00:07 - Good morning everyone.

00:09 - Today's session of the 2026 Annual Educational Conference.

00:13 - The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors

00:16 - will now come to order.

00:20 - Go back,

00:22 - Cheryl.

00:24 - Will the Sergeant at Arms, please

00:26 - close the doors?

00:33 - Again.

00:34 - Good morning everyone.

00:35 - Once again, this morning will begin with the posting of the colors.

00:39 - Please, everyone, stand as the members of the Pennsylvania State.

00:42 - Police Honor Guard present the US and the Pennsylvania

00:46 - flags.

00:51 - Honor guard, please come forward.

01:44 - Everyone, please

01:45 - remain standing for the national anthem

01:49 - performed today by Trooper Robert Brawley.

01:57 - Present arms.

02:03 - Oh, say, can you see.

02:07 - By the dawn's early light.

02:12 - What so proudly we hailed.

02:17 - At the twilight's last gleaming.

02:23 - Whose broad stripes and bright stars.

02:27 - Through the perilous fight.

02:33 - O'er the ramparts we watched.

02:37 - Were so gallantly streaming.

02:43 - And the rockets red glare, the bombs

02:49 - bursting in air.

02:53 - Gave proof through the night

02:58 - that our flag was still there.

03:06 - Oh, say, does that star

03:11 - spangled banner.

03:15 - Yet wave.

03:22 - O'er the land of the free.

03:29 - And the home of

03:32 - the brave.

03:49 - Oh, Lord.

03:53 - Ready? Just

03:56 - now. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

03:59 - I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

04:04 - And to the Republic for which it stands.

04:06 - One nation under God, indivisible,

04:09 - with liberty and justice for all.

04:13 - Right.

04:14 - That's.

04:17 - Much.

04:52 - Please be seated.

04:58 - At this

04:58 - time, I'd like to invite PC First Vice President.

05:01 - Steve has supervisor from North Center Township in Columbia County

05:05 - to offer our morning invocation.

05:07 - Steve.

05:20 - Morning, everyone.

05:23 - Would you please pray with me?

05:25 - Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.

05:28 - We thank you for the traveling mercies for those who have attended our conference

05:31 - this year.

05:32 - Lord, we have so many things to be thankful for these days.

05:36 - We ask, Lord that you be with our association

05:39 - for the remainder of our conference, especially for those.

05:44 - Who are traveling back and forth.

05:46 - We ask, Lord, that you be with the same staff who have all worked

05:50 - so hard for this conference as they always do.

05:53 - We ask that you be with the supervisors, managers, secretaries and road crews

05:57 - who have attended our conference and that you be with them as they tackle

06:00 - the everyday business they may encounter.

06:03 - Lord, we ask that you be with our president, state and federal leaders.

06:09 - We ask that you give them the knowledge

06:10 - and the wisdom that they need to serve this great nation.

06:14 - Lastly, we ask you to be with our service personnel.

06:17 - Keep them safe as they keep us safe and free.

06:20 - We ask us all in your precious name, Amen.

06:28 - I hope I can get rid of them now.

06:31 - Before we continue, I ask that everyone please join me in a moment of silence

06:36 - as we remember the supervisors, employees

06:38 - and volunteers who have passed away since we were last together.

06:43 - Some of us lost dear

06:44 - friends and valued colleagues and they are truly missed.

06:48 - If you have a flashlight app on your cell phone,

06:50 - please turn it on or just light up your screen.

06:53 - Hold up your phone and join us in this moment of remembrance

06:56 - for all those lost.

08:32 - Please

08:33 - turn off your flashlights if you haven't already.

08:36 - Every year at the conference, we told that the elevator once

08:39 - remembrance of our colleagues that we've lost since last conference.

08:44 - I'd also like to thank Pennsylvania State Police for helping us out today.

08:48 - Everyone, let's show them our appreciation again.

08:59 - Your phones should be silenced but never turned off

09:02 - because we want you to share in the seeing and learning here today on Facebook.

09:06 - We also want you to be able to answer

09:09 - and text questions for the Data Center forum today.

09:12 - And don't forget if you snap pictures and selfie stations

09:16 - with Dave in the cutouts, of course, post them on Facebook

09:21 - and you can enter to win a $50 Best Buy gift card in our Tuesday photo contest.

09:26 - Also, be sure to use your conference hashtag

09:29 - so that you can easily search the additional social media post

09:33 - this week for eligible photo contest prizes.

09:36 - Hashtag peace SATs conference.

09:38 - That's p SATs second f.

09:42 - One more thing.

09:43 - Make sure that we stop by the sad store members,

09:46 - the lounge, the newbie in the new hive at four and five.

09:50 - You can also relax, socialize, charge your phones,

09:53 - check your emails, and check on your computers

09:56 - to get the photos taken of your photo ID for membership.

10:00 - Also remember running a conference

10:02 - of nearly updated beyond at code 2.0, the Ethics Manual.

10:07 - The Sunshine Laws and the Right to Know manual.

10:10 - A triple bundle.

10:11 - All these books are $85 during this conference only,

10:15 - and they're available in the conference book store.

10:17 - Now that we have a lot of accomplishments, let's get started.

10:25 - Joining us now

10:26 - is Auditor General Tim DeFore.

10:29 - Tim DeFore was first elected auditor general in 2020,

10:33 - and was reelected for a second term in 2024.

10:39 - The Auditor.

10:39 - General's office interacts with townships on liquid fuels, audits

10:43 - the Municipal Pension Fund audits, and fire relief distributions.

10:49 - Please welcome the Auditor General, Tim.

10:51 - DeFore.

11:00 - Good morning everyone.

11:01 - How are you doing?

11:03 - It is an absolute pleasure to be back.

11:05 - And thank you for inviting me to to speak today.

11:08 - And it's great to be here at your annual conference.

11:11 - As I always say, if you want to know how the state's doing,

11:15 - talk to people in local government because it's local government

11:17 - that makes things work in the Commonwealth.

11:20 - And, and I know that you're here because you want to learn.

11:25 - How do I make my community

11:29 - better? And,

11:31 - as a resident of one of those communities, I live in Susquehanna Township.

11:37 - And, I want to thank you for, for for what you do.

11:41 - And you are definitely the key to making our communities work.

11:45 - And, and especially in today's political environment.

11:50 - I know that public servant, public service is not easy.

11:55 - And trust me when I say I greatly appreciate what you do.

12:00 - So thank you.

12:02 - So this morning, I want to take the opportunity

12:04 - to tell you a little bit about what our department does and how we can work

12:08 - with you to help taxpayers understand how their money is spent.

12:14 - You know, as Pennsylvania Auditor General, in theory,

12:17 - my job is description is relatively simple.

12:21 - And that is followed taxpayer dollars and find out what the state

12:24 - and local government does with it.

12:26 - That's what we do.

12:27 - And one thing I want you all to remember when it comes to,

12:31 - especially when it comes to auditing, is that we don't well,

12:35 - we can't audit federal, county or local tax dollars

12:39 - unless we are given the legal authority to do so.

12:42 - I know that's been a question that has come up several times. And,

12:48 - however we can

12:49 - audit local or county government is part of the fees

12:53 - that local and county government collects is payable to the state.

12:58 - So we ought to make sure that the state does receive a share of of those fees.

13:04 - And, we're responsible for performing arts ensure that

13:09 - all state money is spent legally and properly.

13:12 - And we do that by doing what?

13:13 - Well, I'm I'm the auditor general.

13:14 - We do that by performing audits.

13:16 - And for those of you who don't know, we perform we perform four types of audit.

13:21 - First, there's the financial aid.

13:24 - And that helps to ensure that the reliability

13:27 - of the financial information on which the state government operates

13:32 - is, in fact, correct.

13:34 - An example of that would be we audit the state treasurer.

13:38 - We ordered the state treasurer accounts, and we ordered the the funds

13:41 - that the state treasurer has

13:44 - performance audits.

13:45 - Then we self-explanatory and performance audit.

13:48 - What they do is they gauge how government programs

13:52 - and activities are meeting its stated goals and objectives.

13:57 - An example of that would be the Penn does motor Voter audit,

14:01 - which we just performed.

14:02 - And released last week.

14:04 - Then there's compliance audits.

14:06 - Compliance audits determine whether authorities

14:10 - are complying with the law, such as audits of liquid fuels,

14:14 - municipal pension plans and volunteer fire relief associations.

14:19 - And then there's attestation engagements,

14:21 - which attest to the reliability

14:24 - of the financial information and non information.

14:28 - You know, example of that would be volunteer fire relief associations.

14:31 - And I understand that there's a lot of questions and a lot of comments.

14:36 - Coming from the group with regards to especially liquid fuels

14:41 - because there's been a lot of changes and that is a conversation

14:44 - that we are going to have later with leadership,

14:47 - because I want you to understand where we are

14:49 - with liquid fuels and all the changes that are in fact, being made.

14:53 - Now, even though I talked about compliance audits,

14:57 - don't confuse us with a compliance or regulatory department.

15:04 - That is what we are.

15:05 - We are not.

15:06 - And the reason why is the Department of the Auditor General.

15:09 - We don't make policy

15:13 - or regulations for for others to follow.

15:16 - We audit departments and agencies based on their finances

15:20 - and based on what they are doing

15:23 - with state tax dollars. And,

15:28 - in addition to being legally mandated

15:30 - to conduct thousands of audits each year, such as liquid fuels,

15:35 - municipal pension plans, and the phrase, we also audit

15:39 - various county rule officers and numerous state entities.

15:44 - Again, we audit those because that is part of our legal

15:49 - responsibility and

15:53 - there are some cases where something may be added to the fiscal code,

15:56 - which we which would be a special audit, which we may be required to do.

16:01 - But for the most part,

16:03 - we just look at state funds and

16:07 - one of our most important

16:09 - responsibilities that we have in the department is to distribute

16:14 - distribution of state aid for municipal pension plans.

16:18 - And the phrase last October,

16:22 - we distributed nearly,

16:25 - actually over $400 million in pension

16:28 - aid to over 1400 municipalities

16:32 - and over $70 million

16:36 - to 2500

16:38 - via the phrase in our local communities.

16:43 - And one of the things, in addition to doing those types of things,

16:45 - we also follow trends.

16:47 - And you may have heard me talk about this before,

16:50 - and one of the trends that we follow, and something that may be,

16:55 - of great interest, great interest to you involves the number of audits

16:59 - with findings involving municipalities who are falling behind

17:03 - and making their legally required pension contributions.

17:06 - I can't tell you the the importance, the importance of that

17:10 - and that happens at times when in some communities,

17:15 - what we've been finding out, when they don't meet those

17:19 - required contributions, they may feel that they may have had a great quarter.

17:23 - They may have had a great year with regards to their investments.

17:26 - Eventually things kind of level off, and when things level off, that's

17:31 - when you see the importance of making those

17:34 - legally required contributions.

17:38 - And when we perform audits of municipal pension plans,

17:42 - that's one of the first things that we look at

17:45 - is whether or not that was in fact, in fact, done. So,

17:51 - so please remember to, to

17:53 - always do that because there's something that's extremely, extremely important.

17:56 - And that is something that we are starting to see more and more of.

18:01 - And we had noticed in our last audit report, I believe it was last year,

18:07 - there were over 25% of municipal pension

18:10 - plans in the Commonwealth that are in some type of distress,

18:15 - and we're starting to see that number increase.

18:19 - It had dipped during the Covid years.

18:22 - It had dipped.

18:24 - But now we are starting to see that, that increased

18:28 - and we are that's something that we are continuing

18:31 - to look at and something going to pay close attention to.

18:35 - And the one thing

18:37 - that is extremely important to remember about pension plans

18:41 - is that they go to your local law enforcement,

18:46 - your firefighters, and those individuals

18:50 - who work with law enforcement, work with firefighters.

18:54 - So it's extremely important that those individuals

18:59 - have a pension plan

19:01 - when they when they retire.

19:03 - So keep that in mind.

19:05 - Another thing that we've done over the past couple of years,

19:08 - we've extended our outreach to VFR, as you may have been hearing about this,

19:13 - and we've been working with state legislators across the Commonwealth

19:18 - having informational session meetings.

19:21 - And we work with the fire with the fire commissioner as well.

19:23 - We've been holding informational nights, and

19:27 - so far we've done it five times across the Commonwealth

19:30 - with the authorities giving them

19:32 - best practices, not necessarily advice.

19:36 - Remember, one thing we cannot give auditors likes,

19:40 - but we can talk about auditing best practices,

19:44 - and we can talk about past audits and some of the things

19:48 - to look out for when, when you're about to be audited.

