Ironton council adopts emergency ordinance barring registered offenders from public spaces, approves permit-fee update and AI moratorium; data-center zoning to‑

Ironton — The Ironton City Council voted on several ordinances at its Feb. 15 meeting, passing emergency legislation that prohibits registered offenders from being present on certain public properties, adopting updated permit fees, approving a moratorium on AI data centers, and referring data-center zoning to the planning commission.

The meeting began with a councilmember urging colleagues to "take this off the table" and amend the ordinance placed on the agenda to better protect children. Councilmembers said the measure — ordinance 26‑07 — was rewritten and expanded from schools to other public spaces where children gather. "We also added public spaces where children gather," one councilmember said, noting the superintendent recommended that in some cases a school resource officer accompany registered offenders who must appear for educational-decisions related to students. Gretchen Playful, executive director of the Griggs Lawrence County Public Library, asked what new responsibilities the ordinance would impose on the library and whether staff would need to modify background-check policies; city staff responded that the ordinance targets the individual offender and that police could be called and could cite offenders for violations.

After the public discussion the council asked the clerk to read ordinance 26‑07 by title, moved to suspend the rules to allow second and third readings by title only, and then…