the concerns and complaints that are present. And so at this juncture, if we

1162
02:03:55,861 --> 02:03:55,861
do not have a permanent ban, the council, the county executive, whomever it may be,

1163
02:04:00,228 --> 02:04:00,228
that is you guys election, not mine, has better leverage an opportunity to engage in

1164
02:04:05,928 --> 02:04:05,928
negotiate with developers to set the terms that are fitting for any industrial project that

1165
02:04:12,161 --> 02:04:12,161
will take place here. I would like to put my members to work. I've had some of my colleagues

1166
02:04:17,828 --> 02:04:17,828
come and tell you that they've worked in the field, and it provides job and life changing

1167
02:04:22,494 --> 02:04:22,494
opportunities to build the thing that you all are saying you all do not want, but you

1168
02:04:27,961 --> 02:04:27,961
have leverage. Now, you may not have that leverage soon. I would much prefer harford

1169
02:04:33,694 --> 02:04:37,661
county to be able to participate in a conversation where they have leverage than where they do not, but that decision is ultimately yours. I hope, sincerely, that the

1170
02:04:42,994 --> 02:04:42,994
council will reconsider the permanence of the ban. I hope the public would reconsider the

1171
02:04:47,361 --> 02:04:47,361
permanence of the ban, but nonetheless, the decision is yours. Thank you for your time.

1172
02:04:52,961 --> 02:04:52,961
thank you sir. Good evening sir. Good evening. My name is alan 021009. I'm going to try and

1173
02:05:05,028 --> 02:05:05,028
talk fast. Three minutes. Not a ton of time. I had a whole bunch of stuff that I wanted to

1174
02:05:10,061 --> 02:05:14,061
talk about, a lot of which echoes a lot of sentiments we've heard tonight already. I do understand some of the arguments on the other side to people who are supporting this

1175
02:05:18,128 --> 02:05:22,061
and, and want to build these. We are talking about jobs. We're talking about things like that. To be clear, I am on the other side of the fence. I fully support a ban on this. So

1176
02:05:27,061 --> 02:05:27,061
I'm going to take some of the numbers that I've researched and looked up today and

1177
02:05:31,094 --> 02:05:31,094
throughout the past week. We're going to cut some of them in half. So young lady mentioned

1178
02:05:35,894 --> 02:05:35,894
earlier that a large scale data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water a day,

1179
02:05:40,361 --> 02:05:44,061
which I think is actually probably pretty accurate given the size of some of these. So let's cut that in half. Let's call it 2.5 million. So at 5 million gallons a day, the epa

1180
02:05:49,194 --> 02:05:49,194
says the average person uses 82 gallons of water a day for washing clothes, drinking,

1181
02:05:54,261 --> 02:05:54,261
showering, all that kind of stuff. So with the 5 million gallon number, that's the daily

1182
02:05:58,661 --> 02:05:58,661
supply for 61,000 people. So if we cut that in half, that's still 3000 people. According to

1183
02:06:05,361 --> 02:06:05,361
harford county, maryland.gov website, the demographic data, we have over 100,000 residents

1184
02:06:12,161 --> 02:06:12,161
that are 65 and older or 18 and under. We are talking about putting their water supply at

1185
02:06:18,461 --> 02:06:18,461
risk, all of our water supply. But if we want to like hit home and make it emotional, minors

1186
02:06:22,828 --> 02:06:22,828
and the elderly. So we're going to take 3000 people and say, maybe you get clean water.

1187
02:06:29,561 --> 02:06:29,561
we're not sure, right? Let's gamble. Let's flip a coin and see what happens. I don't

1188
02:06:35,028 --> 02:06:35,028
support that. We all know there's going to be energy price increases. I had a whole

1189
02:06:39,894 --> 02:06:39,894
thing written about that. But the fact is they're not going to pay their own bill that's

1190
02:06:44,061 --> 02:06:44,061
coming to us. We we know that. And I have yet to see a tenant of any data center cut

1191
02:06:49,394 --> 02:06:53,261
everybody that it affects a check. Say, we got your bill overages. Don't worry, it's on us. I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think that the county government or the

1192
02:06:57,794 --> 02:06:57,794
state government is going to do that. Right. It's not going to happen. So we're now paying the

1193
02:07:01,994 --> 02:07:01,994
bill for something that, generally speaking, I think people in this room do not want.

1194
02:07:07,394 --> 02:07:07,394
right. I understand there's two sides to every story at least, but it seems like that's not

1195
02:07:11,894 --> 02:07:11,894
what we want. The jobs thing has been brought up. So I'm going to again summarize. Yes,

1196
02:07:16,194 --> 02:07:16,194
there are construction jobs that will spike for a couple of years and then they will go

1197
02:07:20,394 --> 02:07:20,394
away. I know a gentleman just mentioned that the a career has been made off of these

1198
02:07:24,494 --> 02:07:24,494
temporary jobs. Absolutely understandable. Right. We all need to work. We've been

1199
02:07:29,694 --> 02:07:29,694
building other things. The data center conversation is new over the past couple of years. Did

1200
02:07:34,694 --> 02:07:34,694
nobody have a job prior to that? I don't see how this is is required. Right. So overall, I

1201
02:07:41,128 --> 02:07:41,128
just kind of feel that the job here is to figure out what's good for harford county and

1202
02:07:46,294 --> 02:07:50,261
what's good for harford county is what's good for their residents. So I'm not stupid enough to say something is all good or all bad. That's not how it works. But I think that to

1203
02:07:55,861 --> 02:07:55,861
have data centers anywhere in harford county, given the current landscape of how we all

1204
02:08:00,994 --> 02:08:00,994
work and live and operate, is a net negative, which is why we do need to be in favor of this

1205
02:08:07,194 --> 02:08:07,194
ban. I've got four seconds left. I thank you all for inviting us out to talk. And real quick,

1206
02:08:12,494 --> 02:08:12,494
thank you. If anybody else is still in the room, I don't know who's come and gone, but the

1207
02:08:17,228 --> 02:08:21,194
firefighters. Another big round of applause for them. I appreciate everything they do. Thank you guys. Good point. I think it's my turn. I don't know. I hope I'm not skipping

1208
02:08:47,361 --> 02:08:47,361
someone. My name is christopher blocker. Zip code 21085. Some things in life are inevitable

1209
02:08:55,761 --> 02:08:55,761
sickness, suffering, death. These are things that as human beings, we ought to learn to

1210
02:08:59,894 --> 02:09:03,894
bear with grace. They are existential facts. Then there are things in life that are not inevitable that others want us to believe are inevitable. They only become inevitable when we

1211
02:09:08,694 --> 02:09:08,694
accept their reasoning without question. The point is to make us complacent, resigned,

1212
02:09:15,861 --> 02:09:15,861
discouraged. These are not existential facts, but entirely dependent on the choices that

1213
02:09:20,028 --> 02:09:20,028
we make here and now. History is full of examples. It happens in the political sphere all the

1214
02:09:25,394 --> 02:09:25,394
time. X candidate is too extreme. So even if you like their policies, you should vote

1215
02:09:29,461 --> 02:09:32,928
for the establishment candidate. It's only the fact that everyone believes this, that we end up with lukewarm representatives who would rather toe the party line than

1216
02:09:36,394 --> 02:09:36,394
advocate for the interests of their constituents. It's half the reason so many people in

1217
02:09:40,428 --> 02:09:40,428
our country end up supporting wars that cost countless innocent lives. War is

1218
02:09:45,028 --> 02:09:48,661
inevitable. It's the only way to protect our financial or national security interests. And it's simply an unfortunate reality that so many innocent civilians will die. There is

1219
02:09:53,328 --> 02:09:53,328
nothing we can do to mitigate the disastrous effects of climate change, and no viable

1220
02:09:58,361 --> 02:09:58,361
alternatives to burning fossil fuels, fossil fuels. It's far too ingrained in the global

1221
02:10:02,628 --> 02:10:02,628
economy to give it up. In every case, it is not the people who benefit from believing in these

1222
02:10:08,361 --> 02:10:08,361
alleged inevitabilities. It is the profiteers who traffic in the hopelessness and

1223
02:10:13,794 --> 02:10:13,794
resignation they manufacture. Once upon a time, slavery was considered an inevitable fact

1224
02:10:18,961 --> 02:10:18,961
of daily life. We fought a war over it in ordinary citizens below the mason-dixon line

1225
02:10:24,261 --> 02:10:27,928
believe that the southern economy would collapse without the institution of owning other human beings. In the early 20th century, people believed that working themselves to the bone

1226
02:10:32,861 --> 02:10:32,861
in filthy, dangerous factories was just the way that life was. But with the tireless work of

1227
02:10:37,261 --> 02:10:41,128
labor organizers, we won the eight hour work day and the benefits that many of us workers enjoy today without even noticing, once upon a time, the idea that a woman would

1228
02:10:45,928 --> 02:10:45,928
ever have the right to vote to participate in democracy was seen as absolutely absurd.

1229
02:10:51,228 --> 02:10:55,228
right now, we are at a precipice. As human beings, we can accept the reality that tech giants like peter thiel, mark zuckerberg and elon musk want a fetus, that it is time

1230
02:10:59,961 --> 02:10:59,961
for us to adapt to an inevitable future where ai is embedded into every aspect of

1231
02:11:04,261 --> 02:11:08,261
our lives, spying on us, collecting our data, selling our attention off to the highest bidder, to the point where our daily lives are nothing but an endless stream

1232
02:11:12,261 --> 02:11:12,261
of advertisements. On the next rung down are the opportunistic owners of property golf clubs,

1233
02:11:18,461 --> 02:11:18,461
for example, who stand to make a modest sum of tens of millions of dollars by acting

1234
02:11:23,728 --> 02:11:23,728
as their faithful lackeys. They will do things like lie and manipulate manipulate you to

1235
02:11:28,628 --> 02:11:28,628
believe that data centers are actually good for you. Or at the very least, not bad. I'm

1236
02:11:34,094 --> 02:11:38,094
not going to counter their claims, but the idea that they care a whit for their community is utterly laughable. If they did, they would sell their property to build a homeless

1237
02:11:42,061 --> 02:11:42,061
shelter, a wildlife sanctuary, a public gymnasium, a learning center for underprivileged

1238
02:11:47,028 --> 02:11:47,028
youth. Use your imagination. The biggest lie that they need you to believe, however, is

1239
02:11:51,828 --> 02:11:51,828
that this is inevitable when they can't convince you that the data center will benefit

1240
02:11:56,028 --> 02:11:56,028
you as they surely cannot, they will convince you that it is inevitable. But the future of

1241
02:12:00,761 --> 02:12:04,361
humanity belongs to human beings, and the future of harford county belongs to harford county residents. Thank you sir. Sir, I believe you spoke, haven't you? Yes. I'm

1242
02:12:17,694 --> 02:12:17,694
here to represent consulting, inc. Or cybersecurity company. So continuing my speech. So

1243
02:12:27,094 --> 02:12:27,094
speaking as a citizen and then again as a representative for corporation, an organization.

1244
02:12:33,128 --> 02:12:33,128
yes. Part of a corporation. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Thanking our founding fathers for the

1245
02:12:37,761 --> 02:12:37,761
first amendment. So I think it is obvious that a data center, starting with on site

1246
02:12:44,361 --> 02:12:47,594
generation, will eventually connect to the grid when the laws change and there is adequate transmission capability, whether they continue operating power and

1247
02:12:51,561 --> 02:12:51,561
pushing it into the grid or consuming it locally probably depends on the cost. Certainly,

1248
02:12:56,194 --> 02:12:56,194
folks in perimeter fighting enhanced generation capability in their neighborhood and

1249
02:13:00,861 --> 02:13:00,861
neighbors are fighting the transmission lines. So there are too many unanswered

1250
02:13:05,161 --> 02:13:05,161
questions to permit data centers, as others have. Others pointed out, the fight is

1251
02:13:09,794 --> 02:13:09,794
probably just getting started. If the state overrides and some ideas on legislation that the

1252
02:13:15,261 --> 02:13:15,261
council can do so. I say the potential risks are enormous to the health and finances of

1253
02:13:19,428 --> 02:13:23,261
harford countians, as they could impact tens of thousands of water users and not to mention our electricity cost. The. In the presentation with the data center, maryland data

1254
02:13:29,928 --> 02:13:33,461
center alliance, mr. Bennett asked who sponsored the maryland data center alliance. Their website shows the logos of amazon. Turner turner, a construction company, and

1255
02:13:37,961 --> 02:13:40,828
constellation, the power company. I think this would have been the transparent answer to mr. Bennett's question, but that's not the answer he received. So later in

1256
02:13:45,294 --> 02:13:48,994
the video, mr. Schultz acknowledges the limits of her knowledge outside of the talking points and states that she isn't an engineer and can't comment on pfas and water. So

1257
02:13:53,794 --> 02:13:53,794
virginia requires pfas to be treated by polluters in fairfax waters territory because the

1258
02:13:58,794 --> 02:14:02,628
public was paying for pfas cleanup as a result of data center pollution. You can look at fairfax water's website. I believe they also sued a number of pfas polluters, and virginia

1259
02:14:07,861 --> 02:14:07,861
passed house bill 2050 to create a special water district for fairfax water, where, of

1260
02:14:13,261 --> 02:14:13,261
course, a lot of the data centers are. So in the future, I think harford county citizens

1261
02:14:17,894 --> 02:14:21,494
would prefer to hear from electrical engineers with experience in power distribution, computer engineers that can discuss hyperscale infrastructure,

1262
02:14:25,161 --> 02:14:25,161
electricians, well, drillers that know our aquifers, civil engineers with experience in

1263
02:14:29,194 --> 02:14:29,194
water treatment and wastewater treatment, and mechanical engineers that design cooling

1264
02:14:33,794 --> 02:14:33,794
systems. Sadly, it seems that very little has been learned from the warehouse battle that

1265
02:14:37,961 --> 02:14:37,961
the courageous citizens launched and won. Taxpayers are better served by avoiding

1266
02:14:42,694 --> 02:14:46,028
litigation, as the approvals for the warehouses were ultimately rescinded. When the facts emerged and the litigation went to the supreme court. Maryland supreme court.

1267
02:14:50,028 --> 02:14:50,028
my advice to the council president is to invite experts, not industry cheerleaders or

1268
02:14:54,261 --> 02:14:54,261
lobbyists, so that the facts are determined earlier in the process. Citizens deserve real

1269
02:14:58,861 --> 02:14:58,861
answers when we are talking about our land, our home, our harford. So a few other points

1270
02:15:06,494 --> 02:15:06,494
people have talked a bit on on facebook about glycol cooling systems. So I think today they

1271
02:15:13,461 --> 02:15:13,461
they could theoretically be banned in harford county via the harford county mechanical

1272
02:15:17,661 --> 02:15:17,661
code. I sent that feedback to county executive cassilly and he acknowledged sending it or

1273
02:15:22,761 --> 02:15:26,628
one of his staff, I should say, acknowledged sending that to the department of planning, licensing and zoning for review. I also sent that to the council member from district c, since

1274
02:15:32,561 --> 02:15:32,561
he is endorsed by p three as the next council president. So I specifically focus on glycol

1275
02:15:38,561 --> 02:15:38,561
cooling because one of the civil engineers that was here mentioned, you know, it's mixed

1276
02:15:43,228 --> 02:15:43,228
with the water and then that water gets discharged, whether that's discharged into the

1277
02:15:47,861 --> 02:15:47,861
water, the rivers, groundwater, aquifers is really important. And thank you, sir. Thank you.

