The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners discussed a proposed Project Jupiter open house and career fair at yesterday's meeting.
Doña Ana County Commission Chair Manuel Sanchez paused the meeting during public comment, which was once again dominated by those opposing Project Jupiter. The break came after he asked the audience several times to stop disrupting.
“If I continue to hear these outbursts, this is not a comedy show. This is a public meeting. I will cease public input,” Sanchez warned. “I don't know if at this point, I need to just empty this side of the room where I hear the noise.”
The audience was reacting to comments by laughing, clapping, and playing cricket noises when someone made a comment in support of the data center campus. Chair Sanchez asked for security to clear the left side of the chambers out, where most of the objectors were sitting. Security did not clear them out; the public got riled up, but in the end, objectors were just asked to calm down and stop playing sound effects.
“I understand this is your opportunity to speak, and I absolutely appreciate you participating. What I want to make sure is the voices either for and against both are respected,” Sanchez said.
Project Jupiter stakeholders and representatives will host an open house and career fair on June 17th .
Three months ago, Commissioner Susana Chaparro asked the commission and Project Jupiter stakeholders for a public meeting where constituents could get their questions answered. The meeting was meant to be a thoughtful discussion and has turned into a fair, she said expressing concern over the format change of the meeting.
“You’ve urged us for a meeting, you’ve demanded a meeting, you’ve even begged us for a meeting. And you begged for this meeting to answer well founded questions and we’re still not listening in my opinion,” Chaparro said.
She proposed for the commissioners to meet on a Saturday with community members, neutral experts and Project Jupiter stakeholders to have a ‘meaningful, thoughtful, rich and frank discussion’.
The open house style allows for more open conversation as opposed to a town hall style meeting, said Chair Sanchez.
“I understand wanting to have those direct meaningful conversations, I completely agree it’s just we need to have them in a way that people can have those conversations,” Sanchez said.
The open house is being held by Project Jupiter companies, not by the county, Chair Sanchez Clarified. Commissioner Chaparro asked the county to hold a meeting again, even if it takes hours to listen to the community.
“We cannot stop trying. And just saying that we’re going to have one meeting that is a job fair, I don’t think that is enough for some members of the community and it is certainly not enough for me,” Chaparro said.
Commissioner Susie Kimble suggested a website where constituents could submit questions, which would be gathered and from there the county would reach out to subject matter experts from NMSU, NMTECH, and/or UNM.
The county’s Project Jupiter website will be updated with a q&a section, which should be ready in about two weeks. County Manager Scott Andrews said the meeting will take about a month and a half to plan.
A follow-up presentation showing the public where they can find the website and submit questions may happen at the next BOCC meeting on June 23rd.
