Butte Silver Bow Council Meeting - February 4, 2026
Butte Silver Bow Council of Commissioners Regular Meeting - February 4, 2026
The Council of Commissioners of Butte Silver Bow met on February 4, 2026, to address a contentious request from SABE Data Centers (via Horizons Montana LLC) for a one-year extension of the purchase and sale agreement for 600 acres in the Montana Connections Business Park. After extensive public comment and commissioner deliberation, the Council voted 9-3 to amend the extension to six months. The meeting also included routine approvals of consent agenda items, budget amendments, and resolutions.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes from the January 21, 2026 regular meeting (12-0).
- Approved consent agenda items with exclusions: finance grant (2026-20), Skyhawk Sports Academy agreement (2026-52), and the data center extension (2026-74) were segregated for separate votes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Anthony Laslovich (BLDC Board President) spoke in support, urging approval to foster economic development.
- Elton Ringshock opposed the extension, citing environmental harm, noise pollution, tax concerns with the TED district, and lack of public process. He called for renegotiation with protections.
- Don Patriots questioned the promised 200 jobs, job types, and whether contractors would be local. He opposed the extension, asking for a new buy-sell agreement.
- Eric Nylon opposed, noting a citizen-driven PSC case accepted that day. He criticized lack of transparency from Northwestern Energy and SABE, and urged the Council to let the extension lapse.
- Scott Gray recommended letting the extension die to renegotiate with guardrails.
- Holly Hansen asked to reject the extension or exclude the 373-acre parcel bordering Buxton, citing overreach on land use.
- Sister Mary Joe (Leavenworth, Kansas) urged postponement, raising ethical concerns about community impact, cheap land price ($2,000/acre), and water/electricity burdens. She asked the Council to read their oath of office.
- Brian Sullivan (Ad Hoc Committee Chair) asked for the extension to allow the committee to complete its fact-finding, noting they would present on February 18.
- Kathy Fry opposed, citing unclear job numbers (25–30 typical), e-waste, noise, water concerns, and distrust of Northwestern Energy.
- Denise Kelly opposed, calling the buy-sell one-sided and questioning a right-of-first-refusal cloud on the title. She urged a no vote.
- Evan Barrett (former economic development professional) opposed the extension, calling the buy-sell a bad deal. He suggested renegotiation with sideboards on power, water, job quality, and land usage (600 acres excessive).
- Ready Frost (Carpenter’s Union) supported, emphasizing construction jobs and standard of living improvements.
- Brandon Calwell supported, arguing the project would keep union workers local and that concerns about transparency are overblown.
- Todd Johnston (TED Board member) supported extension, saying the opportunity is unique and extensions are common.
- Joel Wirth supported, recommending approval to create apprenticeship opportunities.
- Andy Durkin (CPA) supported, citing enormous tax revenue potential: $1.5–2 billion in building investment alone, generating ~$13 million annually in property taxes (at 0.9% rate), most returning to the TED district.
- Josh Cox (Sheet Metal Workers) supported, noting potential for 10–15 new apprentices and 20–40 workers.
- Sean Roberts supported, citing experience at Intel and the potential for high-tech growth.
Discussion Items
- Chief Executive Gallagher gave a history lesson, noting that other projects (e.g., REC, Sonata) received less scrutiny. He argued the ad hoc committee was unprecedented, that water and power concerns are manageable, and that SABE has a strong track record. He urged approval of the extension.
- Commissioner O'Leary delivered a lengthy critique, listing specific asks for written commitments from SABE on construction timeline, tax revenue breakdown, job guarantees, housing impact, noise mitigation, water usage, and splitting the purchase into three parcels with staggered clawback provisions. He stated he wants to vote for the project but needs these assurances.
- Commissioner Thatcher supported the extension, arguing it buys time to get answers and noting that trades jobs matter. She cautioned against denying the extension and risking losing the project.
- Commissioner Fisher opposed, citing calls from constituents against the project, a right-of-first-refusal cloud with REC, and concerns about legal disputes.
- Commissioner Healy opposed, stating a one-year extension ties up public land without clear benefit and reduces leverage.
- Commissioner Shea sought a middle ground, wanting SABE to engage directly with the community and clean up title issues before locking in a long extension.
- Commissioner Morgan noted that SABE had already agreed to add a two-thirds council vote requirement, demonstrating good faith. He moved to amend the extension to six months.
- Commissioner O'Neill objected to a one-year extension but supported six months to allow resolution of title and energy issues.