1278
02:15:56,494 --> 02:15:56,494
todd wetzel berger, followed by michelle christman, ellen evelyn bischoff and carrie

1279
02:16:04,561 --> 02:16:04,561
kelly. Call your first speaker again. Oh, never mind. Todd wetzel. Berger, can you hear me?

1280
02:16:13,428 --> 02:16:13,428
okay. Yes 21047. I am pretty cynical of dealing with the government, as probably most of

1281
02:16:21,661 --> 02:16:21,661
you aren't here. I think I have a unique perspective, otherwise I wouldn't have spoken tonight.

1282
02:16:26,428 --> 02:16:26,428
I'm a real estate investor. Private lender. I 100% support private property rights.

1283
02:16:32,928 --> 02:16:32,928
mountain branch is zoned agricultural. Never in a million years. What I thought

1284
02:16:37,361 --> 02:16:37,361
it would contemplate to put an industrial cooling center or data center on an agricultural

1285
02:16:43,061 --> 02:16:43,061
property. I've gotten zoning variances. I've done all this before. It's unfathomable. I

1286
02:16:48,361 --> 02:16:48,361
zoning laws exist for a reason. That said, my experience is in a past life. 2008 crash. I have

1287
02:16:55,628 --> 02:16:59,528
a finance background. I became a whistleblower and a litigator, exposing the multibillion dollar fraud of the banks. It was totally by chance. It wasn't planned, and I went

1288
02:17:06,761 --> 02:17:06,761
naively to the fbi, irs, sec. I think doug gansler was the attorney general at the time.

1289
02:17:12,861 --> 02:17:12,861
special prosecutors. Nobody would touch it. I decided to expose it myself, all driven by

1290
02:17:17,928 --> 02:17:17,928
rage, people's lives immensely destroyed. And so I went down this path, and I got the death

1291
02:17:26,194 --> 02:17:26,194
threats and the harassment and the hacking and all the stuff you can't even imagine. I met a

1292
02:17:30,494 --> 02:17:30,494
lot of whistleblowers, nsa, cia, world bank, and I went down that path for about a half a

1293
02:17:34,628 --> 02:17:34,628
decade and end up litigating. And 8 or 9 states, state federal bankruptcy court,

1294
02:17:39,228 --> 02:17:39,228
appellate court. I went to panama docketed a case against citibank with panamanian

1295
02:17:43,428 --> 02:17:43,428
attorney. And what I found back to these data centers, when there's this much money at

1296
02:17:48,028 --> 02:17:48,028
stake here, they will not stop. Thank all of you for voting tonight to ban this. One

1297
02:17:53,628 --> 02:17:53,628
gentleman mentioned about the state level. My experience is to think about what they're

1298
02:17:58,228 --> 02:17:58,228
going to do next. I've dealt with crooked judges, crooked politicians. I can't even begin

1299
02:18:02,328 --> 02:18:06,294
to tell you. Think about the next steps ahead because there's so much money involved. They will not stop. So it's a win here tonight. Think about the next level at the state

1300
02:18:11,228 --> 02:18:15,128
level, and think about the federal level, how they're going to try to steamroll over us. Think ten steps ahead. Where's the money going to go? And my personal experience is

1301
02:18:20,594 --> 02:18:20,594
this is a huge, huge win. There's strength in numbers. What I found this is huge. And

1302
02:18:26,094 --> 02:18:26,094
another thing I found is a winning strategy is the court of public opinion. I learned

1303
02:18:30,161 --> 02:18:30,161
that from tom drake, who was a whistleblower at nsa. And the court of public opinion is very

1304
02:18:34,261 --> 02:18:34,261
powerful. And the last thing is shining a big light on the corruption. And everybody here

1305
02:18:39,261 --> 02:18:39,261
has the ability to do that. Shine a big light. Because what I found, and I'm mindful of my

1306
02:18:43,494 --> 02:18:43,494
time every time I expose crooked judges, got crooked politicians. They ran when the

1307
02:18:47,928 --> 02:18:47,928
light was shine on them. Super, super powerful. So I hope this is helpful. Think ahead, ten

1308
02:18:53,094 --> 02:18:53,094
steps ahead because this is not going to stop. The owner of mountain branch, I invited him

1309
02:18:57,928 --> 02:18:57,928
to a public debate and I said, hey, any time, any place, invite the media. Crickets. So

1310
02:19:03,161 --> 02:19:03,161
make it personal and make your voice heard. I'm so grateful for all of you coming out in

1311
02:19:09,461 --> 02:19:09,461
the last saying, this is literally a fight of good versus evil, and I pray to god

1312
02:19:13,528 --> 02:19:13,528
that we all succeed. Thank you. Thank you sir. Good evening ma'am. Good evening. I'm

1313
02:19:22,561 --> 02:19:22,561
michelle christmann 21132. I thank you very much for your time. My dad volunteered for 61

1314
02:19:30,494 --> 02:19:34,428
years running fire and ambulance calls in harford county, maryland. So thank you for your 027 vote. I appreciate that I stand here before you this evening as someone who

1315
02:19:39,861 --> 02:19:39,861
believes deeply in what harford county represents family history and the responsibility

1316
02:19:45,194 --> 02:19:45,194
to protect both, I'm also the legislative chair for harford county republican women and

1317
02:19:52,061 --> 02:19:52,061
also running for maryland house of delegates 35, a harford and cecil county, maryland. I grew

1318
02:19:56,694 --> 02:19:56,694
up in kingsville, maryland. I remember clean streams, open land, and a community built by

1319
02:20:02,094 --> 02:20:02,094
hard working families like my mom and dad. Roads like jerusalem mill aren't just

1320
02:20:07,861 --> 02:20:07,861
roads routes on a map. They are part of our heritage. Once traveled by george washington

1321
02:20:13,261 --> 02:20:13,261
himself. That is not just land, that is a legacy. And now we are being asked to give it up

1322
02:20:18,394 --> 02:20:18,394
for massive data centers, industrial complexes that do not belong in rural communities,

1323
02:20:24,094 --> 02:20:24,094
steel towers cutting through our countryside, solar farms that do not grow vegetables or

1324
02:20:29,061 --> 02:20:29,061
grazing cattle, and battery energy storage systems, facilities that consume

1325
02:20:34,461 --> 02:20:34,461
enormous amounts of water, millions of gallons of day and damage huge amounts of

1326
02:20:39,528 --> 02:20:39,528
electricity. Tricity driving up costs for residents. We are told this is progress, but

1327
02:20:45,994 --> 02:20:45,994
progress should not come at the cost of our history, our environment or our quality of

1328
02:20:51,128 --> 02:20:51,128
life. These projects threaten our farms, our property values and our natural resources,

1329
02:20:57,228 --> 02:20:57,228
including places like deer creek that we have worked so hard to preserve. They bring

1330
02:21:02,161 --> 02:21:02,161
noise, industrial strain, and long term consequences that cannot simply be undone. Once

1331
02:21:08,428 --> 02:21:08,428
this land is lost, it's gone. This is not about resisting change. It is about making

1332
02:21:14,128 --> 02:21:14,128
responsible decisions that protect the people who live here, not outside interests.

1333
02:21:18,528 --> 02:21:18,528
the harford county council has a choice to stand with the citizens by passing bill number

1334
02:21:24,761 --> 02:21:24,761
two, 6011 and putting a stop to this, I'm asking you to stand up, speak out and make it clear

1335
02:21:31,994 --> 02:21:31,994
harford county is not for sale. Once elected, I do intend to repeal sb 931 and keep land use

1336
02:21:39,528 --> 02:21:39,528
decisions in local communities and not annapolis bureaucrats. If we do not protect harford

1337
02:21:45,094 --> 02:21:45,094
county now, we will not get another chance. Again, thank you very much for your time,

1338
02:21:50,028 --> 02:21:50,028
and I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening and god bless you all. Good evening ma'am.

1339
02:22:00,428 --> 02:22:00,428
name and zip. Good evening. My name is evelyn bischoff and my zip code is 21047. And first, I

1340
02:22:07,228 --> 02:22:07,228
just want to congratulate all of us and our council for being the second on the books data

1341
02:22:15,628 --> 02:22:15,628
ban. I think that everybody's pointing out all of the how it opens doors for the state to

1342
02:22:22,028 --> 02:22:22,028
steamroll us. And I have to say, I think maryland can try to steamroll us, but I have a

1343
02:22:27,828 --> 02:22:27,828
feeling that all across this country right now, there are people fighting this exact

1344
02:22:33,494 --> 02:22:33,494
thing. If we all band together and we all speak out and we all stand up, and if you join all

1345
02:22:39,328 --> 02:22:39,328
of us, we can stop this. So with that being said, I support the emergency bill 26-011. On

1346
02:22:48,961 --> 02:22:48,961
the ban on data centers. Today I would like to talk about jobs. You're probably going to hear

1347
02:22:55,661 --> 02:22:55,661
from some of the union fellows tonight that want you to think that data centers will bring

1348
02:23:00,561 --> 02:23:00,561
hundreds of jobs. Of course, most of them have left already, but whatever. I will admit,

1349
02:23:06,994 --> 02:23:06,994
there will be workers employed at every data center construction site. However,

1350
02:23:11,594 --> 02:23:11,594
will they be workers from harford county, maryland? I know people that live near

1351
02:23:17,128 --> 02:23:17,128
other data construction sites report long caravans of rvs showing up at the beginning of

1352
02:23:21,961 --> 02:23:21,961
the construction to house workers. Because they do not live near the area they are

1353
02:23:27,661 --> 02:23:27,661
working, business insider.com says construction workers often travel to data center sites and

1354
02:23:33,461 --> 02:23:33,461
stay for extended periods of time. Has anyone ever thought about the other jobs? Fortune

1355
02:23:41,194 --> 02:23:41,194
magazine just published an article stating big tech is desperate. Imagine that amazon

1356
02:23:47,494 --> 02:23:47,494
is spending 200 billion to build data infrastructure while cutting 30,000 workers.

1357
02:23:54,161 --> 02:23:54,161
microsoft is spending 190 billion while laying off 30,000 corporate employees in the last

1358
02:24:00,361 --> 02:24:00,361
eight months. Meta dismissed 10% of its staff in may after announcing it would double its

1359
02:24:08,194 --> 02:24:08,194
ai apex of 72 billion from 2025, and oracle reduced its staff of 20 to 30 000 employees, which

1360
02:24:18,628 --> 02:24:18,628
coincided with the company's 248 billion investment in future data center leases.

1361
02:24:24,794 --> 02:24:24,794
sounds to me like the bubble is bursting out of just those four companies. That is 87,886 jobs

1362
02:24:33,694 --> 02:24:33,694
that have been cut. When the construction is done and the dust settles, how many

1363
02:24:39,494 --> 02:24:39,494
permanent jobs will reside at a single data center? 2030. In no way will those 2 or 3 dozen

1364
02:24:47,361 --> 02:24:47,361
jobs offset the hundreds of thousands of permanent jobs that will eventually be lost

1365
02:24:53,494 --> 02:24:53,494
across the country? Do not let them manipulate you into thinking that they are

1366
02:24:58,994 --> 02:24:58,994
beneficiaries, bringing jobs to the masses because they are not. Good evening ma'am. Hello, my

1367
02:25:11,561 --> 02:25:11,561
name is carrie kelley 21048 and I'm here to represent food and water watch. Good evening,

1368
02:25:18,028 --> 02:25:18,028
council president and council members. My name is carrie kelley, and I'm here tonight on

1369
02:25:22,428 --> 02:25:22,428
behalf of food and water watch and a few hundred of our members and supporters across

1370
02:25:26,528 --> 02:25:26,528
harford county. We strongly encourage you to pass the bill banning data centers in harford

1371
02:25:31,328 --> 02:25:31,328
county to permanently prohibit prohibit this development in the county. Food and water

1372
02:25:35,661 --> 02:25:35,661
watch is a nonprofit that works to protect the resources that our communities depend on every

1373
02:25:40,061 --> 02:25:40,061
day, including clean water, affordable utilities and a healthy environment. Data

1374
02:25:44,394 --> 02:25:44,394
center development raises serious concerns about all three. While data centers some

1375
02:25:48,728 --> 02:25:48,728
people like to assume are simple, like office buildings, they are large and industrial

1376
02:25:53,028 --> 02:25:53,028
and cause astronomical effects on the community and the environment that they surround.

1377
02:25:57,628 --> 02:25:57,628
as ai technology continues to expand, so does the demand for electrical and water facilities

1378
02:26:03,728 --> 02:26:07,328
and the growth places, increasing pressure on local infrastructure and natural resources infrastructure that harford county does not currently have. Harford county

1379
02:26:12,428 --> 02:26:12,428
should not have to risk higher utility costs, greater strain on water resources or

1380
02:26:17,528 --> 02:26:21,394
additional pressure on our power grid to accommodate a project whose impacts are still not fully understood. Once these facilities are built, the effects on the surrounding

1381
02:26:25,961 --> 02:26:25,961
communities can be very difficult to reverse. I appreciate the council's

1382
02:26:30,094 --> 02:26:34,061
willingness to take this issue seriously and to act before these developments become a reality in our county, protecting our residents, our resources and our quality of

1383
02:26:38,328 --> 02:26:38,328
life should come first. And I would like to thank you on behalf of food and water watch

1384
02:26:42,761 --> 02:26:46,694
and residents across harford county for taking this seriously and voting yes on the bill to ban data centers. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you,

1385
02:26:50,994 --> 02:26:50,994
william blocker, followed by debbie schreiber, stephanie flash, and sean maloney. Good

1386
02:27:11,728 --> 02:27:11,728
evening sir. Name and zip bill blocker 21085. As everybody else, I'm not going to go

1387
02:27:19,728 --> 02:27:23,694
statistics or anything else. This is really personal. I'm here to express strong opposition to the proposed data center at mountain ranch golf course. However, my purpose is

1388
02:27:28,061 --> 02:27:28,061
not solely to oppose the proposal. It is also to encourage thoughtful

1389
02:27:32,394 --> 02:27:35,961
consideration of more appropriate use of the land. I live on stockton road, approximately one quarter mile from the golf course. My family and I have been members of

1390
02:27:40,328 --> 02:27:40,328
mountain ranch golf course for about 20 years. I have enjoyed my membership, the course

1391
02:27:45,961 --> 02:27:45,961
itself, the people that work there. It is a fine facility. Over the years I have

1392
02:27:51,028 --> 02:27:54,361
participated in many tournaments and have helped to sponsor charitable events at the course. This issue is again deeply personal to me. However, I am deeply concerned about the

1393
02:28:01,428 --> 02:28:01,428
potential loss of natural habitat in the area, including federally protected great blue

1394
02:28:06,828 --> 02:28:06,828
heron painted turtles on number one, the monarch butterflies and the on the milkweed and the

1395
02:28:11,961 --> 02:28:11,961
fourth and fifth fairways and the piloted woodpeckers, the kingfishers and the red tailed

1396
02:28:16,528 --> 02:28:16,528
hawks that nest in the woods behind the pond on number four. This may be the end of the

1397
02:28:21,494 --> 02:28:21,494
property's use as a golf course. However, I strongly oppose the destruction of the area for an

1398
02:28:26,294 --> 02:28:26,294
incompatible use, particularly proposed data campus. We are all still learning about the

1399
02:28:32,061 --> 02:28:32,061
potential environmental and public health impacts of such facilities. I'm also concerned

1400
02:28:36,894 --> 02:28:36,894
about the potential impact on pollinators and other sensitive species that may be affected by

1401
02:28:41,728 --> 02:28:41,728
noise, vibration and other operational factors associated with the data center. I urge

1402
02:28:47,228 --> 02:28:47,228
the owners and this council to consider alternatives that are environmentally responsible,

1403
02:28:52,628 --> 02:28:55,794
compatible with surrounding neighborhoods and protective of public health and property values. I ask the council to consider a broader question. Baltimore county owns five golf

1404
02:29:00,961 --> 02:29:00,961
courses. Harford county has zero. Should harford county explore preserving this

1405
02:29:07,061 --> 02:29:07,061
property as a recreational or public asset that would serve residents now and in the future?

