Changing the stance of the last meeting, members of the Salix City Council voted down a one-year moratorium on any data center being placed in town.
The city of Salix annexed 900 acres of farmland for a potential project involving MidAmerican Energy.
Even though several people at the Thursday council meeting voiced support for a moratorium, the measure failed on a 3-2 vote.
Tensions flared after the vote.
“Officers, officers, they’re disrupting the meeting," Mayor Kevin Nelson called out.
Council member Gene Monk and others were visibly upset. No one was arrested.
Just before the vote, Monk said he believed the moratorium had already passed during last month’s meeting, and just the details needed approval at this meeting.
Council member Denise Burkhart said, “We need to open conversations with Google to see what they want to bring here, what they're capable of doing for our community. It may not be right for us, but we're not going to know until we ask the questions," Burkhart said.
The meeting was delayed a week after city officials received death and terroristic threats on social media.
“We ask for a cool-down period for a year to research like the people want to research. Then we can make an educated decision. We can let the people vote for it after that, do something different. It's too big of a decision for us five people," Monk said.
Salix is facing a legal challenge from Woodbury County over the city’s annexation process. The land would still need to be rezoned before a data center could move forward.
