(Photo by Amber Phipps) Washington County Commissioner Greg Nohe, right, responds to questions and concerns regarding when a public meeting will be held for a potential data center in Waterford during the commission’s meeting Thursday.

Discussions and disputes continued over the proposed data center in Waterford during Thursday’s Washington County Commission meeting.

Community members in attendance said there is a lot of information going around and they are trying to decipher the facts.

Due to a non-disclosure agreement the commissioners signed in January, conversations between them and potentially interested parties are legally protected. Preliminary conversations aren’t set in stone but the NDA keeps the names of the businesses involved and other details from being released.

Members of the public have continually voiced their concerns about the commissioners entering into an NDA.

In previous meetings, Washington County Prosecutor Nicole Coil said the NDA is preliminary and intended to protect the businesses because they might not want their information public in the event nothing comes into fruition.

“You represent all the taxpayers of Washington County regardless of party. Many of your constituents … repeatedly asked for information that is not forthcoming,” said Washington County resident Barbara Stewart. “Last week you stated the tax abatement for this project is all you have jurisdiction over. If that’s the case, why all the secrecy?”

Commissioner Greg Nohe said he understands the concerns the community has about the data center.

“If it were up to me, I would have had an informational hearing yesterday,” he said. “But it’s not up to me.”

Nohe said the commissioners are in a position to negotiate the best possible deal if a data project comes to fruition. The commissioners said there have been no documents or agreements signed, other than the NDA.

“That public meeting will happen,” said Nohe. “To have it prematurely would be a disservice if we don’t have all those questions that you have, to be able to be answered.”

Nohe said he understood the frustration but asked the community to be patient as they are hoping to hold a public meeting in the next month or so.

Commissioner Eddie Place promised commissioners would not go into negotiations and sign any agreement until a public meeting had been held.

Washington County Job and Family Services Director Flite Freimann said the commissioners granted him permission to speak on the topic because of his experience in workforce development. He said because the land is private property, owners have the right to sell if they choose. The data center companies can move forward with the project without the commissioners.

Freimann said if his neighbors choose to put up a fence or cut down trees, they have that right.

Washington County resident Shayna Robinson said she disagreed with Freimann’s point because this isn’t just a fence or a tree being removed – it’s a facility that would be surrounding her property on all four sides if her neighbors chose to sell their land.

“I’m very flustered,” she said. “I’m surrounded by this with no other options other than to try and possibly prevent it.”

Robinson said her intent has never to be disrespectful but she cares about her community and the quaintness of the countryside where her family chose to live. She said she had concerns about the amount of jobs the data center would provide and the longevity of those jobs.

IBEW #972 Membership and Business Development Coordinator Kyle Blinn said facilities such as these would provide nearly a thousand construction jobs for the first five years and are expected to support hundreds of jobs locally.

“I can’t give the exact amount of permanent jobs the data center would give, but seeing what they have up in the New Albany area, it depends on the size of the building, the size of the compound and how many buildings they decide to build in that area,” he said.

Blinn said he’s worked with data centers in Columbus for many years now. He responded to a few concerns about the longevity of the data center by saying servers often become aged and outdated around 10-15 years but they are upgraded every three to five years as they die out.

Freimann said there are 15 data centers in New Albany and the population and housing market has increased in comparison to Waterford.

“Somehow, we’re to believe that data processing centers poison the air, poison the water, sound pollution, light pollution, noise pollution, and yet people are voting with their feet and they’re moving to New Albany,” he said.

Freimann said if people are against data centers, they should get off Facebook, get off Google and cancel your cloud subscriptions.

The residents also had environmental concerns they said were based on what they’ve researched online. Robinson asked if the commissioners had any documentation that proved the data center’s closed-loop system was safe and wouldn’t release harmful chemicals into the water.

“They don’t use near the amount of water that they used to 10 years ago,” said Commissioner Charlie Schilling. “Being a closed-loop system, it’s clean water going in and clean water going out.”

Schilling said he was not concerned, based on what the experts he’s spoken with have told him.

Place said he and Nohe met with experts after the meeting last week and asked about the process. He said from what they learned, the water is purified through reverse osmosis which strips any chemicals from the water if it’s returned to the waterways.

Stewart said the commissioners needed to speak with professionals who knew more about the process. She said their description of the closed-loop system wasn’t accurate based on the research she conducted.

Schilling said the sources they spoke with had Ph.D.s. Stewart asked to see their sources.

Washington County resident Destiny Jones said it was scary living in Waterford without having all of the answers yet.

“Put yourself in our shoes,” she said. “We are a small community for a reason; we want to stay that way.”

Jones said if the data centers are such a success in New Albany then they should stay there and not bring it to their rural community.

She said she understands that jobs are important but a lot of residents don’t want a large population, that’s why they chose to live in the country. Jones added that she understood some of these things were out of the control of the commissioners but she wanted more information to clear away all the rumors and confusion.

Washington County resident Justin Arthur asked who started the conversation and how Waterford became of interest.

Southeastern Ohio Port Authority Executive Director Jesse Roush said the people who own the data center companies are very intelligent and didn’t have to look very hard to find large plots of land in Waterford.

Arthur asked if Place and Schilling would benefit financially from the data center. The commissioners said they would not be directly benefitting from the project but would indirectly benefit the same as everyone else.

Schilling read a statement into the record assuring the public there would be no harmful chemicals discharged into their water sources. He said the concerns the public had about light, noise and electric pollution would be addressed.

“Locating this facility here allows us to use energy in the grid to produce good jobs, local revenue and a pathway to building stronger schools and local infrastructure,” said Schilling.