1406
02:29:11,694 --> 02:29:11,694
I disagree with the proposal to convert this property to a data center. Instead, I encourage

1407
02:29:15,828 --> 02:29:15,828
all parties to look forward and identify a use that preserves this beauty and environmental

1408
02:29:21,094 --> 02:29:21,094
value community benefit, rather than allowing it to become a detriment to our homes and our

1409
02:29:26,061 --> 02:29:26,061
environment. Bring on the state. Let's do it. Thank you sir. Good evening, madam debbie

1410
02:29:42,628 --> 02:29:42,628
schreiber two 1047. I was going to thank the fire and ems for all their work 24 over seven

1411
02:29:48,361 --> 02:29:48,361
protecting us, but I believe they left. Tonight. We vote for a bill to ban data centers in

1412
02:29:53,528 --> 02:29:53,528
harford county. I have lived in fallston for 48 years. Many years ago, there was an article

1413
02:29:58,928 --> 02:29:58,928
in the newspaper titled fallston the best kept secret. And all I thought was, why are

1414
02:30:05,294 --> 02:30:05,294
you telling everyone now, decades later, we have been fighting together as a

1415
02:30:09,561 --> 02:30:09,561
community to keep our land rural. The mountain branch property is zoned ag. The

1416
02:30:14,694 --> 02:30:14,694
definition of zoning refers to local government laws and regulations that dictate how

1417
02:30:19,394 --> 02:30:19,394
physical land and property can be used within a specific geographic area. It it

1418
02:30:25,194 --> 02:30:25,194
partitions the county into zones to ensure development is orderly, safe, compatible with

1419
02:30:30,594 --> 02:30:30,594
the surrounding neighborhoods. Yes, our best kept secret is now developers dream. While

1420
02:30:36,761 --> 02:30:36,761
progress is inevitable and the so-called data campus will change our landscape forever,

1421
02:30:41,694 --> 02:30:41,694
there will be no going back once this is done. I'd like most of all the people here

1422
02:30:46,794 --> 02:30:46,794
tonight. Live in the area, live in that area that we'll hear the 24 over seven humming. And

1423
02:30:53,094 --> 02:30:53,094
what about our water sources? Considering we all live on, well, water. In closing, this

1424
02:30:57,928 --> 02:30:57,928
is not the place for a data center now or ever. There is a right place and a right time

1425
02:31:03,194 --> 02:31:03,194
and this property is neither. Thank you, thank you ma'am. Good evening stephanie flash

1426
02:31:15,928 --> 02:31:15,928
21047. I'm speaking on behalf of friends of harford. So since 1997, friends of harvard has

1427
02:31:21,694 --> 02:31:21,694
worked to give citizens a voice in land use decisions that affect our community's natural

1428
02:31:27,028 --> 02:31:27,028
resources and infrastructure, and especially our quality of life. And friends of harford

1429
02:31:31,628 --> 02:31:31,628
supports this bill to prohibit the permitted use in any zoning district. Harford county

1430
02:31:37,761 --> 02:31:37,761
supports balancing growth with preserving agricultural land, open space, natural resources

1431
02:31:43,694 --> 02:31:43,694
and our community character, and these priorities are already reflected in what our

1432
02:31:48,561 --> 02:31:48,561
county council has put forward regarding the master land use plan, zoning regulations,

1433
02:31:53,728 --> 02:31:57,328
agricultural preservation programs, and recently completed the comprehensive rezoning process. Two planning efforts should guide this council on this decision. First,

1434
02:32:04,128 --> 02:32:04,128
harford county's master land use plan is now entering the update process and it will

1435
02:32:09,128 --> 02:32:09,128
establish county legislation, long term vision for growth, preservation, infrastructure

1436
02:32:14,228 --> 02:32:14,228
and our community character. So residents should have the opportunity to participate in

1437
02:32:19,261 --> 02:32:19,261
shaping the vision and discussing the long term implications of emerging land

1438
02:32:24,361 --> 02:32:24,361
uses in our county. Second, the recently completed comprehensive rezoning provided

1439
02:32:30,828 --> 02:32:30,828
a county wide evaluation on land use and development intensity. Already, and through

1440
02:32:36,161 --> 02:32:36,161
that process, the county carefully considered where growth should occur and the

1441
02:32:41,561 --> 02:32:41,561
level of intensity appropriate in the various areas. And that was not up zoned. Friends of

1442
02:32:47,328 --> 02:32:47,328
harford believes that huge data centers like the one proposed represents a land use that is

1443
02:32:52,728 --> 02:32:52,728
fundamentally different in scale, infrastructure demands and long term impacts of the

1444
02:32:58,894 --> 02:32:58,894
types of developments permitted through our planning efforts. And so the potential of the

1445
02:33:04,194 --> 02:33:04,194
impacts on our agricultural land, infrastructure planning, natural resources, community

1446
02:33:09,628 --> 02:33:09,628
character warrant careful consideration by the context of the county's long term planning

1447
02:33:15,261 --> 02:33:15,261
for our growth. Bill 26011 supports harford county's long standing commitment to

1448
02:33:21,461 --> 02:33:21,461
protecting these areas and preserving our community character. We need to plan for

1449
02:33:27,261 --> 02:33:27,261
growth in a manner that reflects the values and priorities in establishing

1450
02:33:32,428 --> 02:33:32,428
within our master land use plan. Already, for these reasons, friends of harford respectfully

1451
02:33:38,128 --> 02:33:38,128
urges you to support 26-011. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, president vicente and the rest

1452
02:33:49,928 --> 02:33:49,928
of the council. Shaun maloney 21085. I'm currently building a new house in 21047. Starting to

1453
02:33:57,661 --> 02:33:57,661
worry. It was a bad, bad decision. So I appreciate your your ban on this. Put me put me

1454
02:34:02,261 --> 02:34:02,261
back in a good frame of mind. As a small business owner and president of an association

1455
02:34:07,061 --> 02:34:07,061
that represents over 200 contractors, I work with the psc, the utility companies and

1456
02:34:11,528 --> 02:34:11,528
legislators at the state level to advocate on behalf of what's best for the ratepayers of the

1457
02:34:15,994 --> 02:34:15,994
state of maryland in their legislation. I've always hate to say I told you so in my

1458
02:34:20,061 --> 02:34:20,061
testimony, but I've had no problem doing it. I spoke with u.s. Senator chris van hollen

1459
02:34:24,128 --> 02:34:27,994
about four years ago, and I warned him that the newly passed climate solutions now act of 2022 would cause sky high utility rates and rolling blackouts and brownouts. I told

1460
02:34:32,828 --> 02:34:32,828
him that I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that voters don't like sky high

1461
02:34:37,394 --> 02:34:37,394
utility rates and blackouts and brownouts. You know, he came out the following week and

1462
02:34:41,528 --> 02:34:41,528
recommended that we look more into it. So I like to think that I had something to do with

1463
02:34:46,228 --> 02:34:50,228
that. But here we are today, and I told you so. But we're pushing forward anyway. Governor moore has increased the already aggressive goals of that legislation, including

1464
02:34:53,494 --> 02:34:57,094
full electrification of the state of maryland, including the ban of gas powered vehicles in 2035 and the ban on the sale of gas, oil and propane heating systems and water heaters in

1465
02:35:03,361 --> 02:35:03,361
2029. This was all before data centers came into the equation, which has exponentially

1466
02:35:08,094 --> 02:35:11,361
compounded the impending problems. But governor moore apparently doesn't have the same fear of it being an election year as some in this room do. After the recently

1467
02:35:16,028 --> 02:35:16,028
vetoed two bipartisan bills to perform studies on data centers and their effects in maryland,

1468
02:35:20,694 --> 02:35:20,694
his veto was overturned, which shows you that even in maryland, the system works. In an

1469
02:35:24,994 --> 02:35:24,994
election year, you see money talks, but money doesn't vote. Data centers may bring in

1470
02:35:30,394 --> 02:35:34,361
substantial amounts of revenue, but the voters of harford county and baltimore county as well, with their moratorium, have recognized that. They also bring in the many obvious

1471
02:35:38,428 --> 02:35:38,428
problems with an increasing likelihood that not only in the hottest weather, but is more

1472
02:35:42,694 --> 02:35:42,694
and more electricity is required for heating systems and ev charging. There will be

1473
02:35:46,961 --> 02:35:46,961
blackouts and brownouts in extreme cold weather as well as a result, since it will take

1474
02:35:51,294 --> 02:35:54,828
billions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades that we don't have and can't afford, especially with the horrendous amortization deals that multiply the costs that are

1475
02:35:58,394 --> 02:36:02,061
expensed through our utility bills so legislators can impress high dollar donors from special interest groups. I appreciate your likely unanimous vote on the ban at

1476
02:36:06,161 --> 02:36:06,161
the county level tonight, but this is not the end. After the ban, the data center lobbyists

1477
02:36:10,428 --> 02:36:10,428
and lawyers will ultimately push the state legislator for a ban on data center bans at the

1478
02:36:15,028 --> 02:36:15,028
county levels. So I want to remind and recommend to people to reach out to their local

1479
02:36:19,428 --> 02:36:23,361
delegates and senators to make them aware of how important this is to you as their constituents. I've spoken to multiple legislators that I've worked with over the years and

1480
02:36:27,194 --> 02:36:31,128
recommended to them the importance of this issue. That will be on par with utility rate issue that's dominated election year politics for the last several months. The

1481
02:36:34,494 --> 02:36:38,128
council should have letters in support for the ban from senator jb jennings and delegates teresa riley, ryan naraqi and kathy schlager, to name a few. So do your part and

1482
02:36:43,161 --> 02:36:47,094
reach out to your representatives, make your voices heard, and also talk to people that you know who live in other counties, who have other delegates and other

1483
02:36:51,428 --> 02:36:51,428
senators, and let them know how important, if it can happen in harford county, it can happen

1484
02:36:55,761 --> 02:36:55,761
there as well. Thank you for your time. Thank you sir. Don rossi, followed by angelia

1485
02:37:03,961 --> 02:37:03,961
galati. I don't know if the previous person came up. Yeah, I'm anjali galati here from

1486
02:37:25,228 --> 02:37:25,228
21009. Good evening. Esteemed council members and fellow harford county residents. I'm

1487
02:37:31,028 --> 02:37:31,028
here representing the organization. I work with interfaith power and light dmv,

1488
02:37:35,361 --> 02:37:35,361
which is a faith based nonprofit working with congregations across the dc,

1489
02:37:40,728 --> 02:37:44,661
maryland, northern virginia region to respond to climate change and to protect our climate, environment and communities. This is very close to home, as I was, you know,

1490
02:37:50,194 --> 02:37:50,194
born and raised right in abingdon, right off singer road with the woods in my back yard,

1491
02:37:56,228 --> 02:37:56,228
touching the woods that are behind the golf course while I now live in baltimore city.

1492
02:38:02,328 --> 02:38:02,328
harford county will always be home. And, you know, driving past mountain ranch golf club

1493
02:38:07,328 --> 02:38:07,328
nearly every day I've been around the world. Nowhere is more beautiful than our shared

1494
02:38:12,828 --> 02:38:12,828
home here in harford county. From the landscapes, the waterways, farms and

1495
02:38:18,128 --> 02:38:18,128
communities of this county that's shaped who I am. So that's why I'm here tonight. In

1496
02:38:22,828 --> 02:38:22,828
support of the proposed ban on hyperscale data centers, the people of faith. We are called

1497
02:38:28,828 --> 02:38:28,828
to be good stewards of creation and to leave future generations a world that is healthy,

1498
02:38:33,661 --> 02:38:33,661
livable, and abundant. That responsibility requires us to carefully consider projects

1499
02:38:38,694 --> 02:38:38,694
that would place extraordinary demands on our land, water and energy systems. We don't really

1500
02:38:44,161 --> 02:38:44,161
have to speculate about what these facilities can mean for communities, because we've

1501
02:38:48,694 --> 02:38:48,694
already seen it in northern virginia, just down the road where hyperscale data center

1502
02:38:53,728 --> 02:38:53,728
development has transformed entire landscapes and placed enormous pressure on energy

1503
02:38:58,828 --> 02:39:02,794
infrastructure, maryland residents are already struggling with some of the sharpest utility bill increases in the country, adding massive new electricity demands to an

1504
02:39:10,394 --> 02:39:10,394
already strained grid raises serious questions about affordability, reliability and

1505
02:39:14,661 --> 02:39:14,661
ultimately, who bears the cost. Water is another major concern. Data centers can consume

1506
02:39:19,294 --> 02:39:19,294
millions of gallons of water annually for cooling, and even where operators promise

1507
02:39:24,294 --> 02:39:24,294
efficient technologies, those commitments can change over time. We don't have the

1508
02:39:28,828 --> 02:39:28,828
regulations in place to mandate those, and once construction begins, local governments have

1509
02:39:33,528 --> 02:39:33,528
much more limited leverage to address the unforeseen impacts. Harford county shouldn't gamble

1510
02:39:38,728 --> 02:39:38,728
with resources that families, farms, ecosystems and future generations depend upon.

