On Monday, September 15, 2025, the Gray County Commissioners held their bi-monthly meeting, beginning with public comment regarding items listed on the agenda starting with Denise Howard.
“This is for the tax abatement for Intersect, and I know you are going to do what you want to do, but all I ask is that you make your decisions with a clear and focused conscience. If you are going to give Intersect the tax abatement, then please look at the Roberts County tax abatement and how they did not take the first proposal, and make good choices for Gray County. We have provided you information after information on these companies. They tell you what you want to hear and then, like all across the country, they make fault on their decisions and promises. I know that Lake Arrington, Jeff Haley and Judge Porter are up for re-election, so don’t let this tax abatement with Intersect become your legacy. There are better choices out there for Gray County and these residents. I have been approached by several people across the county asking-and the only thing I can do is either squelch the rumor or answer truthfully-is they are saying that Logan, you’re moving, and John Mark, you’re moving. I’ve been approached time and time again about that, and I don’t know how to answer that. But if you are moving, will you still be in the same precinct? If you do decide to give Intersect the tax abatement, just make choices that actually benefit residents of Gray County. We are the ones that have to live through this, and it’s going to be a nightmare for us.”
Next to speak was Sena Brainard.
“I’m glad that Intersect Power finally crossed the ‘t’s’ and dotted the ‘i’s’. It was a big disappointment to me to find out they did not have a completed agreement with their silent partner for what, 30 or 60 days? Our tax payers’ money was spent on an abatement that was not completed with their partner, and I wonder how much money the county spent on this with two attorneys. I know what an attorney costs. Mine is a good friend, so I get a break. Why are there multiple people in this abatement that Intersect has no lease on? They have no written agreement, there’s no lease and they do not own that property. And those people have continuously appeared in this commissioners court and said, ‘I don’t want this, I don’t want to be a part of it.’ These people should not be in that abatement. Intersect Power does not have an agreement with them. They’ve stated repeatedly that they are not going to do it. It would be like if I showed up in Hemphill County and said I was going to have a nuclear weapons site here or I’m going to do a nuclear power plant and I want the whole eastern half of Hemphill County in my deal and I haven’t talked to a single one of them-or I have a core group and the small people are not going to do business with me, but I’m going to put them in that abatement against their wishes. There is no lease between many of these people, and I’m not an attorney, but I would think for a stranger to just show up and want an abatement on property in the county when there is no lease, that’s very strange. Usually a property owner or the lease owner asks for the abatement, and these people have not been asking for the abatement. They have been continuously asking to remove their property and exlude them from it.”
Next to speak was Rick Amerson.
“Today I’m here to urge a course grounded in accountability, discernment, and engagement, not to oppose economic development, but to ensure it serves our community. The abatement before you is requested by Intersect, again, a company whose business model is not construction, not innovation, and certainly not partnership rooted in community. No, Intersect brokers access to public funds, then retreats behind a web of LLCs and shallow assurances. Let’s be candid: Intersect has no experience building data centers. No serious operator would entrust a project of this scale to a company whose primary expertise is securing government concessions. And why would they? Data center developers like Amazon and Microsoft are fully capable of working directly with governments; they don’t need a go-between. Intersect’s track record speaks volumes. After a year and a half, they still haven’t begun the solar and wind projects they received abatements for. They abandoned two hydrogen projects and bailed on their own data center abatement meetings here, their application expiring through inaction. Yet now-they’re back! Asking Gray County to restart the process. Don’t funnel public incentives through intermediaries; deal with principals-real builders, real operators, real partners-not proxies, not shell companies, not brokers flipping LLCs to faceless successors with no stake in the community, chasing deals, leaving a legacy of patchwork projects and broken promises. An abatement is a safeguard, not a subsidy. It empowers the county to shape development: to ensure roads aren’t left crumbling, utilities strained, and land exploited with no effective recourse. It gives leverage to mandate a proper close-out when the project ends, avoiding the abandoned buildings with leaking roofs and overgrown weeds that scar so much of Pampa. Such leverage is effective only with a company intending to stay. Intersect isn’t planting roots; their sine qua non is government subsidy, mercenary by nature, here for the harvest, then gone. Gray County is not desperate; we are a community with assets worth preserving. Any respectable principal would be glad to work with us-likely without abatement-because they value long-term relationship with a town committed to growth. We need a partner, not a pass-thru. Raise standards; respect resources; remember Pampa. Make sure what you do is rooted in civic benefit-not just the Art of the Deal. When we say ‘yes’ to development, let it be to a partner who shares our vision, builds with us, stays with us, and grows old along with us. Pampa’s best is yet to be.”
