I'll bring the But Silver Bow Council of Commissioners Committee of the Whole meeting to order for Wednesday, November twelfth, twenty twenty five.

Can we please have a roll call?

One presiding eight present, three absent.

Thank you.

Please let the record reflect Commissioner Fisher, Anderson, and Fisher are gone for tonight's meeting.

Commissioner Walker, would you please lead us in the prayer and the pledge?

So that we clean you.

Next item on tonight's agenda is any public comment on any items that are on tonight's agenda.

This is the opportunity for a member of the public to get up and speak on any items that's on tonight's agenda.

If you'd like to, please come up to the podium and just state your name and address for the record and which communication you're talking about.

Oh sorry, Dan, on the bottom there's a button.

Right there.

You're good.

Can you hear me?

Oh, there we go.

Um, my name's Dan O'Neill, two zero eight five Beacon Road.

Um, here on the business development center item.

Um just for clarification.

I'm not related to Josh O'Neill.

And I think I can say I don't know who anybody on this board is.

So um, as a tenant of the business development center, I want to get some questions answered.

Although I can't speak for other tenants.

I can say there's been almost no communication from Beat Silverbow regarding the sale or disposal.

And I was expecting further information to be made available.

As a tenant, I was not given any written information regarding the sale, or any information regarding an opportunity to purchase through a bid or auction process, excuse me.

Have appeared before this body before regarding the public notification system for when bids are added to the county RFP page.

I'm partly calling on some awareness and asking for information that may be relevant and legal legally required to be disclosed as part of a real property sale in Montana.

And that information is two to three years ago.

An architecture and engineering company was hired to perform an assessment on the BDC building.

If I'm not mistaken, it was to look at the cost of upgrading the windows in the building and to provide soil stabilization for part of the building that is subsiding.

I believe the results were going to be using a grant application for structural improvements and window replacement.

So my question is were the results of that architectural and engineering analysis published or presented to the commissioners, or more importantly, in this case were they disclosed as part of the RFP.

I have to apologize because I was earning a Master of Architecture from Arizona State University during that time.

So I was gone for two to three two to three weeks at a time during the school year and may have missed that report, or it was returned when Sherry or after Sherry had retired.

Then my concern with the process was the RFP provided no information about a bid submission or auction format, nor does it provide any guidance or matrix on how the proposal will be scored for determination on the award of the proposal.

Due to that, I could not seriously consider investing the time and preparing a proposal when I do not know if the award will be based on merit, intent, or means to invest.

And I would only ask that the county attorney look at two codes annotated 784201 number three and 72756.

Um when these proposal is presented to you and make sure that it meets the legal requirements, the state has set forth regarding county selling property.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

O'Neill.

Any other member of the public that would like to speak on any item that's on tonight's agenda.

Okay.

Please come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record, and which communication you want to talk about.

Hello, my name is Lewis Pizanti.

My address is 116-105 Fleesa Road.

Um, I would like to discuss the new proposal for the data center uh proposed to be built out in the rural area of the TIFFIT.

Is that correct?

Montana Connections.

So I don't know if I could pass this out to you guys.

Mr.

Prasani, just so you know, this is just for public comments, so the council can't go back and forth on answering questions.

It's just for you to get up and and speak on what you want.

But if you do want to pass those around, you can give them to Barb and she will she will get it to the commissioners.

So one thing that was brought to my attention, the people of Buxton do not feel that they've been adequate adequately notified about what is going on with the build of this building, the footprint of it, where it's going to be located.

Um it was brought to my attention.

Someone said, Well, read the paper.

Well, a lot of us do not get the paper anymore, but all of us get the mail.

So that was one of our concerns and all my neighbors' concerns is that we were not at accurately notified of what the building was going to be, how big it's going to be.

There are several things that we are concerned about with this building.

Um, the devaluing of our property.

Um we want to know a noise assessment.

Um, the lights, what kind of lights are going to be around this building, or we possibly building in the middle of the futte airport with the runway lights everywhere?

Um this is my house that I'm just constructing right now that I handed out to you guys, and it could possibly be less than 200 yards from the building site of this new data center.

So obviously I'm fairly concerned about this.

Um the other questions we have is there been an environmental impact assessment done, a documented one.

Um is there a noise assessment been done on these facilities that has a baseline that we can refer back to, something that will protect us that you know if we're sitting in our home and we can't go to sleep at night because of the adjacent noise that is going on from this facility.

Um the other question we have is there been a realtor assessment done.

I mean, how much is this new building going to devalue our property?

And we're very concerned about that.

Anyway, those are the concerns that we have, and thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr.

Prazani.

Any other member of the public that would like to um comment on any item that's on tonight's agenda.

Welcome, please state your name and address for the record.

Uh my name is Evan Barrett.

I reside at 807 West Silver Street in Butte.

And uh I'm here to uh briefly address uh communication number 546, which is about the data center.

Uh and uh back in April, April 16th, I appeared before you at the beginning of the meeting when we first heard and had a presentation on the data center uh by I think it was SABE, I don't think that's the name they were using at the time, but uh and I spoke out and said, you know, this sounds really good, and I find it intriguing, uh, but I'm not sure.

It seems to me that we're kind of trying to rush this thing a little bit, and we're not sure uh what the impacts are going to be on Butte and on the citizens of Butte and the citizens of Montana, and I kind of concluded by urging, let's let's not rush, let's not rush.

Well, frankly, you rushed.

It didn't take you any time to sell 600 acres of uh land, uh, which I don't think should have been sold, and though there's a clawback provision, I believe, in the contract, it's a clawback that allows the company to get out of a deal, but I don't think the clawback allows the county to get out of the deal if a deal is not favorable.

Uh I still find it intriguing.

I'm not sure about it all.

Uh, but I do have concerns for a number of things.

The speed is one concern, water.

I think we have an inconsistency in the statements about water.

When the company saying they don't really need any, and now you're talking about three million gallons a day.

Uh so that needs to be fleshed out a bit.

The power, uh, assurances that the power and the power line and all that is needed for this, which is massive, quadrupling the size of the amount of power being developed in Montana, uh, you know, it's going to be done.

Is it going to be done in a way that does not negatively impact your power bill, my power bill, the county's power bill.

That's who we should need to be standing up for.

And we don't have those assurances at this particular point.

Uh also the taxes.

Now, the taxes are low, and that's okay.

You know, a lot of these taxes that were put together.

I put together a lot of these tax packages for the state of Montana, given a good tax break for a company and and an industry.

Uh, the taxes are low, uh, but uh we we have I think a misconception of the tax situation and what can be done with the taxes out in the community.

And so that concerns me too.

And I'm gonna briefly address that right here for a second, and I might come back and talk about water with you at another meeting, or maybe talk about the power at another meeting.

And I hope I'm just trying to offer some of my expertise and experience in this stuff to make sure that this is a good deal for Butte and a good deal for the people of Butte.

Now, in terms of uh taxes, uh when the staff of Butte Silverbow went out to Quincy in August, uh it was a story ran in the Montana Standard.

Uh, and I will quote from the story.

Uh, and this is quoting one is a direct quote, one's a paraphrase, it's of the chief executive, uh, said that uh SABE data center could draw other companies as tenants, employee technicians, computer programmers, electricians, and others, and swell the local tax base with new money for schools and parks, among other things.

Later in the same story, quote, since the data centers have come to Quincy, they have built a state of the art high school, remodeled their old high school to be their junior high, and built two more grade schools, he said, quote, they built a state of the art courthouse, they built new parks and a new hospital, close quotes.

Now, is it any is there any reason not to understand why we have people walking out on the streets thinking about the money truck coming in with tax money for all this kind of stuff to be done in Butte.

But it can't be done in Butte.

It can't be done.

The net tax we will get out of the data center for use of the county or the schools or the state is zero.

Zero.

It's in it's in the car, the connections park, a tax increment district.

By law, taxes collected from new growth in a TIFIT zone are captured in the zone for at least 15 years.

That's a minimal, that's a beginning life of a of his district.

Or longer, by the way, if the if the taxes are pledged to bonds.

Pretty good chance it'd be 25 or 30 years.

So we need to make sure that you let's go out of our way to properly inform the citizens that there's no great big tax benefit out of this thing for us for a long time.

We may get jobs, may get a lot of really good things about it.

And again, I'm not saying I'm against it.

I kind of like the idea, but I like the idea of us making sure that we present the facts to the citizens.

And the facts right now are that the tax benefit for use for the schools and use for the county for a long time is zero.

Yes.

Evan, I would just remind you of the three-minute rule that we ask for for comment.

So if you could if you could summarize or something.

Thank you for bearing with me that maybe extra minute or two.

I appreciate it.

And I just uh just urge uh let's be cautious.

Take your time, get all the facts, and let all the facts be out before we move ahead.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Oh, let me pass this out, if I may.

Yeah.

Is there any other member of the public that would like to speak on anything on tonight's agenda?

Okay.

Oh, go ahead.

Okay.

Welcome.

Please uh come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record.

Uh my name is Joel Wirth.

