Lamar City Council meeting of August 24, 2026 has large audience in attendance to protest any proposed data center – Council receives letter of resignation from Ward I Council Member Brent Bates

There was a standing-room only crowd on hand at the August 24, 2026 Lamar City Council meeting, a week after Mayor Kirk Crespin added a Facebook post asking the community what they would like to see as a development project for the city.  Overwhelmingly, the comments mentioned “no data centers”.  When word got out that a discussion regarding same was on the agenda, residents encouraged each other to attend the meeting to speak out.

Prior to the meeting, Council met with the Prowers County Commissioners in a work session to discuss a “Big Timbers Technology Campus” as a potential development site if a data center were to be approved in the future. Mayor Crespin gave a presentation he titled “Community Benefit and Responsible Data Center Development Standards” he shared with Council and the Commissioners and told the Commissioners that he would like to see the city and county work together to establish standards for any future big projects – not just for data centers.  He said he felt there was a need to be proactive in regard to setting standards pertaining to water resources, utilities, fiber, noise and light pollution limits and more.  Crespin said that when a data center expressed possible interest in Lamar, he was initially against it but also admitted that he didn’t know a lot about what that would entail, and asked himself questions such as what potential benefits could be to the community as well as the cons of such a project.  “If you don’t know, you don’t know” he said.

The “public comments” portion of the meeting saw 12 citizens take the microphone, all speaking strongly in protest of the city considering a data center and each one listed water usage as their main concern.  Some spoke about potential health hazards from the centers while others were concerned about their electric rates spiking as well as noise, water, and air pollution.  One speaker said “we are the future and we can’t drink data” to a round of applause.  Another speaker talked about loving the small-town charm of Lamar, saying “this isn’t a decision just for Lamar, but for all of southeast Colorado and we can’t make decisions for them”.  She then quoted a friend who lives in a state that had several data centers who told her it was a “dystopian nightmare”.  Another said he felt that “It’s just a bunch of billionaires who want to take over the world and don’t care about any of us”.   Some spoke more passionately than others but they were united in their belief that a data center would be detrimental for Lamar. After the last speaker, Crespin thanked them all for attending, saying “it took courage to come up here and talk” and also that he appreciated all the Facebook responses he got, even the negative ones. “I hope our community never stops doing this (communicating)” he said.   All Council members then thanked the audience for their active participation.  Joe Gonzales told them “We’re as ordinary as you are.  We are just in these seats having to make decisions but you are important to us and we are approachable.  Talk to me – show me some respect and I will show it back”. Many of the audience members chose to stay for the remainder of the meeting.

City Administrator Hammes had several announcements.  The City of Lamar will have a float in the Colorado State Fair at the August 29 parade and will be grouped with other entries from our area.  City offices will be closed September 7 for Labor Day.  Also, all advertising signs at the Community Building have been spoken for, with revenue increasing from $12,000 to $31,000.  The CML Fall District 6 meeting will be in Lamar on September 23 at the Historic Cow Palace/Tavern 1301.

The first agenda item was a discussion regarding a data center, with Crespin asking Council to decide whether to authorize a Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement to allow for preliminary discussions and information exchanges to continue.  “We have had interest (in a data center coming to Lamar)” he said.  “We just need to make a decision”.  Council member Brent Bates proposed a 24-month moratorium on any data center, with the other five Council members readily agreeing.  Prowers County Commissioner had previously placed a 6-month moratorium on same, Commissioner Ty Harmon had said at the work session – “and we can renew that after 6 months”, effectively dashing the hopes of any potential data center for the foreseeable future for the area.

Other agenda items that were approved by Council included initiating annexation proceedings for property known as the Valco Subdivision and a public hearing for same was set for October 12.  Another public hearing, this one for a special event permit for the Lamar Chamber’s Oktoberfest beer garden, was scheduled for September 14.  Council approved a lease extension for North Fork Farms who needed more time for repairs on “the domes” (from the prior coal plant project) so that they can proceed with an option to purchase.  The facility will be used to store grain, fertilizer, and other farming products.  A Community Building Concession Agreement was approved for the Lamar Sports Booster Club who will pay a percentage of their sales as a rental payment.  Also approved was a 2026 agreement with Prowers County for the City of Lamar to provide ambulance services to the county in 2027.  The cost of the agreement, $145,000, remains the same as the current agreement.  The Lamar Library will again be the recipient of an annual grant from the State of Colorado to be used to promote literacy in the community.  This year, it receives $5,939 which will be used for books and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) kits.

Before the meeting adjourned, Council member Brent Bates asked if he could have the floor and then read aloud his letter of resignation from City Council (the letter is also published in its entirety in the August 26^th edition of The Prowers Journal) saying, in part, that over time he has “become increasingly concerned about the way information is shared, how decisions are developed, and whether every member of Council is consistently given the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the work we were elected to do”.

The next City Council meeting will be Monday, September 14, 2026.

By: Barbara Crimond