1511
02:39:44,161 --> 02:39:44,161
residents across the country have also reported significant quality of life impacts from

1512
02:39:48,561 --> 02:39:48,561
data centers, including constant noise from cooling equipment and backup generators.

1513
02:39:53,128 --> 02:39:53,128
beyond the impacts on nearby neighborhoods, persistent industrial noise can disrupt

1514
02:39:57,861 --> 02:39:57,861
wildlife, including pollinators and other species that are essential to healthy ecosystems

1515
02:40:02,094 --> 02:40:02,094
and food systems. You know, we're constantly told that rapid ai expansion is

1516
02:40:07,528 --> 02:40:07,528
inevitable and what we need and we simply must accommodate, but what we actually need is water

1517
02:40:12,994 --> 02:40:12,994
and food and air to breathe and land to live on. And we know that we're data centers are

1518
02:40:19,661 --> 02:40:23,461
built. All of these are negatively impacted. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Brian cornell, followed by lisa mathis, jessica riley hammond and christy heisey.

1519
02:40:37,161 --> 02:40:37,161
well, the first one again, brian cornell.

1520
02:40:56,794 --> 02:40:56,794
good evening, sir. Good evening, brian cornell two 1085. What we

1521
02:41:04,761 --> 02:41:04,761
experienced in the last two months, I like to compare to what I imagined feels like

1522
02:41:10,194 --> 02:41:10,194
getting smashed by a once in a lifetime storm. Our small community was rocked by this

1523
02:41:16,361 --> 02:41:16,361
unexpected storm and immediately went into action by going door to door, checking on

1524
02:41:22,428 --> 02:41:22,428
everyone to see if they were okay. And then our small community quickly grew and

1525
02:41:27,128 --> 02:41:27,128
spread across the county and into neighboring counties. Neighbors started coming out of

1526
02:41:32,961 --> 02:41:32,961
their homes and started supporting one another, shaking hands and hugging folks that

1527
02:41:37,194 --> 02:41:37,194
they've lived down the road from their entire lives. And some were meeting for the first,

1528
02:41:42,228 --> 02:41:42,228
very first time, but they all had the same concerns. Looking back, I would never wish these

1529
02:41:48,328 --> 02:41:48,328
circumstances on any community. But in a strange way, I'm very thankful for this chapter of my

1530
02:41:54,094 --> 02:41:54,094
life. I'm thankful for the lifelong friendships and the bond that has been forged from

1531
02:42:00,628 --> 02:42:00,628
being in the trenches together. There are many new friends sitting in this room tonight

1532
02:42:05,661 --> 02:42:05,661
that have each other's backs, and we never would have met if this storm never showed up. I'd

1533
02:42:13,694 --> 02:42:13,694
like to say something else about another neighbor that we share, and I like to reference

1534
02:42:18,728 --> 02:42:18,728
scripture to help explain. In the book of luke, there's a situation where an expert of

1535
02:42:25,161 --> 02:42:25,161
the law challenges jesus. He asked jesus, what must I do to gain eternal life? Jesus's

1536
02:42:34,161 --> 02:42:34,161
answer was simple, but probably somewhat annoying to the expert. Jesus simply said, love god

1537
02:42:42,094 --> 02:42:42,094
with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And then jesus added

1538
02:42:48,828 --> 02:42:48,828
one more command love your neighbor. With that said, I'd like to reiterate something

1539
02:42:56,294 --> 02:42:56,294
that we prayed about the first time we met up as a group. We prayed for bill, the owner of

1540
02:43:02,561 --> 02:43:02,561
mountain branch. We pray because we learn that bill has been struggling as a business

1541
02:43:08,194 --> 02:43:08,194
owner owner, and it was difficult to know that one of our neighbors was struggling,

1542
02:43:13,994 --> 02:43:13,994
even though we didn't agree with his plans for a solution. I just want bill to know that

1543
02:43:20,528 --> 02:43:20,528
he is my neighbor, who I also care about. We are just trying to do what we know is right for

1544
02:43:29,194 --> 02:43:29,194
all our families and all our neighbors for generations to come. So that brings us to

1545
02:43:36,628 --> 02:43:36,628
tonight and the decision that we must make. Let me just admit that sometimes as I listen to

1546
02:43:42,428 --> 02:43:42,428
the local news, I wonder if there is a perfect place in this country to live in these

1547
02:43:48,861 --> 02:43:48,861
moments, I often look past our neighborhoods imagining that perfect place. But tonight, we

1548
02:43:54,461 --> 02:43:54,461
have an opportunity to lead our state. We have an opportunity to be the first county in the

1549
02:44:00,128 --> 02:44:00,128
state and the second county in the nation to ban data center development and boldly say,

1550
02:44:06,894 --> 02:44:06,894
there are some things that you just can't put a price tag on. With that said, knowing that

1551
02:44:14,894 --> 02:44:14,894
there really is only one perfect place that we're trying to all trying to get to. I

1552
02:44:20,294 --> 02:44:20,294
believe that a very special, great place might just be right under our nose, right? Your

1553
02:44:26,861 --> 02:44:26,861
time is up. That great place to live and raise a family that is worth protecting is our land,

1554
02:44:33,228 --> 02:44:33,228
our home, and our harford county. Thank you. Good evening, ma'am. Name and zip. Lisa

1555
02:44:44,161 --> 02:44:44,161
mathis 21085. A happy, productive, thriving community is what we all want. And a

1556
02:44:58,494 --> 02:44:58,494
community like that that has trust in their local government, in the people around them, in

1557
02:45:04,228 --> 02:45:04,228
their neighborhoods, it's priceless. As a newborn, I came home from the hospital to olney

1558
02:45:12,894 --> 02:45:12,894
farm, which is between stockton and old joppa road, and I live there now. Multiple generations

1559
02:45:22,061 --> 02:45:22,061
of my family have lived there on the farm. It's a working farm. My cousin kate keeps it

1560
02:45:30,528 --> 02:45:30,528
thriving. When we grew up, we were like a. My cousins and my siblings and I. We were like a

1561
02:45:39,261 --> 02:45:39,261
pack of hoodlums running around, climbing trees, playing in the streams. We turn around now and

1562
02:45:46,761 --> 02:45:46,761
we say, what? Where were our mothers? Did they not know what we were doing? You know, we

1563
02:45:54,994 --> 02:45:54,994
climbed up in the hay barn. Fell out of the hay barn. My brother taught me how to drive

1564
02:45:59,528 --> 02:45:59,528
a tractor. I couldn't figure out the brakes. And I did happen to go halfway over a

1565
02:46:05,961 --> 02:46:05,961
pile of firewood. I lived anyway. Many people in harford county grew up like this. At

1566
02:46:14,894 --> 02:46:14,894
least I think so. It's part of what we are. It's a rural county. It's beautiful. It's

1567
02:46:22,661 --> 02:46:22,661
full of history and agriculture. My cousin kate, who runs a good bit of olney farm, she has

1568
02:46:32,028 --> 02:46:32,028
summer camps, summer equestrian camps. She also has farm camp for little kids. My niece and

1569
02:46:39,261 --> 02:46:39,261
nephew from nashville come up because these kids get to experience what it's like to

1570
02:46:46,861 --> 02:46:46,861
live on a farm. They get to play in the streams, catch minnows, crayfish. They get to

1571
02:46:54,761 --> 02:46:54,761
forage around and pick up acorns and see what they can do with them. They get to make

1572
02:47:00,261 --> 02:47:00,261
butter. They play with the ponies. They ride the ponies. You know, when we were growing

1573
02:47:05,628 --> 02:47:05,628
up, we we rode shetlands. We used to go out in the field and put a little rope on them and

1574
02:47:12,794 --> 02:47:12,794
ride around the fields, grateful we didn't break our necks. We'd like to keep that.

1575
02:47:21,394 --> 02:47:21,394
I'm grateful to the council for passing this bill tonight. I hope you haven't changed your

1576
02:47:27,161 --> 02:47:27,161
minds. But our trust has been shaken. The the misinformation or the omission of information

1577
02:47:37,894 --> 02:47:37,894
on the data center that they've proposed. You know, I'm getting pretty darn tired of hearing

1578
02:47:44,494 --> 02:47:44,494
about this magic closed loop system. You know, it didn't take that much sleuthing for me

1579
02:47:50,528 --> 02:47:50,528
to figure out that it does have to be flushed. You know, as as it's been pointed out multiple

1580
02:47:57,361 --> 02:47:57,361
times. We don't have public water and sewer out there, so let's not brush it all under

1581
02:48:05,261 --> 02:48:05,261
the rug. Well, I'm running out of time. Shucks. Golly. I would just like to say it would be

1582
02:48:12,694 --> 02:48:12,694
nice to stand firm and preserve. Thank you. Ma'am. Agricultural zoning. Thank you. Jessica

1583
02:48:21,794 --> 02:48:21,794
riley hammond, followed by kristi heisey and ellie corney. Good evening, jessica riley

1584
02:48:34,094 --> 02:48:34,094
hammond, bel air, two 1015. I'm a candidate for county council in district c as well. Lisa, I

1585
02:48:42,394 --> 02:48:42,394
don't know where you went, but I want you to know I learned how to ride at olney as a child.

1586
02:48:48,128 --> 02:48:48,128
I wholeheartedly support this ban. Harford county has made its position clear and it's

1587
02:48:53,628 --> 02:48:53,628
just the right thing to do. Residents have shown up, spoken out and repeatedly said they do

1588
02:48:59,294 --> 02:48:59,294
not want large scale data centers in our community. This is not about being

1589
02:49:05,494 --> 02:49:05,494
anti-technology. It's about protecting our water, our farmland, our natural

1590
02:49:09,761 --> 02:49:09,761
environment, our infrastructure and the character of our county. Once these facilities are built,

1591
02:49:15,528 --> 02:49:15,528
the impacts can last for decades. Tonight, we have an opportunity to put our

1592
02:49:20,494 --> 02:49:20,494
community first and provide certainty to the many residents that have been asking for it. I

1593
02:49:27,828 --> 02:49:27,828
urge you to vote in favor of the ban, and luckily, I believe you will. The next step will be

1594
02:49:33,528 --> 02:49:33,528
pushing for this at the state level, which I've already been already begun doing. I spoke to

1595
02:49:39,694 --> 02:49:39,694
delegate susan mccomas on the phone yesterday. I've been in touch with mary delaney james.

1596
02:49:44,694 --> 02:49:44,694
this is going to require probably more of a fight than we've already had so far. The

1597
02:49:50,761 --> 02:49:50,761
encouraging thing is how organized and strong our community has been. I have to

1598
02:49:57,528 --> 02:49:57,528
say, I started posting about this on social media, and bill paulsen here got in touch with

1599
02:50:03,528 --> 02:50:03,528
me, I believe, and invited me to the meeting that I went to at brian cornell's farm, and

1600
02:50:10,294 --> 02:50:10,294
all I knew was that a community member was asking me to come do something that was important. I

1601
02:50:15,294 --> 02:50:15,294
was already really into the data center situation. I didn't know the people. I knew it was

1602
02:50:21,194 --> 02:50:21,194
at someone's house. I was afraid I might be murdered, but it was that important that I

1603
02:50:26,428 --> 02:50:26,428
went anyway. And here I am. I'm alive and well, and I've met these wonderful people and this

1604
02:50:32,528 --> 02:50:32,528
wonderful organization. So I want to thank you all for inviting me, for coming

1605
02:50:37,561 --> 02:50:37,561
together to fight this and just know that I'm here with you. And we're going to need to keep

1606
02:50:42,728 --> 02:50:46,728
doing this going forward. And there's no reason to wait. Start the fight now at the state level. Thank you. And thank you all for supporting the ban. Thank you ma'am. Don't

1607
02:50:59,128 --> 02:50:59,128
worry. I'm not talking. Not worried at all. Good evening ma'am. Name and zip. Christine

1608
02:51:07,161 --> 02:51:07,161
heisey 21047. I have been in harford county my entire life, which is more years than I want

1609
02:51:12,994 --> 02:51:12,994
to admit. I remember when box hill was a was a dirt track for a long time. Our whole lives we

1610
02:51:23,928 --> 02:51:23,928
learned that we're stewards of the chesapeake bay, and we want to put this data center in an

1611
02:51:28,761 --> 02:51:28,761
area where it's going to impact all of our rivers. We've got the gunpowder, we've got deer

1612
02:51:34,828 --> 02:51:34,828
creek, we've got winters run, we've got the susquehanna. It's not going to be limited to this

1613
02:51:40,594 --> 02:51:40,594
six miles that they show on maps. There's going to be things that are going to happen.

1614
02:51:46,361 --> 02:51:46,361
they've talked about the increase in the temperatures. What is that going to do

1615
02:51:51,061 --> 02:51:51,061
overall? How is this going to fan out? What's it going to do to the bay? What's it going to

1616
02:51:55,694 --> 02:51:55,694
do to the crab population. What's it going to do to the bass population. There's a lot

1617
02:52:00,494 --> 02:52:00,494
more things involved here. If you look at the maps of all the data centers in the us, this

1618
02:52:05,761 --> 02:52:05,761
just kind of clicked for me earlier tonight. We talk all about global warming. Maybe

1619
02:52:11,861 --> 02:52:11,861
there's a lot more to it than the cows. Maybe it has something to do with the data

1620
02:52:16,261 --> 02:52:16,261
centers and they're just not going to tell us, you know, the, the, the key people at the top

1621
02:52:23,128 --> 02:52:23,128
are making decisions for all of us. They're they're multibillionaires trillionaires,

1622
02:52:30,994 --> 02:52:30,994
and they have an end game. And we're just little ants in that end game, they really don't

1623
02:52:37,061 --> 02:52:37,061
care. So what is this push for all of these data centers? Why do we need all of this? We

1624
02:52:42,161 --> 02:52:42,161
really don't. We don't. I don't need to be told at every training that I go to for real

1625
02:52:49,728 --> 02:52:49,728
estate, that I need to use ai, that I need to make it create songs for me, that I need it to

1626
02:52:54,861 --> 02:52:54,861
do this, that, and the other thing, the big thing with all of those trainings that I go to,

1627
02:52:59,828 --> 02:52:59,828
the big concern everybody has is they say the public wants to know what's real and down the

1628
02:53:04,794 --> 02:53:04,794
road, we're not going to know what's real. They want to see people in the flesh. We don't

1629
02:53:10,528 --> 02:53:10,528
need more ai. As far as mountain branch goes, it's just a sad situation, and I feel bad

1630
02:53:17,394 --> 02:53:17,394
for the owner that he's mismanaged things the way that he has. He should not be in

1631
02:53:22,461 --> 02:53:22,461
this situation. He's told us a lot of things and made a lot of promises. I feel like he's a

1632
02:53:27,728 --> 02:53:27,728
two tongued snake. I love eating at mountain branch. I go there a lot, you know, but I

1633
02:53:34,761 --> 02:53:34,761
just don't feel that he would ever follow through on anything that he's promised. From a real

1634
02:53:41,161 --> 02:53:41,161
estate standpoint. I had a lot of people ask me what would happen to the values of their

1635
02:53:46,161 --> 02:53:46,161
homes. Would they be able to sell their homes in the fallston area, joppa area? I

1636
02:53:53,028 --> 02:53:53,028
pulled numbers a couple weeks ago, and I want to say that probably between two and

1637
02:54:05,028 --> 02:54:05,028
047210852109210 is one three for kingsville. That no. One eight that there's there's

1638
02:54:12,094 --> 02:54:12,094
about 7000 homes. I don't know how that aquifer moves under that, but we are all well and

1639
02:54:18,561 --> 02:54:18,561
septic. So sure, as sure as we're all here that water is going to get contaminated.

