Dave Casotti, Boone Mayor, October 6, 2026

On our program today, visiting with Mayor Dave Cassotti, good to have him back cold and all. Is it or is it allergies? It's a combination. And it will probably be this way until March of next year. That was the big debate for some. Is it really a cold or is it allergies or? Or something else. Yeah, I know. Well, all we know is it's not the rusty patch, bumblebee or brown bats. We learned all about that last night too. We did, yeah. We'll talk about that much more. Boone City Council did meet last night, just a couple of things right off the top of my head. I know nobody really had any comments about it or not, but Citywide Cleanup got going yesterday. Right. That's one of the things you and many of the council members wanted to continue that, but you wanted to make sure that things were being followed, guidelines were being followed. So it sounds like it has been. For the most part, I know I talked to Waylon and he said there's still some stuff out there that's not supposed to be out there and I don't know how he dealt with that. So if you do have something that didn't get picked up, it might have been on the list of we can't or won't pick up. You might have a little green tag on your door or something to let you know that you've got 72 hours to get it off the park. Yeah, correct. Anyway, that is going to continue going forward and I'm pretty sure Public Works is not kicking that they're not having any big rain on it. Right. That's always seemed like every time they would get started, you'd have a big downpour and then everything would be just soaked out. Yeah. So looks like we're going to luck out for this week. Let's hope for next week as well. Keep plugging along. Yep. Well, let's go to the public comment part of the meeting because obviously that's what most people are kind of focused on, but you did once again, not on the agenda, but you did have a lot of people that wanted to come and make comments about data centers. And I don't know when or if it'll ever make it to your agenda, but if it does, you've already heard a lot of comments. Right. And this is two meetings in a row. It is. Yep. And we had some of the same people speak, you know, back to back and that's fine. It'll get on the agenda, I think, eventually, but we don't have a site plan yet. We don't have a memorandum of understanding. We don't have any of that stuff yet. So we've really got to wait because we don't even know if they're going to choose us. So we don't want to get too far ahead of the game. So, but we're fine with having the comments. But again, as I stressed last night, we will have a public forum and as of right now, it looks like it might be out at the fairgrounds of the community building. So lots of space, you know, lots of parking so people can come to that. We don't have a date yet, but we'll have one soon. One would be more like if they select Boone and come forward with a site plan, would that be, I think, yeah, a little, then you would be, you would know something. Yeah. Once we get a site plan and a little bit further in like that, then yes, we will. We'll have some. There'll be something. There will for sure be something. Yep. I know right away they wanted to know when. Right. Yeah. I don't know. So I, yeah, it's we are, it's up in the air fairly soon, I think you are hearing a lot of the same kinds of comments. Yep. Again, some of those that have been supportive talk about the property tax benefit and what co-location is and compared to some of the big mega data centers and stuff. So it is, I think some people are becoming quite educated about. Well, as am I. It's, yeah, I'm just like most people, I hear data centers and you think these giant complexes and make these humming noise and all this other stuff and it's, there's, there's a lot of different birds in this. Yeah. Category. It's, yeah, this is a, a smaller one and I'm, I'm trying to, to stress to people, this company is very conscientious about the community, the environment. I mean, they're doing things right and I know I still have pushback on that, but. Yeah. Well, people are going to assume the conditions they want to assume. So that's what happens. That's why we have different opinions. It is. We do know that some of the council had different opinions from what the contractors were doing for the handcar drive extension, which is one of those, but Whelan Andrews kind of updating council on what was going on. There have been some issues and, you know, some of the council disappointed that the contractor didn't go ahead and do the paving back in June and July, but they had a lot of working days. They still have a lot of working days. They do, but it's, yeah, that was, you know, when they asked for, asked for more money for helping with compaction and so forth. And it's like, what happened when it was sitting there dry for, you know, I know we've had rain all throughout the summer, but yeah, and I, you know, I'm a contractor. I understand that things get backed up and, and so forth, but yeah. But I think. That's been, that's one thing and as I think Whelan said, I'm