The prospect of a Minnesota city adding a data center has created some very uneasy conversations at the last few city council meetings. In fact, Monday night's meeting in Farmington featured the Mayor dropping an F-bomb towards a resident, with the resident then firing a verbal jab right back at the mayor.

Data Centers Are A Hot Button Issue For Some MN Communities

Before we get to what happened last night in Farmington, it might be helpful to look at why proposed data centers are such a hot-button topic in many communities across the land of 10,000 lakes.

• Energy Usage - Proposed data centers will take up a large portion of energy to run, causing some communities to put a ban on proposals. These centers run around the clock, creating the potential for straining the grid in certain areas, which could in turn raise the rates for residents.
• Environmental Concerns - Data centers use a large amount of water to cool the machines that are doing the data work. In fact, the data center that has been proposed in Farmington could withdraw hundreds of millions of gallons of water, potentially straining local aquifers.
• Transparency Issues - Some Minnesota cities have signed non-disclosure agreements with these data center developers, protecting who is going to run the center, how much power/water they will need, leaving residents in the dark until the project is well underway.

Farmington's Data Center Project

The project that is being proposed in Farmington is one of the largest proposed hyperscale data-center campuses in Minnesota, with 12 buildings just for data, and two separate buildings for administration, leading to roughly a $5 billion dollar price tag.

The project has gotten approval for the final plat of the project, but some residents have sued Farmington in order to stop construction that could begin as early as this spring. One of the main issues that is in the lawsuit is over the distance that this data center would be from residents, 250 feet.

"That's How Rules Work. Otherwise It's Just A Free-For-All"

Now that you know some of the backstory, it leads us to what happened last night in Farmington, where Mayor Joshua Hoyt lost his cool during the public forum portion of the meeting.

Note, this video has adult language that may not be suitable for children or some adults. Viewer discretion is advised.

Mayor Hoyt was arguing with a member of the public about the strict 5-minute time limit set for the public forum. Before this interaction, the council had sat through roughly 30 minutes of residents voicing their concerns, and a lack of desire for the data center in their city.

Towards the break in the meeting, you can hear someone in the audience call the mayor a racist, followed by other comments from those in attendance.

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You can see the full interaction from the City Council stream on YouTube below.

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