I live at 2416 South Maine.

Excuse me.

Um, I just came, I wanted to just speak a little bit about the data center.

Um I'm with the Carpenters Union.

I'm a representative for them.

Our our union represents 12 states, all of the Western states.

And I can say that where these data centers are being built, they're being built by Union Carpenters, and it's providing them with life-changing wages.

So I would like that just to be able to, you know, let you guys know that we have carpenters that are traveling out of state to build these to make good money, and I know that what that's what will happen here is it'll increase the wages for a lot of these guys.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Any other member of the public that would like to speak on any item on tonight's agenda?

Okay.

Welcome.

Please state your name and address for the record and which communication you're referring to.

Ready for Ready Frost 2000 Roberts Avenue.

I'm talking tonight about the like to make a couple comments about the presentation being given in the SABE data center as a whole.

I'm also a member of the Carpenter's Union.

Um, but in addition to that, I am a homeowner in Butte, Montana, Butte America, that is.

And this will be a great thing for our local, our local uh trade unions, as well as just local folks in general in terms of uh the amount of jobs and money being pumped back into the um into the economy.

But I've heard a lot about water issues, 30 million gallons a day is a lot.

You know what has a lot of water that we can't drink, but would be a great place to build a water treatment plant that could supply 30 million gallons a day is the pit.

It's got 50 billion gallons of undrinkable water.

Now, I mean, what say our city counselor is maybe ask them, hey, we got a place with a lot of water.

Um perhaps you guys could uh I don't know, help us out with that.

Um maybe maybe they can talk to the EPA and such, see what we can do about that.

Um sure would be cool to get a power plant built in Montana Connections for this thing.

If we could angle Northwest Energy and do, I don't know, shelling out, you know, um enough money to build maybe a nuke plant, you know, um at their own dime uh or Sabies dime, perhaps.

That would also bring in a lot of jobs and money and some great benefits for Butte Silver Bow.

I mean, power plant in our backyard, water treatment plant for the pit, clean it up.

There's a lot of options available to you folks if you can negotiate right.

Um and I believe I believe in all of you and the uh decisions that you'll make in the coming days.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there any other member of the public that would like to speak on any item on tonight's agenda?

Making sure I'm waiting to see if anybody jumps up.

Okay.

With that being said, I'll move on to the report of the chair.

Um just as a report of the chair last Friday, um, there was a couple of commissioners that went and visited the um Silver Lake water system just to look at the infrastructure that was there, and then there's another group of commissioners going this Friday as well to do the same thing.

Uh just in public disclosure, it's it's either three or four commissioners, it's not constituting a quorum.

But it it has been an eye-opening experience for me as a commissioner to go and see that water resource that's out there, and and part of that is because of the questions that have come before us to just really do our due diligence on answering some of these questions.

So just wanted to let people know about that.

And then also just to make sure that there's no um questions out there in the public.

I I do want to reiterate that as we sit here tonight, there is there's nothing before this body that is asking us for a decision on the SABE data center.

So there's no communication that's been submitted, you know, in the next week or two that we will be taking any action on.

Um I know it's been discussed that we're we're moving rapidly through this, but I just want to make sure that the public understands that there's no action on on anything that is before us right now.

So um with that said, I would move on to section one, which is bid openings, public hearings and/or presentations.

We do have a couple of presentations.

Um we have number one communication 2025-518.

Karen Burns, community development director, requesting council commissioners' authorization to schedule a presentation on November 12th, 2025 regarding responses to the RFP for the purchase of 305 West Mercury and referral back to the review committee for recommendation.

Uh Ms.

Burns.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan, members of council.

Um I just wanted to uh set the table here a little bit.

Um we after having permission from this body to move forward with an RFP process to market the business development center.

Um we did advertise that in the newspaper and on the Butte Silver Bow website three times on August 23rd, August 30th, and September 6th, with proposals due back to our office on September 26th.

We had two viewings of the building, um, which we also put notices out for.

Um so we had two open houses basically, if you will.

Um we had multiple people attend those and walk through the building and ask questions.

Um and so where we are in the process right now is uh like you just stated, we are having presentations tonight from the two proposals that we did receive.

Um our review committee met and reviewed both proposals.

Um we did create a matrix that um scored them um according to um what was put into that RFP in the written document, we created a matrix for that and did review their proposals against that matrix.

Both um were deemed complete and responsive.

So we have two proposals before us that we'd love for you to listen to presentations by both of those entities.

Um then we would ask that you would refer those back to us as a committee so we could come back to you with a recommendation as to whether or not you'd want to move forward with the sale of the building.

The next steps after that, if you chose to move forward with a sale, we would then negotiate a purchase agreement um with that entity, and that would also be bought before this body.

So many steps were about halfway through if we were to bring it all the way to fruition.

But tonight we have two proposals in front of you, um, presentations by two different groups.

Um the first one is for Michaela and Nathan Hack, Mountain Heart Media, and they're gonna come and present to you about their plans and their ideas for the building.

The second one is from the Urban Miners Collective, which is Jeff Riggs and Keith Waring, and they'll also present.

I will let this body know that both proposals submitted for the same purchase price, which was the 450,000 dollars that we put into the agreement.

So there has not been anything different than no other offers greater than that amount were given to us.

So I just wanted to set the table there.

I'd be happy to answer any questions right now, or we can move on.

The first proposal will be presented by Michaela and Nathan Hack.

Miss Burns.

If I can, I just have a question regarding procedure.

So your communication tonight is asking for a presentation and then referral back to the review committee.

Yes.

We'll just ref refer the actual bids back to your department, and then you'll you'll come back with a separate communication with when a decision is made, correct?

Ms.

Burns.

Yeah, thank you, Chairman Morgan, members of council.

Yes, if you could refer the proposals back to our committee for a recommendation back to this body.

Okay.

That would be great.

Thank you.

All right.

The first proposal is from Michaela Hack, and she's going to uh come on up.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good evening, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, members of the council, Chief Executive Gallagher.

Um Could you just speak into the microphone just a little bit more?

Yes, sorry.

No worries.

We gotcha.

Okay.

Make sure I have my button.

Okay.

So I want to ask you what fuels the creative heartbeat of Butte.

How can we make it stronger?

My proposal is to purchase the Butte Business Center and keep it thriving, maintaining the current tenants while bringing new life into the space as a shared community focused workspace for small businesses and local creatives.

I'll do a quick introduction of myself.

I'm Michaela Hack, my husband Nathan Hack is there.

I'm a freelance videographer here in Butte, and he works for Northwestern Energy as a vegetation coordinator.

Those are our three young kids.

They are sixth generation Montanans.

I want to tell you more about Mountain Heart Media as it would be a primary tenant in the building should you choose our proposal to move forward.

I've been producing documentary style videos for across Montana, but mostly here in Butte for the last almost five years.

I um have worked closely with Butte Central for four years, making a lot of videos for them.

I've created patient success stories for St.

James.

I did a series of videos for Early Head Start as they celebrated their 25-year anniversary and highlighted other services by aware.

I um have been fortunate enough to go up to the mine and get to see the views of Butte from up there as I created website videos for Montana Resources.

And I get to work with all sorts of small business owners across Butte, and it's really a wonderful job, and I love it.

And it's been rewarding to build something meaningful during that season.

Now they're school-aged, and I'm ready to take this next step and grow in a bigger way.

So the plan is to purchase a building to base Mountain Heart Media out of, but I want it to be more than that because I would like to create a shared space where creativity and business can grow together.

I already work alongside so many other solopreneurs from website designers to photographers and marketing professionals, and it's collaboration that makes us strong.

So many of us now work solo, online, self-taught, figuring things out on our own.

The flexibility is amazing.

But when we're what we're missing is the human connection.

And I've seen firsthand how much power there is in connection and community.

This project really is about creating a physical space that mirrors that same spirit, a place where collaboration can happen every day.

Let me explain co-working spaces a little bit.

They're a newer kind of office model that's been gaining popularity across the country over the past decade or so.

In fact, the number of co-working spaces in the U.S.

In fact, the number of co-working spaces in the US keeps growing as demand keeps increasing with more people working remotely or starting their own small businesses.

They're a place where freelancers, small business owners, and remote workers can rent a desk or table space or office without committing to a full lease.

They're designed for people who might otherwise work from home or coffee shops but want a professional environment, good internet, a printer, other shared amenities.

But what they most importantly, what they really want is community.

It's about connection.

So that's been my business plan for Mountain Heart Media.

And then I read the article about the Butte Business Center, and I felt like the vision for this building was already aligned with my vision.

It was meant to be a business incubator.

And I can imagine putting it up for sale was hard to let go of that dream, but with this plan, you don't have to.

Co-working space would start small, moving into the vacant first floor office.

It's right by the door, and current tenants would be invited to pop in, meet, have a cup of coffee, and network.

As memberships grow, the co-working area could expand to the larger vacant second floor office, growing gradually with no disruption to current tenants.

Co-working spaces often cost anywhere from 40% to 70% less than traditional office leases, making professional workspace more accessible.

