# Project Stratus MOU and April 1 Special Council Meeting The Tier-1 record of the Memorandum of Understanding among [[Forgelight Ventures, LLC]] ("the Company"), [[City of Conway]], [[Conway Corporation]], and [[The Conway Foundation]] establishing the terms of the Conway data-center project. This page covers the executed MOU document, the April 1, 2025 Special City Council Meeting minutes adopting it 8-0, the April 1, 2025 Special Council Meeting agenda packet, and Jamie Gates's [[Project Stratus Next Steps and Sequence]] memo to Council laying out the sequencing of the project's downstream actions. Where the existing wiki has cited the MOU through the [Tier-2 archive](../../../../web%20archive/2026-05-22/media.conwayarkansas.gov/april-1-2025-special-city-council-agenda.md), this page is the corpus's first Tier-1 anchor. ## What's inside - `MOU.pdf` — the MOU itself, 11 pages, stamped "**CONFIDENTIAL, TRADE SECRET INFORMATION, NOT SUBJECT TO DISCLOSURE REQUESTS**" on every page. Sections I (Project Overview), II (Annual Company Contribution), III (City Commitments), IV (Infrastructure), V (Conway Corporation, the Foundation, and the Company), and VI (General). - `04.01.2025 SPECIAL COUNCIL MTG MINUTES MOU.pdf` — the executed minutes of the April 1, 2025 Special Council Meeting. 2 pages. Records the 8-0 vote to approve the MOU. Identical duplicate file `04.01.2025 SPECIAL COUNCIL MTG MINUTES MOU (1).pdf` (same sha256). - `April 1 2025 - Special City Council Agenda.pdf` — the agenda packet for the special meeting, image-only at 200 DPI. - `Project Stratus Next Steps and Sequence.pdf` — internal email from Jamie Gates (Conway Development Corporation) to Council and the Mayor, sent 2025-04-01 14:14, laying out the project sequencing through the IRB / planning / permitting downstream phases. Forwarded by Felicia Rogers 2025-04-01 19:32 to all council members. Attaches `3092_001.pdf` (the most recent version of the MOU with the tax-abatement clarification). ## Key takeaways - **The Company.** Forgelight Ventures, LLC, "evaluating the City of Conway for a prospective site (the 'Site') that would allow for the construction of an approximately 300,000 square foot data center building" (`MOU.pdf` p. 1). "The Company anticipates the investment to construct and equip the Project will be approximately $1,000,000,000. Approximately 50 new high-quality jobs will be created" (p. 1). "If the right economic, business, and market conditions exist, it is possible the Company will construct one or more additional data center buildings on the Site which will be covered by the terms of this MOU" (p. 1). - **The four MOU signatories.** The Company; the [[City of Conway]]; [[Conway Corporation]]; and [[The Conway Foundation]]. Brad Lacy (Chamber of Commerce) told Council "this MOU is different in that it involves three entities and the company: the company, the City, Conway Corporation and the Conway Foundation" (`04.01.2025 SPECIAL COUNCIL MTG MINUTES MOU.pdf` p. 1). - **The City's tax-abatement commitment.** "The City agrees to support, including through future legislative and administrative actions consistent herewith, a net real and personal property tax abatement of at least 65% for 30 years (the 'Property Tax Abatement') for the Data Center and each additional data center building and any ancillary buildings constructed" (`MOU.pdf` p. 1, § III(a)(i)). The vehicle is identified in the April 1 minutes: "Mr. Lacy explained that the tax abatement would result from an Act 9 Bond, or Industrial Revenue Bond, so however long that agreement is, it would be the length of term for the property tax abatement" (April 1 minutes p. 1). - **The bond ceilings.** "The bond structures used to provide the Property Tax Abatement will be broad and flexible (e.g., build-out and equipping periods of at least thirty years; maximum investment levels of no more than $10,000,000,000 for real property and $50,000,000,000 for personal property.)" (`MOU.pdf` p. 2, § III(a)(i)). Note the personal-property ceiling ($50B) is five times the real-property ceiling ($10B) — a structure that scales for the data-center asset profile (server hardware as personal property). - **Annual Company Contribution.** "The Company shall make an annual payment to the Conway Foundation … the Regional Investment Contribution" (`MOU.pdf` p. 1, § II(a)). Foundation is required to "utilize the Regional Investment Contribution it receives for initiatives that align with the Company's core values and the community's strategic plans." First contribution due "within sixty (60) days after the issuance of the certificate of occupancy for the initial Data Center." - **City franchise fees.** "The Company will pay the City's franchise fee of 4.25% on billing for water services" for domestic use; "The Project's cooling water usage, currently contemplated to be served via treated a future effluent solution from the Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant agreeable by all parties, will not be subject to the aforementioned franchise fee" (`MOU.pdf` p. 2, § III(a)(iii)). 2.5% medium-voltage electric franchise fee on Conway Corp 13.8 kV service; "The City will establish an ordinance agreeable to both the City and to Entergy Arkansas to establish a 0.75% franchise fee for the Project's high voltage electricity usage … incurred on all power usage taken via 230kV service and up" (p. 3, § III(a)(vii)). - **Cooling-water infrastructure.