Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The Charles County Board of Commissioners held a joint town hall hosted by District One Commissioner Gilbert BJ Bowling. Commissioner President Reuben Collins called the meeting to order with a quorum present (Commissioners Bowling, Patterson, and Collins). Commissioners Coates and Stewart were absent. The meeting featured extensive public testimony and commissioner discussion, primarily focused on the proposed TerraWolf data center at the Morgantown site, along with infrastructure, equity, and procedural concerns.
Charles County Government presents the Board of Commissioners meeting. Good evening, everyone. Commissioners, the next item on your agenda is to begin with a roll call is Commissioner Bowling. Present. Commissioner Coates is absent. Commissioner Stewart is absent. Commissioner Patterson. Present. Commissioner Collins. Present. Okay. We do have a quorum. So Commissioners, the next item on your agenda is the Board of County Commissioners Quarterly Town Hall meeting hosted by District One. Good evening and welcome to the first Board of Commissioners joint town hall meeting for 2026. I'm Commissioner President Ruben Collins, and on behalf of the entire board, I'd like to thank you for being here this evening. These town halls are an opportunity for us to connect directly with you, hear your concerns, and discuss the issues that matter most to our community. Each town hall will be led by one of the district commissioners. Tonight, District One Commissioner Gilbert BJ Bowling will be uh we'll start by sharing brief remarks and outlining the format for the meeting, followed by questions and answers. Question and answer period. I'm sorry. We appreciate your participation and look forward to a productive conversation. At this time, I'll turn it over to Commissioner Bowling. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate everybody coming out. I first off want to thank everybody for being here on St. Patrick's Day. Uh when we looked at the schedule, we were considering moving the town hall due to the holiday, but I felt like it was appropriate to keep the date on point because we didn't uh public comment wasn't available this month, so I thought it wouldn't be a good move not to have an opportunity for the public to speak this month. Nevertheless, I appreciate everybody being here. I see the data center signs up. I apologize if there was some misinformation put out on social media or out in the um in the spectrum about the planning commission. They were uh supposedly originally supposed to meet last night due to the weather, they canceled their meeting. So, although you're welcome to make comments about data centers, it's not limited to data centers, it's to whatever you choose to bring up. Just I ask you to be respectful, mind the time that we have allotted for each speaker, and uh be respectful to everybody in the room. Other than that, I think we're ready to get started. Okay, we're gonna begin with the in-person comments. And when I call your name, you'll come up to the microphone right at the front of the table. Make sure you hit the button and the green light goes on and speak closely to the mic. You'll have three minutes to present your comments, and then after about four or five um comments, we'll give the commissioners an opportunity to respond at that time. So the first three speakers for this evening, John Anderson, followed by Derek Carey, followed by Renfro Talia. If you can just state your name and address for the record, please. Sure. My name is John Anderson. Um I live down on Cobb Neck for 15 years, uh, 1495 Deerhaven Place in Newburgh. Um I'm here tonight to talk about data centers and specifically more specifically Morgantown. Uh and uh where I think I should tell you that I'm also an intervener in the FERC case on that. I was a reporter at the Washington Post for 30 years on the founding. I was a founding editor of political magazine. I was a communications consultant in Washington for more than a decade. And so what I'd like to speak to you about is what I know best, which is public disclosure.