So this isn't just a plan to manage a building, and it's not just setting up desks, slapping a rate on them, and waiting for people to show up.

I'd be based out of it, and I'd be organizing workshops and networking events, showcases, anything that brings people together to share ideas, skills, and energy.

Many said they would love to see a space like this.

It's really important to me that this plan supports what is already working at the Butte Business Center.

Current tenants would stay right where they are.

This project simply adds new shared resources that makes the building even more valuable to everyone.

The first thing we would do is talk to each tenant, maybe conduct a survey, probably both because we tend to be thorough.

But we'd like to, I mean, they've been there, they know what the building needs.

So the current shared spaces like the conference room and the learning room would be included amenities for members and available to the public for rent.

I'd move them to an online scheduling format for ease of use along with the added studio space.

I'd like to modernize both the conference room and the learning room, but I'd use feedback from the current tenants to decide how high that priority really is.

And we'd continue to support community use.

For example, the fire department has held CPR trainings there, and we plan to keep that relationship going.

I created a simple visual concept just to kind of bring the space to life.

This is just that first floor vacant office space.

So we would add open seating areas, so this would be the base level, the lowest level membership option where people can just come in and grab a spot at a desk.

One of those rooms could be set up with professional lighting for on-camera interviews, and the other one can be whatever the community needs it to be.

Podcast space with sound absorbent walls, set up for still photos, just a Zoom meeting room, kind of whatever the members end up needing.

The point is to be flexible.

And there's already private offices available throughout the building in various shapes and sizes.

This plan simply adds shared amenities and new opportunities to network.

The coworking concept will bring in new professionals and remote workers who want to work locally, which is also good for our economy.

It's bringing income that comes from beyond our city city but gets spent here.

At the same time, I know with ownership comes responsibility.

The building will need continued care.

For example, the rooftop air conditioner will likely need to be replaced in the near future, and I know other maintenance projects will come up.

My plan, as detailed in the proposal I submitted, includes budgeting for those needs and keeping the property well maintained for the long term.

We've had experience managing property before, albeit on a smaller scale.

But when we own and ran a short-term rental here in Butte, we gained experience working with local contractors, plumbers, HVAC professionals, cleaning agencies.

And we are familiar with the middle of the night calls and stepping in to do last minute repairs or cleaning as needed.

Ultimately, this plan is about bringing new energy to a community asset while preserving its historic charm.

I want to take a moment to talk about readiness and how I can take this on right now.

I've spent the past several months preparing for this step financially, logistically, and professionally.

So I'm ready to move forward with ownership and management if this proposal is approved.

If I'm given the opportunity, managing and growing this business becomes my job alongside my video work.

My schedule now allows me the time and flexibility to be here and involved in day-to-day operations.

I'm excited to be here to be hands on and to make sure this building thrives.

Part of my plan includes beginning with a few basic building improvements to make management more efficient and secure.

Many of the current tenants are paying rates that are well below the market average.

And over time, we'll need to gradually adjust those to help cover operating expenses.

Things like insurance, utilities, and maintenance that the county currently provides.

That said, we'll honor all existing leases and approach any changes thoughtfully and gradually.

The goal is not to displace anyone.

We want them to stay, and we want them to be successful.

At the same time, we also need to make sure the building is well maintained and sustainable.

And with the modern coworking model, we're actually creating more pricing options for tenants.

At the heart of this proposal is something really simple.

I love Butte.

Our family loves Butte.

My family and I have put down roots here.

We're invested in this community, and I'd be honored to take on the Butte Business Center.

The city has such a rich creative spirit.

I see it every day, and I want to create a space that supports that.

When we combine the history of this building, the historic charm of Butte, with the energy of people working and creating together, you don't just fuel the creative heartbeat, you'll see it thrive.

Thank you for considering my proposal and for the work you do.

I'd be happy to answer questions.

I don't know if I do that right now or at the end of both of them.

Thank you, Michaela, for the presentation and for submitting a proposal.

I do have a question for you.

You know, part of this project would entire would require you to purchase the building at the price as Ms.

Burns alluded to.

But what about past that cost?

Do you have the financial means to start you know using the building, improving the building, letters of credit, cash on hand.

What's what's your thought there?

We have uh 100,000 um for just set aside for the first couple of years of maintenance and operating costs.

Okay.

Thank you.

Does it is there any other questions that the commissioners have for Michaela?

Uh Commissioner Thatcher.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

Thank you for your presentation.

Thank you for being here.

And um, I I think you put together a very thoughtful and worthwhile presentation.

I appreciated that.

I just have a couple quick questions.

So you talk about your your rents being increased eventually, which I understand, but then you also talk about a membership model as well.

And so I'm wondering if there's a difference, and I guess how that difference will be explained to local, I mean to your current tenants.

Um because to me, if if I pay, I guess I just could you just touch on that.

I'm a little confused, thank you.

Ms.

Hack.

Yeah, this would be a little bit different than um a lot of the co-working spaces as it does have such a variety of spaces for offices, but it is normal for them to offer private offices and the co you know, and the open desk, hot desk model.

And so it's similar, I mean, a space has a monthly rent.

So the membership would have if it's just open seating, it would have a monthly price tag, and it would be separate than like at this office's monthly rent is XYZ, usually based off square footage.

Ms.

Thatcher follow-up.

No.

Any other questions that the commissioner has?

Commissioners have, pardon me.

All right, Ms.

Hack, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Miss Burns.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan and members of council.

The next presentation will be made by Jeff Riggs and Keith Waring from Urban Miners Collective.

Welcome.

Chairman Morgan, members of the council, thanks for allowing us to give this presentation.

We're super excited about it.

Um I'm gonna start by giving you a quick background.

Um I was born and raised in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Great spot, loved it out there, and came out to uh Montana State to play basketball and get a business degree, kind of in that order too.

So uh business degree didn't work out that great.

Um I remember in 1997, one of my college teammates, Danny Sprinkle, who's now the head coach at University of Washington, was like, hey, we're going to Butte on St.

Patty's Day.

I'm like, all right, and I was the best teammate ever because I didn't drink and I had a van, so I was like the all ultimate DD.

And so I piled in a bunch of teammates, and we rolled over here to Butte, and I just remember walking around going, This this isn't Montana.

Where am I right now?

It was just such a unique place, and I always remembered that.

And through my career, I had restaurants for 20 years, have always had some rentals here and there.

And um at the end of my restaurant career, kind of had an opportunity to take some money and see what we wanted to do with it with our family and where to invest it, and we came over here to Butte, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later.

I also want to introduce my business partner, Keith Waring.

He's what he calls himself as a recovering engineer, and so he really wanted to stay further towards the back, but I made him come up to the first row here, so you have to bear with his shyness over there.

He was with um Thomas Deans and Hoskins, the engineering firm for 28 years, and was uh the youngest ever partner and was a partner there for 18 of those years.

And um I talked him off the cliff and and uh got him over to do some investing in Butte as well.

And I think that um he's he's happy for any day he doesn't have to do engineering, so he's he's fired up about this too.

Um our story in Butte, we when we started over here in 2019, we kind of um didn't know what to expect, and we had a we had a lot of options at that time of things that were on the market, and um we now have we added it up, we have 120,000 just a bit over on square footage in uptown Butte, which is an insane number, and an equally insane number is one thing that uh I know is a little contentious about selling this building or not selling this building is one thing we've done is we've taken properties that were owned by either nonprofits or other non-taxpaying entities and put them on the tax roll, and we now are paying over $80,000 a year in tax to the city or to the state and city.

And uh I I got a bit of a cold sweat when Keith told me that number, it seemed really high.

I'm like, can you double check that?

That seems absurd, but that's the number, and but we're sure proud of being able to contribute that to the to the county.

Um our first building that we bought was the first Baptist Church, and it took a long time, about a year of negotiating, figuring out you know how that was gonna work.

The congregation there was really skeptical about selling it in general, and I think the one thing that we did that um turned the tide for us is we we told them that we weren't gonna do anything to the sanctuary space above as far as changing it and dismantling it, anything like that.

And that was a handshake agreement, and we've committed to that to this day, and and I still walk into that space and think I'm not qualified to own this.

It's beautiful organ and these stained glass windows in there.

It looks more like a museum, and it and people use it for weddings and events, as you can see.

My daughter's fired up about putting some signage up there to do some marketing for us.

Um we renovated the garden level space there and turned it into um a short-term rental, and it was on Dust to Dazzle a few years ago, and it was a super fun project, and we used the uh Butte CPR group.

I love reusing um original materials, and we often raid their warehouse and take lots of extra materials that we can use for these projects that we've been doing.

Um the above pictures are kind of some before and and at the below ones after picture, and so again, these projects how we do them is kind of seeing what the original use and and look of the building was and trying to go back to that, and that's really been something that has worked really well for us.

The next building is the Manual Arts Building, is what we call it.

Um before that it was known maybe as the D Molet or the Montana Coke Company, and it's another just beautiful building.

