The debate and controversy over a proposed plan to build a data center in Lee County continues, but county officials are now looking for expert legal advice on the matter.
The Lee County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve a tentative plan for the county to seek out specialized legal counsel to help the county with the crafting of any ordinances regulating the construction and operation of any future data centers, nuclear power facilities, and other economic development projects.
“The purpose of the county’s law firm search is to secure a firm that would have the legal resources and specific expertise and experience with business law, contract law, and tax laws that relates to small and large economic development projects (with) the expectation being (that) this firm would help the Lee County Board of Supervisors ensure that we are looking out for the best interest of the Lee County taxpayers when it comes to developing current and future economic development projects,” District 4 Supervisor Garry Seyb said during the meeting.
“As our existing ordinance becomes more complicated, I believe we need a legal team that specializes in small and large projects to kind of help us guide it.”
While no specific law firm or timeline was included in the vote, Lee County Auditor Sherri Yasenchok later clarified that the search for appropriate legal counsel will now begin but added that a bidding process will not be required and that the supervisors will have to go through their normal process of public discussions and a vote before finalizing any agreement with whichever law firm that may be selected to consult and work with the county.
The move comes following the passage in June of a one-year moratorium on data center construction within Lee County and revelations that a site located at 2201 S. Business 61 (also known as “Burlington Hill” and located across the road from the Iowa State Penitentiary) is being cleared out for the construction of a data center.
That property was purchased by Dustin Wolgemuth, of Fort Madison, who is also the registered agent of Octopus Investments, LLC, of Kathleen, Florida, in August 2024.
In August 2025, Wolgemuth first informed the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission about his intention to build a Bitcoin mining facility at the property.
He was vague with the details, but during a work session meeting on June 9, Wolgemuth told the supervisors his project would amount to an investment of over $100 million in Lee County should it move forward.
Fort Madison City Manager Laura Liegois stated in a press release last week that City of Fort Madison staff had also heard rumors of the site becoming a storage unit site, and a pocket neighborhood of tiny homes.
But in a letter to the City of Fort Madison that was released to the public at Wolgemuth’s request, he stated that it was his intention to build an artificial intelligence (A.I.) data center at the site but did not share more specific details about the project or disclose the names of any partners that may be involved.
Liegois’s press release did state that the “scale of the project is considered small and does not compare to industrial size data centers, which are being seen in social media.”
Thus far, the work on the property has just consisted of the clearing of brush and leveling of the land.
But since the property is located outside the City of Fort Madison’s corporate limits, and due to the county’s lack of zoning laws and authority within the county, up until last week, the project was allowed to continue with no interference.
In response to public outcry over concerns about the project’s possible water and electricity usage, possible environmental and noise pollution, and a perceived lack of transparency about the project, the Fort Madison Planning & Zoning Commission discussed possible updates to the city’s zoning codes that could better regulate any future data center operations during their meeting last Tuesday.
The commission had also intended to discuss possible legal options that could allow the city to expand their zoning territory, which could put the project on Burlington Hill under the city’s zoning jurisdiction, but that discussion had to be tabled due to the meeting running long. It is expected to be discussed at a future Planning & Zoning Commission meeting.
Several members of the public addressed the commission during the meeting and spoke of their fears, concerns, and frustrations with the project and with transparency from the city and county.
But on Friday, Lee County Ross Braden seemingly put a pause on the Burlington Hill project for the time being after sending Wolgemuth a cease-and-desist letter instructing him to halt construction on the project.
It was initially believed the county’s moratorium did not apply to Wolgemuth’s project, as it had started prior to the passage of the moratorium.
But after being contacted by Lee County Board of Supervisors Chair Ginger Knisley to see if a recent case law ruling (Worthwhile Wind LLC v. Worth County Board of Supervisors, 34 N.W.3d 782 (2026)) would be applicable to Wolgemuth’s project, Braden determined that the project was subject to the county’s moratorium and ordered the project to cease and desist immediately.
Wolgemuth responded by sending Liegois a letter stating that he would be looking into possibly scraping the project in Fort Madison and instead moving the operation to Wisconsin, but it remains to be seen what will happen next.
District 4 Supervisor Garry Seyb previously stated that he wanted Lee County to seek out specialized legal counsel not only on data centers, but also for what are known as “small nuclear reactors” or “small modular reactors,” which have been discussed elsewhere as possible sources of energy for data center operations. But the first commercial small nuclear-powered data centers are not expected to go online until 2030. Currently, the state of Iowa has no active nuclear power plants.
During Tuesday’s supervisors meeting, Seyb said the data center ordinance the county is hoping to craft while the moratorium is in place may become a subsection of the county’s wind, solar, and battery storage projects ordinance that was passed in 2025 following months of discussions, research, consultation, and townhall meetings with the public.
“What we’re looking at doing is adding to it an ordinance or a subsection dealing with data centers and/or small nuclear power coming to the county, and I really think that (the situation is) starting to get complicated enough that it would be good to have a specialized (law) firm on retainer to be able to do that.”
