Washington County Commissioner Charlie Schilling testifies to the Ohio Joint Data Center Committee at the Ohio Statehouse on Monday. (Photo from Ohio Channel)

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Joint Data Center Committee met for its fourth meeting yesterday at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus which included testimony from data center developers, local government officials across the state, local business owners, and state-wide organizations.

Among those who spoke were Washington County Commissioner Charlie Schilling, The Superior Group CEO Bryan Stewart, City of Johnstown Mayor Tiffany Hollis, Matt Szollosi with the Construction Trades Ohio Foundation, and more.

With over four hours of witness testimony followed up by questions from the committee, transparency between government, developers, and the communities was the recurring topic of the meeting.

After a five minute testimony from each guest, the committee, which includes House Co-Chair Rep. Adam Homes (R-Nashport), Rep. Thad Claggett (R-Licking County), Rep. Heidi Workman (R-Rootstown), and Rep. Chris Glassburn (D-North Olmsted), Senate Co-Chair Sen. Chavez, Sen. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin), Sen. Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro), and Sen. Willis Blackshear Jr. (D-Dayton), were given an opportunity to ask questions.

Their questions focused on NDAs (nondisclosure agreements), economic impact, potential environmental impacts on water and land, noise pollution, workforce, and impact on utility rates.

Ohio Senator and Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee Brian Chavez (R-Marietta) speaks as the co-chair of the Ohio Joint Data Center Committee on Monday. (Photo from Ohio Channel)

Schilling was invited to the stand about three hours into the meeting. He spoke about the potential data center in Waterford and discussions with developers over the past few months.

He said the NDA he signed in January has allowed the commissioners to have an opportunity to speak with the developers and discuss tax relief for the community.

“I support policies that keep Ohio competitive for these kinds of developments,” he said.

Schilling focused his points on the benefit of the payment in lieu of taxes if procured and how it would help Washington County with revenue and local organizations in terms of economic development.

“Data centers bring real economic impact,” he said.

He said the county and the community needs to have a voice in the process with these developers to discuss the needs of the community.

“It’s important we hold these developer’s feet to the fire and make sure they do what they say they’re going to do,” he said.

When it comes to local control, he said the development they’re looking at is a “hyper-scale” developer and the local government shouldn’t turn down the opportunity.

“I’m not here to argue that the county should have the power to block all data center development or that Ohio should abandon its competitive position in the data center market,” said Schilling. “What I am asking is that the communities who are bearing the infrastructure burdens and the community impacts of these facilities have a seat at the table.”

Many of the individuals who testified said they were “competing with misinformation” that was spreading on Facebook.

Brent Stevens with the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation said they’ve been very transparent with their community and had very little pushback when the data center was first announced.

“But within the past three months there’s been a lot of pushback,” said Stevens. Stevens said after doing some research, he found there were groups based in Washington D.C. paying millions of dollars to push anti-data center information on the internet. He said he noticed there has been a lot of information circulating on the internet and he hoped the committee could find a way to clear up misinformation.

Szollosi focused his testimony on the impact data center development has had on the workforce for blue collar jobs.

“Blue collar jobs are winning in Ohio and it’s due to data centers, but we have to stay competitive,” he said. Szollosi said blue collar jobs have gone up 70% over the past 10 years.

“People saying ‘these are temporary jobs’ is an insult to hardworking construction and trades workers in Ohio,” he said. “People need work, and these are great jobs.”

Szollosi said some of these workers can make up to $160,000 annually and it’s bringing revenue to the middle-class.

Johnstown Mayor Tiffany Hollis spoke about her experience with a data center developer coming to her hometown and “pinned the community against each other.”

“Intel took over the area before the project was even announced, large scale developers need to provide more information,” she said to the committee.

Hollis said the developers were buying out land in the area for years before the community even knew about it, and by then, it was too late to do anything about it.

She said there needs to be more transparency between all of the groups involved.

“Give the power to the people, communities should make these decisions locally because some communities aren’t meant for these developments,” said Hollis.

Andry Rose with Concord Township said the data centers can have large impacts on small communities and local governments should have the power in those decisions. He said this isn’t a “one size fit all” situation.

Public testimony included local government and communities. Invited testimony included the Ohio Farm Bureau, The Superior Group, Associated General Contractors, ACT Ohio, Ohio State Building Trades Council, Northwest Ohio Building Trades Council, Central Ohio Building Trades Council, Laborers District Council of Ohio, and the Cleveland Building Trades Council.

After over four hours of testimony and questions, the meeting concluded with the fifth meeting slated for Thursday, but is subject to change.

Although Chavez said there has been no set end date for these meetings, they are acting quickly and the goal is to see if any legislation from the state is required based on their findings.

Meetings are live and posted at ohiochannel.org by searching Ohio House and Senate Select Committees on Data Centers.

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com