We purchased that one in 2021, and the fourth floor is a rental for anybody brave enough to climb up all those stairs to get up there.

And we're currently installing fire sprinklers in the whole building so that we can utilize more residential units in that space.

And it's a it's actually just right across the street from the business development center.

The next building, and the one probably the most similar to the one we're talking about right now is the Thornton Building, and we purchased that in 2022.

And when we bought that building, it was 30% occupied, and we've since got it.

I think we have 144 doors there, and we have three unoccupied doors.

And so we worked really hard to get those back in use.

And when we bought it, there was the elevator was broken.

And so we worked really hard to get that back into uh usable space.

And like I said, there's only three open spaces in the entire building right now.

Um we renovated the ballroom in there and have used it for events and weddings, funerals, business events, and it's been a great success in there as well.

And we're currently updating lock systems that I think are were quite a ways outdated when we have to give somebody a new key card.

It comes from a Windows 98 computer, and we're not sure how much how many minutes that thing has left in it.

So we're excited to get that wrapped up as well.

Um we updated the heating system, and and this is awesome.

But one of our engineers, because also in this building is a data center, and one of our engineers one day was like, hey, you should use all this heat to put it in back into the building.

You can heat the building.

And so we put new boiler system in with a grant from the USDA and the URA, and we actually cut our power bill in half because of using the data center's heat in the building.

So it was a it was a total win-win on that project, and and worked out really well for us.

Um we did a lot of renovating and a lot of work in that space, and the um it's again there was a lot of just wide open areas similar to what the BDC has now that we were able to um make into smaller spaces, which really is where the market is right now.

There's a ton of people from mental health counselors to people working from home and and remote, working remote, and need need a space, and that's something that's worked out really well for us and and see a similar fit with that um business.

Hey, my daughters, if you can notice help me make the uh presentation and apparently snuck this in, all punks.

Um the next building we bought was the Elks Building, and this one was more recent, 2024, and it was a kind of a unique deal because I think the Elks were struggling financially and and didn't know where their future lied.

And we wanted to see we love this building, it's obviously a beautiful and historic building to uptown, and so we talked with them about keeping them in the space, and so they have a dollar year a year lease, it's a 99-year lease that they're able to stay in that space and utilize it.

They have their bar.

We updated and and um changed up the the uh event space.

We added some windows, it looked like an old 70s casino with that sweet carpet and and no windows in the area, you never knew what time it was in there, and so we added that stuff in, and it's looks great in there, and they're doing awesome.

They're using it for a ton of events, and we're excited to then start moving up to the next couple of floors, the second floor and the third floor to do some work up there and get those active as well.

And one of the another project similar to the Thornton was we added in another heating system because the one that was in there was basically heating a floor and a half, and so we added in a new boiler, and so that we'll be able to utilize that for the second and the third floor, and we've started doing some work on the on the second floor there.

There's um a grand lodge space up there that is so cool.

It's it's where the Elks members originally met, and um it's I'm really excited about getting that back into use is it's it's a really historic and beautiful looking space.

I don't think the third floor space has been used since maybe the 70s.

No one really knows for sure, but there is a sign when you go up the stairs that says no women allowed unless you're the housekeeper.

So I'm guessing it's pretty old school.

My daughters keep wanting to rip it down, but I don't let them know that's history, we can leave that for now.

The most recent purchase, we had the Benai Israel Temple, which is also on it's on Galena and very close to the business development center.

And this one was another one that we were approached by the congregation, and they said, you know, we've heard what you guys have done with some of these other buildings, and we'd wondering if you'd be interested in doing a similar deal, which we did and love, and so this one's kind of at the beginning stage.

It's a smaller building than some of the other ones that we have, but again, an another building that just has some phenomenal history and and you know, stained glass window in there, and so we kind of have a similar deal with that we do with the elks, but we've also set it up similar to what we did in the first Baptist Church, which was we'll make the garden level an apartment, and that'll keep somebody in the space kind of 24-7.

So if anything happens or goes on in the building, there'll be somebody there.

And then the sanctuary space up above can be used for events, and and it already has been, and we're hoping to continue to use that more for events.

So moving on to the BDC.

Um, most of you guys probably already know all this stuff, but it was the boys central Catholic school, and the city purchased it in 1986 to use as a business incubator, and I think it back then it was mid-20s was the unemployment rate, and it was it was an awesome idea and thought, and and man, those city folks back in the 80s, they really were grinding to keep this place going, and they they were they were successful in doing it, which which was not an easy task.

And so fast forward to now, there's you know, there's people still in there, but it doesn't have the same use as that as that incubation that it did, and so what our commitment to Butte Silverbow and to those tenants would be is that it is true.

I mean, I know that there was some talk about the value of the building, and based on, I mean, again, this is the numbers part of it are kind of my wheelhouse, and and as it is right now, it doesn't cash flow, and and that's at the 450 number.

And I think we've we've gotten into very similar buildings like this, and and been able to turn them around.

And I would I would point again back to the Thornton building where we had the majority of the tenants that were in there when we bought that building are still there, and I think that's the best what I could say about the the current to the current tenants in that building is that we'll do right by them as best we can, and I think that there's a balance there, and we're we're not looking to kill it.

We're not looking to like make the every last dollar we can, and we've shown that in our past buildings where everything that we've made in those buildings has been reinvested back into them, and so that is the similar business model.

It's worked out well for us, and we see it as we're buying hold investors, and we see it as a long-term vision, and we'll get our payout at the end of it.

And right now it's just super fun working on these old historic buildings and figuring out again the history of them and getting to know those buildings and what they used to look like and what we can use and make them viable for the next hundred years.

And so a big advantage that we have is we currently have 12 employees from maintenance, construction, cleaning, and so we have the economies of scale, so to speak, where we can come in and put people in positions to fix things.

I know there's a few things that kind of right away need to be fixed.

Like there's some safety things, and I know some of the tenants, it's it's a funky system, but they have like a board and like the last one out, set the alarm, and that shouldn't be on the tenants to have to do that.

And so there's things like that.

The west side doors are duct taped together.

We can get those fixed, and so we have the resources and the ability to make those things happen.

One thing, again, going back to the Thornton that was really successful for us when we very first started was we had a symposium for mental health counselors in that ballroom, and we had flyers out and said, hey, come on into this space, and and we have, I think 15 mental health counselors in that Thornton building right now that have been with us, and it's a uh industry that we love supporting, and I think in this space there's quite a few mental health counselors, and I think there was some anxiety about what's gonna happen to the people in there, and we really it it means a lot to us to have a good relationship with our tenants and make sure that they are um taken care of, and that's something that we would commit to doing as well.

The SBDDC is in there, one of my all-time favorite crew, and we've worked with Holly in the past on that, and and they're another group in there that we definitely want to keep in there and keep them.

Um they're they're so important what they do for the community, and we really want to support that as well.

Um we I do want to add that we would honor all existing leases in the building, and the one thing that we would do is add a triple net, and that's a pretty common thing for commercial business, and so what that is is it's adding the taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance, and those are things that are basically a pass-through.

And so whatever the um cleaning is and the snow plowing and and the lawn mowing, those kinds of things, they just get passed through and the tenants pay them based on their size of their square footage.

And again, it's a pretty common thing in the commercial real estate industry, and it's something that we did at the Thornton, and it's again we we've this is kind of things that we've gotten really good at and efficient with in doing, and it's the best for the tenants because it keeps their rate where they are, and we still have some tenants in the Thornton building that are in there and still at their not the same rate, but very, very close to it and and under under market value, which was similar to how this one was set up.

Um our five-year plan, I think, you know, like I said initially, there isn't a lot of room for um growth in the tenants that are currently there.

And so what we would propose is adding more space in, and again, in the similar way we did it in the Thornton building, which is adding smaller offices for people that are remote work, mental health counselors, other people that just need a small space, and that seems to be the wheelhouse right now in that market, and and something that we could do is we feel like we can add 14 offices in there pretty quick.

And so, from a revenue growth standpoint, that's where we would focus our growth as opposed to having to raise other people's rates.

And if we were able to do this and build out those office spaces, which we're committed, we would be committed to in making that investment, then that's where we could grab the more revenue to make it a profitable um building.

Um as I mentioned, there's some safety features for the tenants that we would want to address right away.

And um we like I said, we have a significant amount of staff that we would be able to utilize.

We have a um online program that we are able to um use for tenants, and so if they have an issue, the lights out or or their locks not working, they can send a message and it goes to the right person in our crew, and they can head over and get that fixed for them.

And so, again, all of our buildings are uptown, so it's super easy for people to get in and out of those spaces and and get over to them.

One other advantage that we can offer to the tenants is that that data center I talked about in the Thornton building, we can utilize that internet over at the BDC, and it it's gonna be way more reliable.

We it's all triple redundant in that space, and we can run a line straight to that business development center and then um offer internet.

And right now we offer internet to the Thornton um tenants at $50 uh a month, and so I know a lot of them that I've talked to are in the 100 to 200 range for internet, so we can save them some money by utilizing that as well.

