City/County Coordinating Meeting 10/20/2026

The Boone County–City of Belvidere Coordinating Committee met on October 20, 2026. Public comment focused heavily on opposition to the proposed Project Hawkeye data center, with residents raising concerns about farmland, water, energy use, environmental effects, and the project’s communication and approval process. No committee action or vote on the data center was recorded. The committee also discussed a possible shared city-county resource for FOIA work; the county budget included a $50,000 contingency for that concept, but it remained exploratory, with members seeking cost information and further discussion rather than approving a hire or expenditure.

On public safety building maintenance, the committee approved a motion to recommend splitting the $6,475 McDermid quote for gutters and downspouts between the city and county. The first-floor window replacement is complete; Ringland’s final invoice was presented, and members said the window work had already been approved by both governments. Members also discussed seeking a city contribution toward $11,900 in brick repairs, but the transcript does not clearly establish a final vote on that cost-sharing request. Staff described two air-handler replacements estimated at about $85,000 and $131,000, with the second identified as the more urgent; the committee discussed recommending that these and related public safety building needs be included in the 2027 city and county capital budgets, but no final spending approval is clear in the transcript.