1640
02:54:24,794 --> 02:54:24,794
there's wells that are going to go dry and there's people's perks that are going to fail.

1641
02:54:29,761 --> 02:54:29,761
and then what do we do? What do you do with those houses? Nobody's going to want them.

1642
02:54:34,428 --> 02:54:34,428
it's a huge tax base. So please don't turn your back on the people of those areas. Please

1643
02:54:41,328 --> 02:54:41,328
vote for this ban. And thank you. Thank you ma'am. Good evening ma'am. Good evening.

1644
02:54:55,761 --> 02:54:55,761
I'm ellie torney 21085. Good evening, council members, member of the community,

1645
02:55:01,761 --> 02:55:01,761
friends, family and special guests. My name is ellie torney. I am 16 years old and I am a

1646
02:55:07,528 --> 02:55:07,528
rising junior in high school. My whole life I've lived in this area and will always

1647
02:55:11,761 --> 02:55:11,761
consider this slice of maryland. My home. Harford county, has a special place in my heart with

1648
02:55:16,261 --> 02:55:16,261
its beautiful farmland and dense woods. I love how harford is not crowded with tall

1649
02:55:21,928 --> 02:55:21,928
buildings and apartments, even though yes, there are big neighborhoods, they are not

1650
02:55:26,528 --> 02:55:26,528
very crowded and there is still trees wherever you look. Growing up in a more rural area,

1651
02:55:31,294 --> 02:55:31,294
I learned a lot about life, like how to get my hands dirty, take care of myself, ride

1652
02:55:36,028 --> 02:55:36,028
horses at only farm, hunt fish, and how to be a master at playing tag in the woods. All

1653
02:55:41,894 --> 02:55:41,894
jokes aside for now, if these data centers were to be built on land that's covered by trees

1654
02:55:46,894 --> 02:55:46,894
and on land that's used for agriculture, not only would it ruin harford, but the damage to

1655
02:55:52,194 --> 02:55:52,194
the environment would be detrimental. Mass removal of trees takes away habitats for

1656
02:55:56,961 --> 02:55:56,961
wildlife, putting their lives in danger. With less woods, more deer would wander into

1657
02:56:01,594 --> 02:56:01,594
heavily populated areas and roads, causing more car accidents, and harmed the

1658
02:56:06,261 --> 02:56:06,261
community. Along with biodiversity going down, carbon emissions would go up, there

1659
02:56:10,928 --> 02:56:10,928
would be soil erosion and altered microclimate, and property value would drop

1660
02:56:15,994 --> 02:56:15,994
significantly. Now I ask you, are you willing to destroy woods and farmland for

1661
02:56:20,861 --> 02:56:20,861
something like data centers? Data centers also produce loud noise, which would cause even

1662
02:56:25,361 --> 02:56:25,361
more problems for our community. Besides destroying the environment, you would be

1663
02:56:29,661 --> 02:56:33,428
destroying the lives of generations to come. No farmland means no petting zoos where kids can experience animals and get hands on experience. No woods means kids

1664
02:56:38,728 --> 02:56:38,728
won't go outside, climb trees, ride horses, or learn how to hunt and fish. You'd be setting

1665
02:56:44,594 --> 02:56:44,594
up future generations for failure. So what I ask from all of you is to look into your

1666
02:56:49,461 --> 02:56:49,461
heart and ask yourself, are these data centers really necessary in harford county and

1667
02:56:54,494 --> 02:56:54,494
worth the cost of our children? Please pass the emergency legislation to ban data centers

1668
02:56:59,628 --> 02:56:59,628
in harford county. Doing so will honor the present and protect our future. Because

1669
02:57:04,328 --> 02:57:04,328
this is our land, our home, our harford. Thank you and have a good night. Thank you ma'am.

1670
02:57:12,394 --> 02:57:12,394
paul de manado and matthew brown. Paul de manado 21014. First I'm going to start with

1671
02:57:28,361 --> 02:57:28,361
jimmy was right. Harford county. We do have more data centers than a lot of people are aware

1672
02:57:33,628 --> 02:57:33,628
of. There's depending upon the standards bodies, there's 4 to 5 different tiers of data

1673
02:57:39,828 --> 02:57:39,828
centers, with the smallest being only a couple hundred square feet. I am adamantly

1674
02:57:44,994 --> 02:57:44,994
opposed to harford county hosting hyperscale data centers. The size and mass of those in

1675
02:57:49,761 --> 02:57:49,761
loudoun county. Bill 26-011, as written and introduced, is flawed. Maybe it was a rush by

1676
02:57:56,561 --> 02:57:56,561
the county administration with little consultation to score political points in an election

1677
02:58:00,894 --> 02:58:00,894
year. They said during the testimony that the research that comprehensively there's

1678
02:58:06,128 --> 02:58:06,128
some flaws in the definition that they're using. The bill text data center shall be

1679
02:58:11,194 --> 02:58:11,194
defined as a building or group of buildings, a substantial portion of which is used to

1680
02:58:16,594 --> 02:58:16,594
house computer systems, computer storage equipment, network systems, and associated

1681
02:58:21,594 --> 02:58:21,594
infrastructure that individuals or entities use to organize, process, store and disseminate

1682
02:58:26,994 --> 02:58:26,994
voluminous amounts of data, often for a fee. Who in the room has a smartphone? Who has

1683
02:58:33,561 --> 02:58:33,561
internet to your house? A lot of people don't realize a cell tower actually has a building

1684
02:58:42,128 --> 02:58:42,128
behind it that is roughly 200 to 400ft■!s. The building is dedicated with nothing but

1685
02:58:48,228 --> 02:58:48,228
racks of computer equipment, carrier equipment. This band means no more cell towers, not

1686
02:58:55,394 --> 02:58:55,394
the towers themselves, but the carrier equipment that feeds our cell phones to work. Edge

1687
02:59:02,994 --> 02:59:02,994
processing nodes. Internet going to your house, the old telephone switch buildings so

1688
02:59:08,394 --> 02:59:08,394
south, a street in bel air, the brick building from verizon that is a data center. The old

1689
02:59:17,061 --> 02:59:17,061
telephone switches. What it was all copper and everything. It's now software defined networking.

1690
02:59:22,461 --> 02:59:22,461
it's all software based equipment racks, computer equipment, network equipment.

1691
02:59:27,494 --> 02:59:27,494
jimmy was right. We have a lot of those buildings around there means no more expansion in our

1692
02:59:34,028 --> 02:59:34,028
county. It means you can forget about technology upgrades. If we get new cell phones, we're

1693
02:59:40,061 --> 02:59:40,061
going to be in the dark ages. Now, I'm not advocating that we don't do the ban. I'm

1694
02:59:45,861 --> 02:59:45,861
advocating that we actually amend our ban language. Some of the ban language out there

1695
02:59:50,894 --> 02:59:54,728
actually put some size limitations and power consumption and that type of stuff. Aberdeen proving ground is the largest employer in harford county, with 21000

1696
03:00:01,328 --> 03:00:01,328
civilians. Military and contractor support an army across technology, spectrum and

1697
03:00:05,994 --> 03:00:05,994
innovation. There is a large push for partnerships with industry, a move towards

1698
03:00:10,994 --> 03:00:10,994
commercial technology to include pilot programs and commercial connectivity, not

1699
03:00:15,728 --> 03:00:15,728
just on the posts but also in the surrounding areas. This will severely limit harford

1700
03:00:21,894 --> 03:00:21,894
county's ability to support our largest employer. If they go that route, the band's going to

1701
03:00:27,728 --> 03:00:27,728
be challenged in court. We've already heard that our present county administration seems to

1702
03:00:31,761 --> 03:00:31,761
always want to go to court as a norm, wasting our taxpayer dollars, and they don't have a

1703
03:00:36,728 --> 03:00:36,728
stellar record. I would have rather seen the moratorium that councilman bennett proposed

1704
03:00:42,761 --> 03:00:42,761
with very strict zoning criteria based on residential proximity to residential zones,

1705
03:00:47,794 --> 03:00:47,794
environmental protections, infrastructure, noise size limitations. I'm all for the

1706
03:00:53,128 --> 03:00:53,128
ban, but I think we have to amend it. Thank you. Good evening, sir damon. Matthew

1707
03:01:01,494 --> 03:01:01,494
brown 21015. Good evening everybody. My name is matthew brown. I'm one of your primary

1708
03:01:06,828 --> 03:01:06,828
county executive candidates, and I don't want to rehash what we've talked about for hours

1709
03:01:11,061 --> 03:01:11,061
now when it comes to data center, but I've spoken to a lot at this time, being here

1710
03:01:15,261 --> 03:01:15,261
almost weekly. We talk about an issue when it's arrived, been very reactionary. We speak

1711
03:01:20,561 --> 03:01:20,561
about proactiveness, but what I'd like to speak on is how did we get here? Does anyone know

1712
03:01:25,828 --> 03:01:25,828
the man named chris wright? That is your current secretary of energy. That is the man

1713
03:01:33,528 --> 03:01:33,528
appointed in february 3rd, 2025 by the current administration, who has been at the forefront

1714
03:01:39,961 --> 03:01:39,961
of this data center movement. In fact, february 12th on our own wb baltimore, he spoke to

1715
03:01:47,528 --> 03:01:47,528
how data centers would not lead to increased pricing and energy, not to lead to increased costs

1716
03:01:53,361 --> 03:01:53,361
of housing. He's a forefront of saying that this is not going to hurt the average american.

1717
03:01:59,394 --> 03:01:59,394
he's been at the forefront of combating everyone's favorite governor here. In fact, the

1718
03:02:04,528 --> 03:02:04,528
bill that was passed with the utilization of energy was made to directly combat the push for

1719
03:02:10,228 --> 03:02:10,228
data centers. Am I trying to say that everything our government has done is correct?

1720
03:02:15,194 --> 03:02:15,194
absolutely not. I disagree with him too. But what I am hearing is a lot of people are not

1721
03:02:20,128 --> 03:02:20,128
going far enough. A lot of people say this is just the beginning and that is correct.

1722
03:02:24,361 --> 03:02:24,361
it's not just the state, it's the federal level. It's the person in charge of the

1723
03:02:30,361 --> 03:02:30,361
entirety of american energy who's been pushing for these data centers and prioritizing

1724
03:02:36,428 --> 03:02:36,428
our energy. He has made it his mission that he wants to push this for the betterment of

1725
03:02:41,461 --> 03:02:41,461
america in his mind. And like you said, you feel like you're getting bullied. You feel like

1726
03:02:46,194 --> 03:02:46,194
the state is pushing you aside and disregarding your feelings for your area. But is it truly

1727
03:02:51,661 --> 03:02:51,661
the state? Did you dig deep enough? Because ultimately speaking, our governor is

1728
03:02:58,528 --> 03:02:58,528
trying. But just as the county can be bullied by the state, the state can be bullied by the

1729
03:03:04,961 --> 03:03:04,961
federal government. And I would hope people would do a little more due diligence to realize,

1730
03:03:10,261 --> 03:03:10,261
where does stuff start? There's always a beginning that we overlook because we're too

1731
03:03:16,461 --> 03:03:16,461
focused on the now. And the other thing I want to highlight is, while I am amazed at the

1732
03:03:21,861 --> 03:03:21,861
level of participation, involvement, groups, everything being done to preserve harford

1733
03:03:28,694 --> 03:03:28,694
county, I want to see that same level of energy in progressing the county. Where are the

1734
03:03:35,561 --> 03:03:35,561
people speaking to transportation? There was a whole thing when it comes to

1735
03:03:40,561 --> 03:03:40,561
transportation reform or transportation bill months ago. Haven't heard a peep about it.

1736
03:03:45,228 --> 03:03:45,228
there is issues bringing up when it comes to regulating the school board. We've had that

1737
03:03:50,361 --> 03:03:50,361
back and forth, of course. What about the loss of the hospital? That's how that's affecting

1738
03:03:55,328 --> 03:03:55,328
senior living homes and their ability to get their medication and their care. Where is that?

1739
03:03:59,994 --> 03:03:59,994
and this is not, I would say, a fault of the county council itself. I would say it's about

1740
03:04:06,028 --> 03:04:06,028
our priorities. We all unanimously agree that we don't want the data centers. We've

1741
03:04:10,894 --> 03:04:10,894
been talking about this for two months now. It was pretty much a unanimous decision, but where

1742
03:04:14,961 --> 03:04:14,961
is the time and energy spent to what is actively needed in the county right now? I understand

1743
03:04:20,928 --> 03:04:20,928
preserving the identity of harford county. I want to do that too, in my capacity as

1744
03:04:25,394 --> 03:04:29,394
county executive, but I also want to make sure that we look at the active problems currently facing before the problems that appear. Thank you, thank you. There are no more

1745
03:04:34,828 --> 03:04:34,828
speakers, mr. President. With no more speakers. Before I conclude this public hearing, I

1746
03:04:43,594 --> 03:04:43,594
want to take a minute. Council, if I may, and recognize senator jb jennings in the audience. Jb,

1747
03:04:51,194 --> 03:04:51,194
I don't know if you want to say anything, but you're more than welcome if you'd like to, on

1748
03:04:56,094 --> 03:04:56,094
this issue. Thank you, mr. President. Maybe I should come in a couple minutes later so I

1749
03:05:12,661 --> 03:05:12,661
didn't have to do this. Now, this is a tough subject. I've listened. I've been at sports

1750
03:05:18,028 --> 03:05:18,028
with my son listening to you guys on my phone. So thank you for public, public broadcasting

1751
03:05:24,094 --> 03:05:24,094
it. This is, as I said, it's a tough subject. Data centers are tough. It's a needed commodity

1752
03:05:31,861 --> 03:05:31,861
that we unfortunately need in the world we live in. The question is where are they

1753
03:05:35,994 --> 03:05:35,994
going to go? Do they belong at mountain branch? No. Do they belong in rural areas? No. They

1754
03:05:41,761 --> 03:05:41,761
belong in industrial areas. Places like tradepoint atlantic, which was sparrows point.

