OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Janesville City Council Regular Meeting - March 9, 2026

Meeting Portal — Monday, March 9, 2026
BodyJanesville, Wisconsin
SessionMeeting Portal
DateMonday, March 9, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 59:49

Transcript — Verbatim
0:03

Just can't say normal.

0:04

I'm gonna call the order the City of Janesville City Council meeting for Monday, March 9th, 2026.

0:10

If you could stand with me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

0:17

Congratulations to the play.

0:33

All right.

0:34

Thank you.

0:34

In case of an emergency, use the stairs and not the elevator to exit.

0:37

Walk to the north side of the police department and wait for further instructions.

0:41

Clerk, roll call, please.

0:43

President Burdick.

0:44

Here.

0:44

Vice President Squire.

0:46

Here.

0:47

Councilmember Miller.

0:49

Here.

0:49

Councilmember Nino.

0:52

Here.

0:53

Councilmember Williams.

0:54

Here.

0:54

Councilmember Cass.

0:56

Here.

0:56

Councilmember Erdman.

0:57

Here.

0:58

All council members are present.

0:59

We do have a quorum.

1:01

All right.

1:02

Thank you.

1:02

Item three recognition.

1:04

There are none for this evening.

1:06

We'll move on to item four.

1:07

Public comments and items on the agenda not requiring a public hearing.

1:11

And on matters which can be affected by council action.

1:14

There are no public hearings today, so clerk.

1:25

All right.

1:25

You know what you're doing.

1:27

State your name, address, and you have four minutes, Ty.

1:30

Ted Balrood uh PO box 216, Jamesville, Wisconsin.

1:36

Um, you know, it's a simple story.

1:38

We used to pound wood pylons, and on either side of uh the hydroelectric dam, they had a V right there.

1:47

So that's the history on on the you gotta look on how how they figured that out.

1:51

And so, you know, that that hydroelectric, they want all the water.

1:55

That's one big concrete engineer plant.

1:58

So if you go back to the original, how how'd we ever end up in this situation?

2:02

Wisconsin economic development.

2:04

Hey, there's some magic money out there, don't look too magic magic to me.

2:08

I think if you look at it, was us.

2:11

We drew it up on some maps, the Millmore edition map, uh, the Smith and Bailey map, and they're built all around that Teddy Roosevelt.

2:20

Remember when Teddy Roosevelt and he was fighting the railroads, actually, probably a lot of greed and stuff like that that's happening.

2:26

Well, we're a workers' town, Samson truck and tractor may have heard of it.

2:30

Um they were uh they were probably against Carnegie and all that kind of other crap, you know what I mean?

2:36

And so Northwestern, there's a long history of Northwestern in Janesville, 1853, Northwestern was here, had all them old one, you know, where they had them B plows and they could drive all over the house is still there.

2:51

They had parking there, 10, 12 of locomotives go out all the time, bring wood all over the place.

2:57

A lot of people, at least I think Northwestern probably started started in Janesville.

3:02

We look at, you know, Northwest of Chicago is Janesville.

3:07

So, you know, if you had to get out of the uh state of Illinois, maybe you go to Janesville, you know what I mean?

3:12

Northwest of Chicago, it would be Janesville.

3:14

So that's where I'm going with that, and then these three maps.

3:18

We got three maps, and so if they settled them feet, which they did for the hydroelectric, because they knew electricity, there's a lot of money in hydroelectricity, especially in our dam.

3:29

You know, it's too bad we took out that log for fat flannel fast.

3:32

We lost 20% power generation from that log.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Technology and Innovation██████████████████████22%
Economic Development████████████████████20%
Public Engagement████████████12%
Procedural██████████10%
Engineering And Infrastructure█████████9%
Environmental Protection███████7%
Parks and Recreation███████7%
Downtown Revitalization███████7%
Public Works████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Janesville City Council Regular Meeting - March 9, 2026

The Janesville City Council met on Monday, March 9, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The meeting covered routine consent items, extensive public comments on the proposed data center and the GM/JATCO redevelopment, a vote to hire Stantec for master planning, and introductions of two ordinance amendments.