- Commissioner Boyle favored a six-month extension to let the ad hoc committee finish.
- Commissioner Callahan raised concerns about community wells and contamination risks that should be addressed.
- County Attorney Ann Ruth explained that the right-of-first-refusal with REC could lead to litigation regardless of the Council’s action, and that amending the contract (to six months) requires SABE’s acceptance. Director Burns confirmed that SABE had verbally agreed to six months.
Key Outcomes
- Vote on extension (2026-74): Motion to concur and place on file with amendment to six months (from one year) passed 9-3 (Commissioners Fisher, Healy, and O'Leary dissenting). The amended extension now goes to SABE for acceptance.
- Consent and other items: All remaining agenda items were approved unanimously (12-0), including:
- Communication 2026-20 (NEHA FDA grant)
- Communication 2026-52 (Skyhawk Sports Academy agreement)
- Budget amendments for health department programs (communications 2026-46 through 2026-51)
- Resolution 2026-02 (sole source purchase for sewer division)
- Resolution 2026-05 (calling Melrose Water District mail ballot election)
- Addition of emergency items (communications 2026-77 and 2026-78).
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call the Butte Silver Bowl Council of Commissioners meeting regular meeting for Wednesday, February 4th, 2026. Clerk, could we please have a roll call? Twelve present zero absent. Commissioner Walker, could you lead us in the prayer and the pledge? Decline. So when you come forward, please state your name, your address, and what item that you would like to speak about. And we're going to have a full audience tonight, so I will hold everyone to three minutes on their public comments so that we can move along as we go here. So welcome. Member John Morgan abstained from the vote in light of his position on the council. In alignment with BLDC's mission to build a vibrant economic environment that recruits retains and supports businesses for the benefit of our community. This project represents exactly the type of strategic economic development we seek to attract to Butte. We appreciate the thoughtful consideration the council is giving to SABI's request for an extension of its sale and purchase agreement for land located in the Montana Connections Business Park, and we respectfully urge the council to approve this request at its February 4th, 2025 meeting. Thank you for your continued commitment to fostering economic opportunity and growth in our community. Respectfully, Anthony Laslovich, Board President, Butte Local Development Corporation. Thank you, Ms. Sullivan. There's a button if you want to push it there. There you go. Thank you, Chairman. Council members. My name is Elton W. Ringshock, and I reside at 3310 Hannibal Street, Butte, Montana. I'm here tonight to speak in opposition to extending the SAB buy-sell agreement. Communications number 2026-74. I'm deeply concerned about the adverse effects this project will have on this community for generations to come. County signed a buy-cell agreement with Montana Horizons LLC nine months ago on April 16, 2025. The council only had three days to consider the request, and the staff pushed for immediate approval. This is after they've been dealing with Montana Horizons for nine months. We now know that they represented SAB data centers. The county approved an extension of buy cell in October 25 to February 11th, 2026. Now they're asking for another extension. The horse got out of the barn, and we sold the farm last April. This requested extension should be denied, and we should ask for a renegotiated buy-cell agreement that has some sidebarns that will protect the citizens of this community before construction starts. Data centers cause significant harm to environment and local communities. They also create low frequency noise pollution that the human hearer doesn't hear, but is bad for human health and the animals. The SAIB data center is in a TED. I'm talking about taxes now. Taxes from a targeted economic development district go into a special dedicated fund rather than the general fund to finance improvements within a specific district covering infrastructure, road sewage, land prep, etc. TEDs in Montana typically have a year, a life of 15 years, but that can be extended with some newer rules passed in 2022 to 30 years. TEDs are temporary, typically sunsetting after a specific period of time, 15 years, after which, after 15 years, the increased property tax revenues will then be distributed to all local taxing jurisdictions, including schools in the county. Montana communities need to ask really do we need to say what are we can we afford these new neighbors? We're going to replace 600 prime acres for economic development with 100,000 data servers and 5,000 racks that have to be changed every three years and will end up in our landfill. That will be of little benefit to Butte Montana, but it will provide inner services to kids in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, LA for video streaming, war games, chat GTP, AI, chat box, and doing their homework. You can spend an entire day on this kind of conversation that some of you remember the famous invisible rabbit, Harvey. We all know. Mr. Ringsack, if we could wrap it up, please. We all know that we're living on a planet with finite resources. What we have is what we have, and the faster we use it, the sooner we'll have to get our hands on a depleted planet and try to save it. We don't own this land.
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