sorry, we can't dictate their work schedule. So that's, but we gave them so many working days. We don't have actually a deadline. We're hoping it would have been done by now, but we still got traffic signals and everything else that need to go in. We do. There's a lot to do yet. So there's a long, we've got a long ways to go. We want to point out once again, that's rise funded. So the state DOT is being kept up on it as well because 80% of that's being covered by state money. Right. Okay. Now let's talk about endangered species. I don't know if more people were kind of chuckling about that one or what, but an issue that came up while we do know part of the expansion of the wastewater treatment plant is going to require some tree removal down there. Yeah. Open up the site, but environmentally impact had to be done. We found a couple of and found a rusty patch bumblebee. Yeah. Someone. DNR has that information. They know there's a brown bat down there somewhere. Yeah. Anyway, we learned all about that, but there are certain times trees can be removed and that's been the challenge right now. Right. Yeah. So we'll figure out, we'll get that, well, they pretty much know when that's going to happen and as soon as they can get that short window and get the trees out. Difficult place. I mean, location. Right. It's not going to be an easy working. No. And again, Council did ask about, you know, did they get multiple proposals and that sort of thing? Not everybody was really interested in going in there to do some tree removal. Nope. That's not an easy place to work. So yeah, that's, I think they got at least two bids. They looked for another one, but I think they ended up with two. So. Well, they, at least at this point in time, that that is going to be a project that'll be going forward. Not too many people are going to see that because it is pretty secluded back there where the wastewater treatment plant is. And there is going to be more work going on down there. We know that. Yes, there is. Part of it is the beginning of the meeting. We did $4.3 million sewer revenue capital loan notes in and people are going. So this, this is the forest main project. This isn't a part of where you've got to get the money to be able to pay the contractors that are going to be doing this right. And using state revolving loan fund, again, you've got several that you're working with on them and they are well aware of it. They know. Yep. Economic development knows this. Yep. That's. My head, my head is swimming. Well, there's a lot in, we're not even into a lot of these particular, right? Which is why. Just scratching the surface. Andrea wants to find, yes, we help in the finance side of it too. Yep. We help, but that's, that's a little ways down the road as well, so. Another one that's going to be done is the high service pump. And this is a waterworks one. This is a project at waterworks. And this would add to, basically give you some redundancy in being able to pump water to town. Yep. So this is a project that, again, had been planned with the growth and expansion going on out there for the need to supply water for Daisy. This is one of the things, we need that backup and be able to get that water up the hill. Yeah. It's got to come up the hill folks. Yep. And it just don't, it doesn't come up there automatically. Yeah. They don't make rivers up top and then it flows down. Yeah. So. Well. Flows down the stream, but. One of the, one of the things that came up last night is I know that we did have Mike Cornelis had some dollars, local option sales tax dollars that were not expended. They did buy a new vehicle for parks department, but I did ask if the dollars could be redirected towards hiring a firm that will do an assessment of the pool. Right. People need to remember what's over 30 years old now. Right. And part of the things that the park department did, and I know you guys have gotten that preliminary report back about what kind of enhancements could we do, or should we do, or can we do with our existing, with our existing pool at its age. And this would be someone to come in and take a, take a good look at it and basically give you some pretty much unbiased opinions on the condition. Right. So that we can keep that going. Yeah. Cause they said, I know they've done a little bit of research or looking into the pipes and so forth. I think Mike said the company that came in said that the part that they did look at, and I don't know all the technical wording on it, but instead of a 30 year old or 35 year old pool, it looked like it was five years old. So that's good, but we've got to keep the rest of it up so that we can keep it for much longer and not have to replace it. And I know they're, that was part of, they either wanted to look at doing that with that extra funding that they didn't use for the vehicle, but they also need to get a roof on the restrooms at Herman Park. So that, at the pavilion area there. So it was kind of a, which one do we do? Which one do we need more? And it's like, we just need more money to grow on trees. Well, there we go. That's a, and they still