1755
03:05:48,294 --> 03:05:48,294
that's a place where you should put a data center before you do it. You've got to make sure we

1756
03:05:53,294 --> 03:05:57,294
have the electricity to power them. And of course, the water issues that we've dealt with. The only concern I have is with aberdeen proving grounds, with seacom being located there and

1757
03:06:02,294 --> 03:06:02,294
with this legislation may do I support the legislation with amendments? You've heard some

1758
03:06:06,561 --> 03:06:06,561
of them, data centers. You know, I live off of. For the record, I live at 21085 in joppa. I

1759
03:06:15,328 --> 03:06:19,194
hear the music from mountain branch on friday nights, saturday nights, when he has his concerts. But right on route seven, there's a data center. What it is, it's a

1760
03:06:23,961 --> 03:06:23,961
verizon switching center that's categorized as a data center. So I think, as it's been said

1761
03:06:28,994 --> 03:06:28,994
before, we need to make sure you do this legislation correctly with what type of

1762
03:06:33,528 --> 03:06:33,528
data center you're trying to go after, because with the wrong type of terminology, you know,

1763
03:06:38,594 --> 03:06:38,594
you're going to be shutting down a lot of other stuff that shouldn't be. We're going to

1764
03:06:42,661 --> 03:06:42,661
have to come back and open this thing up. But you know, for the record, this is something,

1765
03:06:47,628 --> 03:06:47,628
unfortunately, we're going to deal with in annapolis this upcoming session. We dealt with

1766
03:06:53,261 --> 03:06:56,961
it with, unfortunately, we're dealing with it with the solar farms, with the way that the state took the county jurisdiction out of it. But I will tell you this my

1767
03:07:01,628 --> 03:07:01,628
colleagues regret what they have done. I've listened to them because it's affecting a

1768
03:07:06,294 --> 03:07:06,294
lot of their jurisdictions. Data centers. Last session came up because they were trying to

1769
03:07:11,961 --> 03:07:11,961
put some out in western part of, I'm sorry, west baltimore county and the reynolds town

1770
03:07:16,861 --> 03:07:20,728
area. And it was amazing to watch these legislators jump up and try to ban them right away. And that's when, you know, different part of the county that I represent, because I

1771
03:07:24,761 --> 03:07:28,761
represent both baltimore and harford county. So the legislators have realized there's been a mistake. We saw that governor moore and I did write a letter to the council,

1772
03:07:32,994 --> 03:07:32,994
which is on my facebook page. You can read with all my insight on this. And I was not

1773
03:07:37,828 --> 03:07:37,828
prepared to speak. I just kind of wanted to come in and listen. So I don't have any notes here.

1774
03:07:42,861 --> 03:07:46,761
it's always better when you break the ai generated notes. You know, you sound more professional. But we are going to address this most probably this next session. And the goal

1775
03:07:52,128 --> 03:07:52,128
is not to take local jurisdiction out of it. I will not support that. It is up to

1776
03:07:56,761 --> 03:07:56,761
county council. You guys do zoning. We don't in the state, and I think that's the issue

1777
03:08:01,561 --> 03:08:01,561
you're going to need. You know, I'm going to have to ask each and every one of you to pay

1778
03:08:06,561 --> 03:08:09,728
attention come the second wednesday of january, when session starts, of what legislation is coming out. You know, we did pass several bills last session, two sessions ago,

1779
03:08:15,561 --> 03:08:15,561
2025 five that the governor vetoed, but the legislature did come back and override those

1780
03:08:20,161 --> 03:08:20,161
vetoes that said, no, we talked about it. Somebody talked about it earlier this evening about

1781
03:08:24,528 --> 03:08:24,528
the study. We're waiting on that. We're waiting to see. But I appreciate everybody coming

1782
03:08:31,428 --> 03:08:35,428
out. I appreciate the council listening to this. All I'm saying is that, you know, we got to look closer at the legislation on on the the technicalities of what data

1783
03:08:39,961 --> 03:08:43,494
centers are and what you're trying to ban, because otherwise it's going to be too broad. And I think we're going to be tied up in court. So thank you for your time, mr.

1784
03:08:48,428 --> 03:08:48,428
president. Thank you. Jb thank you for coming out. All right. With this. With that, we'll

1785
03:08:55,494 --> 03:08:55,494
close the public hearing for bill five. Four. Three two. One. Chair calls to order.

1786
03:09:04,076 --> 03:09:04,076
legislative session day 26019. I would ask you to please join us in standing for the pledge,

1787
03:09:09,809 --> 03:09:09,809
followed by the opening prayer by council member. Council vice president jan giordano. I

1788
03:09:15,576 --> 03:09:15,576
pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which

1789
03:09:21,076 --> 03:09:21,076
it stands one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Heavenly

1790
03:09:30,743 --> 03:09:30,743
father, as we gather this evening to serve the people of our county, we ask for your

1791
03:09:34,976 --> 03:09:34,976
wisdom, guidance and understanding. Help us to work together with respect and

1792
03:09:40,809 --> 03:09:40,809
integrity as we make decisions for the good of our community. Tonight, we lift up baltimore

1793
03:09:45,443 --> 03:09:45,443
county police officer who was shot in the line of duty, and the innocent bystander who was

1794
03:09:50,143 --> 03:09:53,843
injured. We pray for their healing, strength and recovery, and for comfort and peace for their families and loved ones. We also ask for your protection over all law enforcement

1795
03:09:59,409 --> 03:09:59,409
officers, first responders, and those who dedicate their lives to serving and protecting

1796
03:10:05,643 --> 03:10:05,643
others. Guide this council in our work tonight. May our words and actions reflect compassion,

1797
03:10:10,743 --> 03:10:14,709
fairness and a shared commitment to the people we are honored to serve. We ask you for your continued blessing upon our community and our nation. In your holy name we

1798
03:10:20,543 --> 03:10:20,543
pray. Amen. Amen, amen. Agenda number four presentation of proclamations. We have none.

1799
03:10:30,743 --> 03:10:30,743
five consideration of petitions, applications, appointments and nominations. We have none. Six

1800
03:10:35,809 --> 03:10:35,809
special presentations. We have none. Seven. Approval of minutes. Zoning board of

1801
03:10:40,476 --> 03:10:40,476
appeals, case number 6002. Matthew watson public hearing, june 2nd, 2026. Legislative day

1802
03:10:48,809 --> 03:10:48,809
26-0. 18 june 2nd 2026. Are there any corrections to the minutes? There being no

1803
03:10:57,009 --> 03:10:57,009
corrections, the minutes stand approved. Council. May I have general consent to move to

1804
03:11:02,509 --> 03:11:02,509
items nine through 12 on the agenda and then return to item eight thereafter, shall we?

1805
03:11:10,809 --> 03:11:10,809
nine introduction of bills we have none. Ten introduction and consideration of amendments.

1806
03:11:15,943 --> 03:11:15,943
mr. Ginger, please read memorandum of change one through three to resolution

1807
03:11:22,976 --> 03:11:22,976
01126 into the record for introduction memoranda. Memorandum of change number one

1808
03:11:27,576 --> 03:11:27,576
to resolution 11-26. Program fiscal year 2027 to 2032. Project regional workforce

1809
03:11:33,743 --> 03:11:33,743
training center this memorandum of change corrects the project title to regional workforce

1810
03:11:38,109 --> 03:11:38,109
training center to align with the budget ordinance and the bond bill. Memorandum of change

1811
03:11:42,143 --> 03:11:42,143
number two to resolution 011-26. Capital fiscal year 2027 to 2032. Project drop town area

1812
03:11:48,909 --> 03:11:48,909
watershed restoration. This memorandum of change corrects the project title to drop town

1813
03:11:53,343 --> 03:11:53,343
area watershed restoration to align with the budget ordinance and bond bill. Memorandum of

1814
03:11:58,276 --> 03:11:58,276
change number three resolution 011-26. Capital fiscal years 2027 to 2032. Project county

1815
03:12:05,176 --> 03:12:08,843
watershed restoration improvements. This memorandum of change corrects the project title to county watershed restorations improvement to align with the budget ordinance

1816
03:12:12,609 --> 03:12:12,609
on the and the bond bill. Thank you, mr. Lloyd. You want to come forward, please, miss

1817
03:12:19,643 --> 03:12:19,643
sullivan, mr. Sandler. Stephen, I didn't see you. Jimmy. Was that fast enough? Yes, yes.

1818
03:12:32,476 --> 03:12:32,476
good evening. Council. So, yes, these three memorandums of change. Just update the project

1819
03:12:40,476 --> 03:12:40,476
names to match what's in the bond bill and the budget ordinance. And just just for

1820
03:12:46,176 --> 03:12:46,176
consistency reasons. Okay. Anyone have any questions? Do the timing. We are considering

1821
03:12:52,509 --> 03:12:52,509
this memorandum of change this evening. May I have a motion? Council president, I move to

1822
03:12:57,876 --> 03:12:57,876
remove memorandum of change one, two, three to resolution 011-26. Fiscal year 27 capital

1823
03:13:02,476 --> 03:13:02,476
improvement program. May I have a second, please? Thank you, mr. Riley. It's been moved and

1824
03:13:10,676 --> 03:13:10,676
seconded to approve memorandum of change resolutions 01126. Is there any discussion? Miss

1825
03:13:19,376 --> 03:13:19,376
dixon? Mr. President, I mrs. Roberts I mrs. Emhoff I. Mr. Mr. Riley I mrs. I mr. Bennett

1826
03:13:27,976 --> 03:13:27,976
I. Even in our speed, there'd be seven votes in the affirmative, zero in a negative

1827
03:13:35,809 --> 03:13:35,809
memorandum. Change to resolution 01126 is hereby approved. Mr. Ginger, please

1828
03:13:41,609 --> 03:13:41,609
read amendments 29 through 37 to bill 26006 into the record for introduction amendments 29

1829
03:13:48,843 --> 03:13:48,843
to 37 to bill number 26-006. Annual budget appropriation ordinance introduced by council

1830
03:13:53,509 --> 03:13:53,509
president vicente request to the county executive amendment 29 on page 35. In line 13.

1831
03:13:58,209 --> 03:13:58,209
strike 111,000,440 000 and substitute 106,440,000. Amendment 30 on page 35 in line

1832
03:14:06,109 --> 03:14:06,109
12. Strike 3,500,000. Substitute zero. Amendment 31. On page 35. In line 21. Strike

1833
03:14:14,343 --> 03:14:14,343
222,385,000. Substitute 213,885,000. Amendment 32 on page 37. Line 15. Strike

1834
03:14:21,909 --> 03:14:21,909
222,385,000. Substitute 213,885,000. Amendment number 33. On page 45. In line 15.

1835
03:14:28,043 --> 03:14:28,043
strike 364,514,265 and substitute 356,014,265. Amendment 34 on page 59. Line

1836
03:14:39,143 --> 03:14:39,143
16. Strike 8,856,000. Substitute 5,356,000. Amendment 35. On page 59. In line 17.

1837
03:14:47,443 --> 03:14:47,443
strike 111,440,000. Substitute 106,440,000. Amendment 36 on page 59. Line 23. Strike

1838
03:14:58,276 --> 03:14:58,276
222,385,000. Substitute 213 885,000. Amendment 37 on page 59. Line 24. Strike 222,386,000.

1839
03:15:07,576 --> 03:15:07,576
substitute 213 885,000. Thank you, mr. Lloyd. So these are the balancing amendments that

1840
03:15:14,476 --> 03:15:14,476
are the result of the prior amendments that have been approved by the council, just

1841
03:15:19,776 --> 03:15:19,776
to make sure that the budget ordinance balances and that the numbers add up. Council. Anyone

1842
03:15:24,709 --> 03:15:24,709
have any questions? Again, due to the timing, we are considering these amendments

1843
03:15:29,176 --> 03:15:29,176
this evening. So amendment 29, voting block one. May I have a motion? Council president, I

1844
03:15:35,909 --> 03:15:35,909
move to approve amendment 29 to bill 26-006. May I have a second? Second. Thank you, mr.

1845
03:15:41,876 --> 03:15:41,876
rowley. It's been moved and seconded to approve voting block one. Is there any

1846
03:15:46,743 --> 03:15:46,743
discussion, mr. Ginger? Yes, sir. Council president. Tuesday night, majority of the harford

1847
03:15:51,309 --> 03:15:51,309
county council last week voted to take $2,325,000. Million away from the county. Critical

1848
03:15:57,743 --> 03:15:57,743
county priorities, including legal efforts to fight the proposed conestoga power

1849
03:16:02,276 --> 03:16:02,276
project and northville cybersecurity investments that protect residents and personal

1850
03:16:06,576 --> 03:16:06,576
information. Why. To send more payment tax dollars to harford county public schools.

1851
03:16:12,043 --> 03:16:12,043
councilman riley and I were the only ones who voted against it. What's most troubling is that

1852
03:16:16,743 --> 03:16:16,743
just one day earlier, retired eight cps accountability supervisor phil snyder, 26 year

1853
03:16:22,809 --> 03:16:22,809
veteran of the school system, publicly exposed concerns about administrative spending,

1854
03:16:27,509 --> 03:16:27,509
including 371,000 for conferences, massive administrative pay increases

1855
03:16:32,309 --> 03:16:32,309
and questionable work from home. No show practices. Part of that is that this includes a harford

1856
03:16:41,509 --> 03:16:41,509
county public schools ratified a compensation package that included both cola and market

1857
03:16:48,476 --> 03:16:52,009
adjustments. And apparently there was something like a maybe a me too provision extending increases across multiple bargaining units. The claim that the central office

1858
03:16:57,809 --> 03:16:57,809
remained position neutral to deserves closer scrutiny. While the number of the positions may

1859
03:17:03,443 --> 03:17:03,443
have not increased, significant salary increases appear to have resulted from reclassifying

1860
03:17:09,943 --> 03:17:09,943
positions into higher pay grades. Position neutral does not mean cost neutral. Harford

1861
03:17:16,176 --> 03:17:16,176
county is not montgomery county, prince george's county or baltimore city. Student

1862
03:17:21,109 --> 03:17:21,109
population is roughly one third the size of those larger districts. Taxpayers deserve to

1863
03:17:25,743 --> 03:17:25,743
know why central office positions are being reclassified to higher salary

1864
03:17:31,343 --> 03:17:31,343
grades and what the cost will be. The public should have full transparency on these increases

1865
03:17:36,309 --> 03:17:36,309
and their long term impact on the county budget. But going back here, the allegations did

1866
03:17:42,776 --> 03:17:42,776
not come from a political activist or an outside critic. They came from a 26 year

1867
03:17:48,909 --> 03:17:48,909
veteran of the school systems accountability office, a professional whose career was

1868
03:17:53,876 --> 03:17:53,876
dedicated to ensuring transparency and responsible stewardship of taxpayer

1869
03:17:58,609 --> 03:17:58,609
resources. The bite despite these serious allegations, the council received no

1870
03:18:04,043 --> 03:18:04,043
communication from cps. The superintendent council liaison, jacob bennett, before voting to

1871
03:18:09,409 --> 03:18:09,409
approve the additional funding so taxpayers deserve answers before millions are handed over.

