Town council members share thoughts on the Amazon data center

At the end of a six and one-half hour meeting, packed with contentious debate and commentary from nearly 100 citizens, Warrenton Town council members spoke their minds. Newly elected councilmen Paul Mooney and David McGuire said little about the events of the evening, as did Vice-Mayor James Hartman. But others talked at length, and some of their remarks may provide a window into their thinking about the proposed Amazon data center.

David McGuire: He thanked all the citizens for coming out and “everybody in the council for working together.”

“It’s been a great experience. And I look forward to this next month,” he said.

Paul Mooney: He reminded everyone of a quote often attributed to Abe Lincoln: “Whatever you are, be a good one.” He thanked residents for speaking and for staying till the meeting’s end. “I want to thank you guys for being good citizens, and for still being here,” he said.

Heather Sutphin:  She opened by reacting to a citizen’s complaint that she had met privately with Amazon, noting that she did not try to hide the fact. ”That's part of my due diligence, to find out as much information before I make a vote,” she said. “I've talked to a lot of people, I've knocked on doors, visited different data centers, because I am trying to find the truth.”

She also complained about citizen unfairness toward her. “I can't get anybody to change their mind, because so many people have already made up their mind about me. But one thing that I do know, this is my town. I will die fighting for my town. And what I feel is right.”

Bill Semple: He thanked citizens for coming out: “I see many friends of mine, who are residents in my ward. And I think you spoke from the heart,” he said. He thanked the town staffers for their work and addressed the council: “I know we we've had difficult conversations among our council members, but that's why we're up here. And I appreciate the mayor having allowed us to have a free-wheeling, at times, discourse. And for keeping us on the rails.”

He encouraged the citizens who were there to come again to the February meeting. “Just come and watch,” he said.

Brett Hamby: He thanked citizens for attending and for staying until the end. “This is the place where everybody gets a chance to talk,” he said.  “I know there’s both sides, right? If you support data centers, or you don't support data centers, I run into people all the time. And I know that it looks like everybody's against, but there are a lot of people for, there's 73,000 people in this county.”

He said it was worth asking why data centers operate in the county – one at Vint Hill, several at the federally owned Warrenton Training Center, and one approved near Remington. “Not saying right or wrong, but data centers have been operating in this county for years.

He said the Amazon application is not perfect, and that there were citizens on opposing sides, “but we'll work through it. Go on to next month. I'm sure everybody will show up. And we'll see what happens.”

Jay Heroux: He, too, thanked citizens for coming out, and for residents’ kindness when his father passed away in December. He asked two questions of citizens -- with no prejudice, he said. First, he wondered, who would develop the Weissberg property?  “When we talk about these 40 acres that have been around for 63 years vacant doing nothing. Offering no jobs, bringing – I know we talked about taxes --  bringing no revenue to the town, developers backed out. Who is it? Who's ‘we’ that's going to put mixed use or whatever in there. I welcome your thoughts on that.”

Question number two, he said, was, “Should there be data centers in Fauquier County? Should there be data centers in Warrenton? Should there be data centers at Vint Hill? Should there be data centers in Remington, Catlett? Any of the industrial zoned areas in the county? There’s about 4,000 acres that the county has for industrial. Should this not happen here? Tell us your feedback on that. I think I know it. But should they not even exist? In this county?” he said. “Those are two questions I would love to hear your input on, email me. Again, I'll try and get back to you. But trust me, every email is read.”