In My Opinion - by Bob Ruth
May 29, 2026 — Bob Ruth
An attorney for Grove City’s proposed data center has requested private meetings with all seven City Council members for next week to lobby them on behalf of the controversial mega project.
Two Council members – President Ted Berry and Alan Sturm – yesterday declined the invitation, saying they are uncomfortable meeting behind closed doors with lobbyists for Headwaters Site Development of Dallas, Texas.
“I will decline,” Berry declared in an email to Council Clerk Tami K. Kelly. “I will only meet if it’s a public meeting and minutes are taken,”
In a separate email to Kelly, Sturm wrote, “It’s probably best to keep everything public and on the record.” He added that behind-the-scenes meetings would be especially questionable because the developer, Headwaters Site Development, filed its first official re-zoning request on Wednesday. Before then, City Council had no official proposal on the table.
The five other Council members had not emailed responses to the invitation request by the close of business yesterday (May 28).
Rebecca Mott, an attorney for Headwaters Development, asked Kelly in an email to set up private meetings with Council members for next Monday and Tuesday.
Mott declined to comment on Berry and Sturm’s remarks.
However, she added, “We’re not trying to hide anything.” She wants to set up private meetings with Council members to answer any lingering questions they might have, Mott told In My Opinion.
Lobbying by Headwaters Development representatives has become a hot topic. Critics contend private meetings with Council members unfairly tilt the scales in favor of the data center. During these chummy get-togethers, Council members hear only one side of the story, critics say.
Headwaters Development lobbyists have been contacting Mayor Ike Stage since at least October 2025, according to information gleaned from a public records request. The developer’s lobbyists started contacting Council members in February, public records reveal.
Mott’s request for private face time asked that no more than three Council members attend a meeting. Any more than three Council members would constitute a quorum. And a four Council-member quorum would require the session to be open to the public and official minutes be taken, according to the state attorney general’s manual on Ohio’s Sunshine Law.
Mott said she wants a more informal setting. Such non-quorum meetings attended by no more than three Council members would be legal under the Sunshine Law, she emphasized.
City Hall insiders predict additional Council members will follow Berry and Sturm’s lead and politely decline Mott’s invitation
Representatives of the Dallas,Texas, developer will be in Grove City to explain details of their proposed data-center complex at City Council’s next regular meeting on Monday at 6 p.m..
That public meeting will mark the start of a lengthy review and negotiation process that will include at least four public hearings before Council and the Planning Commission, Mott said. She expects a final vote on a re-zoning request for the data center will not come until Nov. 2 at the earliest, Mott said. “This is not on a fast track,” she said.
But data center critics aren’t so sure. They have repeatedly called for a 12-month moratorium similar to one approved unanimously by the Jackson Township trustees earlier in May. A year-long pause would allow City Hall officials and the public to educate themselves on the many complexities of the project, critics say.
They note that the data center faces a host of questions, including environmental, health, land use and economic. Also, the fast-growing number of energy-hungry data centers in Ohio are a major cause of electricity and water rate increases for homeowners, critics say. A data center in Grove City would simply add to the rate-increase burden, they add.
