An important Salix City Council meeting on Wednesday evening will determine if the city puts in place a moratorium on a firm placing a data center on the town’s edge.
That meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at city hall in the small Woodbury County town of Salix.
Mayor Kevin Nelson on Monday told Siouxland Public Media that he “looks forward to a well attended and productive meeting” on a hot issue in town.
Google announced last week that they will pursue a data center, in concert by working with MidAmerican Energy.
In April, the Salix City Council approved a voluntary annexation of about 900 acres.
According to the petition, Salix failed to meet multiple Iowa Code requirements involving the annexation.
The document says Salix improperly accepted four individual annexation applications for land that is not adjacent to the city. It also says Woodbury County wasn’t provided sufficient time to consult with the city, suggest recommendations, or adopt a resolution before the annexation.
Two days later on August 6, a special meeting of the Salix City Council was held.
Meeting minutes showed that Mayor Nelson requested a closed session per Iowa Code, to discuss strategy with legal counsel in matters where litigation is imminent and where its disclosure would be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the government.
That closed session lasted 45 minutes, at which point the meeting was adjourned.
At the July 8 Salix council meeting, residents asked their representatives to place a moratorium on any large-scale data centers being placed on city land. The council voted 3-2 in support of a concept of such a one-year pause.
There will be one more vote on that in this Wednesday meeting to fully effectuate the moratorium.
A recent poll show 7 of 10 Americans oppose data centers. Some of those people cite environmental reasons or the loss of a quiet area.
