The Committee of the Whole meeting commenced on January 14, 2026, with a roll call indicating nine commissioners present and two absent (Commissioners O'Neal and Morgan). The session included public comment, a chair's report regarding an ad-hoc data center committee and the TBID grant cycle, and a review of seven communications, most of which were held in abeyance pending further information or absent presenters.
I'm gonna call the Butterboard Council of Commissioners Committee of the Whole Meeting to order for Wednesday, January 14th, 2026. Um Clerk, could you provide roll call? One presiding, nine present, two absent. Thank you. Let the record show that Commissioner O'Neal. I think there's just oh and Commissioner Morgan, excuse me, are absent and excused this evening. Um this time I'd like to call for any public comment on any items on the agenda this evening. And then please just state your name and address for the record. Um I think it would be good for our community. It would provide some jobs. I have a ten year old son. I live in this community. Um it's my home. Uh yeah, uh I think there's there's been some concerns mentioned about water power, this and that. Most of those have been addressed. Uh water for sure is addressed. It's a closed loop system. Um powers handled by the PSC. Um, I just think it would be a good investment for our community to have provide some good quality jobs. That's all. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lowell. Is there anybody else with any public comment on the agenda this evening? Seeing none, uh moving on to the report of the chair. Only things I'd like to mention are just so we keep it in the news cycle. There is the ad hoc committee that meets every Tuesday regarding the data center in the archives at four o'clock. Uh Commissioner Callahan and Commissioner O'Leary both attended the meeting this week. Um the other thing is if anybody's listening, the TBID grant cycle is open and it closes um January 31st at 5 p.m. So if you have an event or anything of the sort that uh you could qualify for a TBID grant, I would definitely check that out. Um that would close out the report of the chair. Moving on to Section 1 Communications number one, communication number 2025-581. Will O'Connor Land Records Coordinator requesting Council of Commissioners to approve council communication number 2025-249. A request from Patty and Chris Salmanson to purchase land owned by Butsover Bow located adjacent to their property, located at 17 Pillamore Street. Uh, we're still waiting to hear from land records and to work through some of that. So we're going to continue to hold this in abeyance. Number two, communication number 2025-249. Patty and Chris Salmanson requesting Council of Commissioners approval to purchase a portion of land owned by Butte Silver Bow, which is adjacent to their property, located at 17 Tillamore Street. This one obviously goes hand in hand with communication number one, so we'll continue to hold that in abeyance. Number three, communication number 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 12th, 2025 regarding the impacts of the data center that may be coming. Um we will continue to hold this. I don't know if there are any commissioners that wish to have anything to say on this one. We're good. Okay. We'll continue to hold this one. Uh number four, communication number 2025-587. Bill Kelly, 403 Transit Street, Butte, Montana, requesting Council of Commissioners authorization to purchase partial number 0001904920. That is directly bordering my property for improved maintenance utilization and management of the area. Another deal with land sales.