Carter County Commission sets data center moratorium

ELIZABETHTON — The Carter County Commission has established a one-year moratorium on the development of large data centers in the county. The action was taken during Monday night's meeting of the county commission, with only one commissioner voting "nay". Aaron Frazier explained that he was also in favor of the moratorium, but felt that the wording of the motion could cause the county some problems in court if the moratorium was challenged. The motion was made by Commissioner Keith Range and seconded by Commissioner Angie Manning. The official wording of the motion was that there should be "one-year moratorium on all AI data centers and crypto-mining centers to investigate the impact on the environment and infrastructure." During the year-long moratorium, the Carter County Planning Commission will lead the study on how the county government should best respond to future establishment of data centers in the county. There are no known plans at this time to develop a data center in the county, but several concerned citizens attended Monday's meeting to express their concerns on the future development of such data centers. Several called for the commission to set a moratorium. In other matters, the commission approved a change order to the improvements being made to an existing U.S. Forest Service road to provide access to the construction site for the White Rocks Tower. The tower will have a key antenna which is part of the county-wide emergency communications system, which will provide state-wide access to the most remote and mountainous sections of the county. The change order was in the amount of $855,800. That brought the new cost for the completion of the project to $1,344,500. The additional funds will include $602,877.81 from federal American Rescue Plan money; with $252,923 coming from the county's unassigned fund balance. Ordinarily, such a large change order would result in a discussion by the commission. That was not the case this time because the commissioners were aware of the approaching deadline on being able to use the American Rescue Plan funds. Commissioner Todd Smith had suggested that the reason for the change order should be discussed prior to the vote, but the motion was approved without further comment. An Aug. 5 letter from the project's engineering firm, Mattern & Craig, provided the commissioners with an explanation on the change order. Nick VanEss, the Mattern & Craig project manager, wrote in the letter to the commissioners that the original estimates were based on a December 2025 field visit. "Once construction began, the use of heavy equipment revealed additional areas of unstable roadbed that must be stabilized before the required equipment can be delivered," VanEss said. "Stabilizing these areas will require additional rock material and will result in overruns of the original estimated quantities." He also wrote that the contractor performed work outside the project plans and specifications without first getting authorization or a change order. There was a short work stoppage, but after being discussed in committees of the Carter County Commission, work was previously allowed to continue. On another matter, the commission approved the expenditure of $24,745 to provide for the installation of new audio equipment for the streaming of Carter County Commission meetings and for the recording of proceedings of the Carter County Chancer Court. The old audio equipment in the county's Main Courtroom had failed earlier this month. It is hoped the new audio equipment will be installed in time for the swearing in of the members of the new Carter County Commission. This meeting was the final session for the outgoing county commission. Several of the commissioners who will not be a part of the new commission said farewells, including Robert Acuff, Nancy Brown, Angie Manning, Danny Deal, Jerry Proffitt, Donnie Cable, Jason Clawson, Lesley Hughes and Aaron Frazier. Acuff took to the podium to remind the commissioners about the accomplishments made against great difficulty during the past four years, which included recovery from a pandemic at the beginning of their term and recovery from a national disaster at the end of their term. Acuff said that during the time he served on the commission, he saw such improvements as a superior health insurance plan for county employees, the providing of broadband internet to the most remote sections of the county and the backing of the sheriff's department with a salary improvement that has led to improvements and statewide recognition of the management of the jail.