19:52 - So that so we that's something that we've stepped up over the past couple of years.

19:57 - And if we haven't been to your community yet,

20:00 - we will.

20:01 - If you would like us to come to your community,

20:03 - please reach out to us and invite us.

20:07 - And when you invite us to your community, you also get me,

20:12 - because I felt it was very important for the people in our community

20:16 - when they talk about audits, when we talk about some of the things

20:20 - that we do, it's extremely important

20:24 - that they also hear from and see me.

20:28 - So after all, I'm kind of at the top of the food chain.

20:33 - So, so it's, it's important that I, that I'd be there,

20:37 - because I am truly committed

20:40 - to the job that I do.

20:42 - I'm truly committed to our local governments

20:47 - because I understand what you go through.

20:51 - I understand,

20:54 - that your job sometimes is not easy,

20:58 - and you're the ones that are responsible

21:01 - for making this Commonwealth work.

21:04 - And, I said it earlier, but I want to see it again.

21:07 - See? You understand it.

21:08 - Thank you again for for what you do. And,

21:13 - you know, another thing about our audits,

21:16 - our audits aren't about playing gotcha.

21:19 - It doesn't do any good for me to get behind a microphone in front of a camera,

21:25 - talk about an audit, talk about how great I am, how bad the auditor is.

21:30 - It doesn't do anybody any good.

21:32 - Our audits are a tool,

21:35 - our auditor tool to help government.

21:38 - If we have any audit findings.

21:41 - Trust me when I say we're going to come up with some common sense solutions

21:45 - on how to fix the problem,

21:50 - and we're going to work with you

21:52 - to fix that problem as well.

21:55 - And so, no, when I when I say that

21:59 - that we're from the government, we're here to help you.

22:03 - I know that's a joke.

22:04 - So. Okay, good.

22:05 - So you theatricality so that that that always gets a laugh.

22:09 - But it's true.

22:11 - We are.

22:16 - Maybe I should have said that.

22:18 - I was worried about seeing that.

22:21 - But. But it's true.

22:24 - We're here.

22:25 - We're here to to work.

22:26 - To work with you to help improve your communities.

22:29 - But also another thing that you can do for us

22:34 - when we're performing audits,

22:36 - if there's an issue, if you see any type of inconsistency

22:41 - with regards to the work that we're doing,

22:45 - let us know.

22:47 - Let us know, because the feedback

22:51 - that we get from you,

22:53 - it helps us to improve the work that we do.

22:58 - So we are always looking for feedback.

23:02 - And because we we're all facing challenges

23:06 - and the only way we can improve

23:09 - what we do is to hear from you.

23:14 - So we want to hear from you.

23:16 - And it's even if, well, once we perform an audit,

23:21 - if there's something in the audit report that you don't agree with,

23:25 - we're going to put that in the report.

23:27 - Seeing what you don't agree with.

23:31 - And that in turn is going

23:32 - to help us to, to improve.

23:35 - So if you want to reach out to us, we have a website.

23:38 - It's ww. Pa

23:41 - auditor.com me.gov

23:46 - ww dot w w w dot.

23:52 - So I'm an auditor.

23:56 - So I so so

23:58 - didn't major in English but go to major and it

24:02 - when auditor www.pa

24:07 - auditor.gov.

24:10 - If you have a question

24:13 - please reach out to us.

24:15 - We will we answer all emails.

24:18 - We answer all letters.

24:19 - If you want me to come to your community,

24:23 - please do the same

24:24 - because I always like to meet as many of you as I possibly can.

24:29 - I want to thank you for your time.

24:32 - Enjoy the rest of your conference.

24:34 - God bless you and thank you for continuing to serve our local communities.

24:39 - Thank you.

24:50 - Please welcome

24:51 - his Executive Director, Dave Sanko.

24:55 - Are you the.

25:01 - Star?

25:02 - Good general day for for joining us this morning.

25:05 - Good morning everyone.

25:06 - It's time to give away a few prizes, including the photo contest

25:09 - winner from Monday, today's punctuality prizes.

25:12 - And two of the baskets that have been donated by county associations.

25:16 - I seem to be on the way up here.

25:18 - First of all, I start off with the winner of our photo contest from Monday.

25:22 - The winner was randomly chosen from among those who,

25:26 - posted a photo on Facebook using hashtag

25:28 - post conf conf.

25:32 - The winner does not need to be present this morning,

25:34 - but must pick up their prize at the information desk by noon tomorrow.

25:40 - Photo contest prize is a $50 Best Buy gift card.

25:45 - And it was sponsored by, KSL, one of our brand sponsors.

25:49 - And the winner of the Monday photo contest

25:52 - is Lisa Moore from Green Township in Beaver County.

25:55 - Congratulations, Lisa. Where's Lisa? Is she here?

26:02 - Okay,

26:03 - we'll announce another photo contest winner tomorrow.

26:06 - So you still have time to post your photos using hashtag PSAT?

26:10 - S c o n f

26:13 - before we announce the winner of the punctuality Prize.

26:16 - I'd like to mention that today's prize was sponsored by Williams.

26:20 - A brand sponsor.

26:21 - You know, speaking of sponsors,

26:22 - our video screens this morning are generously provided,

26:26 - by Mid-Atlantic trucking equipment and Remington and Bernick engineers.

26:32 - You know, we truly appreciate the support of these companies.

26:34 - And others, including those who are participating in this year's

26:37 - exhibit show and advertising in this year's conference program book.

26:41 - This is the support we receive from our sponsors and our vendors.

26:45 - Allow us to make this a great experience for you, but

26:48 - also keep conference registration fees at affordable levels.

26:53 - Remember, there are three

26:54 - rules to be eligible to win the Punctuality Prizes.

26:58 - First, you must be on time for the general session.

27:00 - Obviously, you've all passed that.

27:02 - Secondly, you must be present for the drawing.

27:05 - Winning.

27:07 - Then let's say three rules.

27:09 - There's two.

27:13 - Today's punctuality

27:14 - prize and a $100 Amazon gift card.

27:17 - Is it?

27:18 - And the winner is.

27:23 - Jolene Hellwig, manager from East Buffalo Township, Union County.

27:26 - Where's Jolene?

27:30 - I know she's here because I saw her this morning.

27:32 - Over here.

27:33 - There we go. Congratulations, Shelly.

27:36 - Before we move on to the next part of our program, let's award, two baskets.

27:40 - Two gift baskets from our county associations.

27:43 - You know, a lot of time and thought goes into making these baskets extra special.

27:47 - And we truly appreciate the hard work and support of our county associations.

27:52 - Our first basket today was donated by Fayette County, County Association.

27:58 - It includes, a blue a stay at the Blue Canoe Resort.

28:04 - Some wine,

28:04 - local restaurant, gift cards, and a hat.

28:09 - And the winner is

28:11 - Kevin O'Donnell, a supervisor from Upper Safford in Montgomery County.

28:14 - Where's Kevin?

28:15 - Kevin's right here.

28:16 - Congratulations, Kevin.

28:22 - Our second

28:23 - basket, today is from the Lancaster County Association and includes

28:26 - a cutting board, tea towel, honey candles, lotion, and some hand-sewn.

28:31 - And the winner is,

28:34 - Peggy Pritchard, supervisor from West runs,

28:39 - and such.

28:40 - Well, Schuylkill County.

28:42 - Okay. I thought I could do it. I can.

28:45 - West Brunswick township and scope of county.

28:47 - Where's Peggy?

28:49 - Sorry for butchering your township, man.

28:54 - Okay, congratulations to all the winners.

28:56 - I do want to encourage everybody to stick around

28:57 - because we're really giving away, some more prizes later.

29:03 - Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome the panelists

29:07 - for the Local Government Challenges and Solutions discussion

29:12 - from Covington Township in Lackawanna County.

29:15 - We have Supervisor Marshall Pierce.

29:19 - From Derry Township in Montour County.

29:22 - We have Supervisor Greg Moulton.

29:26 - From Limerick Township in Montgomery County,

29:30 - Manager Dan Kerr.

29:34 - From Middlesex Township in Cumberland County,

29:37 - Supervisor Phil Meter.

29:41 - And last but not least,

29:43 - from Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County.

29:46 - We have supervisors Tina Carcillo

29:49 - and Bill away.

29:52 - Our moderator for the discussion will be P.

29:55 - SAS Executive Director Dave Senko.

30:05 - All right, everyone, have a seat.

30:07 - Relax a little.

30:10 - And welcome to the Local Government.

30:11 - Challenges and Solutions Sets data center forum.

30:14 - Now across Pennsylvania, data centers have become, quickly

30:18 - one of the most talked about land uses in our townships.

30:21 - What was barely on the radar five years ago

30:25 - is now making headlines, appearances, appearing in public

30:29 - meetings and shaping planning discussions all across the Commonwealth.

30:33 - Township officials are no strangers to making difficult land use decisions,

30:37 - but staying ahead of rapidly emerging industries

30:40 - requires constant diligence and regular ordinance reviews and updates.

30:45 - Meanwhile, the

30:46 - conveniences that we all rely on smartphones, GPS, e-commerce,

30:51 - telehealth, cloud storage and so much more all depend on data centers.

30:57 - As proposals appear, residents are packing meeting rooms.

31:01 - Supervisors are working to balance community concerns

31:05 - with the requirements of municipal you municipalities planning code.

31:08 - The NPC, which requires municipalities to accommodate

31:11 - all lawful land uses somewhere in your borders.

31:15 - Know doing so without zoning is even trickier.

31:19 - Some of the ways in which municipalities have been addressing data centers

31:22 - through ordinances include establishing them as a conditional use.

31:26 - So there is an opportunity for the board to impose

31:30 - reasonable conditions that makes sense for the project.

31:33 - Another is prohibiting data centers in areas with class one through four soils

31:38 - to ensure the protection of prime agricultural land.

31:42 - Another is placing them in

31:44 - industrial and and or commercial zones, and zoning districts.

31:47 - And another is imposing reasonable noise setbacks, screening and decommissioning

31:53 - requirements, you know, like housing

31:56 - solar farms and warehouses before them.

31:59 - Data centers are drawing an intense public attention.

32:03 - Developers are targeting Pennsylvania because it's cooler climate,

32:07 - access to water and power and a strong workforce.

32:09 - And as many of you know firsthand, these proposals can transform

32:13 - a routine meeting into a standing room only event.

32:18 - Today's forum brings together some township officials who are

32:21 - already navigating these challenges.

32:23 - You'll hear from their communities how their communities reacted,

32:26 - what questions came up,

32:28 - how they worked with developers, and what lessons they learned along the way.

32:32 - Their experiences will help all of us better understand the practical realities

32:36 - of responding to data center proposals, and what you can do to protect

32:40 - the interests of your municipality residents and taxpayers.

32:44 - As you listen to the speakers and have questions,

32:47 - text them to the number that's on the screen,

32:51 - which will be

32:52 - displayed on the side screens during the discussions.

32:56 - So let's get started.

32:57 - I'm going to ask each panelist to, take, a couple minutes to share their story.

33:01 - We'll just start down at the end with, Dan.

33:04 - All right.

33:05 - Thank you.

33:06 - Limerick Township, we are located in Montgomery County.

33:08 - It's, We are the host municipality for the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant.

33:14 - We are about 25 miles north of Philadelphia.

33:16 - About the same distance in between Philly and Redding.

33:19 - And Allentown is not too far to our east.

33:23 - In Limerick, as you can imagine, with the power plant,

33:26 - there is significant electrical infrastructure already in place.

33:30 - What came about in Limerick with our,

33:33 - I'll call it, an experience with data centers that we're dealing with

33:36 - right now, is we have two significant land masses that have been

33:41 - under consideration for heavy type, industrial,

33:45 - heavy type of retail type development for many, many years there.

33:50 - So at the same time, back in the 2000,

33:53 - 2021, both developers were in the the township for significant

33:58 - warehousing and trucking logistical type centers.

34:03 - And our studies obviously with those type of uses were

34:07 - well over 1400 truck traffic truck trips per day.

34:12 - They were they were permitted by right.

34:14 - The board was

34:15 - not happy with them, but permitted by right.

34:18 - We were working with the developers and at the same time, in late 2023,

34:22 - both landowners, both developers, walked into the township and said,

34:27 - we're thinking of flipping the uses

34:30 - to, data centers.

34:33 - And I was quoted in a paper recently, and I stand by it.

34:37 - I and the board all said, great, no truck traffic.

34:40 - What's the data center?

34:41 - And we started to do research.

34:44 - And what we found

34:47 - was that the township was vulnerable

34:50 - if we had no definition for data center.

34:53 - And when we looked just used.