Seyb added that he has spoken about the matter with Braden, and that he concurred with his assessment.
“Ross does a great job at handling our bread-and-butter issues that come in front of counties and things like that, but we’re really getting into a special niche area of the law (with trying to regulate data centers),” Seyb added.
When asked by District 3 Supervisor Chuck Holmes if the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission would be a sufficient resource to consult the county on a data center ordinance, Seyb noted that they were not attorneys and did not have any special expertise in the topic.
“I think we’re getting complicated enough now that it would be in the best interest of the board and the best interest of the county taxpayers to have a firm that (specializes in data centers and related topics),” Seyb said.
“There’s several large-scale (data center) projects throughout the state, and we haven’t really seen that in Lee County.
“(The) project that’s currently being discussed is not necessarily a large project, but there are other projects that likely will come to the area.”
Seyb acknowledged that the county did not seek specialized legal counsel with the county’s wind/solar/battery ordinance but added that the help of such legal counsel could also inform the county as to whether or not that ordinance “meets muster.”
“We (also) don’t want to put an ordinance in place that may get in the way of (the county) or the taxpayers receiving some kind of other benefits in the future with tax laws,” Seyb said.
Knisley added that seeking outside legal counsel would just be an addition to the supervisors’ normal process when crafting ordinances and that the county would still work with the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission on their ordinance as well as holding townhall meetings and seeking input from the public.
Seyb said the kind of specialized legal counsel they are seeking to hire could cost as much as $400,000-$500,000 but added he was not certain what the final price tag could be.
“I don’t know that they’d have to be at town halls, but as we get into development of the ordinance, they would be able to sit there with us and help us through the development process (and the legal aspects),” Seyb said.
“Then also as we have (data center construction) developments, and as everyone knows, we currently have one right now, they would also be able to give us a second or third opinion on that as well (including interpretations) of the law.”
The supervisors noted that the new legal counsel could be paid for with the county’s relief funds.
Braden added he supported the move.
“I do support this for the reasons that are outlined,” he said. “This is a very specialized area of law...
“I think it’s not only applicable to development of the ordinance for data centers to be included in the existing (wind/solar/battery ordinance), but it also could be helpful to have somebody on retainer for future development in Lee County to make sure somebody’s looking out for us as far as negotiating what is the best advantage as far as tax breaks or incentives that provide the biggest bang for the county’s buck and the biggest return for the county’s buck.
“I do a lot of things (in my capacity as county attorney), but (data center regulations) is something that is not exactly in my wheelhouse.”
Later in the meeting, several community leaders and other members of the public addressed the supervisors with their thoughts on the issue.
Connie Knox said she had concerns about transparency related to the data centers using small nuclear reactors as energy sources and other environmental issues.
“Our land, our water, our health ,and our air are our greatest gifts that we have, and every one of these resources are worth fighting for,” Knox said.
“The lack of transparency makes it feel very, very sketchy as far as I’m concerned.”
Jim Stephenson spoke about his concerns about the noise data center can emit and concerns over the amount of electricity and water they may require.
“Our (electricity) rates are going to go up, because the company that does the power is going to have to build new facilities to produce that power,” he said. “And they’re not going to be the ones that will pay for that facility. We’re the ones that are going to be paying for that facility.”
Alexis Gregory took time to thank Braden for intervening on behalf of the county with the issuance of the cease-and-desist letter last week.
“I just want to say thank you to the Board of Supervisors and Ross Braden for listening to your constituents and not accepting the current situation as it was, (and for using that case law that made it possible to halt the Burlington Hill project),” she said.
Gregory added that she believes the situation exposed the community to vulnerabilities and asked if the supervisors and City of Fort Madison could have formal meetings together to work on the issue and ordinances.
Lynn Mullan said she has serious concerns about the potential health risks data centers pose towards those who live near them and said the worldwide implications of their existence is going makes the situation especially concerning and raises the stakes.
“(The United States) is in an A.I. race with China right now,” she said.
“They’re pushing this past us so fast that we can’t even see it in our right in front of our own eyes. And that’s what happened here...We’re neighbors here. Let’s not do this.”
And Liegois also addressed the supervisors, stating that the city is striving for transparency on the matter.
“I think a lot of things have come to light in the last few days,” she said. “We work really hard ,at the city level, to work with new business and we want to grow Fort Madison and Lee County. That is our mission and our goal.
“However, I have 10 ideas come to my office every week. I don’t get excited until I know we’re at a level that we can move forward with because ideas come up and it takes a lot of planning.
“And I think the thing that people have to understand is that businesses come and talk to economic development (groups), they talk to cities, they talk to counties. They want the opportunity to put plans together before it becomes public. And I understand there’s a lot of frustration in this room based on the topic...
“Last Tuesday night, before that meeting, we tried our best to be as transparent about what we know. But there’s only two parcels the city can control of that project...I think transparency is key. I think that that’s the message from the city standpoint and from the county...
“I commend you all for moving forward to getting extra technical help on your ordinances.”
