August Check-In
Good morning and welcome to August! It has been a profoundly hectic month and we are sure that this is the case for all of you. With that in mind, here is the schedule for all things related to the Ogle County Board this month:
August 11th (from 8am-4:30pm):
8am: Road & Bridge Committee
9am: HR & Risk Management
10am: Assessments, Planning & Zoning
11am: SA, Court Svc, Focus House, Judiciary, & Circuit Clerk
12pm: Ethics & Governance
1pm: County Facilities, Security, & IT
2pm: Long Range & Strategic Planning
3pm: HEW, Solid Waste, & VAC
4pm: Finance & Insurance
4:30pm: Executive
August 18th (5:30pm):
Ogle County Board, Agenda TBD
August 20th (6:00pm):
Regional Planning Commission, Agenda TBD
August 27th (6:00pm):
Zoning Board of Appeals, Agenda TBD
With respect to data center findings, there has been a bunch of lip service with very little evidence to back it up. You know what there has been evidence of? Constellation courting a battery of local officials dating back to 2024: https://leeoglezone.blackhawkhills.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2024-12-04-LOEZ-AB-Meeting.pdf
Of note? "Potential Amendment: A potential amendment is on the horizon in Rural Oregon. Company known to local officials is planning an expansion of its facility. Smaller project we would like to help out, anticipate $10m investment and 35 new jobs. More discussion to come on this one.” Constellation gave a 15-30 presentation to those in attendance.
On July 9th, from Shaw Local:
“We didn’t have enough time to meet the Open Meetings Act to do a cancellation [of the ZBA], so we had to hold the meeting, open it, and then they entertained the continuation,” Ogle County Planning and Zoning Director Mark Miller said after the meeting. The July 9 meeting was a special ZBA meeting, Miller said. He said it was scheduled to take place as soon as possible while still meeting requirements for legal notices at the request of Ogle County Board Chairman John Finfrock. “He wanted this not delayed,” Miller said.
And that rezoning amendment was approved: August 13th, 2024.
Even with FOIA filings and with direct questioning of board members, it has been a challenge to get substantive answers. However, there is answer to the question of the origins of a data center draft ordinance: from a sitting board member (using their personal email to conduct county business and correspondence) . Here is the text of the email:
“From: Ben Youman”
“Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2026"
“To: Patricia Nordman; Bruce E. Larson”
“Subject: Data Center — Can’t Review”
“Attachments: Ogle County Date(sp.) Center Proposed Ordinance Draft (APZ-Rev2).docx”
“Pat/Bruce -
Here is cleaned version of draft ordinance.
I can’t review this and must recuse myself.
You can use this version to assign to Board Member or outsource completion.
Sorry for inconvenience.”
Why would this draft (apparently the second revision) be sent from a personal email from a board member who clearly must recuse themselves from the subject? Who generated the draft? Where is it being outsourced? What board member has it been assigned to? And what vetting process are they using for assigning this task to a board member? For outsourcing it?
At this point, the most disappointing part of this has been how the board has chosen to engage and the lengths to which they have gone to obfuscate. Hang tight. We shall see what the agenda has in store.