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Data Centers in Columbia County: The Facts You Haven't Heard
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Data centers are coming to Columbia County — and everyone has questions. In this episode of Voices of Real Estate, Jamie Jorge of Blanchard and Calhoun sits down with Heath Taylor, President and CEO of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, to separate fact from fear on one of the biggest topics in the CSRA right now.
Hey there, it's Jamie George, the marketing director with Blancher and Calhoun, here for another episode of Voices of Real Estate. Today I'm super excited to have Heath Taylor, who is the president and CEO of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce. How are you doing, Heath?
SPEAKER_01I'm great. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Well, so obviously, one of the first things I want to ask you is, you know, you were here before, part of the chamber. You kind of went away for a little bit and now you're back. So tell us a little bit about yourself and then kind of that journey of what you did and then coming back to it.
SPEAKER_01Okay, thank you. Um, yeah, so Columbia County Chamber of Commerce in 2016. Prior to that, I spent eight years in Aiken County with the Aiken Chamber of Commerce. Uh grew up in the CSRA my whole life and uh had an opportunity. I was working with Tammy Shepard at the Columbia County Chamber in 2016 as the vice president. Um got a phone call about an opportunity to be the president of a chamber in Dublin, Georgia. I had never heard of Dublin, Georgia. Um, so I went down to check it out and just look at the lay of the land, met some people, and uh it's kind of interesting. And so um I did the interview process, and and I would just to speed up and tell you, I had one of the worst weekends of my life was on Friday I had accepted the position down there, and on Monday I had to come back and tell Tammy that I was not going to be at the Columbia County Chamber any longer.
SPEAKER_00Sure, she was happy about that.
SPEAKER_01She was uh in shock a little bit. And uh Tammy and I are great friends, we've always been great friends, even before I came to work at the chamber. We've remained great friends since, and I loved Columbia County. I would tell anybody there's nothing that was wrong or Columbia County didn't do it. It was an opportunity for me in my career to be a president versus a vice president.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Um, 10 wonderful years in Dublin Lawrence County as the chamber CEO. Um we doubled nondu's revenue, uh, we raised membership over 200 members there. But more than anything, uh we started being what a chamber should be in a community. And I know we'll talk about that in a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Um also had the opportunity during that time to graduate from the United States Institute of Organizational Management where I stayed on as a member of the Board of Regents for 12 years with the U.S. Chamber.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_01I've chaired the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Executives Association. I'm actually the immediate past chair, and I'm not a happy, like, oh, you know, it's immediate past chair, that's the best position. I'm really going to miss um having a seat at that table and being a part of that conversation. But I look at the chamber world as um a calling more than a job. Um, I feel like some people have to go to work every day and some people get to go to work. And I absolutely love what I do and I get to go to work every day.
SPEAKER_00I love that. So when you are not doing all the chamber things, tell us a little bit about Heath.
SPEAKER_01So I would tell you there's never a time that I, if I'm awake, I'm doing chamber things. Um, but I'm blessed to be a pastor in addition um to my chamber role. And both of those opportunities to me are just that. They're opportunities to serve, uh, to help people live a better quality of life and and to help one another. And so I spend a lot of time in ministry, um, even during the day with people. I've I've had many opportunities even in the chamber to pray with people, uh, to help people, encourage people. You don't always have to you know beat somebody over the head with a Bible or scripture to help them or to encourage them. Absolutely. Um, so I enjoy my church and uh my wife and my children. I have three children, um, all uh out of college now and one grandchild. Um I like to play golf, I like to bowl, I like sports, period. Uh, and I just enjoy life and again um more than anything, I think I'm trying to encourage folks.
SPEAKER_00I love that. I love that. So I was in your office, what, last week, saw a lot of you know, Georgia stuff. So is it safe to assume you're a Georgia fan?