Consent Calendar

  • Minutes of the February 23, 2026 regular and closed session meetings approved.
  • Licenses and recommendations approved.
  • Resolution 2026-2426 (Item 6D) – Designated city-owned property at 101 Rockport Road as parkland and directed it be zoned C-Conservancy. Pulled for discussion; passed unanimously.
  • U-Turn accident subrogation settlement approved.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Ted Balrood (PO Box 216, Janesville) – Spoke about historical railroad and hydroelectric infrastructure, urging different engineering approaches for bridges and referencing lost power generation.
  • Alyssa Capozello (Sumac Drive) – Expressed opposition to the proposed data center, citing lack of transparency, biased information, and concerns about noise (90 decibels), light pollution, rising utility bills, carbon emissions (400 generators producing NOx equivalent to 350 cars each per hour), e-waste, and the petition with over 4,600 signatures. Urged council to explore alternatives like parkland or a grocery store.
  • Lisa McCaffee (719 Swallow Lane, across from the site) – Questioned why the city allowed GM to go bankrupt without cleanup responsibility, suggested community donations for cleanup, and proposed dividing the land for a shopping center, greenhouse, and sustainable jobs.
  • Claire Gray (3328 Candlewood Drive, on behalf of Forward Janesville) – Expressed support for hiring Stantec as the master planning consultant for the GM/JATCO site, citing its community-centered approach and need for public engagement.
  • Sam Nemitz (South Side, organizer for Party for Socialism and Liberation) – Urged a no vote on Stantec, citing conflicts of interest: Stantec is preparing wetland reports for a secret Meta data center (Project Corn Maze) in Beloit, and Rock County economic development manager James Otterstein (on the GM/JATCO advisory board) was emailing to accelerate that project. Demanded transparency and a public referendum.
  • Aaron Eger (526 Laurel Avenue) – Expressed concerns about infrasound health dangers (below 20 Hz) from hyperscale data centers, causing physical resonance, dizziness, anxiety, and sleep disruption. Urged council to honor the referendum and delay decisions.
  • Andrea Breyer Moon (339 South Locust Street) – Suggested requiring a non-refundable earnest money payment from data center developers, noted a Trump executive order requiring separate electrical supply, and opposed public-private partnerships as corporate welfare.
  • John Dahl (1409 Tyler Street) – Opposed the data center, sharing personal observations from Virginia about noise and vibration impacts on nearby homes.
  • Unnamed speaker (last comment) – Corrected that Stantec was recommended by the community-led GM/JATCO board after a competitive process; their role is site assessment and funding assistance, not tied to any specific project type.

Discussion Items

  • Stantec for Redevelopment Master Planning (Item 8A) – Nick Faust (Assistant to City Manager) presented the selection process: 10 firms responded, 4 interviewed, the GM/JATCO Redevelopment Advisory Board voted 7-1 to recommend Stantec. Scope includes site assessments, market/feasibility studies, public engagement, and an implementation strategy over 18 months at a cost of $225,000. Stantec’s Bill Onia stated they have 150+ service lines globally; the Beloit wetland work is a separate group with no shared project management.
    • Council discussion: Councilmember Cass, Williams, Erdman, and Squire voiced support for following the board’s recommendation despite some concerns about Stantec’s involvement in other projects. The motion passed unanimously.
  • Sign Ordinance Amendment (Item 8B) – First reading to allow off-premises signage for major donors of non-profits and clarify sandwich board signs in downtown District D. Referred to Plan Commission with public hearing scheduled for April 27, 2026.
  • Poultry Ordinance Amendment (Item 8C) – Proposed amendment to permit ducks within city limits. Introduced, referred to Plan Commission and Sustainable Janesville Committee, public hearing April 27, 2026.

Key Outcomes

  • Consent Agenda approved unanimously, including the parkland designation (6D).
  • New Business 8A – Council approved the selection of Stantec as the consultant for the GM/JATCO redevelopment plan (motion by Cass, second by Williams; unanimous vote).
  • New Business 8B – Ordinance 2026-928 introduced and referred for public hearing.
  • New Business 8C – Ordinance 2026-932 introduced and referred.
  • Closed Session – Council voted unanimously to convene closed session (motion by City Manager Lahner, second by Squire) to discuss performance evaluation of the City Manager under Wis. Stats. Sec. 19.85(1)(c) and (e). The meeting did not reconvene publicly.

Meeting Transcript

Just can't say normal. I'm gonna call the order the City of Janesville City Council meeting for Monday, March 9th, 2026. If you could stand with me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Congratulations to the play. All right. Thank you. In case of an emergency, use the stairs and not the elevator to exit. Walk to the north side of the police department and wait for further instructions. Clerk, roll call, please. President Burdick. Here. Vice President Squire. Here. Councilmember Miller. Here. Councilmember Nino. Here. Councilmember Williams. Here. Councilmember Cass. Here. Councilmember Erdman. Here. All council members are present. We do have a quorum. All right. Thank you. Item three recognition. There are none for this evening. We'll move on to item four. Public comments and items on the agenda not requiring a public hearing. And on matters which can be affected by council action. There are no public hearings today, so clerk. All right. You know what you're doing. State your name, address, and you have four minutes, Ty. Ted Balrood uh PO box 216, Jamesville, Wisconsin. Um, you know, it's a simple story. We used to pound wood pylons, and on either side of uh the hydroelectric dam, they had a V right there. So that's the history on on the you gotta look on how how they figured that out. And so, you know, that that hydroelectric, they want all the water. That's one big concrete engineer plant. So if you go back to the original, how how'd we ever end up in this situation? Wisconsin economic development. Hey, there's some magic money out there, don't look too magic magic to me. I think if you look at it, was us. We drew it up on some maps, the Millmore edition map, uh, the Smith and Bailey map, and they're built all around that Teddy Roosevelt. Remember when Teddy Roosevelt and he was fighting the railroads, actually, probably a lot of greed and stuff like that that's happening. Well, we're a workers' town, Samson truck and tractor may have heard of it. Um they were uh they were probably against Carnegie and all that kind of other crap, you know what I mean?

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