34:55 - The Webster.

34:55 - Dictionary data center could be defined as a special specialty warehouse.

35:00 - So anywhere a warehouse was permitted in Limerick Township and we had

35:04 - significant areas in our zoning districts where data centers

35:08 - could be located close to residential, areas.

35:12 - So the board quickly, in 2024, passed two data center ordinances

35:18 - and limited the areas in Limerick

35:21 - to where data centers can be to these two specific properties.

35:25 - We now have a conditional use application ongoing.

35:28 - For one, we received

35:29 - another conditional use application for the other property last week.

35:33 - The one that's ongoing is two point 8,000,000ft².

35:36 - The other one is about one point 8,000,000ft².

35:39 - So that is the general overview of where we are right now.

35:43 - Okay, so,

35:45 - supervisor, Middlesex Township,

35:46 - just on the other side of the Susquehanna, we're right in the intersection

35:52 - of the, route 76, Pennsylvania Turnpike and Route 81.

35:57 - So we have a lot of, trucking terminals and truck traffic in that area.

36:02 - Data center developer came to the township in 2020

36:05 - for an interest in, 700 acre parcel that they owned and,

36:10 - putting in a data center, again, much like, Limerick.

36:14 - We didn't really know much about data centers at that time.

36:17 - But, about nine months later, the Board of Supervisors at that time,

36:23 - elected to put a data center overlay.

36:26 - So it's permitted by.

36:27 - Right.

36:28 - Again, I was just seated in January, so,

36:32 - I didn't make that decision.

36:35 - We're pretty well into development at this point.

36:38 - It's, almost 5,000,000 square foot facility, 16 buildings.

36:43 - It's a one gigawatt, facility.

36:46 - It's connects with a 500 kilovolt, APL,

36:50 - high transmission line that runs through the township.

36:53 - And peoples already broke ground on their substation,

36:58 - and we're just getting ready for final land approval

37:01 - for the first of the three data center, campuses.

37:05 - So that's where we are in in Middlesex Township.

37:09 - I have Bill, and Tina has A12 punch.

37:10 - I'll let you guys decide.

37:12 - We're going to we're going to split this. Okay.

37:14 - I'm going to give you a little background on Upper Merion

37:16 - and tell you about some of the public safety related issues

37:19 - we've had with the 11 submissions that we've had so far.

37:22 - And then I can go into much greater detail on some of the zoning challenges

37:26 - that we've had, as well as some of the big picture issues that have developed.

37:30 - But if you don't know where Upper Merion Township is, our largest suburb

37:34 - is Philadelphia, seven miles south and east.

37:38 - We have, just under 40,000 residents in Upper Merion.

37:42 - And, most of you will visit there during the holiday season

37:46 - when you come to the King of Prussia mall, where we become the third

37:49 - largest city in the state with upwards of 350,000 people

37:53 - a day coming to the mall during the holiday shopping season.

37:57 - In addition to that, 70,000 people work

37:59 - in Upper Marion Township, and we have 4000 businesses.

38:02 - So we are a little a little suburb of Philadelphia.

38:08 - We developed the

38:10 - data ordinance, and it took us a year to do that.

38:13 - We reached out to numerous experts.

38:15 - We reached out to Loudon County, Virginia.

38:18 - We reached out through our planner to many communities that already had them.

38:22 - We thought what we had was a very solid ordinance,

38:27 - only to be prepared to submit the ordinance for our approvals.

38:31 - And what happens?

38:32 - A developer sends 11 plans in ten days prior to the ordinance being adopted.

38:38 - So number one lesson be prepared if you're going when you adopt your ordinance.

38:43 - It's not a question of if, it's when you adopt your ordinance.

38:46 - Be prepared.

38:47 - Someone may submit something in advance.

38:50 - So we learned some public safety issues very quickly from the first review.

38:54 - For instance, they're going to submit plans

38:56 - that are going to be compliant with the code as it exists today.

38:59 - Remember, in Pennsylvania, our building code and our fire code

39:03 - are at least one cycle behind.

39:05 - And if you don't adopt them on a regular schedule, you're two cycles behind.

39:09 - So while you might might be looking at a building in 2026,

39:14 - the codes that will apply in your community might be ten years old.

39:19 - One of the most significant factors is what's known as NFPA 855,

39:23 - which controls power generation in these types

39:26 - of units, particularly if they involve lithium ion batteries.

39:29 - That code is being adopted this year.

39:32 - There's no way Pennsylvania is going to have that adopted in time

39:36 - to be applicable to any data center that's going to be implemented

39:40 - in the next year to two years to three years, maybe ten years.

39:43 - So be prepared for those code issues.

39:47 - Our fire marshal called me when he started reviewing the plans

39:50 - and he said, Bill, can you help me look at these plans?

39:53 - I said, sure.

39:54 - His review page, a review of the first

39:57 - data center, was seven pages long.

40:02 - They aren't prepared if they're coming in fast.

40:05 - They're not going to be prepared.

40:07 - And if you don't have quality code, review personnel,

40:10 - something's going to slip through.

40:12 - So also remember, if they say they don't need

40:16 - an emergency operations plan, it's part of the fire code.

40:19 - They need to have an emergency operations plan.

40:22 - And if you don't have a decommissioning plan in your ordinance,

40:25 - put that in there because there needs to be a decommissioning plan.

40:29 - Tina, thank you for that intro.

40:33 - One other thing I wanted to add about our community is,

40:36 - we started off many years ago as a farming community, and because of the

40:39 - convergence of five major roadways, it just created a situation for us

40:44 - that just led to land development and, just an interest in our community.

40:49 - People passed through there.

40:50 - So we went from a rural, rural community to now a bustling edge city.

40:57 - And we reap the benefits of that,

40:59 - but also their challenges that go along with that.

41:02 - One thing that I wanted to express to everyone, this morning is that

41:07 - I compel you to adopt an ordinance, related to data centers.

41:12 - It's better to be ahead of this.

41:14 - That, behind that.

41:15 - And as Bill had mentioned, when we had decided to pass our ordinance

41:19 - and we worked on it, rigorously for a full year, as he said, and,

41:24 - word got out that we were getting ready

41:26 - to pass the ordinance, and this developer came in, and,

41:29 - we're bound by previous zoning ordinance, because of that timing.

41:34 - So what I would urge you to do is, do your

41:37 - do your homework, get your information, attend seminars.

41:41 - If you can, talk to other municipalities that have adopted ordinances.

41:46 - Montgomery County and Chester County recently

41:48 - did a forum that was very helpful to us to gather information.

41:52 - And they've now published a guidelines for drafting an ordinance.

41:56 - So if you can go to Montgomery.

41:57 - County or Chester County to their website and get that, get that document.

42:01 - It's not a long document to read, but very helpful.

42:05 - And this is also this is also goes

42:07 - to the whole idea of local zoning and keeping zoning local and keeping it away

42:13 - from state control, county control, that we know what's good for our communities.

42:17 - We know what we need

42:19 - and not every ordinance for every municipality will be cookie cutter.

42:23 - So there's not a template that says one size fits all.

42:25 - So make sure that you understand the needs of the community.

42:28 - But again, I'm compelling

42:31 - to put something in place rather than being dictated to you.

42:34 - You want to be able to set the rules

42:37 - and every township understands what their needs are.

42:40 - Every township knows that,

42:43 - maybe which

42:43 - areas would be more conducive to having a data center.

42:46 - And that's that was one of the primary,

42:48 - beginning points when we drafted our ordinance that we knew

42:51 - having industrial was where we had a comfort level.

42:54 - We had added two other zoning districts.

42:56 - We added, Lee and we added semi, a mixed use, zoning area.

43:02 - And, you can set so many parameters and be ahead of what you think

43:06 - that your community specifically would be able to tolerate.

43:10 - If size is your issue, make sure that you put those dimension requirements in.

43:15 - If if there are residential areas that are close by where data center may go in.

43:20 - Do your do your buffers, make sure that,

43:23 - you're respecting your residents, that they don't want to see that beside them.

43:26 - They're concerned about it. To set your buffers,

43:30 - height requirements.

43:32 - You can set off for us one of the or the applications that we apply to

43:36 - our ordinance was to do a recommendation and requirement for closed loop system.

43:42 - So find out what you are.

43:44 - Find out what your constituents are mostly concerned about.

43:46 - So they're they're probably three main ones.

43:50 - So of course the environmental factors they worry about the generators

43:54 - and the emissions that will be coming out of generators as even as a backup system.

43:57 - They worry about the drawing utilities or my utility bill is going to go up.

44:02 - You can require that it has to be generation of electricity

44:06 - from the from the, from the user, from the data center user,

44:09 - all kind of requirements that you can put in.

44:11 - So just pay attention to what your residents are, are really afraid of.

44:15 - This is something that's brand new, that's coming forward to us, that

44:18 - in Upper Marion we already have three data centers,

44:21 - and we were surprised to find that information out just because,

44:26 - this whole data

44:27 - center and the height with it is there's these hyperscale data centers

44:31 - that are larger and beyond what we're just used to seeing.

44:34 - They're coming.

44:36 - You can control maybe the size of the data center that you want to have.

44:39 - So not have a hyperscale keeps keep the size smaller.

44:43 - If you're worried about the architectural features,

44:45 - you can put those requirements into your ordinance.

44:48 - There's so many there's so many aspects that you can have that,

44:51 - that, that you can put into your ordinance that will just help you, God help

44:54 - guide you in your community to making the right decisions.

44:57 - I've had the opportunity to have a,

44:59 - a good working relationship with DC Ed from the state.

45:03 - So I'm I'm paying attention to, where they are.

45:07 - And we've heard, if you're in the in the storm yesterday,

45:10 - you heard what a Senator McCormick had to say about,

45:14 - the interest of the state to drive forward data centers for the revenue stream.

45:18 - There's a program that the the state will be launching.

45:21 - It's called grid, and it has some requirements that, data centers must meet.

45:26 - So they have to have transparency.

45:28 - They have to be self-generating.

45:31 - Or if they can't be self-generating, they will.

45:33 - They will, supply funds to help with generation of the power.

45:38 - Different aspects like that.

45:40 - But I would I would implore you to ask your residents

45:43 - what they really are afraid of,

45:45 - and then address those questions specifically that's tailored to you.

45:49 - I don't want to make up too much more time.

45:50 - This I could go on and on about just,

45:53 - just maybe how to to just a quick clarification.

45:55 - When you say closed loop system, what does that mean?

45:57 - The closed system.

45:59 - So, for the water supply that everyone was worried about, if if you, if you have a,

46:04 - if your community is wells and quarries etc., and that supplies,

46:09 - supplies, the water

46:10 - that, communities are afraid that the data centers will use up all the

46:14 - water supply and then nothing will be left for the residents.

46:18 - Also for, for the, normal public water systems

46:22 - that the draw will just be so much.

46:24 - And then it could translate into increased, increased cost for us

46:28 - to, to, to pay for the water supply going into these data centers.

46:32 - What a closed loop system is.

46:34 - It reminds me a bit of,

46:37 - radiator in your car.

46:38 - It's filled.

46:39 - It pulls up your car and it stays within the system.

46:42 - So it's not water that's continually being put into your radiator.

46:46 - The same thing would be with a closed loop system.

46:48 - So, Yeah, thank you for having me clarify that.

46:51 - So that that takes care of the water supply issue.

46:56 - Okay. Great.

46:57 - Greg. Hi.

47:01 - I don't think it needs a microphone.

47:02 - I'm just Greg.

47:05 - I'm a supervisor in Derry Township, Montour County.

47:09 - I've been there 22 years,

47:12 - but I've also wear a special hat.

47:15 - I am the planning director for Montour County.

47:19 - In our 11 municipalities in Montour County,

47:22 - there are five different zoning authorities.

47:27 - So that makes it so that some of our townships are in a call.

47:31 - Some of them are independent and some use the county's zoning.

47:36 - We've had the express pleasure,

47:39 - if you will, of having a power generation

47:43 - unit in Derry Township for many years.

47:47 - They have roughly 1300

47:49 - square acres to utilize.

47:52 - They have a power plant.

47:53 - It's steam generated.

47:55 - They just transferred from coal to gas a couple of years ago.

48:00 - And they have come to the public and started buying land

48:04 - at five times the market value.

48:08 - The only thing that they addressed to the county

48:11 - who supplements one of the adjacent townships

48:16 - was that they wanted to request a zoning district change.

48:21 - They wanted to change agricultural lands, approximately

48:24 - 870 acres to industrial.

48:28 - And in a closed meeting,

48:33 - proposed that a possible data center could be utilized.

