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Petition to ban proposed AI data center prompts council questions about certification and timing
Summary
Petitioners told the council they submitted more than the required signatures to place an ordinance banning an AI data center on the ballot; the council said signatures must be certified and expected to have the petition before the July meeting for scheduling a public hearing.
Petitioners seeking to place a proposed ordinance banning a planned AI data center on the ballot told the Eastport City Council they had gathered more than the required number of signatures and asked when the city would certify and schedule the required public hearing.
A petitioner said they submitted the signatures on Monday and that the group collected roughly double the number required for qualification. "We submitted those signatures on Monday... it was a wildly popular petition," the petitioner said. Residents asked when verification and the statutory public hearing would follow; staff and council said the clerk must verify the signatures before the petition proceeds through the city's ordinance process and estimated council would have the certified petition by early July.
Councilors explained the charter's ordinance procedure: once signatures are certified, the council must post a public hearing and then decide whether to take action; if the council takes action, the matter can then proceed to an election after required intervals. Petitioners asked the council to move promptly; council members said they would review the certified signatures and follow charter procedures, noting occasional differences between state‑statute timing and charter provisions.
Separately, members of the public used the forum to press councilors on whether the city had billed or been reimbursed for police and public‑works costs associated with cruise‑ship visits, and to ask whether the port authority had begun paying per‑cruise fees; staff said some incremental costs had been billed to the port previously (about $2,600 in one year) but that no routine per‑cruise revenue had yet been implemented.
The council said it expected to receive certification of the petition in the days following the meeting and will place the matter on a future agenda for the required public‑hearing posting once certification is complete.