have to go ahead and, well, they just did the contract with DJ for the dangerous hazardous trees again, pretty substantial amount and a short timeframe to get all that work done. Right. Yep. And I know they're working on them. We get all of it. Yeah. You betcha. I didn't want to ask you because I know this is one that you were, how are we going to do this? But the new ordinance for e-scooters and everything else, the council quickly moved ahead, waived consideration, brought it up, or did the third and adopting it. And it is, I know you were interested in, the whole council was really interested. We're seeing these show up all over the state. Yep. The thing is, you know, I know the chief is, we don't want to be ticketing kids on e-scooters. Right. Yeah. Right. But so you've been really pushing parents. You need to be more involved. Yes. And I know people get tired of me saying the same thing over and over, but it starts at home. We've got to have that education. I would like to see something in the school system as well, an assembly or something, just to talk to them about it and give them a little more, because I'm sure kids aren't paying attention to council meetings and so forth. So if the parents can do that, and if we can get something going in the schools with a little bit of safety, and yeah, we just want to keep all the kids good and safe. So. Well, or we get to winter time and they don't use it. Well, that's going to happen. I don't think we have a choice there. But they'll be back next summer. They will. The big thing is, again, if you're going to be out there and follow the rules. Yep. Follow the rules of the road and try to stay as safe as you can. Absolutely. Yep. And a lot of it is, yeah, parents. I know you've asked more than once, parents, you need to step up and make sure they understand. Yep. They may not always listen to you. Well, you had kids. Yeah, we know how that goes, yep. So they don't always listen. You did sit in on the Economic Development Committee meeting. There was a proposal there, actually, a proposal from Flex to, again, see if there was an interest. Some people think that this was being done and the city had asked for this, and basically, they put together a proposal, correct, that said, you know, we know you have some recreational activities you would like to see moving forward and things like that. The question is, where do you do it? How do you do it? Right. And so they were proposing a pilot program to see if this might be something we could grow on and start discussion on it anyway. Yep. There's a variety of opinions about what should be done. There are go-forwards. Yep. And I get both sides of it. I was for a rec center because I think we need something for indoor stuff, and I see the side of that where people don't want the taxpayers paying for it. So I get all that, but it would be nice to have, like I said this last night, we've got gymnasiums at the high school, middle school, numerous gyms inside, but they're usually used for practice and not available on the weekends and so forth. So just, and I grew up with the Y and Heartland Health Center, and I can't tell you how many words. You're using the old words. Yeah. I can't tell you how many hours I spent in there. So I wish if we had something like that, at least for the, I mean, they talked about pickleball in the wintertime. I know we've got pickleball leagues for outside, but so something like that is definitely needed. How we get there, how we make it happen, that's what we were discussing. So we tabled it for now, and we just, we don't want it to die, but we just, we need to come up with something that's going to work, because I also see the side with the other gyms in town. They're not asking for it. How do we do that? Now, they don't have a gymnasium, so to speak, so that's different, but... We might not have that space, yeah. Right, but it's, yeah, how do we do this and how do we make it fair and how, yeah, so another tough issue that we got to figure out. We don't know if there's an answer or not, folks. We just know that the committee actually voted two to one to at least table it for now and continue to talk about it and see if there are something that can be done if there's a direction to go. And at this point, and Councilmember Corey Henson, he just said, no, let's just move on and do what we're doing right now and just try to meet all the needs that we can as we can. So I do, like I said, the wintertime conditions and getting the kids inside after school, different things like that, different things like that, so, yeah, we'll continue to look at it. Keep working. Yep. Again, no easy answers. There are there. No, I wish there was. Well, we do know we have an easy answer for trunk or treat. Yep. That's coming. And the collaborative effort, once again, that thing kind of blocks off much of Story Street downtown when they do that, anticipating the same thing, but it's coming up on the 22nd. They did bring that proposal or that request in and so Council did go ahead and approve that last night, trying to think of some of the other things that came up on