SPEAKER_01Uh spend more money than I should probably at the University of Georgia, but yeah, again, I mentioned sports. So uh I'm hoping maybe during the weekend um or sometime in the near future to get up to one of the baseball games. Um go to a lot of basketball games, a lot of football games, um, mostly for me, even television. If it's got a ball involved in some way, shape, or form, you're about it. I actually and my wife picks at me because I don't cook a lot. Okay, but I know how to cook. And uh I know a lot about cooking, and I'm really interested in like the science of cooking and what pairs well with other foods and and what not to put with other foods and things like it's just interesting.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Well, so were you here when we had um the Chick-fil-A? Chick-fil-A brought I think I can't remember her name exactly, but she came from Chick-fil-A, and her entire job was to create new things, new food and drink items. I miss that. Oh, it it was the neatest thing, and I was like, that's a job. Like, how how how do you even get to do that? So that's super neat. Maybe that, you know, if you decide to retire from the chamber, that could be your your new thing.
SPEAKER_01I like to travel um and I like to eat. Those are two other things I probably should have thrown in there is travel and and eating.
SPEAKER_00I I second that. I am a huge fan as well. Okay, so I mean, I love that. We love that you're back. Um, obviously I get to interact with you a lot, which is great. Um, but I wanted to kind of talk a little bit about chamber stuff, right? Um, I feel like sometimes our community, unless they and even sometimes the businesses that are currently members of the chamber, they don't really do know what we do, right? What the chamber does. So can you speak a little bit about kind of what your goals are for the chamber and what you hope our members and community get from the chamber and what they can get from you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and thank you for asking that. I think one thing I want to start with is what the chamber is not, um, because it's very important for people to realize or understand the chamber is a 100% membership-driven organization. So we don't receive any funding from our state government, our local government, accommodations tax, hotel-motel money, 100% of anything that we do at the chamber comes from revenue through membership, our sponsorships. Um, and that's the two ways that the chamber is funded non-dues revenue and then revenue from our membership. And so some people ask, well, what is non-dues revenue? And and we'll get into that and talk about that a little bit. But why would somebody join the chamber of commerce? Um, you know, I hear people sometimes say, well, it's great, it's wonderful. I know you guys have a lot of good parties and and networking. Um, you know, we joke in the chamber world, networking is one letter away from not working. So you have to be careful sometimes how much networking you do.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01But maybe you're busy, um, which to me, I love to hear that. I'm I'm busy and I don't have time to come to your programs and I don't have time to come to your events. That's great. That means business is good.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01That means you've got a lot of customers and you're busy doing your job. So sometimes instead of joining the chamber, why don't you have the chamber join you and let us help you and work with you? I I asked a gentleman one time, what's your the the employee that you have that you pay the least? I said, I'm betting it's more than $400 a year. And he said, Oh, it's it's not even close. Um, you know, you can hire the chamber to come and work with you and work for you for $400 a year. Um, while you're working in your business, we can work for your business. So maybe you can't go to county commissioner meetings. Uh, maybe you don't have the ear sometime of the legislators. Uh, we do.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01And and just by you being a member of the chamber, first off, you have a monetary investment there that helps us be able to execute our program of work. We don't just show up every day and I get to come in and say, oh, this is what we're gonna do. And this, we we put a lot of planning and time into a strategic plan. You guys, you were probably part of that. Yep. Um, and we have a strategic plan and we have pillars that that we like to put things in. Sometimes I call them buckets. Um, but everything that we do should align with those workforce and education efforts, those quality of life efforts, childcare efforts, um, technology, wherever that might fit in. Um, we want to make sure we're given opportunities for small business to grow and prosper. Again, but if you don't have time to come to something at the chamber, your monetary investment helps us do the things that we do and then the strength in numbers. And I know we've had this conversation a little bit. Um, yeah, we're the most powerful, powerless organization in the world.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_01I laugh when I say that. People usually get a kick out of that, but we can't pass legislation or bills in Congress or anything, but we can definitely impact that. When you join your local chamber of commerce and we're almost a thousand members strong at the Columbia County Chamber, that's something to be proud of. Absolutely. And to say that we have that kind of support from our business community, but we can impact um legislation. We can impact the people who make those decisions when we say, hey, we're speaking on behalf of almost a thousand businesses in Columbia County. Um, they listen to to what our thoughts and views are on the legislation that they're considering. So um I could go on and on and on uh about what the chamber does. There's not an area, I don't think in your life that the chamber doesn't impact in some way, shape, or form.
