The city of Oneonta is pursuing research into how to best navigate policy related to potential data center proposals in the city.
At the Quality of Life and Infrastructure Committee meeting Monday, March 23, committee Chairperson Elayne Mosher Campoli, D-First Ward, said that Community Development Director Judy Pangman had been researching how to proactively manage data center regulations in Oneonta.
Mosher Campoli said the research would help the city to make decisions related to possible future data center action.
The Oneonta Town Board voted March 11 to set a public hearing on a one-year data center moratorium, with a few exemptions. The vote came after several months of backlash among community members regarding a proposal for a data center in the town. The hearing is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 8.
Mosher Campoli brought up discussion of a moratorium in the city at the Common Council’s Tuesday, March 17 meeting, referencing action taken by the town in reaction to the proposal. She said it could “behoove us to think about this ahead of time.”
“The reason that I would like us to consider this is because I see some other communities needing to do this in a reactive way, and I would like us to be more proactive now that we are aware that this issue is up and coming,” Mosher Campoli said.
Cecelia Walsh-Russo, D-Second Ward, asked for clarity surrounding the research that Pangman had done so far.
Mosher Campoli said it included examples of actions taken by different municipalities and legislation that had been instituted, including some that had implemented regulations or put moratoriums in place to take time to study the issue before putting items into code. She said there would be different options for the city to entertain.
Scott Harrington, R-Sixth Ward, said a moratorium could allow a municipality to look into infrastructure concerns and regulations. He said at Tuesday’s council meeting that another point of concern with data centers was water usage. He said Tuesday a moratorium could allow time for the city to look into its water infrastructure to see if a data center was something it could even handle.
Mosher Campoli said she wanted to give committee members more time to review the research before having a further discussion on the topic.
In other business
The committee continued discussion around city emergency management. The council authorized the city to form an agreement with Contingency Management Consulting Group Tuesday for professional planning services to update the city’s comprehensive emergency management plan Tuesday, according to Daily Star archives.
Mosher Campoli said Monday there was an idea to get basic training for elected officials surrounding the Incident Command System.
According to the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services website, the ICS is “a management system designed to enable effective and efficient domestic incident management,” which combines items like facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures and communication.
City Administrator Greg Mattice said the city would need to figure out how to provide the training as the Federal Emergency Management Agency site, where individuals would usually take the online courses, is not available due to a lapse in federal funding.
Walsh-Russo asked if the city would be in the same position it was in in January — where there was a lack of clarity as to the role of city staff and elected officials during an emergency situation — if an emergency were to happen now. The draft and finalizing details for the city’s new emergency plan would take anywhere from six to 12 months, she said.
“In the meantime, in other words, and in the absence of FEMA, how should we proceed?” Walsh-Russo said.
Harrington said it would depend on the type of emergency. He said the mayor could declare a state of emergency for something, for instance, weather related. For something fire related, the Fire Department would take the lead and depending on the size of emergency, the county, state or federal governments could get involved.
Walsh-Russo said the city of Ithaca provided a list of responsibilities on its website, laying out the roles of different city officials in the case of an emergency. She asked if it would be possible to get something written down and formalized to clarify the steps at which different entities would become involved during city emergencies.
Mosher Campoli said not all aspects of the emergency plan could be shared publicly.
“There’s plenty that could be summarized just as far as the flow of what to expect,” Mosher Campoli said.