1872
03:18:14,709 --> 03:18:14,709
not not after. It's unfortunate that the money got transferred. That should have jacobs should

1873
03:18:23,143 --> 03:18:23,143
have recused himself on on these things too, and he did not. But anyway, thank you,

1874
03:18:28,143 --> 03:18:28,143
council president. Anyone else? Miss dixon, mr. President, I mrs. Roberts I mrs. Emhoff I

1875
03:18:38,943 --> 03:18:38,943
mr. Giordano I mr. Riley I mrs. I mr. Bennett I there being seven votes in the affirmative

1876
03:18:45,743 --> 03:18:45,743
zero in the negative amendment 29 to bill 26006 is hereby approved. Amendment 30 voting

1877
03:18:53,943 --> 03:18:53,943
block 2nd may have a motion. Council president move to approve amendment 30 to bill

1878
03:18:59,409 --> 03:18:59,409
26-006. Second. Second. Thank you, mr. Riley. It's been moved. And second to approve voting

1879
03:19:07,943 --> 03:19:07,943
block two. Is there any discussion? Miss dixon? Mr. President, I mrs. Roberts, I

1880
03:19:15,576 --> 03:19:15,576
mrs. Emhoff, mr. Giordano I mr. Riley I mrs. I mr. Bennett I being seven votes in

1881
03:19:22,809 --> 03:19:22,809
affirmative zero negative amendments. Third amendment 30 to bill 26006 is hereby

1882
03:19:28,343 --> 03:19:28,343
approved amendments 31 through 33. Voting block 3rd may have a motion. Council president move

1883
03:19:34,509 --> 03:19:34,509
to approve amendments 31 through 33 to bill 26-006. May I have a second? Second. Thank

1884
03:19:40,409 --> 03:19:40,409
you, mr. Riley. It's been moved in second to move voting block number three. Is there any

1885
03:19:47,009 --> 03:19:47,009
discussion, miss dixon? Mr. President, I mrs. Roberts, I mrs. Emhoff, mr. Giordano. Hi,

1886
03:19:54,309 --> 03:19:54,309
mr. Riley. Hi. Mrs. I mr. Bennett, I being seven votes in the affirmative, zero negative

1887
03:20:00,676 --> 03:20:00,676
amendments 312 33 to 2606 are hereby approved. Amendments 34 through 37. Voting block 4th

1888
03:20:09,309 --> 03:20:13,309
may have a motion. Council president move to approve amendments 34 through 37 to bill 26-006. Have a second. Second. Thank you. Mr. Riley moved and second to approve

1889
03:20:20,909 --> 03:20:20,909
amendments 34 through 37, voting block four. Is there any discussion? Mr. Dixon mr.

1890
03:20:29,309 --> 03:20:29,309
president, I mrs. Roberts I mrs. Emhoff, mr. Giordano I mr. Riley I mrs. Mr. Bennett I

1891
03:20:37,676 --> 03:20:37,676
bring seven votes in affirmative zero negative amendments through 34, 34

1892
03:20:42,009 --> 03:20:42,009
through 37 to bill 26006 are hereby approved. Mr. Jan, please read amendments 14 and

1893
03:20:49,643 --> 03:20:49,643
15 to bill 26008 into the record for introduction amendments 14 and 15 to bill

1894
03:20:56,443 --> 03:20:56,443
26-008. Bond authorization cpi introduced by council president vicente at request of the

1895
03:21:00,909 --> 03:21:00,909
county executive amendment 14 on title page. On the title page, strike bill number 26-006

1896
03:21:06,476 --> 03:21:06,476
in the seventh line of the title paragraph and substitute bill number 26-006, as amended.

1897
03:21:11,576 --> 03:21:11,576
amendment number 15 on page one. Strike beginning with bill number in line 17 through

1898
03:21:17,343 --> 03:21:17,343
26-005 and line 18 is substitute bill number 26-006, as amended. Amendments 14

1899
03:21:24,643 --> 03:21:24,643
through 15 to bill 26008. Fiscal year 27 capital improvement program. May I have

1900
03:21:30,843 --> 03:21:30,843
a motion? Council president. I move to approve amendments 14 and 15 to bill 26-008. Bond

1901
03:21:36,343 --> 03:21:36,343
authorization cpi may have a second. Second. Thank you, mr. Riley. It's been moved. And

1902
03:21:41,576 --> 03:21:41,576
second, to approve amendments 14 and 15, bill 26008. Is there any discussion? Mr. Lloyd?

1903
03:21:49,376 --> 03:21:49,376
anything you want to add or anything, miss dixon? Mr. President, I mrs. Roberts I

1904
03:21:54,843 --> 03:21:54,843
mrs. Emhoff, mr. Giordano I mr. Riley I mrs. I mr. Bennett I being seven votes in the

1905
03:22:02,343 --> 03:22:02,343
affirmative zero negative amendments 14 and 15 to bill 26008 are hereby approved. 11

1906
03:22:09,409 --> 03:22:09,409
call for final reading of bills bill 26006 annual budget and appropriation ordinance, as

1907
03:22:17,409 --> 03:22:17,409
amended, may have a motion. Council president, I move to approve bill 2606 annual budget

1908
03:22:22,476 --> 03:22:22,476
appropriation ordinance, as amended, may have a second. Second. Thank you, mr. Riley.

1909
03:22:31,109 --> 03:22:31,109
bill 26006, as amended, has been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion, mr.

1910
03:22:38,443 --> 03:22:38,443
bennett? Mr. President, I just want to say this isn't the budget I would write, but also

1911
03:22:44,009 --> 03:22:44,009
that's not my job, thank goodness. And of the four budgets that's been posed to us

1912
03:22:50,243 --> 03:22:50,243
in the past four years, this is the one I feel most comfortable with. I'm thankful that the

1913
03:22:54,876 --> 03:22:54,876
community college is going to get an increase in funding for the first time in four years.

1914
03:23:00,276 --> 03:23:00,276
I'm thankful to see the libraries get increased funding. Thankful to see our nonprofits

1915
03:23:05,343 --> 03:23:05,343
continue to be supported. I'm thankful that our volunteer fire companies are being fully

1916
03:23:11,709 --> 03:23:11,709
funded according to the formula for the first time, which is very exciting for all companies

1917
03:23:15,809 --> 03:23:15,809
to be fully funded and in many cases above the formula in their funding levels. It's not

1918
03:23:22,576 --> 03:23:22,576
everything I would want to see in the budget. I want to continue to see further work on

1919
03:23:27,243 --> 03:23:27,243
supporting the city of aberdeen to have adequate activity center. I want to see work done

1920
03:23:33,409 --> 03:23:33,409
to prepare ourselves for career fire down the line, and I want to understand how we can have

1921
03:23:40,276 --> 03:23:40,276
such wild fluctuations in budgeted versus actuals many years in a row. But that being

1922
03:23:46,243 --> 03:23:46,243
said, we can't let perfect get in the way of good. And I feel okay about where this budget

1923
03:23:53,509 --> 03:23:53,509
lands. Thank you. Anyone else, miss dixon? Mr. President, I mrs. Robert I mrs. Emhoff I mr.

1924
03:24:04,243 --> 03:24:04,243
giordano I mrs. Mr. Riley I mrs. Otto I mr. Bennett I there being seven votes in the

1925
03:24:12,943 --> 03:24:12,943
affirmative zero in a negative bill 26006, as amended, is hereby approved. I want to

1926
03:24:20,209 --> 03:24:20,209
commend all of you for the job that you did, as we talked about before. So. And your

1927
03:24:26,576 --> 03:24:26,576
teams for sure, bill 26007, revised prior year bond bills. May I have a motion? Council

1928
03:24:33,843 --> 03:24:33,843
president move to approve bill 26-007. Revise prior year bond bills. Have a second. Second.

1929
03:24:40,309 --> 03:24:40,309
thank you, mr. Riley. It's been moved. And second to approve bill 26007 revised prior year

1930
03:24:49,209 --> 03:24:49,209
bond bills. Is there any discussion? Miss dixon? Mr. President. Hi mrs. Robert I mr.

1931
03:24:57,876 --> 03:24:57,876
mrs. Emhoff I mr. Giordano I mr. Riley I mrs. I mr. Bennett I being seven votes in the

1932
03:25:06,543 --> 03:25:06,543
affirmative zero negative bill 26007 is hereby approved. Bill 26008 bond authorization c p as

1933
03:25:18,076 --> 03:25:18,076
amended. May I have a motion? Council president, I move to approve bill 26-008 bond

1934
03:25:24,909 --> 03:25:24,909
authorization cpi, as amended. If a second. Second. Thank you, mr. Riley. It's been moved and

1935
03:25:32,243 --> 03:25:32,243
seconded to approve bill 26008, as amended. Is there any discussion, miss dixon? Mr.

1936
03:25:41,243 --> 03:25:41,243
president, hi, mrs. Roberts. Hi, mrs. Emhoff. Hi, mr. Giordano. Hi, mr. Riley. Hi, mrs. Hi. Mr.

1937
03:25:48,443 --> 03:25:48,443
bennett. I bring seven votes in the affirmative. Zero negative. Bill 26008, as amended, is

1938
03:25:55,209 --> 03:25:55,209
hereby approved. Bill 260 ten loss amendment service benefit may have a motion. Council

1939
03:26:02,109 --> 03:26:02,109
president moved to approve bill 26-010 lozap amendment service benefits. Thank you. May have a

1940
03:26:09,676 --> 03:26:09,676
second. Second. Thank you, mr. Riley. It's been moved and second to approve bill 260 ten

1941
03:26:17,976 --> 03:26:17,976
amendment for lozap. Is there any other discussion? I think we kind of talked about it

1942
03:26:22,476 --> 03:26:22,476
quite a bit, but we do appreciate everything they do. And as we're sitting here

1943
03:26:28,409 --> 03:26:28,409
tonight, all we do is hear sirens running again. So. Miss dixon, mr. President, I mrs.

1944
03:26:40,309 --> 03:26:40,309
robert I. Mrs. Emhoff. Hi, mr. Giordano. Hi, mr. Reilly. Hi, mrs. Idols. Hi. Mr. Bennet. I

1945
03:26:46,109 --> 03:26:46,109
being seven votes in the affirmative, zero and a negative. Bill 260 ten is

1946
03:26:50,376 --> 03:26:50,376
hereby approved. Bill 26011, zoning data centers, as amended. May I have a motion? Council

1947
03:26:59,143 --> 03:26:59,143
president, I move to approve bill 26011 zoning data centers, as amended. May I have a second?

1948
03:27:05,176 --> 03:27:05,176
second. It's been moved and seconded to approve. Bill 26011, as amended. Is there any

1949
03:27:13,443 --> 03:27:13,443
discussion? Mr. Ginger? Dan, definitely. For the data centers there. There was some

1950
03:27:21,309 --> 03:27:21,309
other conversations I had earlier today with megan about defining data centers a little

1951
03:27:25,809 --> 03:27:25,809
bit more, as we've heard some people talk about and maybe saying that they're artificial,

1952
03:27:30,376 --> 03:27:30,376
intelligent ai computing, hyperscale computing, cloud computing, high performance

1953
03:27:34,743 --> 03:27:34,743
computing, hpc, server hosting or server farm digital information storage management,

1954
03:27:40,243 --> 03:27:40,243
and a couple other things. So I know going forward, once this is passed, we're going to look

1955
03:27:45,909 --> 03:27:45,909
down the road to maybe tighten this stuff up, talk to some different people, and see what

1956
03:27:49,976 --> 03:27:49,976
else we have to do to make sure that this is we cross everything, but I want to make

1957
03:27:56,743 --> 03:27:56,743
sure this gets through tonight. So definitely full support of this. Just want to make sure

1958
03:28:02,076 --> 03:28:02,076
that some people know there was other things we're looking at, but wanted to get this through.

1959
03:28:06,143 --> 03:28:06,143
thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Bennett. I echo the council vice president's remarks. I

1960
03:28:12,909 --> 03:28:12,909
know the original version of this bill sent over to us. Miss allegy sent back, because it

1961
03:28:18,309 --> 03:28:18,309
basically would have banned any building that had a computer inside of it. And so this was

1962
03:28:23,643 --> 03:28:23,643
the better version that we received. It definitely all for the intent, but we do have to

1963
03:28:30,109 --> 03:28:30,109
clean up the definitions. And that's work that is going to take time and making sure we

1964
03:28:34,576 --> 03:28:34,576
get that language right so that we don't find ourselves in the courts or having unintended

1965
03:28:41,776 --> 03:28:41,776
consequences. But for now, this is awesome to have in place, and we can then take the time

1966
03:28:46,976 --> 03:28:46,976
to fix it without worrying about what could come in the meantime. Anyone else? I just

1967
03:28:51,909 --> 03:28:51,909
want to take a minute again to thank everyone for their patience this evening. I don't

1968
03:28:56,709 --> 03:28:56,709
know what the total number was of in attendance, but I do know the chamber was packed and we

1969
03:29:02,309 --> 03:29:02,309
probably had 60 or 70 people standing on the street waiting to get in. And I want to

1970
03:29:07,376 --> 03:29:07,376
appreciate the fact that you got up and gave seats to the firefighters so they could come

1971
03:29:11,976 --> 03:29:11,976
in and listen to their public hearing and participate. And then when they left, you guys

1972
03:29:17,409 --> 03:29:17,409
came back in. So I really appreciate that. Any other discussion? Miss dixon? Mr.

1973
03:29:23,843 --> 03:29:23,843
president, I mrs. Robert I, mrs. Emhoff, mr. Giordano, I. Mrs. Mr. Riley I miss mrs. I

1974
03:29:36,776 --> 03:29:36,776
mr. Bennett I I'm sorry. The person you should really apologize to is his wife. There

1975
03:29:47,576 --> 03:29:47,576
being seven votes in the affirmative zero and a negative bill 26011, as amended, is

1976
03:29:54,809 --> 03:29:54,809
hereby approved. 12 enrollment of bills bills 26006, as amended. 2600726008 as amended

1977
03:30:11,743 --> 03:30:11,743
26, zero ten and 26011, as amended. All serve as a text finally passed back to eight.

1978
03:30:20,809 --> 03:30:20,809
introduction and consideration of resolutions. Resolutions zero 1026 adoption of property

1979
03:30:26,609 --> 03:30:26,609
tax rate may have a motion. Council president I move to approve resolution ten dash 26

1980
03:30:31,509 --> 03:30:31,509
adoption of property tax rate. We have a second. Second. Thank you, mr. Riley. It's been moved

1981
03:30:36,609 --> 03:30:36,609
in second to approve resolution zero 1026. Is there any discussion? Miss dixon? Mr.

1982
03:30:44,809 --> 03:30:44,809
president, I mrs. Roberts I mrs. Emhoff, mr. Giordano I mr. Riley I mrs. I mr. Bennett I

1983
03:30:53,543 --> 03:30:53,543
there being seven votes in affirmative zero negative resolution zero 1026 is hereby

1984
03:30:58,209 --> 03:30:58,209
approved. Resolution 01126 fiscal year 27 capital improvement program, as amended.