48:37 - I wanted to know how they would go about that.

48:40 - Are our present zoning that covered that township allowed for anything

48:45 - that was not identified to be utilized as a special exception?

48:50 - As many of you understand, the special exception.

48:53 - It's basically a use by right

48:56 - that goes before the board.

49:00 - What we did after hearing the public outcry,

49:03 - because when you start buying land at five times the market value and you

49:08 - don't identify what it's being used for, and you want to change it to industrial,

49:13 - and one county to our east had just put in,

49:18 - approval of a data center.

49:21 - People start to worry

49:23 - what's going to happen to our water.

49:25 - What's going to happen to our farmland?

49:28 - My planning commission meetings that the county went from normally

49:32 - 3 to 5 guests.

49:35 - In September, it went to 96 guests

49:40 - in November, when the planning commission was to make the recommendation

49:44 - to the commissioners on the zoning district change.

49:48 - We had to move to a gymnasium and we hosted over 300 people.

49:54 - Not one

49:55 - of them came forward saying, yes, approve this.

50:00 - In a matter of fact, when we gave our decision

50:03 - and made it public, they broke into song

50:07 - singing this land is my land, this land is your land,

50:12 - and we're so happy that we've won.

50:16 - Folks, even with the zoning that we had in place

50:19 - and the fact that it could have been a special exception.

50:23 - We decided right then and there we needed to develop

50:28 - an ordinance amendment specifically to data centers.

50:34 - But we took a little bit of a different turn.

50:37 - We developed a committee.

50:39 - Four of my nine members from the Planning Commission, zoning officers

50:44 - from all of the municipal government agencies.

50:49 - We opened it to concerned public citizens,

50:53 - and we hired a third party land use attorney to guide the process.

51:00 - We had 30 members,

51:02 - some from within our jurisdiction,

51:05 - but at least members from throughout the entire county.

51:10 - The committee took less

51:12 - than four months to develop

51:16 - a data center ordinance amendment,

51:19 - and they did so by also calling

51:22 - on other counties and townships

51:25 - that had developed ordinances, and they were in place.

51:29 - So we had all of that information to work on.

51:32 - We had the zoning officer input with their training backgrounds and zoning issues.

51:38 - We had legal and we had the public concerns.

51:43 - They worked together tirelessly.

51:47 - They put it together

51:49 - on the 14th of April.

51:53 - The county commissioners adopted that said ordinance.

51:57 - Now, I must add, they had placed when we started this process,

52:00 - they immediately put a moratorium in place for data center specific

52:07 - so that we would have that

52:09 - six month window to develop the ordinance

52:12 - and not be encumbered by people submitting plans,

52:17 - which we would have denied.

52:20 - So we worked that out

52:22 - and it worked out very well.

52:24 - I'm very proud of the effort that these folks put in

52:28 - and the ordinance that we have in place.

52:31 - I would offer a couple comments.

52:34 - Do not repeat.

52:37 - Do not.

52:39 - Although it is legal.

52:41 - Do not sign an NDA.

52:45 - As a public official, it makes you seem untrustworthy

52:51 - and without the proper training,

52:53 - without the proper legal advice.

52:56 - When questioned about these things

52:58 - and you make the wrong comment,

53:02 - your reputation, your integrity will be questioned

53:07 - and you will become the target of the public.

53:11 - This is something you need to work on

53:13 - with your public, but you do need to get ahead of it

53:18 - because it's coming.

53:20 - Even though the county has said no to the rezoning,

53:25 - the power company continues

53:27 - to go through with their purchase of those land masses and additional lands

53:33 - again at five times the market value.

53:37 - Deep pockets will prevail.

53:40 - If you're not ready,

53:43 - please stay on top of this.

53:45 - I don't want you in the position I was in.

53:49 - Marshall.

53:51 - Well, I don't think we saved the best for last.

53:55 - After hearing all this and what they've said,

53:58 - probably not a lot for me to say.

54:01 - Does everybody have one of these?

54:04 - And you have pictures on it,

54:07 - and you had to spend a

54:09 - maybe another $0.99 to put the pictures on the cloud.

54:13 - That's what the data center is. The cloud.

54:16 - I was outside this morning.

54:18 - There's no clouds.

54:20 - No clouds.

54:23 - Truthfully, two

54:25 - years ago, I didn't know what a what it was.

54:28 - I didn't know, and we were approached

54:31 - by a developer

54:34 - and weren't specific

54:37 - on what they wanted to do with the land.

54:41 - But as time went on, we found out what they were interested in.

54:46 - And I wouldn't be here this morning talking about it

54:48 - if I was the chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

54:52 - I'm the vice chairman.

54:54 - So the chairman has me here.

54:58 - Someday I'll pay her back.

55:06 - We worked very hard.

55:09 - Four of us went to Loudoun County, Virginia on our dime.

55:13 - Not the supervisors.

55:15 - We didn't get paid the the taxpayer didn't pay our expenses.

55:19 - But we wanted to find out as much as we could.

55:22 - We wanted to learn about what what they have.

55:28 - They met with us and

55:29 - spent an hour and a half of our time,

55:32 - trying to guide us.

55:33 - We stayed overnight so we could see it in the dark.

55:37 - We got close to them to see how loud they were.

55:42 - And our attorney,

55:44 - and especially two more of us,

55:48 - worked very hard to put together an ordinance.

55:52 - We tried to address the sound,

55:55 - the lighting, the water,

55:58 - the electric electric relays, and our problem

56:02 - that people in our area and

56:07 - we we put together an ordinance.

56:11 - Now we're from Lackawanna County.

56:13 - Northeastern PA Scranton would be the center of Lackawanna County.

56:18 - And there's a lot of the data centers,

56:22 - being proposed in that area.

56:26 - The land for for what?

56:29 - Our data center is going to be partially in Covington and partially in Clifton.

56:34 - It's right along side of the interstate.

56:38 - There's no houses

56:39 - at all in this parcel of land.

56:43 - The closest single house in Covington.

56:46 - Township is 500ft away.

56:50 - It's also located across the street from a stone quarry.

56:55 - So I don't think

56:58 - the noise is going to be a problem for that family.

57:01 - I hope not.

57:05 - I didn't

57:05 - see any signs here that said no data center.

57:09 - I haven't seen that sign since I left home.

57:12 - Oh, there it is.

57:14 - I saw plenty of them there.

57:18 - They would be holding them up.

57:19 - They have t shirts, yellow t shirts, no data center.

57:24 - But we scheduled a meeting in July

57:27 - to approve this zoning.

57:32 - And we have a big pavilion.

57:35 - It was summertime.

57:36 - It was warm.

57:38 - There was probably 300 people in the pavilion and 200 people outside.

57:46 - And it was truly awful.

57:50 - And I'm not kidding.

57:51 - Awful.

57:54 - And, book face,

57:57 - that Facebook book face

58:00 - after the meeting was horrendous.

58:07 - There was 40 or 50 people that spoke.

58:10 - We did not deny anyone to speak, even if they didn't live in our town.

58:16 - Some lived a considerable distance away.

58:20 - We allowed everyone to speak.

58:24 - When it was the supervisors turn to speak.

58:27 - I pretty much wasn't allowed to speak.

58:30 - They stopped me from speaking.

58:33 - I got quiet for a minute.

58:34 - Tried to talk again.

58:37 - Couldn't talk.

58:39 - Our attorney was conducting the meeting

58:41 - and I said I'm done.

58:45 - So we had a executive session for a couple of minutes.

58:50 - We came back in.

58:51 - We voted and we passed the ordinance.

58:56 - So hopefully we did our homework.

59:00 - Missy and I have gone to a lot of meetings.

59:04 - We've gone to zoom meetings.

59:05 - We've gone to meetings in other counties.

59:10 - We've gone to all the meetings here

59:13 - where we're really trying

59:15 - to be as educated as we can.

59:19 - And if you don't have

59:22 - a zoning ordinance, as they said before,

59:25 - you need to put one in place.

59:29 - Okay. All right.

59:30 - Thank you.

59:30 - So, may I add two quick comments? Sure.

59:34 - So, one thing I wanted to add, as well as as I'm listening to more

59:38 - comments, is, trying to just demystify

59:41 - the whole idea of a data center that, just to bring it down to a smaller scale.

59:46 - If you think about your laptop and you're working on it and the heat

59:49 - that's generated from it and what, what the laptop has to do to cool it.

59:53 - So it has an internal fan calls it down.

59:56 - So if you take that and expand that, multiply it

59:59 - 298 by thousands and thousands of of laptops.

01:00 - 05.535 That's what that's what we're thinking about with a with a data center.

01:00 - 07.947 So all the things that go in place with cooling,

01:00 - 11.107 this data center from the servers and the heat is generated

01:00 - 13.719 just for me when I when I could compare it like that,

01:00 - 16.522 I had just a better understanding of a data center.

01:00 - 19.692 And the other thing quickly that I wanted to add is when you adopt

01:00 - 23.886 your ordinance, okay, think of it as a living document.

01:00 - 24.698 Don't think of it.

01:00 - 27.666 We pass our we passed our ordinance and now we're done.

01:00 - 30.469 That this can be something that you can revise in the future.

01:00 - 34.263 So don't think that you've landed on something and then it's over.

01:00 - 37.209 Look at your ordinance. Constantly be reviewing them.

01:00 - 38.777 Especially this data center issue.

01:00 - 41.747 Right now that look at it as a living document.

01:00 - 44.016 So I just I just wanted to add that quickly.

01:00 - 47.210 Some comments a couple some questions are, flying in.

01:00 - 51.414 What types of fees are you imposing in your ordinances?

01:00 - 52.881 Anybody?

01:00 - 56.953 What type of fees?

01:00 - 59.698 Limerick's data center ordinances

01:00 - 04.470 do not have any specific fees other than what's already in our fee.

01:01 - 07.306 Schedule for the normal applications.

01:01 - 09.041 Traffic impact fees are already set.

01:01 - 12.068 All that kind of stuff is already in place.

01:01 - 15.247 Without getting into the specifics

01:01 - 19.075 of our application, because it's a conditional use application,

01:01 - 22.087 and one of the reasons my board is not sitting up

01:01 - 25.114 here is because they need to be impartial.

01:01 - 28.985 So I'm not going to talk specifically about the details,

01:01 - 32.355 but I can tell you in preliminary,

01:01 - 35.100 discussions with our planning commission,

01:01 - 39.295 and we believe that the data center are going to be very,

01:01 - 44.867 amenable to concerns that are coming from the public,

01:01 - 51.074 such as they've agreed to talk about, some form of decommissioning.

01:01 - 53.553 One of the

01:01 - 56.612 things that surprised us, I forget the House bill,

01:01 - 00.283 but the one where the PUC is going to regulate the energy,

01:02 - 04.830 a concern that we have because we have the nuclear power

01:02 - 07.857 plant and nuclear power plant has preferential taxing.

01:02 - 11.737 So the tax money for that $1

01:02 - 15.398 billion plant that comes in a township is not that much.

01:02 - 19.311 So a data center, if it is assessed.

01:02 - 23.272 And again, this is just a benefit if a data centers in your community,

01:02 - 26.218 if it is assessed what it should be assessed.

01:02 - 28.387 Significant tax revenue in here.

01:02 - 33.392 Our concern is that the PUC will take over the tax assessment.

01:02 - 36.452 They will determine the utility and we will lose a tax assessment.

01:02 - 42.625 And so they agreed that they will enter an agreement that they will

01:02 - 46.138 we can all figure out a

01:02 - 50.433 reasonable tax assessment and regardless of whether to the state legislature.

01:02 - 54.270 But I can imagine there's going to be significant lobbying going on

01:02 - 56.782 to reduce their tax implications.

01:02 - 00.409 Or if it becomes a utility under the PUC, they've agreed

01:03 - 03.655 that they will maintain a tax level.

01:03 - 06.682 So again, I believe these data center

01:03 - 10.486 and the developers are willing to talk

01:03 - 14.266 how you approach that discussion, especially one

01:03 - 17.360 with us with our conditional use application is somewhat,

01:03 - 20.472 difficult because of the legal concerns.

01:03 - 21.940 So, David, if I could add,

01:03 - 25.668 since he opened the door on taxes, I think it's important to understand

01:03 - 29.338 the data center developers have proposed

01:03 - 32.341 an unbelievable tax revenue position.

01:03 - 36.188 And looking at that and analyzing it.

01:03 - 37.212 It isn't there.

01:03 - 41.093 If they are proposing to you something that you believe

01:03 - 44.587 to be abnormal, find out what they used as their baseline data.