SPEAKER_00Well, and can you elaborate on that a little bit? You know, I think that's probably a misconception in our in our community. They they're they don't necessarily know, like you said, if they are maybe a new business that joins the chamber, they can't come to the networking events, they can't come to the breakfast, the lunches. Um, and then they sit there a year later and go, Well, I don't, I don't really know why I joined, right? What I know you guys can advocate for me, but what are you advocating for? So can you give us a couple of examples?
SPEAKER_01And so direct return on your investment. People are always looking at, you know, if I put money in, how much money will I get out? Are you gonna make my cash register ring? Um, I want to sit down with people, I want to talk to them about why you joined the chamber and why you should join the chamber. Again, sometimes it's not as direct, sometimes it can be indirect. One of the things we work on, um, I don't know, 70, 80 percent of our time is workforce and education, uh, child care. So if we can't help um provide quality-rated child care for our citizens, people can't go to work. Uh, we also need affordable child care, and so that's something else that we're working on. Um, and I I think we already have some plans in place. Uh, we hired a new workforce and education vice president, uh Dr. Lyle Hoags, doing a wonderful job. Absolutely. And um, we've got some some plans already in place to help impact childcare in a positive manner um as far as quality rated um goes and as far as availability and spaces in these bushes. That's that's what we're finding more than anything, is some of our facilities are rated for, let's just say, 170 kids, but they only have 120, but they're at capacity and they have a waiting list. And part of the reason is because they don't have a workforce. So we've got to work with our schools better to create those pathways and and make sure our students are aware of those opportunities. Something else is really important. We're working with the schools now, they're doing a great job, um, never to undervalue a college degree, but in this day and time, skill trades are high paying, high demand, that's right, um, great benefits. And so we're also working with our schools. And and when I say schools, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, all the way to the Augusta Techs, to the Augusta University, um, to make sure we're creating a pipeline of workers for our future.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I know that um through the leadership program, I went when we kind of toured schools and I mean it's so different from when I was in high school. And I, you know, I grew up here, went to high school here, went to AU. Um, but everything when I was in school was college bound, college bound, college bound. And if you weren't call if you weren't college bound, not that you were kind of tossed to the wayside, but you know, you kind of were.
SPEAKER_01Less than.
SPEAKER_00Right. And and there is no pathway. Um, so going to these high schools now and seeing like the auto mechanics shop and where they're actually working on real cars and robotics and all, I mean, it's super neat. Um, would you say that the chamber is very involved in that part of it?
SPEAKER_01Very involved and invested. Um, not only do we talk about it, but we invest financially uh in these programs. Um, one of the programs, Shamey, it's funny you mentioned that about 10 or 11 years ago, we had a group of students, and I love to get the students out of a classroom and let's get them into the workplace. Let's let them see it, taste it, touch it, feel it, smell it, whatever it might be. This is what work looks like. Um, talk to the person who does this job. Talk to them about their benefits and their pay and and what this so we were in the quad graphics, Quebecor World. Uh, it's had multiple names on Evans Tilox Roads, a printing company. Uh, actually worked there for about 19 years.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01And we were touring some students through, and uh, there was a gentleman, and I happen to know this gentleman really well, and he was one of the uh mechanics, and he was working on one of the folders, and he'd gotten a little bit greasy that day. And the lady that was walking with us with the students, she said, You see that guy over there? That's why your mother wants you to go to college. She don't want you to end up like that. Oh, and um the gentleman that she was talking about, like I said, was a good friend of mine, played a lot of golf with him, and and I knew what he made and what his benefits were. So we got back on the bus, headed back, and I said, You know, the gentleman that you pointed out, I said he, and this was back in the the early 90s, I said he makes about $85,000 a year. Um, that's one of the very few times you'll see him greasy and dirty like that. That's not normally what their day looks like. Um they had 401k at four weeks of vacation. I said, I think I'm okay if if my son turns out like that particular gentleman. Absolutely. We were in one of the automotive shops, and this was back when Kendrick Painting Body was all around. And I said, Stephen, I said, wow man, you guys cleaned up the shop here. This looks really, really good. And he said, No, Heath, our shop looks like this every day. Um, and so that old perception of the industry worker, the factory worker. Um, I'll tell you, my two kids. I've got one that graduated college, one that started college and didn't finish. This doesn't apply to every circumstance or every situation. Love my boys, they're great, they're awesome, they have different paths. But my college graduate right now makes about 50,000 a year less than my son that did not graduate from college.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01Um, so it there's there is a place for college. Um in my oldest son, I believe was college is good for him, it'll benefit him in the end. But my younger son, I don't, I don't think that was the right place for him anyway.
