Hello everyone,

I attended the Commission meeting this past Wednesday, January 14th, and presented printed copies of the petition signatures to the Commission during their designated period for public comments at the end of the session. This was a general public comment period, not specifically related to the Jailhouse Studios proposal. As of now, the Commission's agenda does not show that they will be voting on any resolution related to Jailhouse Studios this month. Based on commissioners' reactions to the presentation, I had been worried that the vote would come quickly, so I'm relieved that we have more time to contact commissioners and voice concerns. That being said, PLEASE CONTACT COMMISSIONERS. Especially your commissioner for your district if you live within Hamilton County. If you need help figuring out who your commissioner is…

• If you're a registered voter, you can find your county district here: Voter Registration Lookup
• Match your district to your commissioner here (scroll to the bottom of the page): County Commission, Hamilton County Government

Of course, I don't see any reason to limit yourself to your own commissioner. Feel free to contact them all!

Email addresses for the commissioners are formatted as follows - 

• District1@hamiltontn.gov
• District2@hamiltontn.gov
• District3@hamiltontn.gov
• And so on through District 11.
• You can also submit comments on the commission's website.

If you need ideas for what to say to the commissioners, here are some comments and questions I have raised:

• How will the resources required to run and cool this facility affect utility availability and costs for residents? Will local utilities be able to meet the demands for this project without detriment to existing customers?
• What is the expected air and water pollution output for this venture? What about noise pollution?
• What oversight will the county have over the on-going development and use of the building? If, for example, the lessees want to expand the data center footprint, will the county be able to approve or reject that change?
• The presentation said that they can bring in hundreds of jobs and vocational training opportunities. I'm curious what kinds of jobs these would be and for whom. Will they actually hire locals? Will these jobs be full-time jobs with benefits or short-term subcontract jobs? Will there be a formal program or agreement between the studio and UTC guaranteeing student involvement?
• Are there going to be any mechanisms in place that will require Urban Story Ventures to uphold their claims around job growth?
• Data storage facilities, regardless of size, do not require many people to run them. Given all of the above, the capacity for job growth for this venture seems low to me. So I wonder if there's a better opportunity out there for how to make use of the building.

In-person comment opportunities and potential vote dates:

If you want to follow along on your own, please do, as I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post updates. The commissioners meet every Wednesday at the Hamilton County Courthouse. The schedule alternates between agenda-setting meetings ("Agenda Sessions") and voting meetings ("Regular Meetings"). This past Wed., Jan. 14th, was an Agenda Session. The commissioners discussed which resolutions they will vote on at the next Regular Meeting, which is this next Wed., Jan. 21st. (January 28th will be an agenda session, February 4th will be a regular meeting, and so on).

Although the commission did not put the Jailhouse Studios resolution on the agenda at last week's meeting, there is still a chance that a resolution could be added to the agenda last minute. The commissioners have been known to occasionally add a resolution to the agenda during the voting session. SO the earliest the vote could take place is at the meeting this upcoming Wednesday, January 21st at 4pm ET, but this is not guaranteed. If you wanted to voice your opinion at every opportunity, you should plan on attending each meeting in case the resolution is brought up without advance notice. At Agenda Sessions, public comments can be made during the specified period the end of the meeting. During Regular Meetings (aka voting sessions), if the resolution is on the agenda, you can make public comment during the comment period specific to the resolution. If the resolution is not on the agenda, you can still speak to the body during the general public comment period at the end of the meeting. Comments are usually limited to 3 minutes.

You can track the agenda here: hamiltontn.gov/CurrentAgenda.aspx

For as long as the resolution is left OFF of the agenda and a vote is delayed, this petition is technically a success. The commissioners are granting more time for us to contact them with our concerns. So please, please do that!

I will try to keep you all updated on the agenda and potential vote as I'm able. I also plan to update the commissioners on the signature count as long as the petition continues to gain support.

Thank you all for your support!

Erikka