Burgin city council member walks out to stop a vote for a proposed data center project

BURGIN, Ky. — A city council member for a small Mercer County community walked out of a meeting Tuesday evening, stopping a vote that could have restarted efforts to annex land for a proposed hyperscale data center, a project that’s been under local scrutiny for months. 

During a special meeting at the city’s fire department, the Burgin city council lost a quorum to be able to conduct business and subsequently ended their meeting after council member Melinda Wofford abruptly walked out of the door of the department’s engine bay.

“You can’t do business without a quorum,” Wofford told the Kentucky Lantern while standing in a gravel lot near the building after the meeting had ended.

Wofford told the Lantern she walked out on purpose but didn’t expand on her reasoning for walking out. 

More than a hundred people packed into the engine bay, some of them wearing blue shirts for the community group “We Are Mercer County” that has voiced strong concerns about the potential project. After the meeting, a few attendees thanked Wofford for walking out. 

The council was set to vote on whether to direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance — to potentially be voted on in the future — that would annex several parcels of land north of the city where developer Panattoni Data Centers wants to build a hyperscale data center with a potentially massive power demand. It would have been the second time the city of about 1,000 people had considered annexing the proposed data center site. 

Zoé Strecker, one of a number of Mercer County residents who spoke against the proposed project during a public comment portion of the meeting, told the council the data center industry was “extractive” and echoed a range of environmental concerns residents had on noise and air quality impacts. 

“There is every reason not to rush. We are clearly a target. Why? Because the land is inexpensive, the power is nearby and cheap, and the local government is eager for an increase in tax base. But we are not interested in being sacrificed,” Strecker said. 

Brock Tomlinson, a senior vice president for Panattoni Data Centers, also spoke to the council in favor of the project, saying the company has “listened closely to the residents in Burgin and Mercer County.” He cited potential tens of millions of dollars in local tax revenue, speaking over heckling from the attendees who accused him of lying. 

He also referenced an executive order from Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear that seeks to mitigate the impacts of hyperscale data centers looking to locate in the state.

“Gov. Beshear has been clear that Kentucky residents should be protected and should not pay the costs,” Tomlinson said. “We agree with the governor in that stance.” 

A lost quorum

While Wofford’s walkout triggered the loss of a quorum, it was also made possible because of a recusal of a council member and the absence of another. 

Travis Irvine, another city council member for the community of about 1,000 people, recused himself from the vote because of a potential conflict of interest he saw as an employee of the local school district. The school superintendent and school board for Burgin Independent School, which serves about 500 students, have advocated for the proposed data center because of a potential windfall of tax revenue for the school district and city. Irvine had also left the building. 

Irvine’s recusal, combined with Wofford suddenly walking out and the absence of council member Kevin Wallace, meant the council didn’t have enough members to continue the meeting. 

“That’s her choice,” said Burgin Mayor Joe Monroe to reporters after the meeting. “I have to stand up for Travis because he recused himself all along. And he stood his ground, and she stood hers.” 

Earlier in the meeting, Monroe made the tie-breaking vote to give a first reading, or initial consideration, of another ordinance that would have Burgin join the Mercer County government and the county seat of Harrodsburg on a joint planning and zoning commission and a board of adjustment. 

Burgin does not have planning and zoning regulations and could adopt regulations as a part of the joint commission. The crowd, some of them sitting in lawn chairs, stood up and cheered after Monroe made the tie-breaking vote. 

Monroe told reporters he thought it was a “big mistake” for the city to annex any property without planning and zoning because “they can pretty much do as they please.” 

He said joining the joint planning and zoning commission was the only way to have more control over annexed property. Wofford had joined him in that vote, saying she wouldn’t approve any annexation of property until the city had planning and zoning rules in place. 

The Mercer County Joint Planning and Zoning Commission voted in July to advance data center zoning regulations that restrict where large data centers projects can be located and also require a developer to prepare an environmental impact statement and create a benefits agreement with the community. 

A county’s data center moratorium doesn’t include a small city considering huge project

In August, the Mercer County Fiscal Court had also passed a temporary pause on data center construction — which doesn’t apply to Burgin because the city doesn’t have planning and zoning — until the fiscal court can pass those regulations into law. 

On Tuesday, the fiscal court also gave a first reading of the commission’s data center regulations. Republican Mercer County Judge-Executive Sarah Steele said wanted to have the meeting where the second reading of the regulations happens to be at a “place that we can have more room” for more people to attend. 

Monroe told reporters that Burgin adopting planning and zoning regulations doesn’t “kill” the proposed data center project but “makes things a little bit harder.” 

“You got to see what the public wants. Is there a possibility of a chance to make some money out of it for the city in taxes? Yes, there always is, but you still have to listen,” Monroe said.