SPEAKER_00Right. Um and that's okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and I mean, you know, I just don't think God made us all to be college graduates. Um, we need some people that can weld, we need some people that can you know outside the studio right now, they're doing road construction. Uh we gotta have roads to drive on, we gotta have electricians, we get we gotta have plumbers, pipe footers, all of those different trades. So I I think I'm seeing a lot more effort, um, a lot more actually regionally, um, working with the Augusta Chamber, working with North Augusta, Aiken, McDuffie County, um, several meetings in the last few weeks where all of us were in a room together to say, hey, how can we partner together to address this workforce need? Um, I think chambers should not just embrace change. I think we should lead change. Um, but I think we've we've got to be relevant. And the days of networking parties and business after hours, while those things are still important, um, that's not where we want to hang our hat.
SPEAKER_00Sure.
SPEAKER_01Um I I think it's it's a lot more the advocacy today and a lot more the workforce issues.
SPEAKER_00Well, and speaking about the other chambers, obviously this is the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, but there's the Augusta Metro, Aiken, North Augusta. Do you guys all partner together, um, especially on bigger initiatives?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Jamie, I want to see that improve. And I hope me being here will help. Um, I've worked with Kenya since day one that she's been in Thompson McDuffie County. I used to work with Angie at the Augusta Chamber when she was in Milledgeville early in her career. She's great. Uh, Jim over in Aiken, when he was coming through Chamber Institute, I was a class advisor and on the board of regents while he was there. I had an opportunity to meet him. And then Tara and I have worked together for 20 years. And so I have really, really strong relationships, I feel like, with all of our area chambers, all the way down to Ashley, even in Burke County. Um, so yeah, I think we will work very well collaboratively together. Um, and you'll see a lot more of that in the future. I I've always believed, you know, there are roads that that go in two directions for a reason. Um, I had somebody the other day ask, well, you know, we're not members of the Columbia County Chamber because our business is based in Augusta. I said, well, there's plenty of businesses that are members of our chamber that are based in Augusta, and there are plenty of Columbia County businesses that are members of the Augusta Metro Chamber. Um, you need to, I would love to say you really need people to support the Chamber of Commerce because again, there's not another organization in any community that does what the chamber does. And and people, again, what is that? Well, we bring people together to accomplish what we would never accomplish individually.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_01And we'd like for everybody to have a seat at the table. Um, I don't care if you're a one-person business, smallest business in town, or you're the the corporate giant, your opinion matters and it counts, and we need you at the table to have this conversation.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And I know, you know, for Blanchard and Calhoun, we're part of all of the chambers, right? Um, and we our leadership team kind of we divvy up, and obviously I'm a little bit more involved in the Columbia County Chamber, but you know, I I'm lucky enough that I get to go and and spend time with Tara. And um when David uh Jameson was in Aiken, you know, he we went to lunch a few times. So everyone seems to just have the same goals kind of in mind, and everyone runs everything differently. Um, and I'm glad you mentioned businesses who are in Richmond County who aren't a part of Columbia County or or vice versa, because that is something that I've heard when I've tried to encourage people to join the chamber, especially if they're a new business, just kind of saying, hey, you know, get involved. Like there's so much that uh that happens behind the scenes, and um we're so close. I mean, look at how we all tend to work together and we're all in different areas all the time. Um, it doesn't make sense not to.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's a region, right?
SPEAKER_00It's a region.
