Residents press council on data-center expansion, homelessness policy, ICE cooperation and Flock cameras

The meeting’s public-comment period highlighted several recurring concerns from residents about development, social services and enforcement technologies.

Katie Jo of 46807 urged the council to make meetings more accessible to citizens and to practice active listening, saying emailed concerns often go unanswered. "This is so frustrating as a commenter to stand up here and just speak and not get to have dialogue," she said, and she listed several upcoming neighborhood events and civic-engagement workshops.

Several speakers criticized data-center expansion. Brian Depke urged the council to resist what he described as a "bait and switch" expansion by Google, saying the company sought additional acreage after securing initial approvals and asking the council to "defend and fight for the people of Fort Wayne." Deborah Koontz warned about potential wetland impacts and groundwater concerns near proposed sites.

Speakers also raised homelessness and related policy issues. Danielle Debke said local shelters are near capacity and criticized a recently signed state law that she described as criminalizing homelessness; she recommended redirecting corporate tax revenue toward housing and services and urged the council to require community benefits agreements for large projects. Sally Seggerson pointed to an Indianapolis coalition campaign as a model to shelter and house people quickly.

Other public comments included a request from Laura Jacobs to prohibit city cooperation with civil immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant and to ban related joint task forces and use of city resources for immigration enforcement. John Thompson urged limits on Flock automated license-plate cameras and warned of misreads leading to wrongful stops, saying residents deserve human verification before enforcement.

Council members acknowledged the comments; some announced community events. The committee did not take formal action on the items raised during public comment but heard multiple requests for follow-up.