St. Joseph County Council Republicans today on Thursday filed a resolution to ban any more data centers once Amazon and Microsoft's centers are finished.
Sponsoring the resolution are Republican council members Amy Drake, Randy Figg, Andy Rutten and Joe Thomas. Thomas and Drake are up for re-election Nov. 3.
They seem to have picked up a fifth supporter, enough for a majority on the nine-member council, in Democrat Jenn Shabazz. Shabazz, who is not up for re-election, announced her support for a ban at a press conference Wednesday with Democratic council candidates Jan Cervelli, Mike Hamann and Ranjan Rohatgi.
Only three council members oppose a ban or even a temporary moratorium: Democratic President Bryan Tanner and Democrat Mark Catanzarite, both of whom are unopposed in November, and Democrat Diana Hess, who is not seeking re-election.
Tanner could decide to withhold the resolution from the agenda but council rules allow a majority to override him on that.
Tanner declined to be interviewed Thursday because he said he hadn’t yet read the resolution. As of now the council will vote on it at their Sept. 22 meeting.
