# Pulaski County passes data center moratorium, but detractors say it's not enough > *Verbatim extract of the Arkansas Times article. The article's headline asserts the moratorium "passes" but the editor's note added on 2026-05-28 establishes that the County Clerk miscounted and the moratorium did not actually pass. Both the original framing and the correction are preserved here as filed.* ## Source metadata - **Publisher:** Arkansas Times - **Author:** Phillip Powell - **URL:** <https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2026/05/27/pulaski-county-passes-data-center-moratorium-but-detractors-say-its-not-enough> - **Published:** 2026-05-27 17:08 CT - **Updated:** 2026-05-28 15:19 CT (editor's note added documenting corrected vote) - **Archived:** 2026-05-28 by manual curl save; SHA-256 locks the snapshot - **Wayback snapshot:** save submission pending — to be submitted during Stage 7 of the JP-directory build ## Editor's note (added 2026-05-28) > *"Editor's Note: On Thursday, the county clerk informed the media that she miscounted the votes and that the moratorium did not actually pass the Quorum Court. Pulaski County is back to square one on data center regulations."* The editor's note flips the operative finding of the article. The headline, URL slug, and entire body narrate a moratorium that "passes" with an AVAIO carve-out; the editor's note establishes that the County Clerk's announcement on 2026-05-28 corrected the count and the moratorium **did not pass**. The wiki preserves both framings as filed. ## Extract **Headline:** "Pulaski County passes data center moratorium, but detractors say it's not enough" (the headline is now factually inaccurate per the editor's note). **Reported vote outcome (original, since corrected):** Per the article body, the Quorum Court appeared to pass a one-year moratorium on data centers on Tuesday evening 2026-05-26. A Stowers-attributed amendment was reported to exempt the AVAIO Project Leo site from the moratorium's scope. The article does not enumerate individual JP votes; no roll call by name is published. **Corrected vote outcome (per editor's note added Thursday 2026-05-28):** The County Clerk informed the media that the votes had been miscounted. The moratorium did not actually pass the Quorum Court. Pulaski County is "back to square one on data center regulations." **Direct quotes recorded:** - **JP Donna Massey** (District 6, Budget Committee chair): *"whether we will grow responsibly, equitably and thoughtfully"* (paraphrased framing of her remarks) - **County Judge-elect Wendell Griffen** (running for County Judge; defeated incumbent Barry Hyde in the 2026-03-03 Democratic primary): characterized the as-reported moratorium as one that *"exempts AVAIO from any land-use regulations"* (paraphrased) - **Brooke Butler** (public commenter): companies keeping the public uninformed about the buildout *"doesn't seem very neighborly"* (paraphrased) **Detractor concerns (as reported in the original article, all framed against an outcome that the editor's note now establishes did not occur):** - AVAIO exemption would have left the county without adequate protections - Two-year secret permitting process undermined public trust - Special legislation favoring one company raised constitutional questions **Procedural detail on the miscount:** The article states *"the county clerk informed the media that she miscounted the votes."* The error originates with the clerk's counting. No reporting on whether any JP changed a vote, whether the procedural irregularity will be revisited, or whether a re-vote is scheduled. **What the article does not establish (gaps that require Tier-1 sourcing):** - Individual roll-call positions by JP — not published in the article either before or after the correction - The exact text of the Stowers amendment - The ordinance number or co-sponsors - The County Judge's chair-role conduct during the vote - The post-correction procedural posture (will the ordinance be re-introduced? when?) ## Notes - **Tier 3** — established secondary news (Arkansas Times) on a Pulaski County government action. Per AGENTS.md, Tier-3 cannot establish what a Pulaski County government body did; the load-bearing fact (the vote outcome and any roll call) requires a Tier-1 anchor. - **Open lint** — chase Tier-1 anchor via Arkansas FOIA to Pulaski County Clerk Terri Hollingsworth for the certified 2026-05-26 Quorum Court meeting minutes, the certified roll-call sheet, and any subsequent clerk-correction memo. - **Cited by:** the Quorum Court concept page, the vote-event page, and (potentially, once Tier-1 roll-call data arrives) the 15 JP person pages. - **Wayback submission pending** as of archive date.