SPEAKER_01Um, but whether you're from Aiken County or McDuffie County or Burke County, um, your money's no different than anyone else's money. And again, we all want to do business with one another. And when we all prosper and grow, you know, rising tides lift all ships. And and so we've got to work on this together. I think sometimes the the perception and where it may come from, um, I think it's safe. I can speak for Angie and Tara and Kenya and Jim and Ashley and any of the rest of it. You're busy.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01Um, people it's amazing to me sometimes people say, Oh, you're the chamber CEO. Is that your full-time job? And I'm like, Yeah, if you like working 70 hours a week, it is.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01Um, but we're busy working on the things at our chamber. And and we do have another saying in the chamber industry. If you've seen one chamber, you've seen one chamber. Um, you have to be what your community needs you to be as the chamber of commerce. So Augusta is a little bit different. North Augusta is a little different. I don't have to tell you that. You know the landscape and the governance and everything else. But um, it looks like sometimes, well, the chambers don't work together because we are working on things that impact our community directly. But I do think here, um, I I couldn't even start to tell you how many times I've sat in a room with Tara or Angie or Jim or Kenya since I've been back just since February. Yes. Too many meetings to count. And we're all on the same page. We're trying to figure out yes, what can we do to improve the economy, the quality of life in the region that we live in. So great partnerships, I think.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. And everyone's so great. So I'm glad that that's improving. Um, because I mean, and I know especially for you and for the Augusta Metro chamber with Angie, um, that we do a lot of like joint ribbon cuttings for, you know, businesses who have joined and I always thought that was lovely. It's such a big crowd, lots of support. Um, and it just shows kind of the backing from the community when we've got new businesses coming up and trying to make it, right? And like you said, all of it's good for our economy, all of it's good for our people, um, and that ultimately is good for us.
SPEAKER_01It is. And and collaborations, um, you know, I don't want to downplay the opportunities to network and to meet other people, but that is a another use of the chamber. I'll give another great example. Last week I was downtown at at Edgar's on Broad. I met some folks, they were not members of our chamber, they were members of the Augusta Chamber. I said, Hey, that's great, it's fine. We would love to have you as well. And the particular business that this gentleman was in, I started asking him, you know, do you work with this type of business or this or this? And uh this morning I was speaking with a rotary club and I met a lady and and I said, Oh, I met a guy last week that you need to know because your business goes in line with his business. And I got her business card. I can call him this afternoon and I can say, hey, I met some, even though this guy has not even joined our chamber yet. I hope he will. Um, but I want to connect them. Um, and and I would tell you this, you know, even if you're not a member of the Chamber of Commerce, I want to see you grow and succeed. Uh, nobody wants a community with boarded up windows, um, out-of-business signs, lighted housing, uh, poorly performing schools. That hurts everybody. So, yeah, we we got to have a strong region and work together and and partner together here.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And it looks like you guys are going down that path, which is super exciting for our community. So um, thank you so much for talking a little bit more about just kind of what the chamber does, what you guys do. Um, I do also, you know, if you feel comfortable talking about it, I know kind of the big topic right now is giving data centers, right? Um, and so uh obviously you've heard a lot about that. Um, probably gotten a lot of phone calls, emails about it. Can you speak a little bit about it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, let me let me say something before we get into that. Okay. I just feel like it's important to say, um, you know, our world today tells us um if somebody is thinking differently than you, then you probably can't have a relationship with that person and you can't work together. If you don't look exactly alike, your skin's not the same color, um, maybe whatever your your gender today, uh, there's all these different things in the world, says, Well, you're different, you're set apart, you can't be this, you can't be that. And we, Jamie, you and I, I just met you in February. We don't look exactly alike. We probably don't agree on every single matter. If we looked hard enough, we could find something we don't agree on. But at