herewegoagain said:

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Bob yancy takes a lot of heat on here, but he deserves big kudos on this one. I guarantee you this passes if he doesn't get folks stirred up on Texags with the heads up he gave.

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Someone said that at the end of the meeting McIlhaney aked staff for a workshop item that discusses the zoning of that property and Midtown in general.

Here's a great interview with Bob Yancy. He talks about Ms. McIlhaney's request at the end.

https://www.kbtx.com/2025/09/13/college-station-leaders-sit-down-with-kbtx-after-council-votes-no-data-center-proposal/?fbclid=IwdGRzaAMxsrZjbGNrAzGxC2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEeBde7TFxHWU5pMel1X9842xYol-qCaQZmFHtjpLW0xTBLqXvUsL6Tgrh60dQ_aem_zbCCDn78BRV7k-Zt-rrJnQ

UhOhNoAgTag said:

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Here's a great interview with Bob Yancy. He talks about Ms. McIlhaney's request at the end.

https://www.kbtx.com/2025/09/13/college-station-leaders-sit-down-with-kbtx-after-council-votes-no-data-center-proposal/?fbclid=IwdGRzaAMxsrZjbGNrAzGxC2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEeBde7TFxHWU5pMel1X9842xYol-qCaQZmFHtjpLW0xTBLqXvUsL6Tgrh60dQ_aem_zbCCDn78BRV7k-Zt-rrJnQ

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Quote:

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When asked (Nichols) if Yancy could be reprimanded for it, the mayor said, "I'll leave that to the lawyers and somebody else. I'm not concerned about it at this point because I truly believe that once it was posted on Friday night, which was the legal posting time, there would have been the same outpouring of concerns."

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The Mayor is pissed. Sounds like a threat to me. Time to retire mayor and give the government back to the people.

The mayor wants secrecy. The mayor thinks he knows better than us. The city manager and his cronies want the same thing.

Two things I see as critical priorities for us.

First, the same folks that rose up to oppose this need to be the driving force for what to do with that property. It must be rezoned so that they don't try and replace the bitcoin mine with "light industrial nuclear waste dump". This is critical for our side of town.

Second, as things sit, and looking at other things that the city has done, recently, and in the recent past, they must not be allowed to have secret negotiating power.

Yes, I know, Bryan will get more things because they can negotiate secretly. Yes, I know some companies want that. Our city government can't be trusted to make decisions in the dark.

They will whine and say that's not fair and try to convince us that its okay. Kind of like my kids did when they were little. The city should not be able to do this going forward.

Believe it or not, the city has an agenda. I saw that this week, yet again. The city is subtle and secretive.

Even without being obvious.

This isn't the menu at a restaurant, and we can only choose certain things.

Person with a plan beats person without a plan every single day of the week. We come together and take our plan to them. Recent history has shown me the city officials can't always be trusted.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Agree about not trusting the judgement of staff. If they had a long record of awesome wins for us that would be one thing, but when things are so bad that they are commandeering our tax dollars to play real estate tycoon and carry on petty beefs with local free market business people, it's time for change on city staff.

What is the process to remove staff and the city manager? I assume only the council can do that. Personally I'm demanding the removal of staff for reasons of no confidence in qualifications, purpose and accountability to the residents. If council will not do that, recall them. The next council needs to do their job and end the club relationship between themselves and staff.

Anyone live here when they attempted to recall Nancy Berry?

Nichols and Wright need to go

SCHTICK00 said:

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What is the process to remove staff and the city manager? I assume only the council can do that. Personally I'm demanding the removal of staff for reasons of no confidence in qualifications, purpose and accountability to the residents. If council will not do that, recall them. The next council needs to do their job and end the club relationship between themselves and staff.

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Only the council can do that? Really?

City staffers ignored requests for information from a councilman regarding Macy's. Just ghosted him.

Zero happened.

They are all scared of the city manager.

ElephantRider said:

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Nichols and Wright need to go

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Everyone says this.

Start the movement.

I know a lot of "soccer mom's" and retirees that agree, and would help.

Very serious.

ElephantRider said:

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Nichols and Wright need to go

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And Smith. The order of priority to jettison is as follows:
1) wright
2) smith
3) nichols

The NDA they voluntarily signed 11 months ago ended up costing a lot more than they expected.

