Aaron York, Landowner
There was a calmer tone on at Monday’s public meeting at Marshfield High School as Aaron York addressed the crowd following the recent debate surrounding the proposed computing facility near Rifle Range Road.
York began by apologizing for speaking out of turn during the earlier town hall meeting. He said emotions were high and admitted he should have waited for the proper time to speak.
Still, he said he felt some things needed to be clarified.
York pushed back on what he described as misinformation and rumors that have circulated online and throughout the community in recent weeks. He said people absolutely have the right to ask questions and voice concerns, but added that conversations should stay rooted in facts instead of assumptions.
“The property was not sold carelessly,” York said. “We did our research before making this decision.”
He explained the land sits next to an electric substation, which made it attractive for the proposed project. York also stressed that the property is not active farmland and is not currently being used for farming operations.
A big part of his comments focused on the idea that the decision was never about turning away from the community.
“We live here too,” he said. “We raise our families here. This community matters to us.”
York acknowledged concerns involving water usage, utilities, and natural resources. He said those are fair questions and believes technical experts connected to the project should be the ones providing detailed answers moving forward.
He closed by encouraging people to continue asking questions, but to do it respectfully and honestly.
“It’s okay to disagree,” York said. “But I hope we can all agree these conversations should be based on facts, not fear.”
Trent Overhue, Developer
Trent Overhue, the developer behind the proposed project on Rifle Range Road, spent part of the public meeting trying to clear up what he says are major misconceptions about the type of facility being planned.
Overhue said the project is not a massive hyperscale operation like the ones often seen in national headlines. Instead, he described it as a much smaller “edge site” focused on high-performance computing.
According to Overhue, the facility would support research models used in industries like healthcare, banking, logistics, and defense.
“We’re not the giant storage-style centers people think about,” he said.
The project currently involves five acres of land near an existing substation. Overhue explained that the available power infrastructure is one reason the location was chosen. He also said the site would be limited by the capacity already available there, making large-scale expansion unlikely.
Overhue said the operation would use a closed-loop cooling system and only require a small amount of water each day. Plans currently call for a residential-style well capable of around 20 gallons per minute.
He also addressed concerns about environmental impact and chemicals used in the system. According to Overhue, the cooling process is water-based and uses food-grade propylene glycol during colder months to help prevent freezing and corrosion.
He stressed that the system is designed to keep water contained internally and said the project would not create environmental discharge or hazardous waste.
Overhue described the overall goal as finding smaller locations where existing infrastructure can support projects without placing major strain on surrounding communities.
Tom Houston, General Manager, Webster Electric Cooperative
Tom Houston, general manager of Webster Electric Cooperative, spent part of the meeting focusing on one thing only — power.
Houston said the proposed computing facility would use about 10 megawatts from the substation tied to the project. He noted the overall system already handles around 120 megawatts and continues growing by roughly two to three megawatts each year as new homes and businesses connect to the grid.
“This is one circuit out of that substation,” Houston said.
He explained that Webster Electric Coop already serves a number of industrial customers and described the proposed project as large, but still manageable within the existing system.
Houston made it clear he was not speaking on environmental concerns, water usage, or air quality issues. His comments stayed focused strictly on electrical capacity and how cooperative billing works.
According to Houston, electric cooperatives operate differently from traditional utilities because members share in the overall system costs. He said part of a customer’s monthly bill comes from fixed infrastructure costs, while another portion is tied directly to electricity usage.
Houston said larger energy users can sometimes help lower the cooperative’s average power costs through economies of scale. He told members the project would not raise electric rates and could slightly reduce the overall average cost to the system over time.
He also addressed concerns about outages, saying many service interruptions are tied to common issues like storms, tree limbs, birds, or squirrels interfering with equipment rather than overall system demand.