the end of the day, and I haven't asked you this, I'm guessing you would like to have somewhere safe to live, to learn, to work, and to play. Absolutely. Maybe raise your family and and a great quality of life. I don't care what your sexual orientation is, what your religious views are, what color your skin is, or we all share those things. And that's how you build relationships. Right. And if we could just focus on, hey, what do we have in common? You know, um, people that are married. I'm I can attest, been married for quite a while. I love my wife. We don't always agree. I know that comes as a shock to some people. We disagree sometimes, but you don't build your relationship on what you disagree on, you build it on the things that you have in common. That's right. Um, and I still believe that we have more things in common than we differ on. So data centers. Um, I don't want to tell people, oh yeah, data center great, wonderful, there's nothing bad. Why are you against a data center? If you're on the other side of that fence and you're anti-data center, I would still like to have a conversation with you. I want to know why you're so anti-data center. Um, and I'm not here to tell you that you're wrong.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01But I do want to make sure we're talking about facts. Um, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, nobody's entitled to their own facts. And so everything that I've studied and found about data centers for the most part is positive. Um, data centers are not going to use up all the world's water supply. Matter of fact, um, I looked up last night, I had a presentation that I was doing, and of the industries in the United States, agriculture actually is the number one user of water. Um, it surprised me that food and beverage, I forget if it was either number two or three, and just the amount of money, and it was weird that this was what I found, but but to make a bottle of beer, how much water it takes to produce a bottle of beer. Um, data centers AI technology actually comes in at number five as far as industry worldwide in water usage. So to say, you know, oh, the data centers are going to use up all the water, they're gonna, you know, deplete the earth of no, that's not true. Um matter of fact, there's a uh amico plastics plant. I read this article the other day in Corpus Christi, Texas. Um, the amico plastics plant uses more water in one day than the city's water parks and splash beds do in the entire summer.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_01Um, so I want to say let's talk about facts. Right. Energy. Yes, data centers use energy. Um, the great thing about data centers is they pay for all the infrastructure for the added energy use. Um, in addition to infrastructure, billions of dollars in taxes that will then come back to us in the form of tax relief as a community. Um, I wish I could sit here this morning and say this is how much money you're gonna get back in your pocket. Sure. I I don't know, but I do know there will be some tax relief. Um, I also want to say while we're talking about this, and I want to say thank you to the leadership that we have in Columbia County because Columbia County is a great place to live, to learn, to work, and to play. Um, there's a reason why so many people are moving into Columbia County and want to be in Columbia County, and it's not because we've had poor leadership. So um the people that have made these decisions to bring these data centers, live there, work there, play there, their families live there. I don't think they're making decisions that would be detrimental to their well-being. Um, another thing with data centers, uh regulations, regulatory issues. Uh Columbia County is kind of the gold standard on regulating data centers. We have uh regulations from lighting to water to noise and different things like that. Uh, another great thing I've been telling people so 70 decibels is the noise level up to the 500-foot buffer. Do you have any idea what 70 decibels sounds like?
SPEAKER_00Have no idea.
SPEAKER_01The sound of my voice right now is right at 70 decibels. So just to let people kind of put that into perspective, a normal conversation that you have with somebody, you're speaking close to 70 decibels. Um so yeah, I think um, and especially our end user, probably by the time this is aired, will have been announced. I think that will relieve some people's angst just a little bit. Sure. Um, I wish we could tell everybody, hey, this is who it is, but but there's reasons that you can't do that. Of course. Some people understand that and some don't. Um, but the investment, the billions, not millions, but billions of dollars that will be invested in our community um through this company, uh I just see it as a a good thing for our future.
SPEAKER_00Okay. And so for people who might have misinformation or or they are hearing all of these other things that may not be true, where would you recommend that they go to find factual information?