FlyRod said:

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I may have missed it in all the posts but was the data center voted down for good or just postponed for a later date? I'm hearing both from different people.

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Voted down. Mayor Nichols said delaying the vote would bring no new facts, and a down vote was appropriate. While Bob Yancy rightfully gets the credit for stopping this disaster, Mayor Nichols did a good job of reading the tea leaves, and starting the Council comments from the right and not the left. Wright was definitely in favor of the data center, and I believe Smith was too. He typically supports Woods, but I don't know for sure how he stood on this one. Anyway, by starting with Shafer, an environmentalist, his no vote was both right and unsurprising. Yancy's vote was obvious. McIlhaney was an unknown, but I imagine her mother-in-law was influential in her not committing political suicide. David White has been opposed for quite some time, so that was predictable. Kudos to the Mayor for trying to bring unity to the debacle.

Howdy TexAgs Community! It's be said on here and on other community pages across social media that we need to keep this momentum going, especially among the Midtown Area Neighborhoods. Bob Yancy mentioned in his interview yesterday that Midtown will be discussed as a future workshop item to think through how to executive this city's original vision. If you're on facebook and live in one of those surrounding neighborhoods or just want to keep up with everything please join the group. See the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/share/1JBhmHyQrF/

MsDoubleD81 said:

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I asked AI!

In College Station, the City Council can remove the City Manager, as they appoint and serve at the pleasure of the council in the city's council-manager form of government. The City Council has the sole authority to hire and fire the city manager, who serves as the chief administrative officer responsible for executing policy and administering city government.
Here's a breakdown of how it works:
Council-Manager Government:
College Station operates under this system, where the City Council is the elected body responsible for setting policy, and the City Manager is a professional appointed to manage day-to-day operations.
Appointment and Service:
The City Manager serves at the pleasure of the City Council, meaning the council can terminate their employment at any time, consistent with applicable laws or employment agreements.
Managerial Role:
The City Manager acts as the chief administrative officer, implementing the council's policies and overseeing the city's operations.
Council's Authority:
The City Council holds the power to remove the manager for various reasons, including concerns about their performance or actions, as they are the elected representatives of the people and the ultimate authority in the city's administration.

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I am not sure what happened in this case, but if the CM took this to Council in Executive Session early in the process, and the City Council said "proceed", there is ZERO chance that we can pin this on the City Manager.

In any case, the CM reports to the City Council, but the way that this is set-up, a volunteer Council has no incentive to make extra work for themselves to go against the CM, or in this case, potentially find a replacement.

Also, as others have said. In my opinion, the Mayor's interview with KBTX came across as bitter and out of touch with the message that the that attended the Council Meeting was there to there to convey.

Stucco said:

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The NDA they voluntarily signed 11 months ago ended up costing a lot more than they expected.

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IMO, the City should adopt a "NO NDA" policy. If you are not excited to tell EVERYONE about the potential project that you are bringing to the table, take it someplace else.

This is not rocket surgery!

Bob Yancy stepping up to make change!

MsDoubleD81 said:

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Who authored the NDA?

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I suspect the lawyers for Priority Power Management.

Ya'll, this may be interesting…

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Priority Power first contacted the city last Oct. 2. Nondisclosure agreements were signed on Nov. 12, and the council was first informed on Nov. 24.
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This is the article in The Eagle.

So, staff entered into an NDA with Priority Power almost two weeks *before* bothering to let the City Council know?

Who is running the show up there, Yancy?

I know if I signed a legal document like that for my boss, then kept it hidden from him, I would likely lose my job.

Just saying.

How is staff entering into binding contracts on behalf of the city without the approval of council?

This needs answering.

Let's think about this. Staff was fully aware of the commitment council made to Midtown and all the private investment that has already been made, both by developers and citizens. They then on their own entered into an agreement that would kill that vision and have significant negative impacts on valuations of all those properties while also going against the adopted stated purpose of council. They did this without informing council, set it up to minimize public knowledge before the vote, and with full knowledge of all the negative consequences. The city manager can not survive this professionally and the council has a duty to ensure of it.

Call me crazy, but the mayor throwing shade at Yancy for breaking the news to us a day early, saying "that's between him and the lawyers" on KBTX, while overlooking this is 100% the problem.

I hope this doesn't get swept under the rug like the crap with Macy's