(La Porte County, IN) - La Porte County government has put up some guardrails against any data centers that want to locate here.

 

A 12 member group has been appointed to try and steer data centers to the Kingsbury Industrial Park or any other industrial site.

 

La Porte County Commission President Connie Gramarossa says the idea is to prevent any battles from being waged from a data center wanting to go into a residential area.

 

She says the group will also work to negotiate the best financial deal possible for the county….since data centers are not major job creators and need considerable amounts of energy and water to operate.

 

Gramarossa said the aim is to strike a deal with very tax abatements or any other incentives to maximize the return for the county.

 

Members of the panel are:

• Karl Cender, County Government Financial Advisor
• County Councilman Jimmy Pressel
• La Porte Mayor Tom Dermody or his designee
• Michigan City Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch or her designee
• County Planner Mitch Bishop
• Attorney Shaw Friedman, who's representing county government in a pending Data Centers case before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
• County Information Technology Director Darlene Hale
• County MS4 Director Paul Vicari
• Michigan City City Councilman Dr. Vidya Kora
• La Porte City Councilman Tim Franke
• Operators' Union Representative John Watson
• Jim Mills, a representative of teh agricultural community