Um as um we mentioned the offer is at that 450, which is I know the the low end of it, but I I think that we feel like that that's where the value is right now, and we would put in work, and again, this is how all of our buildings have been built and and grown is that we'll put in the work and the time and the energy to grow them and get them in a position where they're going to be worth more because of that time and energy and and investments we put into them.

This is where I nerded out, but this is like a pro forma.

I'm not gonna go through it, but if anybody has any questions about what those financials look like specifically, I'm happy I'm happy to refer back to it.

So yeah, we appreciate the opportunity and and happy to answer any questions anyone has.

Thank you for the presentation.

Uh just along the lines of my last question, you know, as far as purchasing, it's one thing, but the financial means to start, you know, fresh.

I mean do you have lines of credits, things like that established so you'd be able to reinvest right away?

Yeah, we have we don't have a line of credit, but we have a cash back up that is significant enough to be able to do the immediate work and to carry a loss forward, and we would be able to um do that for quite a amount of time in in a building like this because in my pro forma, I mean the the um loss per month is $800 as as it sits right now, and so it it's not anything that would be significant for us, and and again, we would have a list of three or four things that right away we would want to get fixed up there again, mostly for safety purposes.

One other question that I would have just based on the other projects that you you mentioned today.

If you were taking on this this project, would any of those projects suffer from you know changing focus from those projects to this project?

Yeah, um, Chairman Morgan and the members of the council.

I think that we feel like right now we're in a good position.

The Thornton building knock on wood is in great shape, and like I said, with the not just the vacancy rate, but also with the work that's been done in in the building, and so we feel really good about that one.

And again, with where our economies of scale have grown, we feel like we have the staff to be able to take on this building, no problem.

Okay.

Is there any other commissioners that have any questions?

All right.

Well, thank you very much for the presentation.

Ms.

Burns, do you have any follow-up?

Uh thank you, Chairman Mormon Morgan, sorry, members of council.

Um I can forward to the commissioners' um copies of these presentations um in your emails tomorrow morning.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um just to follow the procedures that we usually follow with bid openings, I would suggest that this body make a motion that we refer these um proposals back to Mrs.

Burns's department for them to report back to us at a later time or later time with another communication, and then we still have this later on the agenda for the committee of the whole that we can decide what to do with the actual communication.

So that's just just that's just a suggestion.

Somebody would have to make that in the form of a motion.

Commissioner Thatcher.

Uh thank you, Chairman Morgan.

So you're saying you want that motion made um right now and not down the line on the agenda, correct?

Thanks, uh, Commissioner Thatcher.

Yeah, just as we do in the bid openings, we refer the bids to the department at this at this stage.

Uh Commissioner Thatcher.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

Then I would like to make a motion to refer um these presentations and proposals back to the community development office with a recommendation back to council.

Okay, there's been a motion made and seconded to refer these back to the community development uh department for the recommendation.

On the question, Commissioner Shea.

I'm just confused procedurally.

Why are we referring the presentation instead of addressing it when it's on the agenda?

When we get to that agenda item, just trying to figure out what to do with these, but I'm just following the same procedure that we do with bid openings where we re make the referral when we after we open the bid openings, there's a motion made that refers them back to the department.

And then later on we can decide what to do with the actual communication that addresses the presentation or her request for the presentation.

I mean, it if you don't want to go through this process or this motion to refer them, by all means you don't have to.

We can take it up later in the agenda if the council chooses to do so.

Okay.

I was just confused that it's a presentation and not a bid opening.

So you're the chairman, I trust you.

Sure.

So the communication does ask in the last sentence for referral back to the review committee for recommendation.

So it is it is a request for a presentation, but it does ask that they get ref referred back to the department.

And so it is asking for that action.

And so I I do feel it is appropriate that the commissioners do refer them back to that department.

County attorney, if you can correct me if I'm if I'm misspeaking.

Uh Commissioner Morgan, no, you're correct.

Okay.

There is a motion on the floor that's been seconded.

Is there anything else on the question?

Commissioner O'Leary.

I guess just to follow up on what Commissioner Shea is saying, the communication number seven, 2025-518 also ask for a referral back to uh review committee for recommendations.

So I'm not sure.

I guess I'm just as confused as as Commissioner Shea.

Commissioner Larry, uh, number seven is the exact same communication that we are dealing with right now in the sense it's it's asking for the presentation.

And this is the same process that you will see on a bid opening where you have a member of the department ask for uh a bid opening, and then we have the bid opening at the very beginning of the meeting, and we refer those bids to the department, and then later on as we go through the committee of the whole agenda, either a regular meeting or committee of the whole meeting, we do end up putting that communication on file, having the bid opening has been presented.

Tomato tomato in the sense I mean we could take action.

There is a motion on the floor now that sends them back to the to the body, and then the suggestion later in the agenda would be that you would just simply place this communication on file just to take a formal action on that communication.

So any follow-up uh Commissioner Shea?

Thank you.

Um one request that I would make to um the chief executive and to Director Burns is to include um one of the commissioners that's on the ad hoc committee, um, Commissioner Boyle or Commissioner O'Leary or Commissioner Thatcher in that internal committee that's reviewing the um proposals to make a recommendation back to the council just something I would ask you to consider.

Okay, any other questions?

So the motion that you're voting on right now is to refer these proposals back to the community development department and ask for their recommendation at a later time.

Anything else on the question?

Would everyone please vote?

Would anyone like to change their vote?

Would the clerk please record the vote?

90 nay.

Okay, thank you.

The motion passes.

Moving on to number two, communication 2025-546.

Sarah Bordoon, Butte Montana requesting council of commissioners to answer some questions from the October 16th, 2025 public forum beyond the boom on November 12, 2025, regarding the impacts, the data center that may be coming to Bute, Montana.

Ms.

Bordoon, welcome to the council meeting.

Um the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chairman.

Oh, there you go.

There we go.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan, Chief Executive Gallagher, and the Council of Commissioners.

My name is Sarah Bordoon.

I am at 1127 Waukeshaw Street.

Um I'm honored to be able to present the questions collected during the Beyond the Boom community conversation that we put on October 16th up at Montana Tech.

Um, for background regarding where these questions came from.

Um these questions were collected on note cards from the audience at the October 16th community conversation.

At the meeting, we presented some background regarding the data center construction boom, what other communities are experiencing regarding data centers, and we presented what we know about the proposed data center at Montana Connections.

And I I might need to clarify that right now.

It's just an op uh sale option at this point.

Um, but there's been a lot of negotiation regarding um having a data center come to Montana Connections near Buxton, Montana.

The source of the Montana Connections Data Center information that we used came mostly from the April 2025 Council of Commissioners meeting during which there was an approval for the sales option to Horizon LLC, which is associated with Sabi um SABI data centers to purchase about 600 acres at Montana Connections.

Um for those interested, streaming at home, or um you can refer to that uh meeting and watch it through YouTube.

Um it's the April meeting.

Also, for those interested and understanding SABI data centers, you can Google the clients of SAB data centers as well as SABI's partnered corporate corporations.

And this gives you a better idea that um SABI data centers is associated with big I AI companies.

I am able to share the October 16th slideshow from the community meeting with people who contact me.

Um that is available.

Um so um now I will read you those questions.

So these were collected and they were the honest questions of the audience.

Um I believe you have copies.

Is that true?

Okay, good.

So the first question was what is the footprint and acreage of the projects that are being proposed?

I think a side question was where are they in Montana Connections?

What's the footprint going to be like?

What light pollution would result?

The comment on this question was, I like my nights dark.

What about the drive-in?

Was another question.

What noise mitigation measures are being planned?

If the developers are not proposing them, how will Butte Silver Bow protect people from nuisance noise levels?

There's currently not a noise ordinance in our county.

What about wastewater?

What will be its chemical composition?

How will it be handled?

Who will pay?

How much will it cost?

Has Butte Silverbow developed a decision process that will evaluate data center projects and power plants in terms of permanent jobs and usable taxes compared to water use and power costs impacts on consumers.

Will this be done and shared with the public ahead of decision making?

What is the realistic burden on our water supply?

And I imagine that was part of your Silver Lake trip.

Did Butte Silverbow sell the data center 600 acres for $2,000 per acre?

If it hasn't finalized the deal yet, does it anticipate doing so and in what time frame?

What public process will there be prior to approval?

Why isn't there a focused effort to protect Montanans across the state from negative impacts of data centers on our power bills, water, and future?

Can we rely on the public service commission, governor, and legislature to protect Montanans?

If they fail to do so, what is Butte Silverbow going to do to protect people in the area?

If we can get strong environmental safeguards and local hiring guarantees, wouldn't this be a win-win for Butte?

Good jobs and responsible development.

That was question 11.

Question 12 Are there any studies on the adverse health effects from communities with data centers?

13.

Are there health and safety promises or harm reductions planned from existing or proposed data center developments developers?

14.

Are the taxable values of atlas and REC silicone roughly the same?

This is in reference to a slide that we had at the present presentation showing the reducing taxes due to depreciation for Atlas versus the pretty steady stack taxes that REC pays.