SPEAKER_01Columbia County Data Center dot com.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01I'll say again, it's the chamber website, Columbia County Data Center.com, and your questions go straight to the end user and they will get you an answer. Call the Chamber of Commerce, come see me. Um, I like to pride the chamber on being a source of truth. If I can't back it up, if I can't prove it to you, I hope I'm not gonna say it to you. If you're correct, uh I will acknowledge the fact that you're correct. I I was talking with someone yesterday and they said, well, you know, what about um land acquisition? And I don't know why I struggle with this world, but eminent, I said it right, domain. Um, it's been around forever.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01I I saw a video the other day. Again, the young lady was using data to do her video to talk about how we shouldn't have data centers, but she was speaking of how the government now can just take your land. Well, the government can't just take your land, but sometimes we have to have right-of-ways, um, whether it be transmission lines, uh, roads. So if you look right behind the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce on North Bel Air, there are some beautiful houses back there. I've been looking around in the area. Half million dollars, probably even more. And they're about to have four lanes of traffic going like right through their front yard. And if you live there, that's a pain point. That it stinks. Um, so growth is painful.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01Um, for the people who travel that road every day, great. Hey, I can get where I'm going a lot more efficiently. Um, where I live, my home in Dublin, nice little neighborhood, 26 houses in our neighborhood, not the most expensive neighborhood, not the least expensive, just a nice neighborhood. And one of the things I enjoyed is in the afternoons going out in the backyard and I had my little spot with nice grass and I hit golf balls over the trees into the woods. Uh, I can't do that anymore. They built apartments right behind my house that I could probably reach with a seven-iron, uh, which is about 150 yards through the trees there. And uh for myself and my neighbor, that's it, it's just we don't like it.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01Um, I didn't put an article in the paper, I didn't go on TV, although I could have, and dashed our elected officials and the people who built the apartments. We need the apartments, we need housing. It stinks that they built them right behind where I live. Um, but we need that. And so I would say to anybody who lives in close proximity to the data center, I I could listen to their argument and probably side with them on some issues. Sure. Um, you know, the people that live 20 miles away, 50 miles away, and they're using data every single day and enjoying all the luxuries of data centers, but want to say, no, we don't need data centers, I have a little bit more issue with that.
SPEAKER_00Right. Well, and obviously I've heard um once the website went up, right, um, that people are like, well, why is the chamber involved in this? Why, you know, why are they getting, why are they backing this? But can you talk to us a little bit about why the chamber is involved on that front?
SPEAKER_01Thank you. That's a great question. Yeah. So uh billions of dollars of investment in the community. Uh, if the chamber is not there, what a sorry chamber we would be. We're there for business, and we are here to promote business. Now, we want smart growth, we want the right business. Um, I can't think of a better use, maybe, of the land that's been acquired to put those data centers for what they're going to do for our community. We could build a thousand more houses, we could have some other type of industry there that may not be as good of a corporate citizen and may not invest. I can tell you our data centers are going to invest again, millions and millions of dollars uh even in our workforce. I've had conversations with Dr. Hooker over at Augustatech and um with the data center folks about investment in building training facilities there. Um, I know of three or four of our local nonprofits that they've already reached out to and they're going to be investing a lot of money. When I say a lot, I don't mean like $100,000. I mean like money that will make a difference. Um, so I think they're being good community partners. I've heard conversations about um land preservation, about nature trails, and and just all sorts of different things. I I really, really feel confident in saying I think they're gonna be great community partners.
SPEAKER_00Well, it really sounds like it. Um, and especially if they're investing back into our community, right? That's a huge part of it. Um, and the whole goal of the website and the chamber support behind it is to provide factual information and truth, right? Um, and I think maybe people don't understand that. They're reading it as, oh, well, the chamber's pushing this agenda, but in actuality, we just want to provide information to our community about, you know, numbers, figures, yeah, other data centers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I don't think I could say that clearly enough, Jamie. I'm not the the cheerleader for data centers. Right. Um, you know, I read my Bible a lot and I don't want to turn this into a sermon or anything, but there's there's some things down the road that could be negative because of data centers, I'm sure. Um, but if you want to look at it as investment in your community, as giving back to your community, as bringing high-paying jobs, I mean, they check all the boxes. And again, you can have that type of industry come to your community, or you can have one that's not as friendly um to your community. Now, the other part of this is Columbia County is, and and this is where the misinformation you were talking about earlier comes from. A lot, I again, if people will call the chamber and come see me, I've got a lot of factual data um and Columbia County's ordinances. And if you put our ordinances next to Fayette County, next to Newton, uh, next to anybody, we have the most stringent ordinances of anyone. And my understanding is it's kind of the gold standard right now, not only the state, but nationally, they're looking at Columbia County and saying, hey, this is the right way to do it. Um, we've learned, and and we've had the opportunity. I know our leadership, myself, I've been on the phone with chamber CEOs from Indiana to Virginia, all over the United States, to say, hey, you've got data centers in your community. What would you have done differently? What do you see? What problems are you facing? Um, and then I think we've learned from all of that to say, okay, we want to be the ones to do this right. Are we perfect? Have we covered every single thing? Probably not.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01But I still feel confident in our leadership that they've done their homework, and uh, and I think we'll make this the best case scenario.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Well, we're really excited about kind of how this unfolds, and I'm glad you said that, you know, anyone who's concerned, anyone who has questions can just reach out to you directly or come by the chamber.