01:03 - 48.600 If they use the Loudon County structure, it's not going to be applicable

01:03 - 51.861 in your community because they're taxing all of the contents

01:03 - 55.974 of those, building all of that structure of the building and our tax bases

01:03 - 59.001 don't apply in the same fashion.

01:03 - 01.346 So I did an example.

01:04 - 04.373 I took one building that is being proposed.

01:04 - 07.743 I took the current tax rate, the size of the building

01:04 - 11.290 and found X dollars.

01:04 - 14.350 If they redid that same building, which is their proposal.

01:04 - 16.829 There would be no change.

01:04 - 20.465 The dollar value would increase from the current assessed

01:04 - 24.002 value or current market value to their construction.

01:04 - 27.029 Value is almost equivalent

01:04 - 29.741 if you assume the same tax structure.

01:04 - 32.477 It's going to be the same dollars, so there's absolutely no

01:04 - 36.873 increase whatsoever in the tax revenue based upon that one building.

01:04 - 41.787 I then looked at a conceptual building or an actual building that they have now.

01:04 - 42.812 That's a data center.

01:04 - 44.290 Guess what?

01:04 - 45.624 The tax dollars aren't there.

01:04 - 48.651 It's no different than the office building that's right next door.

01:04 - 53.823 So beware of people coming with deep pockets or big bags of gold,

01:04 - 57.360 because it doesn't appear to be there in the first cut.

01:04 - 00.897 Maybe they'll show us something later, but right now it's not there.

01:05 - 05.177 Because as far as the fee schedule.

01:05 - 05.812 That's correct.

01:05 - 09.138 You have your salvage fee schedule, so you're not playing with that.

01:05 - 13.385 But some things that the developers are are instituting

01:05 - 17.947 is one is a pilot program is payment in lieu of taxes.

01:05 - 21.727 So that's one thing that they're putting forward that,

01:05 - 26.098 whatever the tax base is, that could be assumed they would at least

01:05 - 30.893 guarantee through that pilot program, x amount of dollars, whatever that would be.

01:05 - 34.406 The other one was the other one I was thinking of.

01:05 - 36.308 There's,

01:05 - 39.278 well, I took to Margaret's point.

01:05 - 42.772 Well, we've already been accused of getting kickbacks.

01:05 - 45.751 It's already been on book face. Oh, yeah.

01:05 - 47.686 We don't have anything to even look at yet.

01:05 - 49.688 And we're being accused of kickbacks.

01:05 - 54.126 So you have to understand that the pilot program could actually be perceived

01:05 - 57.153 by many people in the general public as a kickback,

01:05 - 59.564 potentially.

01:05 - 03.435 So it sounds like there's a maybe some challenges with communication

01:06 - 04.003 to the public.

01:06 - 07.630 So what what types of public engagement is taking place during,

01:06 - 11.376 the enactment of these ordinances?

01:06 - 14.146 If I may?

01:06 - 16.248 Ours was not good.

01:06 - 18.216 It was not good at all.

01:06 - 20.986 We had, always interested people

01:06 - 25.057 showing up at planning commission meetings, asking questions.

01:06 - 26.758 What about water?

01:06 - 28.827 What about the aquifer?

01:06 - 30.195 What about the noise?

01:06 - 32.197 All of these questions.

01:06 - 34.633 So we went to the generation

01:06 - 37.660 unit who was proposing the change.

01:06 - 39.571 And we asked them.

01:06 - 42.765 The public would like to ask questions.

01:06 - 44.743 They want to talk to you.

01:06 - 47.003 They want to know what you have to offer.

01:06 - 50.048 And their response was

01:06 - 53.909 will hold a town meeting, but they can send in their questions

01:06 - 59.215 via email and we will talk to them answering their questions.

01:06 - 02.852 But we'd rather not have public engagement.

01:07 - 07.990 Two way conversation that went over like, you know what in church.

01:07 - 10.635 It it it did not work.

01:07 - 12.671 It played against them.

01:07 - 15.240 And and thus when it came before

01:07 - 18.267 us for a vote on the change of zoning,

01:07 - 20.645 the great turnout.

01:07 - 22.414 Not in your favor.

01:07 - 25.384 You must have transparency.

01:07 - 28.053 You must have conversation.

01:07 - 31.547 You must be able to answer the questions of the public.

01:07 - 34.359 These are the people we serve.

01:07 - 37.386 These are the folks that have to live their.

01:07 - 38.964 They have concerns.

01:07 - 39.998 They have questions.

01:07 - 42.834 They're valued for us.

01:07 - 44.403 We know what they're talking about.

01:07 - 46.304 We want to help them.

01:07 - 48.631 We want to make this good. We live there to.

01:07 - 52.677 But when the people who

01:07 - 57.306 are proposing these issues are not willing to answer questions,

01:07 - 00.976 and after talking with some of the people who are developers,

01:08 - 04.456 there is good information to be had out there.

01:08 - 07.883 All we hear from folks with speculation and fear

01:08 - 11.454 are the horror stories that have happened

01:08 - 14.523 ten, 15, 20 years ago.

01:08 - 16.735 Technology has advanced.

01:08 - 19.762 There are answers to your questions.

01:08 - 23.866 Whoever's developing, make sure that they are willing to talk

01:08 - 27.112 and share that data.

01:08 - 30.282 One thing that we we just requested from one of our developers,

01:08 - 33.085 the one that came in that bill, had mentioned the 11,

01:08 - 37.389 the 11 data centers is we are we're requesting that they hold their own

01:08 - 40.683 town hall meeting with a public separate from our public meeting,

01:08 - 42.160 and they've agreed to do that.

01:08 - 44.029 The meeting hasn't been scheduled yet.

01:08 - 47.356 We had a planning commission meeting scheduled for tomorrow.

01:08 - 50.202 Postpone that until the developer,

01:08 - 53.229 calls his own town hall and answers the questions directly.

01:08 - 55.841 They know more of the answers than we do.

01:08 - 58.410 So when when supervisors are asked questions,

01:08 - 59.978 we usually have to go to a source,

01:09 - 03.672 find out all the information, do our due diligence, and then report back.

01:09 - 07.919 So we're eliminating that that, that middleman process

01:09 - 12.023 and having developer do their own, do their own, town hall.

01:09 - 15.117 And, we can report back and let you know how that goes.

01:09 - 19.155 As a follow up to that, are there any special conditions,

01:09 - 22.525 that any of your missed parties are considering or already have in place?

01:09 - 26.028 Relative to a data center ordinance?

01:09 - 30.575 I think in our township, because the residents have been

01:09 - 34.303 mainly concerned about noise, lighting,

01:09 - 37.616 water, the those are the big issues.

01:09 - 38.850 We have municipal water.

01:09 - 41.720 We have plenty of excess water capacity.

01:09 - 44.389 We're going to have an evaporative cooling system.

01:09 - 47.259 We have plenty of water, so it's not a concern, but that was a main

01:09 - 51.163 concern of of a lot of the residents was, was the water.

01:09 - 53.098 And we have a municipal authority that does a good job

01:09 - 55.867 and is allocated the water for the data center.

01:09 - 59.905 And I personally don't have any concerns, although I'm on a well, I'm around

01:09 - 01.263 municipal water.

01:10 - 05.177 Noise has been a significant concern

01:10 - 10.172 as, as even down in Loudon County, we we went down our township.

01:10 - 13.475 I would encourage everyone to to take a tour.

01:10 - 17.079 You can't get too close to the buildings unless you're with a developer.

01:10 - 22.051 But when you when you go to these facilities, they are extremely quiet.

01:10 - 24.095 There's not a lot of noise.

01:10 - 26.531 There's virtually no noise.

01:10 - 31.002 The older units that were have, air conditioning on the roofs.

01:10 - 34.639 Those are a little noisy, but the modern data centers that,

01:10 - 38.109 whether use closed loop or evaporative cooling, are extremely quiet.

01:10 - 41.813 No, I don't think noise is going to be an issue for our facility.

01:10 - 45.884 Again, it's it's, a hyperscale 700 acre parcel.

01:10 - 48.420 It is close to, some, some development.

01:10 - 51.447 There's about a dozen houses that are literally right across the street.

01:10 - 56.418 The rest of the houses, are probably 1000ft or further.

01:10 - 59.198 The one thing in terms

01:10 - 02.458 of, fees, we, we are getting fee in lieu of recreation.

01:11 - 06.428 It's $1,000 per acre of disturbed land.

01:11 - 09.608 So for our township, that's going to be a lot of money.

01:11 - 12.635 Whether the tax revenue comes in as,

01:11 - 15.547 as they say is hard to or hard to know.

01:11 - 18.483 We don't have the,

01:11 - 21.319 the tax for sales and use in state of Pennsylvania.

01:11 - 24.823 The, the legislature voted, to suspend

01:11 - 27.850 that for 20 years, I think in 2022.

01:11 - 29.461 I think they should repeal that.

01:11 - 31.863 I think it's about $100 million a year.

01:11 - 34.633 The state's losing in tax revenue.

01:11 - 38.236 For for our township, they're they're estimating about

01:11 - 42.173 $10 million a year for our township, our budgets 5 million.

01:11 - 46.511 And, you know, township of 8000 people, about $45 million

01:11 - 49.714 for the school district, which obviously would be, huge.

01:11 - 51.707 And and for the county, it would be,

01:11 - 56.221 $10 million as well, maybe in 3 to 5 years.

01:11 - 58.456 Once ours is fully built out, we'll we'll be able to

01:11 - 01.483 come back and tell you what's happened in in the real world.

01:12 - 06.622 So are both just real quick on on special conditions

01:12 - 09.992 in Limerick when, when we developed our data center ordinance,

01:12 - 13.738 we normally a lot of the environmental issues

01:12 - 16.274 that you can legally build into a zoning ordinance.

01:12 - 19.768 We look at during land development, we structured it so the board

01:12 - 23.481 gets an opportunity to review that during the conditional use phase.

01:12 - 27.109 So we can start to hit that very quickly right out in front.

01:12 - 31.113 One of the specifics that we put in there relates to noise.

01:12 - 34.750 We require throughout the whole process three noise studies.

01:12 - 36.328 One has to be done.

01:12 - 38.596 And we we increased our noise studies.

01:12 - 40.732 We we made it more difficult for a data center.

01:12 - 43.959 The standards are much more stringent than normal factory whatever.

01:12 - 47.963 But anyway the noise standard, they have to provide a general overview,

01:12 - 52.477 a study of the noise that it complies, a conditional use when they develop

01:12 - 53.511 and actually engineer

01:12 - 56.538 and build a site during land development, they got to come back

01:12 - 59.417 and they have to do another noise study at that time.

01:12 - 00.618 We have the ability to say,

01:13 - 04.246 okay, additional buffers, higher sound walls, bing, bang, boom, whatever.

01:13 - 07.549 And we also have a requirement that after it's operational,

01:13 - 10.028 that they have to do a noise study.

01:13 - 12.897 And we believe that we're going to enforce that.

01:13 - 15.767 They're going to have to do it every year with some enforcement provisions.

01:13 - 16.868 So look at that.

01:13 - 19.671 It gives the township gave us very good protection

01:13 - 22.807 to make sure that they're complying with our more stringent noise ordinances.

01:13 - 25.944 So as most of the noise from like the cooling units

01:13 - 30.115 or from the generators or what what what are the it's for the most part,

01:13 - 31.349 it's the,

01:13 - 33.985 in our system of evaporative cooling, there's louvers on the side

01:13 - 38.189 of the building, and, and the fans will, on the rooftop

01:13 - 42.227 will exhaust the, the heat for a good part of the year.

01:13 - 44.686 They'll use hardly any water.

01:13 - 48.867 You know, they'll they'll have

01:13 - 53.262 there's going to be about 15, water reservoirs on our parcel.

01:13 - 55.907 These are 2.5 million gallon.

01:13 - 58.476 These are large reservoirs that they'll use.

01:13 - 00.779 And in the summer, we hit again.

01:14 - 02.614 There are a lot of for 400,000 gallons a day,

01:14 - 06.475 which is a little bit more than a golf course uses in a day to to water.

01:14 - 10.245 So it is a fair amount of water, but not any different than almost a,

01:14 - 14.450 you know, 1800, you know, edu, development.

01:14 - 19.931 But, it that scares people when they hear that number.

01:14 - 23.792 But when you put it in context of what's already in, in the community,

01:14 - 27.129 I think it tempers the, the concern for people.

01:14 - 31.676 We've heard a lack of confidence in the generator

01:14 - 35.671 related noise and the generator related pollution.

01:14 - 38.683 And those are two things that we have to to

01:14 - 41.777 get more details on, better understand how they're going to apply it.

