The Morgan County board this morning decided to vote in two weeks on extending the moratorium on data centers another six months.
It came during an acrimonious and raucous meeting at times marked by three people being thrown out of the meeting, and board member Michael Woods calling for chairman Mike Wankel’s resignation.
Woods claims Wankel is limiting free speech during the public comment period, and that’s why he’s calling for Wankel to resign. Wankel offered no comment on the request.
Wankel says the reason for extending the moratorium is prompted by pending legislation in Springfield allowing county boards more control where there is no county wide zoning.
The board is expected to take action on the moratorium extension at the meeting on October 26th. All three board members supported the action item be placed on the agenda, and indicated they supported the extension.
Wankel said during the meeting that the board has had no direct communication about a data center proposal, and there have been no “back door” discussions taking place.
Michael Woods says the six month extension should give the board more time to do the research.
He urged the board to develop public forums, and delve farther into Data Center regulations.
Over 20 people crowded in and outside the county board office for the meeting.
Two of the people thrown out were in Wankel’s words, disruptive and were not talking about what was on the agenda today, or action items from the past. A third was disruptive to the public comment process.
Wankel understands the passion.
He says he is not frustrated by it.
Commissioner Racer Wood took time late in the meeting to talk about an implied threat of gunplay found on a Facebook page. This prompted a search of everyone entering the courthouse.
The board allowed one hour of public comment before addressing the action items on the agenda. The meeting ran an hour and 15 minutes.