Public commenter urges transparency as committee member backs data-center push in Wise County

A public commenter thanked the chairman and praised a speaker named Brian, urging the board to be more transparent and to push information into local media so residents know officials are working to "raise Wise County and not lower it." The commenter criticized social media as a forum for unaccountable rumors and said, "this is the information that needs to get out, in the newspaper, on TV."

A committee member followed, thanking Brian and telling him the board supports efforts to attract data centers. The committee member said, "It'll be a great day when this new thing happens and the data centers come," adding that such projects often attract multiple sites to a region and that the board is "behind you and these programs, these businesses that we are courting." He suggested the area could see "half a dozen" projects and said he would "settle for 3 tomorrow."

The remarks were expressed during public-comment portions of the meeting and represented expressions of support and expectations about economic development; no formal motions or votes on data-center incentives or related agreements were recorded in the provided transcript. The meeting included appeals for clearer public communication about the board's work and optimistic assessments from at least one committee member about the potential local benefits of attracting data-center investment.

No statutes, ordinances, motions, or formal outcomes related to the data centers were cited in the transcript.