discussion side. Well, oh, we're delaying the bids for the water tower, the bids on the water tower couple of weeks anyway, towards the end of the month. That would be the water tower that would be out there on Hancock. Correct. Yep. See what happens with that. Other things? Let me see. Yeah. No, mostly it was rusty patch bumblebees and bats from bats and those going on. Yeah. Other than that, yeah. I mean, it was it was a fairly quick meeting other than public comments, which again, that's fine. We want to hear everything. Most, as we said, the comments that continue about the, at least at this point, all about data centers and stuff. So, yeah, wait and see what happens. We will. Yeah. As far as some of the other things that continue to go on, obviously, we got still got a lot of these projects that are moving forward and those are the big things that they'll go move forward rain or shine. Correct. No matter what's going to be happening. We've still got to get water lines in and things like that. Yep. So, otherwise, just keep plugging along. Citywide cleanup, follow the guidelines. That's right. Yeah. Make sure you follow the guidelines so we get your stuff picked up and I know that, you know, it was supposed to be in a certain pile, but every year we have it where people will come in and go through your pile and, you know, don't worry too much about that. But if you can put it back, but it's not, I know it's not your fault if someone went through your pile and scattered things, but yeah, so we're having a little bit of that, but I haven't heard anything major bad yet, so hopefully it's going fairly smooth and I know I heard, I think they heard they're up to 15th Street. Okay. I think they started at 22nd. Yep. And I believe they got to 15th Street yesterday, so they're working south, yep. And once again, it's, you know, I can remember every time in June it seems like they get two days in and then you get a down break and everything is just soaking wet and stuff. The issues and some of the other issues was he tried to limit the size of what's going to be out there. Yep. And if you got regular garbage, put it out for regular garbage. Yes, yes, please. They will take it. Yeah. They will. And we'll just keep moving forward with that too. Next up, let's see, you got another meeting here on the 19th. Yep. Here we go. No, it is. Whoa. 19th. Going fast. Regular days for trick-or-treating, got to ask you because people are always going to ask. It's going to sound bad because I don't know for sure. It's always the Halloween. Yeah. I believe, yeah, it's always, yeah, that's right. I do that, I guess. This is my first, this is my first time, yeah, for Halloween. Don't worry. They'll, they'll, somebody will grill you. You know, you shouldn't do this and, but we do have all the other things that are coming up in conjunction with it. The downtown trick-or-treat on the 22nd kicks off, shop with a cop, know that, that's a big kickoff for them. Yep. And basically they kind of judge the volume down there by how many hot dogs that the police department, the fire department give out. And I think it was like over 1200 last, a while. Okay. Yeah. That's, that's a bunch of people having hot dogs. It is. It'll be coming up. And then I know we've got a few other things in here, but regular trick, regular trick-or-treating for Boone on the 31st. Yep. In my defense, I haven't had any kids trick-or-treating for quite a few years. Well, that's why I don't know. Get a costume and get out. There you go. Yep. Don't worry. Then turn your porch lights on. We'll remind them as we get a little bit closer to it. Yeah, there you go. Yep. Otherwise, most otherwise everything else has been moving ahead and again, find out more about data centers somewhere along the line. And the big thing will be, is LightEdge going to accept the offer from Boone County Economic Growth? Right. The land? And if that happens, then we know more will be coming to the council. Right. Yeah, because they've still got at least two other, two other sites, not sites in Boone, but two other locations that they're looking at. So that they're interested in. We're on the short list, but we're not, yeah, it's not a done deal regardless. And the upside is they just need to be able to expand facilities only because the demand is out there. Yep. And it's, again, like I keep saying, it's data storage. I was just going to say that it's data storage. It's not an AI center. It's none of that. It's just a data storage, just like you and I, when we have a computer in your, I think back to the old little thumb drives. We used to back up on a thumb drive or a disc. Yep. It depended on what you were doing. And that's what this is. It's a storage center and it's called a co-location because numerous companies use that same site. So it's kind of like an apartment complex. So to speak, only these people are renting space for their computers and their data storage. So yep. Well, it's, there's more to come on this. Yes, there is. Yep. Boomer, David Cassotti, a guest on our program today. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, Jim.