SPEAKER_01And there are legitimate concerns. Sure. Um, but most of the ones, like I said, whether it's lighting, whether it's sound, you know, water, power, um, I think we can dispel most of those myths and and have reasonable answers that it would be hard to argue. Um, again, I don't want to be the promoter of the data center. I I want to be the I want to be the the voice of reason and the voice of truth.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01I would much rather do that.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I think it goes to say that so many of the concerns too, or or some of the bigger concerns like power, I mean, there's somebody from Georgia Power that sits on the board and understands what's going on and you know, and is part of these conversations. Um, and so it's not like we're just pulling information out of thin air, right?
SPEAKER_01No, no, so Georgia Power, and that's a great example. And again, Georgia is unique to any other state with our power grid. But Georgia Power is with this data center. They work with them on a daily basis. They're talking about what they're doing, how they're going to do. Um Department of Energy, I've learned through studying, has over 30 programs that are designed to work on energy efficiency and then investment. Um, DOE just put $26 billion into a power facility in the state of Georgia. Um, so I'm not worried. I'm really not worried at all that that we will run out of power or that our power is going to go up exponentially because of data centers. Again, do I think it's going to go up in four years? I think I think it has to. Sure.
SPEAKER_02Everything else is more.
SPEAKER_01Um but yeah, DOE, uh Georgia Power, all of those folks working together. Um I don't think they have cruel intent and and want to do harm to us.
SPEAKER_00So well, you know, in kind of in closing, what I'd love for you to do, Heath, is two things, right? Okay. One talk to the people, the businesses, the organizations that maybe haven't taken advantage of a membership.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, or or are members and maybe, you know, don't really know the full extent of the power that the chamber can offer them and help them in their business. And then two, um, remind everyone where to find information about the data centers and how to contact you with questions.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we would love to have you partner with us at the Chamber of Commerce. And I like to say it that way: partner with us, have us join you, you join us, hire us, whatever way you want to look at that. Um, but if you've not considered the chamber lately, or if you don't know exactly how the chamber could help your business, please reach out to us. Give us an opportunity to come and sit down uh and talk with you about what the chamber actually does in the community and the positive impact that we have. Uh I want to say thank you, Jamie, not only for having me here today, but um personally and professionally, I bet you could give a testimony to say how the chamber has helped you grow. Absolutely. Because those opportunities are there. Um, we have so many volunteers that help us at the chamber. We couldn't do the things we do at the chamber without the volunteers that help us set up for our programs, manage our registration tables. I could go on and on and on, but all those are great opportunities for exposure and professional development. Um so love to have people uh join the chamber, be a part of the chamber. But again, if you can't ever come to a program or an event, uh you can still benefit substantially from supporting your local chamber of commerce. I kind of look at it like insurance. Sometimes you pay for your insurance every month and you hope you never have to use your insurance. That's right. Um, you know, if you don't have to use the in the chamber, then that would be a good thing. That means business is good, schools are good, everything's good. But if you need the chamber, we're here for you. And and whether you're a member of the chamber or not, Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, um, I don't know if the number can be on the screen. It's 706-6510018. We would love to hear from you, talk to you if you have concerns uh about data centers or anything else, uh just business in general, give us a call. And Columbia County Data Center.com is the chamber website. Uh any questions that you have, you put those questions in and you will get an answer. If you don't get an answer quickly, you call us and we'll make sure you get that answer.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Well, thank you again, Heath, for your time. I know it's valuable. I know you've got a lot of stuff going on, especially since, you know, you just told me that um, you know, you came from Rotary this morning. So, you know, I know you've got a busy day, but we really appreciate you.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for the opportunity to serve.
SPEAKER_00Yep. All right. We will catch you guys on the next episode of Voices of Real Estate.