** "Tupelo Bayou Wastewater Treatment Plant ('Tupelo WWTP') Treated Effluent Reuse Water Supply to Site: Conway Corporation will be responsible for design, permitting and construction of a pump station and pipeline to supply treated effluent (disinfected secondary effluent) from the Tupelo WWTP for use as non-contact cooling water at the Site. This will include all easements and permitting required for the pipeline, with the final pipeline routing to be determined by Conway Corporation" (`MOU.pdf` p. 4, § IV(b)(i)). Plus a "dedicated blowdown water discharge pipeline from the Site to the Arkansas River for direct discharge" requiring "Army Corps of Engineers permitting and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) permitting" (p. 4, § IV(b)(ii)). - **Medium-voltage power.** "Conway Corporation shall be responsible for providing a detailed breakdown of cost and schedule to provide initial 13.8kV Medium Voltage service to the Site and expand to 10 MW of MV service to the Site" (`MOU.pdf` p. 4, § IV(b)(iii)). Note the 10 MW Conway Corp service is small relative to the 1 GW design surfaced in the [[April 2026 FAQ Project Stratus|FAQ]] — i.e., Conway Corp supplies ~1% of the design load, with the balance via Entergy. - **Lollie Road relocation.** "The City and Company agree that certain road improvements, including the relocation of Lollie Road, will need to be made" (`MOU.pdf` p. 4, § IV(d)). - **No data-mining disclaimer.** "He [Brad Lacy] confirmed that this project is not a data mining center" (April 1 minutes p. 1) — distinguishing the project from a cryptocurrency-mining operation but not characterizing the workload further. - **Identification withholding.** "Not being able to share the name of the company, Mr. Lacy shared some characteristics of the company with the Council. … Councilman Grimes asked at what point the name of the company would be released. Mr. Lacy was not able to give a timeline on that point" (April 1 minutes p. 1). The Chamber declined to identify the Company to Council. - **The 8-0 vote.** "Councilman Hawkins made a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding and Councilwoman Mehl seconded it. A vote was called and the motion carried 8-0" (April 1 minutes p. 2). All eight council members present voted aye. - **Downstream sequencing.** Jamie Gates's email (`Project Stratus Next Steps and Sequence.pdf`, sent 2025-04-01 14:14 from Conway Development Corp to Felicia Rogers): "The next action item is adoption of the MOU by Conway Corporation at their Board of Directors meeting on April 15th. … We will schedule a board meeting of the Conway Foundation for later this month for their adoption and signature. … Our intention is to go before the planning commission on 4/21 with a request for annexation and to expedite that commission vote to the council at your regular city council meeting on 4/22. Annexation will allow us to close on the property and begin the IRB(tax abatement), planning, and permitting processes." The same email previews three downstream council actions: an Entergy high-voltage ordinance, the grey-water cooling rate ordinance, and "[t]he typical suite of council actions related to property tax abatement" — plus the Lollie Road relocation. ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Forgelight Ventures, LLC]] — "the Company." - [[City of Conway]] — first signatory; [[Bart Castleberry]] as Mayor signing. - [[Conway Corporation]] — second signatory; [[Brett Carroll]] addressed Council on grey-water reuse at the meeting. - [[The Conway Foundation]] — third signatory; recipient of the annual Regional Investment Contribution. - [[Conway Area Chamber of Commerce]] — [[Brad Lacy]] and [[Jamie Gates]] presented to Council. - [[Conway Development Corporation]] — [[Jamie Gates]] wrote the Stratus Next Steps memo from CDC. - [[Felicia Rogers]] — Chief of Staff, Office of the Mayor; routed Gates's memo to all council members. - [[Bart Castleberry]] — Mayor; called the meeting to order. - [[Denise Hurd]] — City Clerk; roll call and attestation. - Council voting aye (8-0): [[Andy Hawkins]], David Grimes, Drew Spurgers, Shelley Mehl, Mark Ledbetter, Spencer Hawks, Theodore Jones Jr., Shelia Isby. ## Concepts invoked - [[Act 9 Industrial Revenue Bond]] — the legal vehicle the MOU contemplates for the property-tax abatement. - [[Project Stratus]] — codename used internally to refer to the project. - Ark. Code § 14-56-401 et seq. (annexation authority). - The MOU's "CONFIDENTIAL, TRADE SECRET INFORMATION, NOT SUBJECT TO DISCLOSURE REQUESTS" stamp parallels the same stamp on the [[AVAIO Project Leo Site Plan and County Review|AVAIO Project Leo]] documents; both were nonetheless produced under Arkansas FOIA. ## Events documented - [[2025-04 Conway City Council Approves Project Stratus MOU]] ## Cross-references - [[Project Stratus Next Steps and Sequence]] — Jamie Gates's sequencing memo (this page covers it; no separate per-file page). - [[Project Stratus Permits Sequencing and Stormwater]] — the downstream permits / engineering coordination the memo previewed. - [[April 2026 FAQ Project Stratus]] — the city's public-facing rendering of the MOU's terms one year after adoption. - [[The Conway Data Center Project]] — project-level synthesis. ## Open questions / follow-ups - The fully-executed MOU with signature blocks completed is not in the production — `MOU.pdf` shows the signature blocks unsigned. The April 1 minutes record the Council's 8-0 approval, but a separately-executed document with all four parties' signatures may exist. - The "3092_001.pdf" attachment Gates references as "the latest version with the clarification about tax abatement" is not present as a separate file in the production — it may be the same as `MOU.pdf` here. - The Conway Corporation Board's April 15, 2025 adoption record (per Gates's sequencing) and the Conway Foundation Board's adoption record are not in this production; they will be in [[Conway Corporation]]'s rolling production if/when delivered.