01:14 - 45.790 But in one case, we're told as many as 20

01:14 - 48.817 generators would be needed to supply the power.

01:14 - 52.754 And from what we've learned is you have to be able to provide the power

01:14 - 56.124 24 hours a day through the secondary power source.

01:14 - 58.303 So if those are going to run for 24

01:14 - 00.772 hours, there's going to be one hell of a lot of noise,

01:15 - 03.799 and there's going to be a lot of expelling of the exhaust,

01:15 - 05.276 how does that get managed?

01:15 - 08.303 And we haven't heard an answer to that as of yet.

01:15 - 09.849 The other

01:15 - 13.785 thing that I want to throw out is whatever plans come in

01:15 - 17.012 and whenever they get to whatever approval levels you have to do,

01:15 - 20.749 I would be extremely wary of any waivers that are being asked for.

01:15 - 24.162 I'm a fan of no waivers, because if you're going to ask me

01:15 - 28.524 for a waiver, that means that you haven't done something that you could possibly do

01:15 - 32.694 to make that property whole or solid or safe or whatever you want to call it.

01:15 - 36.908 So I'm a no waivers kind of person, and I would just say

01:15 - 40.411 if they're going to ask for a waiver, get underneath that and ask them why

01:15 - 43.448 they want it and how they're protecting whatever they're saying,

01:15 - 46.775 they're going to be disturbing or creating a problem for, etc..

01:15 - 51.446 Marshall, you were ready to jump in there on the noise level.

01:15 - 54.092 All right.

01:15 - 54.960 We got it.

01:15 - 57.986 In our zoning, it's 55dB.

01:15 - 01.456 And I said before, we're right along Interstate 380.

01:16 - 04.269 When we were out there posting the property

01:16 - 08.706 for the zoning change, the decibel level on Missy's

01:16 - 12.868 phone was 85dB from the tractor trailer highway. Yes.

01:16 - 14.579 And it it doesn't.

01:16 - 17.606 They'll say, oh, well, that's just one truck going by.

01:16 - 20.818 Before that truck is out of sight, there's another truck

01:16 - 23.845 in front of you, and that's 85dB. Yep.

01:16 - 26.891 Okay, so if, heard a little bit about land and,

01:16 - 29.227 how much space to these take up and what do they need?

01:16 - 32.220 And do you have any does anyone put limitations on how large,

01:16 - 35.290 how much parcels they can use, how much size

01:16 - 38.336 the one that's been developed or being developed in Salem.

01:16 - 42.097 Township, I believe is around 1,000,000 square foot.

01:16 - 44.810 Okay.

01:16 - 45.877 Anybody else, or

01:16 - 49.638 most of the ones that we've had submitted are actually tear downs of existing

01:16 - 54.619 office buildings and rebuilding a two story data center in those.

01:16 - 59.857 Now, that presents another challenge as more and more people are taken

01:16 - 04.786 out of offices and are working from home or third spaces or whatever,

01:17 - 09.658 our office building capacity is narrowing very, very quickly.

01:17 - 15.297 And as a result, those building owners or developers are asking for tax appeals.

01:17 - 18.176 So there's an opportunity here for us to lose money.

01:17 - 21.203 And and that has to be considered in the big picture.

01:17 - 23.681 But at least five

01:17 - 29.153 or simple tear downs and rebuilds, we do have two 80ft

01:17 - 32.180 high, roughly 1,000,000ft² each.

01:17 - 37.052 They're being put on a parcel that is away from pretty much everything,

01:17 - 38.730 which is a good thing.

01:17 - 44.202 The only thing near there is 1,000,000 square foot, research facility and another

01:17 - 47.505 3 million three quarters of 1,000,000 square foot research facility.

01:17 - 49.307 So those would be okay.

01:17 - 52.868 But the other 5 or 6 or right in, in an industrial park.

01:17 - 54.345 Yeah.

01:17 - 54.780 We were

01:17 - 58.607 told early on when the data centers were first introduced that the hyperscale,

01:17 - 01.643 the big ones, they're looking for around 200 acres.

01:18 - 05.423 There are other data centers that are smaller, but the big ones

01:18 - 09.584 you hear about when you hear the term hyperscale, everything we've been told

01:18 - 13.488 they're looking for to move around that 200 acre mark because of

01:18 - 16.968 they need that much to make it economically feasible with everything.

01:18 - 19.837 And they got to build into that facility

01:18 - 20.673 in Covington.

01:18 - 23.908 There's going to be about 500 acres, and we're

01:18 - 27.178 adjoining Clifton, up about another 500.

01:18 - 29.080 So about 1000 acres.

01:18 - 30.314 Yeah. Okay. Good.

01:18 - 32.316 Greg, a question directed to you.

01:18 - 35.343 What can municipalities without zoning do or not do?

01:18 - 39.848 I'm sorry, what can municipalities that do not have zoning.

01:18 - 42.784 What can they do or not do? What tools do they have

01:18 - 45.363 when you don't have zoning?

01:18 - 48.390 And, no, I've said this several times.

01:18 - 51.169 You basically open the door.

01:18 - 53.805 You you are you have nothing in control.

01:18 - 56.832 You have no regulatory control.

01:18 - 59.844 There's going to be something in your planning commission

01:18 - 02.647 as far as the land development, that you may be able

01:19 - 06.617 to put some stipulation, but without zoning your land

01:19 - 09.678 use, you can't tell them, they can't put it there.

01:19 - 14.516 They are coming, and they're going to want to put it where they want it.

01:19 - 19.354 The only thing that I would recommend, if you don't have zoning

01:19 - 22.600 and you are a small municipality and can't afford

01:19 - 26.337 to formulate a zoning ordinance, which could run

01:19 - 30.699 you between 30 to $150,000, professionally done.

01:19 - 34.946 I would suggest that you get with a neighboring township

01:19 - 38.306 that may have zoning or get together with several

01:19 - 41.552 and develop a cog.

01:19 - 46.081 You're not giving up authority by joining together in a zoning picture.

01:19 - 49.360 The larger the land mass, the more

01:19 - 52.554 you can specifically say what goes where.

01:19 - 57.092 If you don't have it, you're at their mercy.

01:19 - 01.606 And I'm sorry you talk to your lawyers, but you'll get that same answer

01:20 - 03.207 I believe so.

01:20 - 07.169 So what assistance or protection can a county or township saldo provide

01:20 - 10.314 for anybody?

01:20 - 12.383 What was it like for what is this? What?

01:20 - 15.410 How can a kind of saldo be helpful?

01:20 - 18.847 Subdivision land a little?

01:20 - 21.859 Well, I think it would depend on the restrictions that you place

01:20 - 22.927 in your ordinance.

01:20 - 26.555 For instance, for us, for, for our heavy industrial district,

01:20 - 32.460 we limited to 100,000100,000ft² for our SM one and Lee.

01:20 - 34.906 We limit it to 50,000 and under.

01:20 - 39.734 So depending on the areas that, we want to have certain sizes and,

01:20 - 42.780 where you, you get to the threshold.

01:20 - 45.116 So constitutionally you can't push your ordinance

01:20 - 48.119 so restrictive that you're not allowing development.

01:20 - 52.123 So you have to be careful of that as well, that you have to allow the developers

01:20 - 53.758 the ability to, to build.

01:20 - 59.354 So, you can't be too restrictive and what, what we were anticipating is for our,

01:20 - 03.334 our two districts, not, not HHI that we looked at

01:21 - 06.795 that more as an ancillary use to an existing business.

01:21 - 09.574 So there's a business that's in that needs to have their own

01:21 - 12.410 internal data systems to support their business.

01:21 - 15.179 That was that was our thinking with separating that out to

01:21 - 16.380 to to different sizes.

01:21 - 19.541 So you can you can define it however you like,

01:21 - 22.844 the pace based upon the needs of your community.

01:21 - 23.622 Okay.

01:21 - 27.082 We also have a 1000ft buffer to any residential district.

01:21 - 31.495 I unfortunately the 11 that came in will not comply with that.

01:21 - 35.299 But anything going forward would have to be within 1000ft or exceed

01:21 - 36.483 the thousand feet. All right.

01:21 - 38.036 Question if we

01:21 - 42.163 if we don't have a big transmission line or water supplies,

01:21 - 46.067 you think we're safe?

01:21 - 47.612 Safe?

01:21 - 51.873 If I may, the water supply that is intended for the,

01:21 - 55.019 data center that's been proposed,

01:21 - 57.955 again, no plans have been submitted.

01:21 - 02.517 When people built their steam generation plant in Derry Township,

01:22 - 05.963 they ran two 36 inch wide

01:22 - 08.990 pipes all the way from Milton,

01:22 - 11.769 which, if you're familiar with our area,

01:22 - 14.763 is about 17 miles away.

01:22 - 17.832 Those two transmission lines of water,

01:22 - 23.047 we're supplying the plant with an auxiliary of the preserve

01:22 - 26.908 lake that they developed for that purpose of emergency water

01:22 - 30.278 that was never developed as a recreation facility.

01:22 - 34.549 When they switched over from coal to gas,

01:22 - 38.820 they cut their water usage by two thirds.

01:22 - 43.158 What the the developers were not telling the public.

01:22 - 47.571 There is no concern for their water table.

01:22 - 50.598 There is no concern for their aquifer.

01:22 - 55.146 Any water that's going to be supply would be coming through those 36

01:22 - 00.542 inch pipes, regulated by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission.

01:23 - 03.587 And again, another permitted use,

01:23 - 06.748 that they have to go through the procedures to get approved.

01:23 - 10.094 In talking with one of the representatives

01:23 - 14.856 from the developing organization, I won't mention names.

01:23 - 18.769 They have discussed with us that their water

01:23 - 21.796 usage under the new technology that they're using

01:23 - 25.276 would be equivalent

01:23 - 28.303 to the power generation's use of water.

01:23 - 31.882 One day at the power generation

01:23 - 35.610 for the entire year at the data center.

01:23 - 39.514 So the water concerns have been answered

01:23 - 42.784 if they would talk to the people who are concerned,

01:23 - 45.730 but they haven't,

01:23 - 49.190 too many questions are still unanswered by the public.

01:23 - 50.369 What?

01:23 - 53.104 Okay, next, what is an NDA?

01:23 - 56.131 And have any of your communities been asked to sign one?

01:23 - 01.036 No. You know, we we have we have no, no, we have all these things.

01:24 - 02.380 And what's an NDA?

01:24 - 03.147 Nondisclosure.

01:24 - 03.882 What does that mean?

01:24 - 06.217 It's a non-disclosure agreement.

01:24 - 11.479 It is a legal document that says that you will not talk about what has taken place

01:24 - 16.718 at that particular meeting, or about that particular subject,

01:24 - 20.498 and they are used

01:24 - 23.491 and in some cases they are legal.

01:24 - 27.495 You can protect trade secrets.

01:24 - 32.076 They are used a lot of times when there are competing interests

01:24 - 35.103 for the same person or property.

01:24 - 40.742 Data centers, if you're doing any reading, there are about 16 developers

01:24 - 44.312 in Pennsylvania looking to develop.

01:24 - 47.882 So some people don't want to be undercut.

01:24 - 50.428 I'm making a deal with Talen Energy.

01:24 - 51.729 Okay, great.

01:24 - 53.564 I'm getting so much per acre.

01:24 - 55.199 I'm doing so much for this.

01:24 - 58.636 They don't want someone else coming in and saying what, I can do

01:24 - 01.663 you better than that. Let us build

01:25 - 02.574 that.

01:25 - 05.934 Supposedly is the interest in the NDA,

01:25 - 09.838 but it holds you as a public official

01:25 - 14.309 in a bad light, because now you can't talk to the people

01:25 - 18.246 about what you have heard or what you have taken part in.

01:25 - 22.126 And yes, there is a way you say,

01:25 - 25.153 I'm not at liberty to discuss this.

01:25 - 28.365 If you have never encountered this

01:25 - 31.392 and you say, duh, no, it never happened.

01:25 - 34.472 And then the company comes out later and says,

01:25 - 37.832 oh yeah, we had that building maybe on such and such a day

01:25 - 41.979 you become a liar.

01:25 - 44.115 And if you aren't man enough to stand up and say, yeah,

01:25 - 47.142 I told you an untruth because I didn't know how to handle it,

01:25 - 50.688 you are dirt.

01:25 - 52.423 My middle name.

01:25 - 55.259 Dirt.

01:25 - 57.728 Okay, so how do you explain to your residents?

01:25 - 01.565 We were approached in a different way with our NDA that for the NDA

01:26 - 04.592 that was requested by us, was geared towards

01:26 - 07.571 lack of transparency for the user.