And 15.

With the data center being proposed to be built in Buxton, how do we guarantee the big hole won't be used as an additional water source for cooling by data centers?

Number 16, why did the Butte Silverbow County Commissioners approve the SABE data center so fast?

17, what will the public process be going forward?

So that's that's the list of questions that were collected.

Before we had that panel discussion, I did email all the county commissioners, the Virginia 2023 legislative data center report.

Virginia is one of the densest data center states, and they've learned a lot from having a lot of data centers.

And so they what one thing they learned is they needed more regulation.

And the state of Montana does not currently have those regulations.

So I do refer you to that document for inspiration because there's a section on local government actions that can be taken, including noise ordinances requiring, for instance, um SAB data centers to in contract form, say how much they're going water they're going to use, and then also prior noise studies prior to construction abatement that is in response to those noise studies, and then some teeth in a noise ordinance after construction.

So that's what I got.

Thank you, Miss Bordoon.

Just to kind of add to this conversation.

So as everybody will remember, this body did forward it to the Montana Connections TED board for their review and to answer maybe some questions with staff along those lines.

There is a meeting this Friday, November 14th at noon at the Business Development Center.

And it's my understanding that there will be a representative from SABI there as well to maybe answer any additional questions that might have come up.

And so again, that meeting is at noon.

On that.

Okay.

You know, in a preliminary form.

And then, you know, if there is follow-up, obviously the TED meeting is is Friday.

I know when you and you and I had talked, it was important to you to make the responses kind of in that public limelight, if you will.

And so I would ask that our council secretary does post the answers to these questions along this communication kind of as an attachment to this communication so that the public would be able to get it.

I, for one, would have no problem reading the responses into the record if that's something that you would would want me to do.

Some of them are l rather lengthy, but they're not too bad as people will recall.

I had to read the comments for the consent decree back in the day.

And so this is child's play on how short the answers are.

So if that's something that you would would want, I I have no problem reading them into the record.

Yeah, I think if if it's not a half hour's worth of reading, I think it would be helpful to those streaming at home.

To yeah, to just to kind of get an understanding of what those answers look like.

So I'm just going to take the questions.

Um sorry to bore you as I start reading, but I'll just go through them as they have them answered and then um we can go on from there.

So number one, what is the footprint, the acreage of the projects that are being proposed?

Answer uh the purchase and sale agreement includes 606.5 acres of Butte Silver Bow land in the Montana Connections targeted economic development district, uh which is also known as the MC TED.

Number two, uh what light pollution would result?

I like my dark nights.

Uh, what about the the drive-in?

Businesses in the TED must comply with local zoning code for lighting as well as any safety requirements for the respective industries, businesses currently in the in the TED.

When I say TED, it's the MC TED, Montana Connections TED, have always complied with our request for lighting that does not impact nearby businesses, including the Butte Silverbow Drive In, as we all is as we do with all businesses in the district.

We will work with the company to ensure lighting is both safe and um conscientious of uh nearby businesses.

Number three, uh what noise mitigation measures are being planned.

If the developers are not proposing them, how will Butte Silver Bow protect people from uh nuisance noise levels?

Answer uh businesses in the TED are located in the Ramsey Rural Industrial Zone RM2, the zoning ordinance for noise uh for the zone states.

Um the use shall not create any noise measured on a neighboring residential or non-zone property, not under common ownership with the property on which the noise is generated, which exceeds the following levels.

Measures in measured in decibels on the A scale of the standard sound level meter having characteristics defined by the American National Standards Institute, publication S1.4-1971.

When the property on the which the noise is measured is in the residential or non-zone district, a maximum DB permitted to occur on a 10% of the time basis is an L10 value of 60 DB per NA.

Number two, Earthborne vibration standards, no use operation or activity shall cause or create an earth-borne vibration in excess of the peak particle velocities prescribed below.

One vibration shall be measured at any RM2 zone boundary line, and such measurements shall not exceed a peak particle velocity of 0.2 inches per second, or vibration is produced as discrete impulses and such impulses do not exceed a frequency of 100 per minute, then the peak particle velocity shall not exceed 0.4 inches per second.

The instrument used for these measurements shall be three component measuring system capable of simultaneous measurement of vibration in three mutually perpendicular directions.

The maximum particle velocity shall be the vector sum of the three individual components recorded.

Number two, the maximum vibrate vibration is given as particle velocity, which may be measured directly with suitable instrumentation or computed on the basis of displacement and frequency.

When computed, the following formula shall be used.

This one is going to be fun.

Number eight, PV equals 6.28 F times D, and then B, P V equals particle velocity, inches per second.

F is a vibration frequency cycles per second, and D is the single amplitude displacement of the vibration inches.

Number the response three to this thing, the following sources of of vibration are exempt.

Transportation vehicles not under the control of industrial use and temporary construction activity between 7 a.m.

and 7 p.m.

Number four, what about wastewater?

What will be the chemical composition?

How will it be handled?

Who will pay and how much will it cost?

Businesses in the MTED must comply with local, state, and federal regulations when it comes to wastewater.

These regulations include our local pre-treatment strict standards, Montana DEQ standards, and EPA standards.

There are several options for water usage that the company is exploring during this due diligence period.

The chemical composition will not be known until the design plans are finalized.

All users of the industrial water and the in the TED are responsible for any fees associated with wastewater discharge.

If upgrades are needed to wastewater infrastructure, these upgrades are the responsibility of the user.

Number five, is Butte Silver Bow developed a decision process that will evaluate data center projects and power plants in terms of permanent jobs and usable taxes compared to water use and power cost impacts on consumers.

Will this be done and shared with the public ahead of decision making?

All projects that are considered in the TED must follow the current public process.

Here's an outline of this process.

Potential projects are carefully considered by staff using economic development principles, including but not limited to parameters such as workforce housing, land availability, zoning regulations, and infrastructure requirements.

Answering these questions can take months and sometimes years.

When a potential project is ready to be moved in front of the TED board of directors, staff will work with the company to do so.

A formal presentation of the project to the TED Board of Directors is made.

Agendas for these meetings are published 48 hours in advance of the meetings.

These are public board meetings.

If the MC TED board of directors recommends that the project move forward, it can then move forward to the Council of Commissioners.

Staff will then place recommendations from the MTED board on the council agenda.

The Council of Commissioners can vote on whether or not to enter into an agreement with the company at that time.

If the agreement passes the council of commissioners, it allows the company to enter a due diligence period where the where they must satisfy the requirements of the agreement in order to use their option to purchase the land.

If the company purchases the land and uses their option, a resolution of sale is brought before the council of commissioners to be passed before the sale is final.

The company still must satisfy the purchase agreement.

There is always a clawback provision in our agreements to get the land back if conditions are not satisfied.

B the Montana Public Service Commission is responsible for the regulation of the of the power in the state of Montana.

The Lawrence Berkeley Labs Brattle Group put out an in-depth study of drivers for electricity price changes.

They show that increasing loads at the state level has downward pressure on prices because more as systems cost are spread over the demand.

And then in this document, there's a link to that report that people will be able to get to.

Number six, what is the realistic burden in our water supply yet to be determined?

But Butte Silver Bow will be the driver of all water contracts and the cost will be recovered by the user and not by the public.

Number seven, will the rate payers see rate hikes to pay for the provision of energy supply and services as well as infrastructure to the data centers?

Northwestern Energy is regulated.

Utility through Montana Public Service Commission.

Any change, the rates must be approved through the PSC.

Businesses themselves have been historically responsible for any necessary upgrades to transmission lines and transmission infrastructure.

Again, the Lawrence Berkeley Labs Brattle Group put out an in-depth survey of the drivers for the electricity price changes.

They show that increasing loads at the state level has downward pressure on the prices because more of a system costs are spread over the demand.

Again, there's a link to that study as well.

Number eight, did Beaut Silver Bow sell the data center 600 acres for $2,000 per acre?

If it isn't, or if it hasn't finalized the deal yet, does it anticipate doing so?

And in what time frame, what public process will there be prior to approval?

But Silver Bow entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Horizons Montana LLC for 606.5 acres in the TED.

This PSA has been amended.

It extends the due diligence period to February 11th, 2026.

Before this date, Horizons Montana LLC must either exercise their option to purchase the land according to the terms set forth in the agreement, or the agreement terminates.

As per the agreement, if they exercise their option to purchase a resolution, the purchase will be presented to the Council of Commissioners.

It will be up to the Council of Commissioners to pass the resolution, and this time members or at this time, members of the public can submit public comment about the resolution.

Since the inception of the Montana Connection TIFD TED board or TED, all county owned parcels have had a price tag of $2,000 per acre.

Number nine, why is why isn't there a focused effort to protect Montanans across the state from the negative impacts of data centers on our power bills, water, and future?

The Montana Public Service Commission is responsible for the regulation of the energy in the state of Montana.

The Lawrence Berkeley Labs, Brattle group put out an in-depth survey of drivers for electricity price changes.

