Wednesday’s Hobart City Council meeting was adjourned abruptly following a heated exchange between Mayor Josh Huddlestun and No Data Centers leader Alice Pawlowski.
The exchange, which occurred during the public comment portion of the meeting, began when Pawlowski asked the mayor whether it was true that he is receiving extra police protection.
Huddlestun confirmed he is receiving police protection primarily to protect his young children who can’t even go outside to recess due to harassment.
“I have to have protection for me and my kids,” Huddlestun answered.
“Who is paying for the additional protection?” Pawlowski asked.
Huddlestun answered, “The taxpayers.”
Pawlowski told city officials they should have been more transparent when it came to going forward with two separate site plans, both of which will be operated by Amazon Web Services at Colorado Street and 61st Avenue.
“You guys brought this on. You guys brought this on to the city,” Pawlowski said.
Pawlowski said she became flustered during the meeting because she perceived that council members were yelling at her. The council members were observed to be talking loudly.
“If he (the mayor) wouldn’t have interrupted me, it wouldn’t have happened. He brought his family into the meeting,” Pawlowski said in an interview on Thursday morning.
In a Facebook post, Huddlestun alleged that Pawlowski’s comments gave the impression she finds the threats his family has received acceptable.
“Regardless of where anyone stands on an issue, there should be a line that we all refuse to cross, besides the no data center group, they think it’s ok,” Huddlestun’s post concluded.
Pawlowski said she didn’t intend to imply it was right for anyone to threaten the mayor and his family in any way.
“While threats are never appropriate, and I’m dismayed such an incident occurred, I feel it’s because many residents remain concerned about perceived lack of transparency and communication regarding AI Amazon Data Center issues,” Pawlowski said at the meeting.
Hobart resident Jennifer McQuade, who has also been an outspoken opponent of the data centers, said she wasn’t at the meeting to talk about data centers.
Rather she was hoping to engage in dialogue with city officials when it comes to future development, agricultural preservation, conservation planning and protection of natural spaces, especially on the south side of Hobart.
“The south side of Hobart is not just vacant land waiting for development. It is one of the last remaining areas within our city that still maintains a strong rural and agricultural identity. There were over 190 actively farmed parcels of land within Hobart’s city limits and approximately 130 of those are located on the south side alone.” she said.
McQuade added: “This area is home to family farms, horse properties, wetlands, wildlife habitat, pollinator areas, produce farms, hobby farms, apiaries and open space that generations of residents have valued and enjoyed.”
Huddlestun said rezoning requests of property that come before city officials aren’t sought out by them but rather individual property owners who may want to sell their land, such as farmers, who no longer want to farm.
Huddlestun agreed to get together and meet with McQuade and other property owners.
In other business, Building Commissioner Felix Perry and Chief of Staff Kelly Clemens both reported a huge success of the city’s exterior facade rebate program and the interior energy rebate program. The $2 million program was made possible by an upfront payment of $47 million from Amazon Data Services in connection with the data center project.
The newly launched program provides a 50/50 grant to eligible homeowners with rebates awarded on a first-come, first served basis.
A total of 92 homeowners have been approved for the exterior facade rebate program with $672,033 expenditures to date.
A total of 29 homeowners have been approved for the interior program with $127,150 in expenditures to date, Perry said.
A total of $1 million has been allocated for each program, Perry said.
In other business, the City Council also accepted a donation of a lot at 1710 Sycamore Lane with the intention of utilizing the property as a future pocket park.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
