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Residents press council on homelessness and raise concerns about proposed data center
Summary
Public commenters urged the council to do more for unsheltered residents, cited a recent exposure death, criticized city ordinances and budget choices, and multiple speakers urged delay or rejection of a proposed data center over jobs, tax abatements and infrastructure concerns.
During the public‑comment portion of the Feb. 2 meeting, several residents urged the city to take more robust action on homelessness and flagged a proposed data‑center project for additional scrutiny.
Amanda Bearden, a volunteer with Advocates for the Under‑Resourced, framed homelessness as a city responsibility under the charter and urged policy changes to prioritize housing‑first interventions. She said roughly 150 people are unsheltered in the Joplin area, criticized thresholds in existing cold‑weather responses and questioned the allocation of $92,000 to a consultant while urgent needs persist. Bearden said a local resident, James Boyer, recently died of exposure and called on the council to stop “terrifying” people living outside so outreach and service providers can connect them with help. She thanked Chief Pearson for coordinating follow‑up in at least one case.
Other commenters addressed a proposed data‑center project that has surfaced in recent planning work. Cheyenne Chong urged caution, citing minutes from the planning and zoning commission in which a landowner stated that an end user required annexation and a narrow timeline (nine months) for moving forward, and she included utility estimates (Liberty Utilities: ~0.6 miles of line upgrades at an estimated ~$2M; Missouri American Water said 2,000,000 gallons per day capacity). Chris Hammer urged the council to reject incentives for large, out‑of‑area tech projects that offer few local jobs and long tax abatements; he said communities often receive little local benefit while bearing costs.
Council members thanked volunteers and law‑enforcement liaisons who assist with outreach, noted the complexity of cross‑jurisdictional support, and asked staff to follow up on infrastructure and tax‑abatement details raised by speakers.
Next steps: Council did not take immediate action on these public comments but staff were asked to follow up with additional information on incidents, service capacity, shelter policy thresholds and technical details about the proposed data‑center infrastructure request and any tax‑abatement implications.
