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Elected officials tend to fall into two groups: the "delegates" and the "trustees.” Delegates follow the wishes of their constituents. Trustees act on their own judgement, regardless of constituents' wishes.
The City Council passed a four-month data center moratorium on July 13, with two Council members voting against it. That was repeated on July 27th , and the issue then went to the Planning & Zoning Commission.
The P&Z Commission met on August 3rd and voted to recommend that the City Council pass Ordinance 15321, the moratorium's official title, and waive the additional readings, so that it will go into effect immediately.
A new ordinance usually goes through two more discussions and votes at the next two Council meetings. During those readings, it can still be struck down. If it passes all three, it becomes law in Marshalltown.
Three potential data center sites are being marketed here right now, and the Planning & Zoning Commission's recommendation shows they believe strongly that the moratorium should become law immediately, without waiting another month.
Why would that extra month matter? This is where the difference between "delegates" and "trustees" becomes important. Who will vote for or against the moratorium and the waiver? And why? One reason to oppose it might be that a data center deal is about to be finalized.
If the waiver fails, a data center developer would have more than a month to submit applications for the Special Permits needed. And then an approved application from the Board of Adjustment, which meets next on August 18th, is all that would be required to begin work.
Data center construction could start next month, with no specific Zoning regulations, if either the moratorium or the waiver fail.
Could that actually happen? The answer might be directly related to the "Closed Session" that the City Council held at the end of the last meeting and is scheduled to repeat tonight to discuss real estate.
A "closed session" means that only City Council members are there to hear what is said. These particular closed sessions were scheduled to privately discuss prices of real estate to be bought or sold by the City to make sure the City wouldn't lose money on a sale or pay too much for a purchase.
At least three data center projects are being marketed in Marshalltown right now. The best-known is out in the County, on Shady Oaks Road, and involves 1224 acres. (The Marshall County Supervisors will meet at the Courthouse at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 12th, if you would like to join that meeting.)
The Marshalltown Chamber of Commerce is advertising a City-owned parcel on Marion Street that mentions fiber optic availability and a proposed 250,000 square foot pad. Those details would be of particular interest to data center developers.
And then there is the Edgewood Extension Project on the north side of town. The City's public documentation of the project is not particularly detailed, but it includes a new roadway and nine lots for private industrial development.
Rumors from credible sources refer to a discussion during the Council's closed session on July 27 of a purchase agreement between the City and a data center developer who has already offered a mutually-acceptable sum to buy several of those lots.
In return, the developer has demanded cancellation of the moratorium and adoption of zoning regulations that the developer finds acceptable.
Which means the developer will call the shots on how that data center is regulated.
In his recent full-page ad urging Marshalltown to defeat the moratorium, Jeff Schneider wrote "We won't have the details on any specific project until someone brings one to us." If the rumors are true, then Mr. Schneider and the rest of the Council already know the details.
The public really does need (and deserve) to know, as well.
That first closed Council session looks different now. It wasn't about protecting the City's assets. It was a hidden conversation about a transfer of wealth to the City.
If that happened in the first closed session, what's likely to happen in the one scheduled for tonight's meeting? Open it to the public so we can all know what is being planned. Better yet, hold off on the vote on the moratorium and waiver until after that discussion so the public can get a clear view of who is voting how and why tonight.
The Planning & Zoning Commission member who stepped down last week wrote in his letter of resignation (Times-Republican, 8/8/26) that he had "become uncomfortable with some of the behind-the-scenes issues surrounding recent matters" and that he believed "in serving the community with transparency and professionalism".
Maybe that had nothing to do with data centers. But transparency and professionalism are certainly the least we should be able to expect from elected and appointed officials.
The public has been assured multiple times that it is not possible for a data center to "slip in" before new zoning regulations have been put in place. If that turns out to be false - or if the moratorium is cancelled altogether - the people of Marshalltown will eventually find out how it happened.
The most expedient and effective way to protect the community's interest - and to make it possible for Marshalltown to truly benefit from well-regulated data centers - is for the City Council to pass Ordinance 15321, waive the additional readings, and speak openly about what was discussed in the last Closed Session.
(All public records are available at marshalltown-ia.gov. My site, getyourdatahere.org, includes links to all the public City documents as well as links to information about the three potential data center sites currently being marketed in Marshall County.)
Annie Grieshop has lived in rural Marshall County for nearly 20 years and enjoys researching history, technology, and public policies that shape local communities.