01:26 - 13.001 So the the developer didn't want to disclose who the user was and told us.

01:26 - 15.570 And this is where we sort of called B.S. on this.

01:26 - 17.048 They didn't

01:26 - 20.608 want to be exposed to the public scrutiny at a public meeting,

01:26 - 24.946 so they weren't going to disclose who the user was because of that.

01:26 - 29.217 So for us, our NDA was being requested for a different reason.

01:26 - 34.298 And talking with our solicitor and getting some expert advice, don't sign that.

01:26 - 35.233 Why would we sign that?

01:26 - 38.793 And it would look like we would be in cahoots with the,

01:26 - 41.705 with the user and the developer if we would sign something like that.

01:26 - 43.874 So ours was from a different, different avenue.

01:26 - 46.777 And we are not absolutely not signing the NDA.

01:26 - 47.145 Okay.

01:26 - 52.006 Don't how would recognizing the, how do you explain to your residents that,

01:26 - 55.843 if you don't take action to amend your, your ordinances,

01:26 - 57.955 that they can go anywhere?

01:26 - 00.424 You don't really have any any control about that?

01:27 - 01.659 And what can

01:27 - 04.852 the challenges communicating with them, what the township can and can't do.

01:27 - 08.223 Any suggestions for folks that are just starting the process?

01:27 - 11.402 When we started our ordinance in Limerick,

01:27 - 16.164 it was before all the public, outcry against data center. So

01:27 - 18.943 since then,

01:27 - 23.380 now that the applications are in, obviously the board is dealing

01:27 - 26.507 with the public pushback that everyone is dealing with.

01:27 - 30.211 So I would suggest,

01:27 - 34.291 that get out in front of

01:27 - 38.653 what a township can if you don't have a data center ordinance,

01:27 - 41.823 get out in front of what a township can legally

01:27 - 46.094 put into a a ordinance to protect the township.

01:27 - 49.807 We believe that at the time, two years ago when we did it,

01:27 - 52.176 we protected the township,

01:27 - 56.547 greatly because we pulled out data centers from a lot of areas

01:27 - 58.649 where they could have been where we didn't want them.

01:27 - 00.784 And now, you know, we have them where we want them.

01:28 - 03.811 But you're going to be getting,

01:28 - 06.523 pressure from the public

01:28 - 08.993 to say no based on things

01:28 - 12.020 that are outside the jurisdiction of the township

01:28 - 15.566 and such as electric rates are going to go

01:28 - 18.636 up, say, no, I don't believe.

01:28 - 22.130 And again, I know there's probably people in Limerick listen to this.

01:28 - 24.341 I'm not advocating one way or another.

01:28 - 27.835 I'm just saying I don't know if there's anything in any zoning ordinance

01:28 - 32.316 or any legal ability of a township to say no to a project because electric

01:28 - 33.460 rates are going to increase.

01:28 - 36.020 So get out in front,

01:28 - 39.847 educate your public before you get an application, because right now.

01:28 - 44.728 Limerick is somewhat limited on what we can communicate with the public

01:28 - 48.365 because of the impartiality that the board has to maintain.

01:28 - 50.367 Now that we're in a conditional use application.

01:28 - 51.402 Okay.

01:28 - 54.429 How how long does the amendment process take?

01:28 - 59.043 It can take as little as three months.

01:28 - 01.812 It can take as long as three years.

01:29 - 03.647 Depends on what your process is

01:29 - 06.674 and how you work together and the information you have.

01:29 - 10.211 Get a good third party attorney, land use attorney

01:29 - 13.881 who can drive it in the right direction.

01:29 - 17.094 You want to make sure you're not being overly restrictive.

01:29 - 19.096 As we've talked about,

01:29 - 22.256 because if you are overly restrictive, it is challenged in court.

01:29 - 26.894 It will be appealed in a heartbeat.

01:29 - 27.639 Okay.

01:29 - 30.665 What's a moratorium?

01:29 - 34.369 Legal way of saying we've got time to build something?

01:29 - 34.879 That's right.

01:29 - 37.514 Well, I feel that we did this in Middlesex Township again.

01:29 - 41.042 I'm I'm a little new to the game and the data center overlay was,

01:29 - 44.021 was approved the year before I was elected.

01:29 - 49.326 And, and I, I propose that we have a, hold

01:29 - 52.754 or a moratorium on data centers until we have a new comprehensive plan.

01:29 - 57.000 We did have a data center ordinance, but now that all the discussions

01:29 - 00.204 come out with the public, I realize it's not quite restrictive enough.

01:30 - 03.273 So there's things we have to now go back, put a moratorium,

01:30 - 07.301 or hold on further data center development until we get a,

01:30 - 11.081 a chance to look at our ordinance and restrict a little bit more.

01:30 - 12.540 But the one thing I will say that,

01:30 - 15.220 you know, it hasn't come

01:30 - 18.188 up yet is that we have,

01:30 - 22.326 we're working on community benefits agreement with our developer, which is,

01:30 - 25.787 I think going to be very beneficial for the township has nothing to do with taxes.

01:30 - 27.698 Again, they're they're permitted by

01:30 - 30.734 right in our township, but we're asking them to do things

01:30 - 34.495 for the township, build a new park, maybe a new police station.

01:30 - 38.099 They're going to give us seed money for a land preservation program.

01:30 - 41.769 And we're hoping the,

01:30 - 44.748 community benefits agreement will be somewhere in the range of 5

01:30 - 47.775 to $10 million for the township.

01:30 - 48.653 Okay, great.

01:30 - 50.087 We are almost out of time.

01:30 - 52.189 Very quick question for Bill.

01:30 - 54.425 What are the implications on emergency services?

01:30 - 56.994 If you could do that in 30s?

01:30 - 00.030 Well, there has to be an emergency operations plan, and that emergency

01:31 - 03.767 operations plan will dictate what needs to be provided

01:31 - 07.571 from public safety, all of public safety, because there's a police component

01:31 - 12.142 to this as well, particularly if you have any type of, facility

01:31 - 15.636 that deals with any type of secret top secret, or anything of that nature.

01:31 - 19.516 So that emergency operations plan would detail

01:31 - 23.544 all of the required components from the public safety entities.

01:31 - 27.391 And in all probability, you're going to have to take a hard

01:31 - 30.060 look at the fire protection systems that are in place

01:31 - 33.488 and what is going to be needed to support those fire protection systems,

01:31 - 37.458 particularly if you are in 1,000,000 square foot, 80ft high building

01:31 - 40.795 the requirements for that from a water supply standpoint

01:31 - 43.607 and from other public safety assets is going to be different

01:31 - 47.502 than if you're operating out of a two storey converted office building.

01:31 - 49.847 So the EOP is going to be the big deal.

01:31 - 53.674 And don't let them tell you they don't have to do it because they do like code.

01:31 - 55.119 Okay.

01:31 - 58.312 So there's a lot of discussion in Harrisburg about making a model ordinance.

01:31 - 01.658 It sounds to me like a lot of folks here have already been ahead of it.

01:32 - 06.029 And if you look on the state's resource page, there are a boatload of of samples

01:32 - 08.365 out there that many municipalities have already posted.

01:32 - 12.126 We will gather the respective ordinances from folks up here

01:32 - 15.239 and also add those to the to the resource center.

01:32 - 20.043 So you'll have, have those and this may be perhaps one more example of, Harrisburg

01:32 - 23.137 decided they want to close the door after the horses are already out.

01:32 - 26.216 You guys have been well ahead of the the game.

01:32 - 28.252 Thank you for all you've done.

01:32 - 30.596 Can we have another round of applause for our participants?

01:32 - 38.886 No. So

01:32 - 42.332 at the end of, we will post all of the stuff for our ordinances.

01:32 - 45.359 But we will also we still have some questions we didn't get to,

01:32 - 50.731 but we will follow up, by email or text back to you after,

01:32 - 54.435 after the conference to be able to get answers for, for everything.

01:32 - 58.673 With that, we're going to take a brief break to award,

01:32 - 03.277 not break, leave a break to award a few more county association baskets.

01:33 - 07.148 So our first basket was donated by

01:33 - 11.485 you should have stayed,

01:33 - 14.131 okay.

01:33 - 17.158 From the Erie County Association.

01:33 - 21.062 We have some maple sirup, some fishing lures, a fleece jacket,

01:33 - 24.908 candy, a $100 visa gift

01:33 - 27.902 card, some wine and,

01:33 - 31.214 some moonshine.

01:33 - 33.016 I guess for night,

01:33 - 37.211 night time when the moon's going and the winner is

01:33 - 39.656 Omari Patterson,

01:33 - 42.683 a supervisor from Ferguson Township, Center County.

01:33 - 44.361 Where are we at?

01:33 - 45.029 Over here.

01:33 - 48.055 Congratulations.

01:33 - 53.570 And the next one is,

01:33 - 57.498 from Westmore land County, and it is a golfers basket.

01:33 - 01.244 And the winner is

01:34 - 05.072 Jeff Shoulders from, supervisor in Morgan Township, Greene County.

01:34 - 08.643 Jeff, you play golf, you're going to learn you didn't.

01:34 - 22.866 So while we're on the subject of prizes, remember,

01:34 - 26.694 we're giving away, some more prizes before the end of the conference.

01:34 - 29.997 For things like filling out the evaluation forms,

01:34 - 33.377 visiting the trustees insurance booth,

01:34 - 36.404 guessing the numbers of, how many

01:34 - 39.650 guessing the numbers of Hershey

01:34 - 42.677 candies in the sets,

01:34 - 44.287 jar at the information desk.

01:34 - 47.281 And you will get to keep the candy and the jar.

01:34 - 50.494 The winner of these contests will be announced tomorrow.

01:34 - 53.063 Session. So take a chance.

01:34 - 56.657 Remember, though, you must be present to win any of those prizes.

01:34 - 00.761 Also, many of our exhibitors are giving away prizes as well.

01:35 - 04.932 So don't forget to stop by the bulletin board across from the information desk.

01:35 - 08.979 Near the check in desk near the exhibit hall.

01:35 - 10.514 After today's session ends,

01:35 - 13.216 many of our vendors have posted the names of their prize winners.

01:35 - 15.118 They're already.

01:35 - 17.587 Keep in mind that if you want a prize from exhibitor,

01:35 - 22.083 you will have to pick it up before the exhibit show ends at 1:00 today.

01:35 - 24.494 So, you know,

01:35 - 27.831 we've been giving away a lot of things today, but, I don't know.

01:35 - 30.767 The way I see it, there's always room for more.

01:35 - 33.794 You heard Jay talk about the photo contest we're having this year.

01:35 - 38.408 Take these photos of of the with cutouts of, yours truly.

01:35 - 41.402 And there's even some live shot opportunities.

01:35 - 44.414 Post them on Facebook using the conference hashtag,

01:35 - 46.917 and you just might hear your name called as the winner.

01:35 - 49.619 Tomorrow morning's general session.

01:35 - 53.623 One more thing to stay on schedule for the workshops and the overall conference.

01:35 - 54.758 I want to remind delegates

01:35 - 58.586 that the business meeting is scheduled to end at noon today.

01:35 - 02.199 Now a little different today we will have a brief interruption

01:36 - 05.192 pre-scheduled, at 11:00.

01:36 - 05.703 Where we going?

01:36 - 08.729 To stop the business meeting and hear from Cassandra Coleman,

01:36 - 12.032 the executive director of the America 250, effort.

01:36 - 13.577 Any unfinished.

01:36 - 14.778 They will then start off meeting again.

01:36 - 17.013 Any unfinished business?

01:36 - 19.616 As we as we approach the noon hour,

01:36 - 23.520 will be concluded by reconvening early tomorrow morning for the general session.

01:36 - 25.355 If if there is any.

01:36 - 28.382 And speaking of tomorrow morning's general session, it will feature the,

01:36 - 29.860 as we've published before,

01:36 - 32.929 our gubernatorial candidates forum, where governor Josh Shapiro and State.

01:36 - 36.323 Treasurer Stacy Garrity were both invited to answer your questions.

01:36 - 40.194 So please submit your questions on the forum provided in the welcome tone

01:36 - 43.964 and deposit the forum in the Governors Forum boxes by the door

01:36 - 47.077 at the chocolate lobby by noon today.

01:36 - 49.346 If you have any questions during the forum,

01:36 - 54.441 you can text them in tomorrow at (717) 516-8091.

01:36 - 56.510 That will also be posted on the

01:36 - 59.422 on the boards at the time.

01:36 - 59.891 Okay.

01:36 - 03.684 Let's, just take a little pause before we get to the business break.

