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Resident urges Columbia County to require bonds for future data centers, criticizes library changes
Summary
Public commenter Susan Warren asked the board to require surety or performance bonds for future data centers and criticized Columbia County's exit from a regional library system, citing staff losses and political pressure; the board said it 'has not yet decided' and is 'looking at options.'
Susan Warren used the public-comment period at the June 16 Columbia County commissioners meeting to press the board on two issues: requiring surety or performance bonds in the county’s data center ordinance and reversing library governance changes that she says damaged local library services.
"I would like to know if you have at all considered my plea...to amend the data center ordinance to include a surety or performance bond that would help to protect Columbia County for the building of any future data centers that are not yet rezoned," Warren said, noting she had raised the issue at the May 5 meeting and had seen no follow-up. The board did not commit to action during the meeting; a member said the board had "not yet decided" and was "looking at options." (The response was not attributed to a named speaker in the transcript.)
Warren also criticized the county’s departure from a regional library cooperative before October 2024 and said the change left the county "set up as a single county region" with hiring and retention problems among library staff. She accused the commission of "placating the unwarranted and constant voices of [a] small group who espoused racist and homophobic views" and said political pressure from legislators — naming Lee Anderson and Rick Allen — contributed to staffing and policy problems.
Her remarks included a request that the county appoint qualified librarians to the library board and restore working bylaws. The transcript records the concerns and the board’s reply that the matter is under consideration; no policy action was taken at the meeting.