They show that the increasing loads at the state level has downward pressure on prices because the more systems costs are spread over the demand.

Again, there's a link to that study so you can take a look at it.

But Silver Bow is the owner of the Silver Lake Water System.

This the system is an industrial water system that is separate from our current potable water system.

The Silv Silver Lake Water System does not impact our current potable water system.

Butte Silver Bow is responsible for the system and its users.

Number 10, can we rely on the PSC governor and legislature to protect Montanans if they fail to do so?

What is Butte Silver Bow going to do to protect people in the area?

Businesses in the TED must comply with local, state, and federal regulations.

These regulations include our local zoning ordinance, water pretreatment standards, Montana DQ standards, and EPA standards.

Number 11, if we can get strong environmental safeguards and local hiring guarantees, wouldn't this be a win for Butte?

Good jobs and responsible development.

Yes, we believe this is a win-win for Butte, and we believe our local laws and public process are already set up for success with this particular group or with this particular project.

Businesses in the TED must comply with local, state, federal regulations.

These regulations include our local zoning ordinance, water pretreatment standards, Montana DEQ standards, and EPA standards, job creation is a set central economic development principle that is heavily considered when a business looks to locate in the TED.

Number 12, are there any studies on the adverse health effects from communities with data centers?

To find a study that is comparable to the proposed project depends on a few factors.

Type of data center you were studying, the design of the data center you were studying, and the type health effects you are studying.

It is important to note that there are several different types of data center designs, and that not all data centers function in the same way.

So if you look are looking into studies, we encourage you to be aware of this factor.

We encourage the public to research SABI's current campus in Quincy, Washington to understand the standards this company holds itself to.

For questions concerning health effects and urban areas, SABI owns a data center in New York City.

New in New York City.

New York City is an urban high density population center.

There's also a link in there so that you can check out that data center in New York as well.

13, are there health and safety promises or harm reductions plan from existing or proposed data center developers?

Current zoning requirements in the TED have several existing standards that must be met for human health, environmental health, and safety.

We encourage the public to research SABE's current campus in Quincy, Washington, to understand the standards that this company holds itself to.009 tax set by the state legislature is $9 million a year on a $1 billion facility.

Is there a way to compare the two that is Apples to Apples?

The proposed 0.009 tax set by the state legislature is $9 million a year on a $1 billion facility.

Apply this value to mills and property tax collection on the increment is approximately $5 million a year.

This is not Apples to Apples comparison.

The industries are not the same at all.

Property taxes are based on value assessments determined by the DOR, including land income and equipment.

Number 15, with the data center being proposed to be built in Bucks Buxton, how do we guarantee the big hole won't be used as an additional water source for cooling data centers?

Businesses in the TED have access to both potable and non-potable water sources.

The potable sources can include Basin Creek, Moulton, Big Hole.

These are primarily used for facility daily use perennial drinking water, metro sewer, and perennial or can be used for the any good or any food grade operations that businesses might have.

It is important to note that infrastructure in the TED is currently not set up for large users of potable water.

If a potable water user were to request an amount that we cannot deliver, this would require an analysis of both of both availability and infrastructure improvements.

The non-potable water source is the Silver Lake Water System, which Butte Silver Bow is the owner of.

Businesses in the TED must set up a contract with Busilver Bow to have access to the Silver Lake Water System, and this contract will consider several factors that impact BSB's system.

Why did the Butte Silver Bow County Commissioners approve the SABI DE Data Center so fast?

While staff cannot speak of why the Butte Silver Bow County Commissioners approve this purchase and sale agreement, we can speak to the process that led to the presentation of a process and sale before our agreement before the Montana Connections Board of Directors and then the Butte Silver Bow Council of Commissioners.

This is kind of repetitive on a previous question.

All projects that are considered in the TED must follow the current public process.

Potential projects are carefully considered by staff using economic development principles, including but not limited to parameters such as workforce housing, land availability, zoning regulations, and infrastructure requirements.

Answering these questions can take months and sometimes years.

When a potential project is ready to be moved in in front of the M TED board of directors, staff will work with the company to do so.

A formal presentation of the project to the TED Board of Directors is made.

Agendas for these meetings are published 48 hours in advance of the meetings.

These are public board meetings.

If the TED Board of Directors remember recommends that the project move forward, it can then move forward to the Council of Commissioners.

Staff will then place recommendations from the TED board on the council agenda.

Council of Commissioners can vote on whether or not to enter into an agreement.

If the agreement passes the council of commissioners, it allows the company to enter a due diligence period where they must satisfy the requirements of the agreement in order to use their option to purchase land.

If the company purchases the land and uses their option, a resolution of sale is brought before the council of commissioners to be passed before the sale is final.

The company still must satisfy the purchase agreement.

There is always a clawback provision in our agreements to get the land back if conditions were not satisfied.

Number seven or seventeen, excuse me, what will the public process be going forward?

The next step moving forward is for the company to either exercise their option to purchase the land or ask for an extension of their due diligence period.

In either case, the next step in the process will be placed on the council agenda for consideration.

Okay.

So that goes through and answers those questions, you know, as Butte Silver Bow staff went and answered them.

Um and then, like I said, if there's any follow-up or anything, Friday there's a meeting, and a representative from SABI will be there to answer any questions as well.

Okay.

So any follow-up, Miss Bordoon?

I I just have a follow-up on the noise um ordinance and the Montana connections.

Um and I would um refer people to um some of the noise ordinances that they found necessary for data centers are specific to those kinds of vibrations that data centers emit.

And also are in response to the 24-7 nature of the noise.

And so you may need to look at that ordinance to see if it's responsive to time of the day and then the types of noise that data centers put out.

And I guess that's where Montana Catnections has not considered a data center before.

I would question if that noise ordinance is sufficient for that type of industry.

Okay.

Is there any other questions that the commissioners have for Ms.

Bordew?

Commissioner Callahan.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

Ms.

Bardu, I just want to thank you.

Uh I did attend your meeting up at Montana Tech a couple weeks ago, and uh you brought a lot of information that we weren't aware of.

And then agreeing to come talk to us tonight and uh ask these questions and get them answered.

We appreciate all your time and helping inform the community of what we're getting into.

Absolutely.

I I very much believe in Butte Silverbow.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Okay.

Well, thank you, Miss Bordoon, for the presentation.

Thank you.

All right.

Where am I at?

All right, moving on to section two communications.

Um, communication 2025-249.

Patty and Chris Salmanson requesting council commissioners approval to purchase a portion of the land owned by Butte Silver Bow, which is adjacent to their property located at 17 Tullomore Street.

We'll continue to hold this in abeyance as it is before the land sales committee, and we will await their recommendation.

Um before I go to number two, which is communication 2025-460.

I'm gonna just rearrange the agenda for a minute because communication number 11.

No 14, which is communication 2025-542.

Um I'm just gonna address that one first because this is the newest communication that we have regarding this case.

Um communication 2025-542.

Will O'Connor Lands uh records coordinator requesting council of commissioners to deny council communication 2024-460, a request from Steve Maloney to purchase a portion of the city county owned property, portion of tax parcel number 000 189240.

As this body will recall, I I did receive an email from um Will last Mr.

O'Connor asking that we hold this communication in abeyance because uh Mr.

Maloney was currently out of town and that he was planning on on being here tonight to to speak on it.

Mr.

O'Connor, is is there been any update?

I I don't believe Mr.

Maloney is here.

Chairman Morgan, members of council, there is no update.

I haven't talked to Mr.

Maloney since last week either, and he's not in attendance.

All right, Mr.

Maloney, I am I don't see you in the audience, but I will just ask for it.

So so along those lines, I I don't know what the um what the council would like to recommend.

Commissioner Thatcher.

Uh thank you, Chairman Morgan.

Um seeing as this has been on the agenda for quite some time, and uh Mr.

O'Connor did want to give Mr.

Maloney the opportunity to speak on this.

How I understood it last week is he was maybe struggling to get home from Ireland based on everything going on with the airlines and the federal government.

Um so I think just in the spirit of doing the right thing, probably I think that we should continue to hold this in abeyance.

Is that in the form of a motion?

Okay, there's been a motion made and seconded to hold this communication in abeyance.

Is there anything on the question?

Um on the question, uh I would just state that I to I haven't received anything to state that he wasn't gonna be here tonight and the communication that he sent me yet last week, he was going to be here this week.

So I don't know if he'll be back or or what the what the process is.

So there is a motion made in second and on the floor.

Is there anything else on the question?

Uh Commissioner O'Leary.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

I guess just a procedural question.

We could this is this is gonna get held in the committee of the whole, correct?

So we would have to address this in two weeks.

Or could we address this on next week's uh we could segregate it out of the committee of the whole?

Uh Commissioner O'Leary, yes, you could segregate it out of the committee of the whole and take uh action on it next week if the council chooses to do so.

Okay, there's been a motion made in second.

If there's nothing more on the question, would everyone please vote?

Would anyone like to change their vote?

Would the clerk please record the vote?