01:37 - 08.198 Let's, crank up the Beach Boys music and Sergeant arms.

01:37 - 11.225 We want to bring out the beach balls.

01:37 - 14.738 If everybody else

01:37 - 17.607 across the USA,

01:37 - 20.544 then everybody be silent

01:37 - 23.480 like California.

01:37 - 25.448 You see them when they're back

01:37 - 28.442 east, we're at you send us to.

01:37 - 33.747 Blue Sheep on here to serving you as an.

01:37 - 38.128 You get your serving as inside or outside.

01:37 - 43.066 You enter a county line sign outside you Santa Cruz entrance.

01:37 - 46.469 I sit outside you I sit here on the inside.

01:37 - 47.138 Outside.

01:37 - 50.640 You only live inside the outside, you and I.

01:37 - 53.410 So any way inside? Outside.

01:37 - 57.872 And everybody's gonna serve the serving USA.

01:37 - 01.075 We'll all be planning out a wreath

01:38 - 05.412 we're gonna take real soon.

01:38 - 08.358 We're vaccine down our service.

01:38 - 11.385 We can't wait for to.

01:38 - 14.397 We'll be gone for the summer.

01:38 - 15.366 We're on safari.

01:38 - 18.668 Okay, okay, okay, everybody hold a ball.

01:38 - 21.171 If you have a ball, hold on to it.

01:38 - 24.398 If there is one on the floor near you, grab it.

01:38 - 28.511 Look at the ball.

01:38 - 31.538 See if there's a sad sticker on it.

01:38 - 33.750 And if there is, congratulations.

01:38 - 36.777 You're a winner.

01:38 - 39.656 After the general session, take the ball

01:38 - 42.816 over to the conference office in the lobby to pick up your prize.

01:38 - 45.862 Everyone else who has a beach ball, please keep it

01:38 - 48.889 as a souvenir of today's conference.

01:38 - 53.193 Okay, let's, try to restore a little bit of order here.

01:38 - 56.697 It's time I move on with our program.

01:38 - 59.876 You know, yesterday

01:38 - 04.071 we heard from Senator McCormick, talk about how people want a better,

01:39 - 07.741 a better future for their kids and their grandkids.

01:39 - 10.811 Well, who sets the table for that?

01:39 - 12.813 Who makes a community affordable?

01:39 - 15.225 Who makes a community

01:39 - 18.252 have a great quality of life?

01:39 - 21.355 Who makes a community a community?

01:39 - 24.067 And if you're not quite sure,

01:39 - 26.236 take a look in the mirror

01:39 - 28.838 because it's you.

01:39 - 30.607 It's why you're here.

01:39 - 33.343 To find new tools and learn new ways

01:39 - 36.246 to make life better for your neighbors.

01:39 - 39.573 So let's think about that as we finish the rest of the conference.

01:39 - 44.311 You know, we're just 74 days away from America's 250th birthday.

01:39 - 47.982 Yesterday, we heard about the birth of an idea

01:39 - 50.560 that grew into a new nation.

01:39 - 53.563 But that idea didn't just start at Independence Hall.

01:39 - 57.391 It began on the muddy roads, in the small clearings, in the barns,

01:39 - 00.661 and in the local meeting places or first townships.

01:40 - 03.931 If you think about it, Pennsylvania is

01:40 - 07.201 and always has been revolutionary.

01:40 - 08.579 In the

01:40 - 11.605 1700s, we led the American Revolution.

01:40 - 16.176 In the 1800s we grew the agricultural revolution.

01:40 - 21.157 In the 1900s, we drove the Industrial Revolution

01:40 - 24.184 with oil and coal and steel.

01:40 - 25.363 We are.

01:40 - 29.356 And today we're here, and we're home to America's energy independence,

01:40 - 32.402 to every era of progress.

01:40 - 36.330 Pennsylvania townships have been on the front line, providing the raw materials

01:40 - 39.900 and the hardworking labor of this Commonwealth.

01:40 - 43.079 You know, while peace that's recently turned 100

01:40 - 46.082 townships date back to the 1600s,

01:40 - 50.053 when William Penn crafted the Holy Experiment, he envisioned a land

01:40 - 53.881 dedicated to religious tolerance and local determination.

01:40 - 57.527 Thomas Jefferson called townships the wisest

01:40 - 00.554 invention ever created, by the way, to man.

01:41 - 03.857 Townships work then, and they work now.

01:41 - 08.095 Local government was the very foundation of our revolution.

01:41 - 13.076 Our ancestors wanted to control their own destiny through leaders elected

01:41 - 17.304 in their own communities, rather than a big government in a faraway land.

01:41 - 21.642 Back then, that land was across the ocean.

01:41 - 24.812 Today, that land, that faraway land,

01:41 - 27.724 feels like Harrisburg or Washington.

01:41 - 30.751 The distance isn't just geographical,

01:41 - 33.763 it's a distance of understanding.

01:41 - 36.666 Look, it's not rocket science.

01:41 - 41.595 The farther a decision maker is from a community, the less they know

01:41 - 46.767 about that community's needs, its values, and what can actually afford.

01:41 - 50.971 This isn't about deriving any level of government.

01:41 - 55.476 It's about ensuring that each level of government stays in its own lane.

01:41 - 00.623 The federal government was intended to focus on a stable monetary system,

01:42 - 03.717 provide for the common defense, and protect its borders.

01:42 - 08.822 It has no business defining right of way access for broadband and power lines.

01:42 - 12.693 Local leaders know where a cell tower or transformer blocks,

01:42 - 17.030 not because of where it fits on a map, because they know where it's safe

01:42 - 21.235 for their neighbors, and not a threat or danger to that community.

01:42 - 24.814 You know, the state government has a massive task

01:42 - 27.841 of protecting the environment and caring for those less fortunate

01:42 - 31.020 and those who can't take care of themselves.

01:42 - 35.282 They should focus on those priorities rather than dictating local land use,

01:42 - 38.919 whether it's retail or housing or solar hubs.

01:42 - 41.831 You know, just quickly, on the topic of housing,

01:42 - 44.458 you know, every type of housing works somewhere,

01:42 - 46.103 but every type of

01:42 - 49.129 housing doesn't work everywhere.

01:42 - 51.908 Every single type of housing the state is trying to

01:42 - 55.736 mandate is a use by right is already an allowable option.

01:42 - 59.439 You can do them now if it works for your community,

01:42 - 02.943 but that should be a local choice, not a state mandate.

01:43 - 07.514 And that concept applies to every type of facility and land use.

01:43 - 11.194 You know, there's a persistent myth among bureaucrats

01:43 - 15.698 and some urban planners that bigger is better and that a uniform,

01:43 - 18.725 one size fits all standard will save money.

01:43 - 20.803 Well, that theory has worked.

01:43 - 23.830 Exactly. Let me think.

01:43 - 26.643 Nowhere.

01:43 - 29.903 Studies consistently show that bigger government costs more

01:43 - 32.815 and is less responsive.

01:43 - 36.519 If you want a local example, let me tell you about a group of villages,

01:43 - 40.924 neighborhoods, and townships that they wanted to decided

01:43 - 44.284 they wanted a standardize their rules and operations to save money.

01:43 - 47.063 They call that place Philadelphia.

01:43 - 48.598 Today.

01:43 - 51.267 How's that working out for them?

01:43 - 54.204 How's that working out for us

01:43 - 54.538 there?

01:43 - 57.774 Feel like the state and federal mandates were really designed

01:43 - 01.535 to crush your community financially and push you to bankruptcy?

01:44 - 05.505 It's almost like there's a secret plan to force communities to collapse

01:44 - 10.277 and become one giant region, with decision making and power in the hands of a few.

01:44 - 15.148 Listen, we're seeing a national trend to dismantle local local voices.

01:44 - 20.687 Last year, the Iowa Legislature voted to abolish townships in Indiana.

01:44 - 24.067 They voted to eliminate small communities under 2700

01:44 - 27.060 and forced them to merge into the county.

01:44 - 30.797 Here in Pennsylvania, we see some of the same shadow footprints

01:44 - 34.043 plans for a statewide zoning,

01:44 - 36.646 a reset board of seven where Harrisburg

01:44 - 39.673 bureaucrats will dictate where power plants are built,

01:44 - 41.918 state mandates stripping your right to set

01:44 - 45.178 limits on how many unrelated people can live in a unit.

01:44 - 49.416 The elimination of minimum parking requirements.

01:44 - 50.627 You know, we see it.

01:44 - 53.596 We see this in the storm water mandates that are forcing you to dump

01:44 - 57.991 massive sums of money into tiny incremental improvements,

01:44 - 01.828 only for them to change the rules once you do comply.

01:45 - 04.874 And perhaps the most frustrating,

01:45 - 09.469 they force you to bailout a dying industry by requiring expensive

01:45 - 13.783 legal ads in newspapers while blocking you from posting notices

01:45 - 16.810 on your own website, where residents actually look for information.

01:45 - 21.715 And there's all kinds of other services not mentioned that you're mandated to do

01:45 - 24.918 with the limited resources you have.

01:45 - 27.530 It's so frustrating.

01:45 - 30.266 You know, a state senator once told me that township supervisors

01:45 - 34.261 have done so much for so long, with so little,

01:45 - 38.899 that they're now qualified to do just about anything with almost nothing.

01:45 - 42.278 That's how you think of it.

01:45 - 42.913 That's it's real.

01:45 - 45.939 It seems like those faraway bureaucrats demand

01:45 - 50.353 piled demands on you to force you to collapse, to keep you frustrating.

01:45 - 53.589 But you keep frustrating them by getting creative and finding

01:45 - 56.616 efficiencies and getting the job done.

01:45 - 59.786 So after years of that frustration, a new idea has been born.

01:46 - 03.123 Only this time, instead of putting pen to paper,

01:46 - 05.668 this involves a keyboard and a printer.

01:46 - 07.070 It's a little different.

01:46 - 09.272 It's a local government bill of rights.

01:46 - 11.841 And it's not just for townships.

01:46 - 15.435 It's been discussed with other local government associations in Pennsylvania.

01:46 - 18.548 And it's not just for Pennsylvania.

01:46 - 21.851 It's been embraced at the national level through the National Association of Towns

01:46 - 24.120 and Townships. Any time,

01:46 - 26.923 you know, our mission at states is to partner with you

01:46 - 28.415 and preserve local democracy.

01:46 - 32.786 But efficiency may not be enough anymore.

01:46 - 37.224 We have to do a better job of telling our stories to our neighbors.

01:46 - 41.361 You know, our residents often don't come to your meeting to say thank you,

01:46 - 43.639 right?

01:46 - 46.700 They come when they feel like when their quality of life is threatened.

01:46 - 49.879 We need to help them understand

01:46 - 53.140 that their way of life is at risk.

01:46 - 56.652 Before the local voice is stripped away.

01:46 - 59.021 You know, this new effort is going to take a little time.

01:46 - 03.183 This is about generational change, and success isn't going to be measured

01:47 - 07.196 in weeks or months, but it will be measured in the world we live.

01:47 - 10.133 We leave for our kids and grandkids.

01:47 - 14.494 Yesterday I asked you if you only had 15 seconds to tell a neighbor

01:47 - 17.540 the most important thing that local government does.

01:47 - 18.598 What would you say?

01:47 - 21.711 I'm going to again ask you to write it down,

01:47 - 25.705 drop it in the box in the lobby for a chance to to win an iPad,

01:47 - 30.510 help us craft a message for the new civics education project.

01:47 - 34.681 Remember when kids used to learn about civics?

01:47 - 38.327 Now we're going to have to step in and help them do that.

01:47 - 41.521 Let me assure you, the new project will not replace what Peace Ads does.

01:47 - 42.366 It will be.

01:47 - 45.468 In addition, peace ads will still be your member service organization.

01:47 - 48.962 We will still be your go to source for information,

01:47 - 52.699 education, networking, the sharing of best practices.

01:47 - 56.336 We'll still have conferences like this and our Public Works Expo.

01:47 - 00.907 But watch for a new public safety conference coming.

01:48 - 04.787 Stay tuned for this new program, for a new program for meeting management,

01:48 - 08.815 to talking about restoring civility and some de-escalation tactics,

01:48 - 13.253 help us build a new public outreach effort to enhance civic education

01:48 - 15.121 and preserve local democracy.

01:48 - 19.202 Let me leave you with this.

01:48 - 22.629 Change is inevitable, but progress isn't.

01:48 - 26.976 It's not where you start, but where you finish.

01:48 - 30.003 And if we stand together, our for our communities,

01:48 - 32.839 we're going to finish on top. Thank you all.