Matthew Crowe press conference

Menomonie City Council Alderman Matthew Crowe held a press conference on September 25th at the Menomonie City Council Chambers. At the conference, Crowe explained his position on the data center, given that he was unable to attend the Monday meeting when Mayor Randy Knaack announced that he had placed the negotiations for the data center "on pause."

Alderman Crowe read his previous press releases on the Data Center, emphasizing that when the council voted to approve the annexation and rezoning of the land, it was with the understanding that the zoning was a separate issue from approving a data center, about which very little was known at the time.

He expressed disappointment that the mayor unilaterally cut off discussion with Balloonist LLC, since it was likely that the city would not have extended a TIF district to the data center due to the size of the project, and that Balloonist probably would have walked away from the project. 

Crowe was questioned about his view of trust with the city, and he stated, "We could have done things better." 

He also remarked that he does not know if Knaack has received a response from Balloonist or if the property has yet been sold. 

Crowe stated that he abstained from voting on the pre-developer agreement on March 3rd because at that time he believed he may have had a conflict of interest. 

"I think we missed an opportunity, instead of 120 day period, instead of putting the planning commission meeting right away on that first that last Monday in July, at the first opportunity, we could have done that, you know, later on the last Monday of August in the August 4 vote really could have been the discussion ".

He denied all of the rumors that people in the city administration had been offered money or jobs for moving the project along.

When questioned about the issues of placing items on the council agenda that Alderperson Sydney Brennan brought up at the Monday meeting, he responded, "You know, it's my understanding that Mayor Randy can act, had the final say on the agenda, and what comes on the agenda. We have a city council president. We used to have a city council vice president. My understanding is there was more collaboration on what could be on the agenda. We can't bring stuff up. We can't email the administrator. We can email and talk to Mayor. Can act on that. We can bring it up in communications at the end of the day, Randy has the final say on what goes on.".

When asked if the company could still move forward without a developer agreement, he replied

"I believe they could. I believe they could put in a private well, and they could make the data center without city infrastructure and public support. I don't believe they're going to do that. They want to be welcoming to the community, and if community doesn't want them, that they're not going to come, I don't think they're going to be the aggressor of the situation."

Crowe also mentioned that this project could have been financially beneficial to the city, which is currently $ 28 million in debt, partly due to tax income and partly because increasing the tax base would help improve the city's tax rating. The Menomonie economy is not growing.

A discussion followed about the difficulty of attracting businesses to the city due to the current lack of affordable housing, an issue the city is addressing. According to Crowe, "the shortage of rental shortage does stifle economic progress".

Lastly, Crowe mentioned the call for a resolution of no confidence that was brought up by Alderperson Brennan, and asked that the city "give her grace" and that the voters in the city not ask for her resignation, but to let her finish her term.