782 nay.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Um to communication 2025-460 number two, Steve Maloney, but resident requesting council commissioners to purchase a portion of tax parcel 00182 or 189240 pending a survey to be completed and a correction deed.

Uh we would just continue to hold that in abeyance pending the result of the other communication.

Number three, communication 2025-494, Zach Osborne, Busilver Bow Fire Chief requesting Council of Commissioners authorization to schedule a public hearing for November 5th, 2025 for the purpose of amending the fiscal year 2526 fire department budget to allow for increased expenditures of unanticipated revenue.

Uh Commissioner Thatcher.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

At this time, I'd like to make a motion to place communication number 2025-494 on file.

Okay, there's been a motion made and seconded to place communication 25494 on file.

Is there anything on the question?

Would everyone please vote?

Okay, would anyone like to change their vote?

Oh, Ms.

Shea, sorry, you got a clock in.

Okay, would anyone like to change their vote?

Would the clerk please record the vote?

90 nay.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Number four, communication 25500.

Angie Mullikan, Public Works Budget Manager requesting Council Commissioners to reschedule a bid opening on November 5th, 2025 for the Silver Lake Industrial Water System Improvements Project.

This bid opening has been moved to November 19th, so we'll continue to hold this in advance.

Number five, communication 25503.

Angie Mullikan, Public Works Budget Manager requesting Council Commissioners authorization to schedule a public hearing for November 5 or November 5th, 2025 for sole sourcing the Sulzer replacement parts through Falcon Environmental, the only dealer in Montana.

Will uh Commissioner Thatcher.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

At this time, I'd like to make a motion to place communication number 2025-503 on file.

Thank you.

There's been a motion made in second into place communication 2025-503 on file.

Is there anything on the question?

Would everyone please vote?

Would anyone like to change their vote?

Would the clerk please record the vote?

90 nay.

Okay, thank you.

Motion passes.

Number six, communication 2025-504.

Angie Mullikan Public Works Budget Manager requesting Council of Commissioners authorization to schedule a public hearing for November 5th, 2025 for the purpose of soliciting comments on the unanticipated revenue from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation from the USDA Cooperative Forestry Program to plant trees throughout Skyline Park.

Commissioner Thatcher.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

I'd like to make a motion to place communication number 2025-504 on file.

Okay, there's been a motion made and second into place communication 25504 on file.

Is there anything on the question?

Everyone please vote.

Would anyone like to change their vote?

Would the clerk please record the vote?

9 yay 0 nay.

Okay, thank you.

Motion passes.

7.

Communication 2025-518.

Karen Burns, Community Development Director requesting Council of Commissioners authorization to schedule a presentation on November 12, 2025 regarding responses to the RFP for the purchase of 305 West Mercury and referral back to uh the review committee for recommendations.

As you will recall, we referred those referred those back to the committee.

Um this communication could be placed on file.

Commit community commissioner Thatcher.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

Just please explain this then to me too now because wouldn't so we referred it back under the presentations, but it's still the same communication number.

So if we place it on file, does the original motion of the to refer the same communication number back to Director Burns' office stand or should I just make the exact same motion on this one?

I'm confused.

So your original motion did not include communication number 25-518.

It just simply referred the proposals to the community development department.

And so this is addressing the communication, hence why I wanted to address the communication later in the agenda to put it to bed because you can't you're you're not taking action on it in the presentation because it's the communication that's there.

Does that help clarify?

Commissioner Thatcher.

Perfect.

Okay.

All right.

Then at this time I would like to make a motion to place communication number 2025-518 on file.

Okay, there's been a motion made and second into place.

Communication 25518 on file.

Is there anything on the question?

Would anyone like to change their would everyone please vote?

Would anyone like to change their vote?

Would the clerk please record the vote?

9A0.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

Number eight, communication 25519.

Jessica Leprouse, law enforcement budget analyst requesting council of commissioners' authorization to schedule a public hearing for November 5th, 25 for the purpose of amending the fiscal year 25-26 budget to allow for increased expenditures of unanticipated revenue for the gas masks provided to the Butte Silver Bow Law Enforcement Agency, and it's a donation from town pump.

This public hearing was moved to November 19th.

So we'll continue to hold this in abeyance.

Number nine, uh communication 25520, William F.

McGinnis, 807 North Montana Street, Butte Montana requesting Council of Commissioners authorization to purchase property on parcel number 000 1905650.

We'll continue to hold this in abeyance pending a report back from the land sales committee.

Number 10.

Oh, on the question, Commissioner Thatcher.

Thank you, Chairman Morgan.

Just to refresh my memory, I think we talked that this one was discussed or just kind of given to us.

Have we even made the referral to land sales?

Or is that something that we'll have to segregate out and make that recommendation?

Commissioner Thatcher, I'd have to look at the agenda last week to see what the recommendation was.

I thought it was already to refer to the land sales committee.

You're correct, it's number three.

I just want to make sure I don't remember this from last week.

So just making sure.

Thank you.

You bet.

Okay, so we'll continue to hold this in abeyance pending the recommendation from the land sales committee.

Number 10, communication 2025-535.

Angie Mullikan, public works budget manager requesting council of commissioners' authorization to schedule a public hearing for November 19th, 25 for the purpose of soliciting comments on the unanticipated revenue from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, DNRC.

We'll continue to hold this in abeyance pending the November 19th public hearing.

Number 11, communication 25536.

Mark Neary Public Works Director requesting Council of Commissioners to schedule a bid opening on November 19th, 25 for one new skip loader for the Butte Silver Bow Public Works Roads Department.

We'll continue to hold this in abeyance pending the bid opening on November 19th.

Number 12, communication 25537.

Mark Neary Public Works Director requesting Council of Commissioners to schedule a bid opening on November 19th, 25 for one new five.

I'm thinking that's yard, right?

Um axle dump truck for Butte Silver Bow Public Works Department.

We'll continue to hold that in abeyance pending the November 19th bid opening.

Number 13, communication 25538, Mark Neary Public Works Director requesting Council of Commissioners to schedule a bid opening on November 19th, 25 for one new three to four cubic yard wheel loader for the Butte Silver Bow Public Works Department.

We'll continue to hold this in abeyance as well, pending the November 19th date.

14, we've already taken action on number 15 communication 25545.

Sean Frederickson Parks and Recreation Director Director requesting Council Commissioners authorization to schedule a presentation on November 19th, 25 to provide an update on current operations and projects related to parks, Highland View Golf Course and Ridgewaters Park.

We'll continue to hold that in abeyance for November 19th.

You might want to bring popcorn for the 19th, because there's a lot going on.

Number 16, communication 25546.

Sarah Bordoon, Butte Montana requesting Council of Commissioners to answer some questions from the October 16th, 2025 public forum beyond the boom on November 12th, 2025 regarding the impacts the data center that may be coming to Butte Montana.

Okay, so we'll continue to hold this communication in abeyance for a later time.

Next item on tonight's agenda is any public comment on any public matter not on tonight's agenda.

Our Edward Banderob, take your time.

Looks like the microphone is on.

Please state your name and address for the record.

No kidding.

All right, Banderob 2601, Grand Avenue.

Butte Montana.

Public comment on any matter not on the agenda.

Just in case you didn't read your email.

Attention residents of the Greater Butte Silver Bowl community.

Are you willing to advocate for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people?

The issue of neighborhood community improvement councils and a Greater Butte Silver Bowl Community Council is to be on next Monday's local government study commission agenda.

We, the Greeley Neighborhood Community Development Corporation Inc.

Board and the Triad of Concerned Citizens are trying to get a mandated recognized official channel and/or procedure for public oversight, consensual public recommendations, and coordination of neighborhood improvement projects included into the Butte Silver Boat Charter instead of having two fifty thousand dollar studies sitting on the shelf.

This is something I would think your constituents would be interested in and willing to support.

Please note the word mandated.

In that proposal would drastically change the duties, powers, and responsibilities of the Council of Commissioners.

Commissioners, I would think you would just might want to attend the local government study committee commission's meeting and express your opinions.

If you would like additional information or details of what we have proposed for your information andor to share with interested individuals in your district, please let me know.

You have my Greeley email address, and I will send you what we have proposed to date.

The local government study commission meeting is in this council chambers and starts at 5 o'clock on Monday, November 17th.

Please let me know if you would like more information.

But I want to add a PS to this.

If you cannot make the 5 o'clock time, they just might let you speak when they get to the discussion period.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Banderob.

Is there any other member of the public that would like to speak on any item not on tonight's agenda?

Okay.

Seeing none, I would ask for a motion to adjourn.

Oh, on the question, Commissioner Callahan.

I just got a request from Chief Executive Gallagher.

Last week we kind of discussed the window and the wind blowing through, and you said that the top windows come in the wrong size, and they probably have to be custom-made.

Poor Miss Thatcher's been sitting here shivering for an hour and a half.

Is there any chance we can have that contractor do a little better job sealing that up?

Because it could be months before we get those windows in.

Well, we'll find out we'll stack the question.

Thank you.

All right, motion to adjourn.

All in favor?

Opposed.