WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — Discussion on a conditional use permit for a potential data center in Wisconsin Rapids remains on hold for now while officials with the city and PCH WI Holdings.
Mayor Matt Zacher says he wants residents to know the city is working through its normal processes while ensuring everyone feels heard along the way. “With these data centers, we are kind of starting from scratch or starting a new process to deal with the community’s reaction to it. We are listening, we are slowing things down, and we are working with that company as we would any other company.”
He says that could mean multiple public information meetings, with and without representatives from the company present. “So the community knows that this isn’t the government and the data center working together. This is us doing the government stuff, dotting i’s and crossing t’s, following a process that has been in place for a long, long time.”
Zacher adds that PCH WI has welcomed the extra time to engage the community before finalizing their plans. He says he hopes that when it comes time for a vote, the community and the City Council treat them like any other business seeking to operate in the city. “We don’t get to say willy-nilly, ‘you get to do business here, and you don’t get to do business.’ The point of government is to try to take the good old boys network out of it and say, ‘these are the rules [you have to follow] and this is the process.’
“You can’t just say, ‘We don’t like you, so you can’t come here,'” added Zacher.
Other topics Zacher discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include:
Start of video- New season for the Rafters
3:40- Data center update
11:10- 250 random acts of kindness for America 250
13:45- Purple Heart City Ceremony on May 21st- which is at 6:00 PM, not 7:00 as stated in the video.
Comments