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Public Comments from February
Regular Board Meeting
[February 27, 2026]
On Tuesday, February 24th, the
Logan County Board held their monthly meeting in the second-floor
courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse. All members were present,
except for Kathy Schmidt. Present members included Chairman JR
Glenn, Vice Chairman Dale Nelson, Lance Conahan, Michael DeRoss,
Keenan Leesman, Kevin Knauer, Bob Sanders, Gil Turner, Jim
Wessbecher, Joseph Kuhlman, and Hannah Fitzpatrick.
The courtroom was full, with some people forced to stand. According
to Glenn, there was a trial going on in the significantly larger
third floor courtroom, and he promised one of the judges that the
County Board would not go into that room. Everyone in attendance was
there to discuss the proposed Hut 8 data center.
Within the first five minutes of the meeting, Glenn opened the floor
for public comments, something normal for these meetings. He asked
the members of the audience to try to keep their comments to less
than three minutes, and to please keep decorum as comments were
made. The public comments continued for nearly 45 minutes, with
multiple viewpoints expressed. For coverage of the full meeting,
without the moratorium vote, click here. To read about the
discussion and vote on the moratorium, click here.
The first comment was made by a man who stated he was present on
behalf of the iron workers. He asked all the tradesmen present, and
that were in favor of the data center, to stand up. In total, there
were twelve people standing. He explained that the project would
employ local tradesmen, not people from “out of town.”
A young woman from Latham, who lives near where the proposed data
center site, stated she was concerned that there would be a lot of
trees needed to be cut down and many new power lines put up. When
she finished giving her comment, the audience applauded her.
The next comment concerned water usage. The man speaking stated that
Latham is in their second year of a drought and wanted to know what
would happen when local residents’ taps ran dry due to water usage
at the proposed data center. In previous meetings, Hut 8
representatives stated that the facility expects to use around 9,000
gallons of water a day for things such as restroom facilities.
The following commenter thanked Hut 8 and the union workers for
coming, but stated that they want a ‘no’ vote on the entire project
from the board.
A woman who works at EATON spoke on the longevity of the project,
stating that it will do bad things to the local nature and water
supply over time if built. She stated that the data center will cost
more jobs than it creates due to people leaving the county.
Barbara Douglass of Mt. Pulaski spoke next, stating she has lived
there for nineteen years. She continued that, when she moved here,
people talked about how Mt. Pulaski will never grow due to farmers
knowing the farmland is “the best farmland in the world, and they
will never sell it for houses.” She stated that this land is being
sold for factories, wind farms, and solar farms. She said, “As
county board members, you should be respecting the land,” then
called on the members to vote against the proposed data center.
Gavin, a union worker, spoke on potential benefits of the proposed
data center. He stated that it would bring jobs, combatting the slow
loss Logan County has been seeing in its population. He stated that
the tax revenue would help the tax base of the county. As a local
resident, he would like to see property taxes come from more than
just homeowners in the county. He also commended Hut 8 for doing
scientific studies about their potential impact to the county.
The next speaker mentioned that water supplies in Bloomington are
starting to dwindle due to data centers built in their area, stating
that the investment would not be worth the cost to the county.
A Lincoln resident spoke next, also citing environmental impacts as
their reason for opposition. She stated that her three biggest areas
of concern were water usage, the impact on electricity services to
the county, and the carbon monoxide that will be released into the
air. She implored the board to think of the children of the county.
The next speaker was also against the proposed data center but
stated that they respected the union and trades people present. He
stated that, while it may create jobs for these individuals, those
jobs would be “short lived.” In previous meetings, Hut 8 has
estimated these jobs will last for approximately eighteen months. He
then claimed that the data center would be taking jobs away from the
agricultural sector of the county. Additionally, he stated that
people “in the industry” believe that data centers will be obsolete
in the next ten to twenty years.
One hundred ninety-six was the number given by a woman also opposed
to the data center. She explained that this is the number of data
centers in Illinois and said that the state does not need another
one. She mentioned that Yorktown, Des Plaines and Naperville all
voted no to data centers in their towns. In addition, she stated she
did not think it was fair that larger towns have the ability to
“hide” data centers, whereas Logan County’s proposed data center
will be out in the open.
A Latham resident spoke next,
stating that she lives within the sound zone where Hut 8 is looking
to build the data center. She also stated that there is a lot of
wildlife in the area that will be disturbed by the noise. She stated
that these animals will not understand or benefit from the data
center. She continued that she did not think it was fair that a
small group like the County Board should be making decisions that
would “decide the fate of all the people that don’t want it for
generations.” She then stated that tax revenue from gambling, wind
and solar farms, and marijuana were “supposed to save us.” She
accused the board of thinking the people of the county are “too
stupid to determine our own fate.” She then accused board members of
lining their own pockets.
