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Residents urge evening meetings, independent jail needs assessment and review of data centers
Summary
Public commenters at the Yates County Legislature on July 13 urged the Legislature to move meetings to evenings to improve participation, asked for an independent needs assessment before pursuing a new public safety facility, and urged state scrutiny of data-center development and its effect on the electric grid.
Denise Hompkins, a Yates County resident, told legislators the current 1:00 p.m. meeting time "makes civic engagement difficult" and proposed the Legislature consider a resolution to move regular meetings to evening hours to improve access to the democratic process.
Hompkins and other public commenters also pressed the Legislature for more transparency and an independent evaluation of proposals for a new public safety facility. Hompkins asked why a schematic design consultant would present options when, she said, the public has not seen a neutral, unbiased needs assessment and when the existing facility is "grandfathered" and can be repaired to meet corrections requirements. Allison Stewart and Jack Ossent echoed calls for an "independent, unbiased needs assessment" before spending millions on a new jail or committing to a facility footprint.
Gary Mcinty, another resident, urged state action on data centers pending before the governor, saying the "grid is fragile as it is" and that utilities and interconnection costs for large server farms risk being borne by other customers unless development is managed. Barbara Craig read counsel from Sen. Tom O’Mara’s office warning that ad hoc committees made up of legislators and discussing county business "generally qualify as a public body subject to the Open Meetings Law," and that shutting out legislators or the public from such meetings raises transparency concerns.
Legislators responded that the July 22 schematic-design session will include a public component and that some executive-session discussion is expected for sensitive public-safety matters. Legislators and staff said cost estimates are not yet developed for schematic design and that no decision has been made to build a new facility or to abandon renovation options.
The Legislature did act on one item responding to meeting-time concerns: it voted unanimously to change the August 10 legislative meeting from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Legislative Chambers.
Next steps: a schematic design update is scheduled for July 22; some discussion will be public with a subsequent executive session, according to legislator remarks.
