Commission rejects resolution urging school-board review of former Carver School site for data centers; separate travel proposal fails

The Caddo Parish Commission voted down a resolution that would have requested the (as spoken in transcript) school board consider the former George Washington Carver School site for potential data-center development.

Vice President Ken Epperson, the resolution's sponsor, described the site as larger than a competing West Freeport location and argued it could attract economic development and use water from the Red River or Wallace Lake. "We don't want anything else to go to Texas or any of the surrounding states," Epperson said, arguing the parish should present options to the school board.

Opponents said the commission has not approved any specific sites and should not attempt to direct school-board decisions; Commissioner Stefan Jones said the commission had only set parameters to welcome data centers, not to approve specific properties. The motion failed, with the clerk recording three in support and nine in opposition.

Separately, Vice President Epperson moved to fund commission travel to Shelby County, Tenn., to study local data-center policies and practices. Supporters cited past learning from study trips; detractors questioned the choice of Shelby County and suggested remote research or contacting Memphis officials by phone. The travel motion failed (the clerk recorded the result as failing and used language indicating an even or tied result: "fails with 10 in support to and 10 in opposition").

Commissioners who opposed the travel cited availability of press coverage and remote contact with Memphis officials; those in favor argued an on-site visit can reveal policy and community impacts not captured in press reports. No further action was taken during the work session; both the site-request resolution and travel proposal will not advance from the work session.