Glenn stated that the board members are not lining their pockets, as
that implies the board members are engaging in criminal activity.
The woman continued, stating “you do line your pockets with higher
taxes.” She then went on to ask where the tax money was going to go,
stating that it would be lining someone’s pockets, citing school
districts and the highway department.
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The next person to
speak stated that they do not think the people of the county are
stupid, but he said that he does think they are underinformed.
He stated that, as an educator at the college level, he has seen
firsthand how powerful AI is but is not sure yet if that power
is for good or not. He encouraged the board to “pump the brakes”
on the entire project so they can slow down and learn more.
The woman who spoke next brought up the soil productivity index.
She stated that Logan County ranks in a very high category and
is one of the highest ranked in the state for the productivity
of its soil. She stated that the only positive side to the
proposed data center would be the increased tax revenue. Seeing
as how the state is looking to potentially freeze property
taxes, that would get rid of the only positive, in her opinion.
Another Latham resident spoke, stating
that he lives two miles away from the proposed data center. He
stated that he is sure the proposed data center would make enough
noise for the people of Latham to hear, saying that he can sometimes
hear his neighbor who lives a quarter of a mile away.
After that comment, a woman who spoke earlier stood to speak again.
She stated that the proposed data center is a zoning issue. She
remembered a time when you could not put a mobile home in certain
places due to it being a zoning issue. She continued, that zoning
has always been decided locally. She spoke on having people move to
Latham who want to see the data center, saying “if you all want to
move and buy all of our houses at a real premium, and you want to
live next to this data center that you’re all so excited to see… I’m
sure a lot of people would be happy to take four times market value
on their house.”
A brief comment was made after this, with a woman stating that there
were hundreds of people working on the windmills when they were
being put up, and now there are only five.
A comment was made by one of the union
workers that the building of the proposed data center would create
hundreds of jobs. He cited the number Hut 8 gave as their average
expected income of the permanent jobs created, which is around
$100,000 per year. As he spoke, other people who disagreed with him
started to grumble, with some asking questions directly as he was
speaking. Chairman Glenn reminded everyone that they had their
chance to speak and were not interrupted. He asked them to do the
same for everyone.
The next commenter stated that they needed to put the children in
the community before the proposed data center, saying that kids
having to grow up near a data center is not worth the union jobs.
After this, someone commented that they also do not care about the
amount of union jobs it would create, as they would be against it
regardless. The speaker after this cited an item on the meeting
agenda that the Board would be speaking on later, asking them to
extend the proposed moratorium from 90 to 180 days.
Greg Irwin of Hut 8 then stood to
talk, thanking everyone in the community for coming and making their
voices heard, whether they were for or against their proposed data
center. He stated that Hut 8 is expecting Ameren to come to them in
April or May to let them know that they are ready to move forward
with the next step, which would be Hut 8 paying for, and Ameren
building, the infrastructure upgrades that would be needed for the
data center to get enough electricity. Irwin stated that 180 days
would be too long, and they would not be able to move forward with
the project on Ameren’s timeline.
The man who stated he was an educator earlier spoke again. He said
that while AI has the possibility to be “an engine for good,” that
remains to be seen. He said he has seen the “profound effect” it has
had on education, and not always for the better. He continued that
he was not encouraged that Hut 8 was under such a time crunch to get
the project moving.
The next person to speak stated that Logan County and Hut 8 do not
have the same timeline for building the data center. She brought up
that other counties around Logan County are enacting moratoriums.
She brought up the affordability of electricity, stating that she
struggles to pay her own Ameren bills, and that the proposed data
center would not help with that.
A woman next stated that she worked for a grain company. While the
tax money goes back to the community, people can really give back to
their community by “letting farmland live.” She stated that she was
tired of seeing people take advantage of farmland.
The final public comment was a question directed at Irwin and Peter
Goehausen, who was also present representing Hut 8. The commenter
wanted to know if the land was being seized. Irwin assured him that
it was not, and that the land was being purchased from the person
who owned it. Irwin continued that he was not familiar with the
legislation mentioned earlier about freezing property tax rates. He
did state that Hut 8 would be willing to commit to a community
benefit agreement with the county for the difference in any lost tax
revenue if the law were passed.
This brought the public comments to a close, and Glenn moved on to
the action items from the several Board committees. To read about
what was discussed and voted on at the meeting, please click
here. To read about the
passing of a 60-day moratorium on new data center applications,
please click
here.
[Matt Boutcher]
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