1985
03:31:05,176 --> 03:31:05,176
may I have a motion? Council president, I move to approve resolution 011-26. Fiscal year

1986
03:31:11,143 --> 03:31:11,143
27 capital improvement program, as amended. I have a second. Second. Thank you, mr. Riley.

1987
03:31:16,276 --> 03:31:16,276
it's been moved in second to approve resolution 01126, as amended. Is there any

1988
03:31:21,576 --> 03:31:21,576
discussion? Hearing none, miss dixon. Mr. President, I mrs. Roberts, I mrs. Emhoff, mr.

1989
03:31:29,476 --> 03:31:29,476
giordano, I mr. Riley, mrs. Rosado I mr. Bennett I there being seven votes in

1990
03:31:35,609 --> 03:31:35,609
affirmative zero in the negative resolution 01126, as amended, is hereby approved. 13

1991
03:31:42,409 --> 03:31:42,409
unfinished business. We have none. 14 new business council letter of opposition. Public

1992
03:31:47,876 --> 03:31:47,876
service commission case 9847. Chatterton sola peters holding, llc. Miss emhoff, council

1993
03:31:55,443 --> 03:31:55,443
president. I move to approve the council leader of opposition. May I have a second?

1994
03:32:00,443 --> 03:32:00,443
second? Thank you, mr. Giordano. It's been moved in second to approve the letter of

1995
03:32:08,343 --> 03:32:08,343
opposition. Is there any discussion? Miss emhoff, I just appreciate that we are likely

1996
03:32:16,443 --> 03:32:16,443
to have unanimous support in this letter of opposition. Like I shared last week, I was able

1997
03:32:23,543 --> 03:32:23,543
to attend the meeting where they talked about the concerns for the chapatin sola peters

1998
03:32:30,743 --> 03:32:30,743
project, and there was a lot of community engagement, including members from actually the the

1999
03:32:38,943 --> 03:32:38,943
captain from the local volunteer fire company who expressed their concerns about

2000
03:32:43,643 --> 03:32:43,643
this type of project in that location, never mind the fact that there are some major

2001
03:32:48,643 --> 03:32:48,643
environmental concerns. And so I think it's just a great step forward that we are having this

2002
03:32:54,809 --> 03:32:54,809
unanimous vote. Anyone else? Mr. Bennett, I just want to say for the record that I am

2003
03:33:00,543 --> 03:33:00,543
someone who staunchly pro sola. As you know, tony likes to point out, I drive an electric

2004
03:33:07,143 --> 03:33:07,143
car that's charged by the solar panels on my roof. But I think what this letter does and

2005
03:33:13,743 --> 03:33:13,743
asking for the maryland public service commission to come and hear out our community, to look

2006
03:33:19,409 --> 03:33:19,409
at the comments presented by the council and by the county government, and to consider our

2007
03:33:24,676 --> 03:33:24,676
local zoning and what our local community asks for is important in a reasonable ask. And so for

2008
03:33:31,609 --> 03:33:31,609
that, I'm supporting this letter. Thank you. Anyone else, miss dixon? Mr. President, I

2009
03:33:38,476 --> 03:33:38,476
mrs. Roberts, mrs. Emhoff, I mr. Giordano I mr. Riley, mrs. I mr. Bennett I there being

2010
03:33:46,443 --> 03:33:50,276
seven votes in the affirmative zero and a negative. The letter of opposition is hereby approved. 15 comments and input from attending citizens. We have one this evening. Mr.

2011
03:33:59,209 --> 03:33:59,209
president. How did accidentally packed it away? John paul harris. Oh, very nice. Have you

2012
03:34:16,309 --> 03:34:16,309
been here all night, john? I have, I have john tavares 21084. And I thought it'd be

2013
03:34:23,709 --> 03:34:23,709
appropriate to end with thank you to the council for a lot of things. The data warehouse,

2014
03:34:29,076 --> 03:34:29,076
this vote you just had as well on the chambertin solar, but also specifically for me and I

2015
03:34:34,876 --> 03:34:34,876
represent 1800 petitioners to stop the chrome hill solar project and and also to thank

2016
03:34:43,209 --> 03:34:43,209
three of you for coming out to our home and to actually view the site, including council

2017
03:34:48,876 --> 03:34:48,876
president as well as council vice president, as well as councilman riley. So thank you

2018
03:34:53,176 --> 03:34:53,176
all very much. We're looking forward. Also found out today that yesterday that the county

2019
03:34:58,976 --> 03:34:58,976
counsel's office as well as the council, I'm sorry, the county executive's office, as well as

2020
03:35:05,076 --> 03:35:05,076
the council, will be combining forming a special group to kind of pursue the solar, the

2021
03:35:10,143 --> 03:35:10,143
battery storage, as well as the data warehouse issues with legal outside counsel. So

2022
03:35:16,976 --> 03:35:16,976
appreciate that. And we're looking forward to working with them, with our council so that

2023
03:35:21,176 --> 03:35:21,176
we can work on focus on the right things together. So again, just thank you for everything

2024
03:35:26,609 --> 03:35:26,609
you're doing in support of the citizens in these communities. Thank you john. All right.

2025
03:35:33,876 --> 03:35:33,876
that's it. There are no more speakers. Yay! 16 business for council members. Mr. Bennett.

2026
03:35:45,376 --> 03:35:45,376
hello. Good evening. Good to be with everyone. This evening. I'm going to cut out the things

2027
03:35:50,009 --> 03:35:50,009
that I've been to. And I hope that you just trust that I've been places. But I do want to

2028
03:35:55,376 --> 03:35:55,376
highlight a few things. Coming up tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. The law enforcement torch run

2029
03:36:01,543 --> 03:36:01,543
for special olympics will kick off from the lock house museum in havre de grace, and I'm very

2030
03:36:07,376 --> 03:36:07,376
excited to participate in that. I know they have degrees. Police department is selling t

2031
03:36:12,809 --> 03:36:12,809
shirts to support special olympics. So if you would like to support special olympics, I

2032
03:36:17,143 --> 03:36:17,143
have degrees. Police department is a continual, steadfast supporter of special olympics

2033
03:36:22,443 --> 03:36:22,443
in many ways. And so I encourage you to support that. Abingdon belcamp perryman

2034
03:36:27,109 --> 03:36:27,109
community advisory board meeting will be this thursday at 6:30 p.m. At abingdon fire

2035
03:36:32,576 --> 03:36:32,576
company. I encourage people to come out to that. And then there are many, many juneteenth

2036
03:36:37,276 --> 03:36:37,276
events happening over the weekend and into next week, with june 19th coming up, the

2037
03:36:43,676 --> 03:36:43,676
upper bay juneteenth festival will be happening all weekend, and the festival will take

2038
03:36:51,276 --> 03:36:51,276
place saturday from noon to 6 p.m. At the hosanna school museum in darlington. On top of

2039
03:36:57,809 --> 03:36:57,809
all that, early voting starts this week, starting thursday from 7 a.m. To 8 p.m. I

2040
03:37:03,576 --> 03:37:03,576
encourage people to vote early. You know, I know many people who are steadfast on voting on

2041
03:37:08,509 --> 03:37:08,509
election day, but you never know when your car is going to break down or when you're going

2042
03:37:12,776 --> 03:37:12,776
to get sick, or when a family emergency is going to come up. So it's nice to get that task

2043
03:37:17,743 --> 03:37:17,743
out of the way so you don't miss it. That's all I have this evening. Thank you, mr. Bennett.

2044
03:37:22,743 --> 03:37:22,743
miss robert, thank you. I'm just going to mention events this weekend, and I too will be

2045
03:37:28,009 --> 03:37:28,009
attending the special olympics torch at 7 a.m. But this saturday at hartford square is

2046
03:37:35,509 --> 03:37:35,509
going to be a national flag day of usa at 10 a.m. It's going to be a special ceremony there.

2047
03:37:43,109 --> 03:37:43,109
and in the evening, same location at hartford square. We're having our first family

2048
03:37:47,476 --> 03:37:47,476
movie night in honor of america. 250 the movie will be independence day, and that will

2049
03:37:53,209 --> 03:37:53,209
start at 6 p.m. You just need to bring a chair and there will be free complimentary

2050
03:37:59,676 --> 03:37:59,676
refreshments. And then I was going to mention upper bay juneteenth festival, which is

2051
03:38:04,776 --> 03:38:04,776
all weekend from june 12th to june 14th at the hosanna school. And that's it. Thank you, miss

2052
03:38:09,709 --> 03:38:09,709
robert. Miss emhoff, I just want to give a special congratulations to the hartford

2053
03:38:14,143 --> 03:38:14,143
academy graduate this year. Several of us were able to attend the hartford academy

2054
03:38:20,176 --> 03:38:20,176
graduation, and it was a remarkable experience. I was also able to attend the

2055
03:38:26,176 --> 03:38:26,176
hartford county public library summer reading program kickoff today, the hartford county

2056
03:38:30,843 --> 03:38:30,843
public library summer reading programs theme this year is unearth a story. It runs from

2057
03:38:35,409 --> 03:38:35,409
june 1st to august 15th. And so they have a whole bunch of jurassic park decorations all

2058
03:38:41,076 --> 03:38:41,076
over the place. Some of it little ones might not get, but adults will understand with

2059
03:38:46,643 --> 03:38:46,643
some of their props and everything. What I found to be both humorous and slightly

2060
03:38:52,243 --> 03:38:52,243
offensive, but I really appreciated was they have a technology fossils set up which

2061
03:38:57,543 --> 03:38:57,543
included things like tube tvs, weather radios, dvd players and vhs players, which I just

2062
03:39:04,143 --> 03:39:04,143
thought was a really cute play on the fossil theme. As councilman bennett shared, the

2063
03:39:11,243 --> 03:39:11,243
abington emerson community advisory board will be meeting this thursday, june 11th at 630

2064
03:39:15,843 --> 03:39:15,843
at the abington fire department. That's all I have. Thank you, miss emhoff. Mr. Ginger, thank

2065
03:39:20,309 --> 03:39:20,309
you, council president. So I'm glad we banned data centers. I am disappointed, though, that

2066
03:39:24,643 --> 03:39:24,643
we haven't banned solar farms that we tried to ban. Well, not ban, but we turned down solar

2067
03:39:31,809 --> 03:39:31,809
farm back in 2019, fielder's property on 136 and 543. And it wound up getting built. And now

2068
03:39:39,209 --> 03:39:39,209
all of a sudden, all around the county, we've got farms that are being turned into solar

2069
03:39:46,209 --> 03:39:46,209
fields and some we just had a meeting for that solar project. It winds up being five

2070
03:39:51,376 --> 03:39:51,376
megawatts, but not five megawatts in continuous. It's broken up in three little

2071
03:39:57,009 --> 03:39:57,009
parcels, so it's easier for them to get through. I wish our other delegates from harford

2072
03:40:02,809 --> 03:40:02,809
county would do something down in annapolis. The two johnsons married delaney james.

2073
03:40:07,876 --> 03:40:11,809
otherwise, we're going to have our entire county be solar farms anywhere where they can stick a solar farm. They're going to put a solar farm. And the generation that that does

2074
03:40:16,776 --> 03:40:16,776
isn't going to solve our problem and in the long haul. And so I'm really disappointed

2075
03:40:21,943 --> 03:40:21,943
that annapolis hasn't done more to that. Maybe they're going to look at the data centers and do

2076
03:40:26,976 --> 03:40:26,976
something. And same thing with the battery storage facilities. They're they're dangerous. If

2077
03:40:31,276 --> 03:40:31,276
they catch fire, they're going to burn forever. There's no way to put them out the pollute our

2078
03:40:35,543 --> 03:40:35,543
water system. So, you know, we need annapolis to do better. You know, everybody was on

2079
03:40:41,276 --> 03:40:41,276
board with the data centers, but I still didn't hear from any of the the other delegates

2080
03:40:46,976 --> 03:40:46,976
down there for that. So that's definitely disappointed. Attended harford leadership. My

2081
03:40:53,143 --> 03:40:53,143
legislative aide graduated joanne. So congratulations, joanne, for that. It's a great

2082
03:40:58,176 --> 03:40:58,176
program. If you get a chance to do that, please do that. I know council president myself. Me, I

2083
03:41:03,976 --> 03:41:07,909
think councilman riley did either one of you guys do harford leadership academy? Yeah. Okay. Cecil. Well, it's a great thing to do. So if you get a chance to do that. Boot

2084
03:41:13,743 --> 03:41:13,743
barn opened up. They don't have any boots that fit my wide feet, so I don't know where I'm going

2085
03:41:18,376 --> 03:41:18,376
to go get boots at. But bel air market is on june 14th, the summer concerts here at

2086
03:41:23,443 --> 03:41:23,443
shamrock park at 7 p.m. Is june 14th and june 19th is summer movie night at shamrock park.

2087
03:41:29,909 --> 03:41:33,509
that kicks off and I think I'm done. Thank you, council president. Thank you, mr. And mr. Riley. Yes, I want to send out congratulations to lisa's lavender and jarrettsville.

2088
03:41:38,543 --> 03:41:38,543
they celebrated their grand opening on friday. I had the privilege of attending. That's

2089
03:41:43,776 --> 03:41:43,776
it. Thank you, mr. Riley. Miss. Thank you. Council president. I would like to close the night

2090
03:41:49,443 --> 03:41:49,443
out with a quote. The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to

2091
03:41:54,643 --> 03:41:54,643
do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they

2092
03:42:00,143 --> 03:42:00,143
do it far and away, the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work

2093
03:42:08,009 --> 03:42:08,009
worth doing. Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. Do what you

2094
03:42:13,843 --> 03:42:13,843
can with what you have, where you are. Get action. Be sane. Don't fritter your time

2095
03:42:18,909 --> 03:42:18,909
creating things for the rest of us to clean up. Thank you, thank you miss 17 business from

2096
03:42:25,443 --> 03:42:25,443
the president. I told my legislative aide this morning that I wasn't going to comment

2097
03:42:30,709 --> 03:42:34,643
on anything, that I figured the public hearings would take up enough time that that I wouldn't say anything. But miss emhoff hit on the hartford academy graduation. Just one

2098
03:42:41,509 --> 03:42:41,509
graduate and second time in their history that they had just one graduate. But that

2099
03:42:46,976 --> 03:42:46,976
young lady was amazing. She truly was. And it's worth mentioning again. And then also

2100
03:42:54,143 --> 03:42:54,143
future link at the college as well. So just really appreciate the fact that at this point, at

2101
03:43:03,209 --> 03:43:03,209
this stage, the data center conversation is over. Clearly there will be no data centers

2102
03:43:09,976 --> 03:43:09,976
in harford county at this point. Not not authorized by harford county for sure. So we're

2103
03:43:18,243 --> 03:43:18,243
moving forward. We'll see where it goes and be done with it. And with that, we'll