Next on the agenda was to open a public hearing concerning closing and/or abandoning a platted but unbuilt road located within the real property described within the agenda that can be viewed on the Gray County website. With no public remarks made, the hearing was closed.
Next items were to consider the minutes of the previous meeting, pay the bills as presented by the County Auditor, consider any line-item transfers and budget amendments, and to accept the County Treasurer’s Monthly and Quarterly Report; all were approved.
Next was to consider closing and/or abandoning the road as mentioned earlier, and it was approved.
Next was to open and consider the sealed bids for a used motor grader for precinct #1. One bid was made for $240,000 and was approved by the commission.
Next was to discuss and consider accepting an application requesting tax abatements from Intersect Power for a data center. The application can also be viewed online or a copy is also available in the County Clerk’s Office.
The commissioners were informed that a proposed abatement was currently unavailable due to the application requiring approval before negotiations could be made, and were told that a proposal would be presented within the 30-day time frame for a decision to be made on the October 15 meeting.
“We’ve never had a situation where someone had to reapply after we already accepted an application on the negotiations, and now they’re back again,” Judge Porter said. “So we have to accept the application before we can even talk about a timeline on the abatements.”
“I think that it’s incumbent on this court to engage with whoever it is, whether we take the deal or not,” Jeff Haley said. “We have to engage because we all sit here and realize the implications of increasing the tax base. No one comes to me and says, ‘don’t grade my road, don’t hire sheriff deputies, the sheriff’s office never needs equipment.’ We have to figure out a way to pay for it, it’s that simple. Everybody in town-their appraisals are going up and they’re taking a bigger bite, and I’m just telling you that agriculture can’t pay these bills. The numbers aren’t there. What are the citizen’s demand?”
“Unless everyone wants to see their taxes going up, we need to get engaged and figure out how to cut a better deal even if it means looking at a data center. But nobody wants to live poor. It’s like I say, ‘everybody wants to meet Jesus but nobody wants to die.’ It’s a hard choice, but this is something we have to engage with and take part in. There are a lot of things about the principle of tax abatements that I’m opposed to 100%, but we’re competing against other counties for these things. It’s like being in a ball game, and we can stay out of the game or we can take more tax for the things that the people are demanding from this court. We hear a lot from the tax payers that the taxes are too high, then we hear about the road not being in good shape and when we’re going to spend money to fix it. I don’t know if this thing is ultimately going to go, but I think we should engage and see what kind of deal we can make, and if we can’t make one, then we don’t.”
With no further discussion, the application was approved.
Next was to discuss and consider an extension of the Interlocal Agreement between Gray County and Hemphill County Hospital District for Ambulatory Services, which was approved.
Next was to consider approving the SAVNS Grant for Gray County, which was approved.
Next was to discuss and consider an Engagement Letter from Doshier, Pickens & Francis, LLC for the fiscal year 2025-2026 Audit for Gray County, which was approved.
Next was to consider and approve the PRPC Fiscal Year 2025-2026 PANCOM Fair-Share Contribution, which was approved.
Next was to consider approving the tax bids for delinquent property at 319 Wilson Street in McLean for the bid of $1,050, which was approved.
Next was to consider approving the 2026 Gray County Commissioners Court and Holiday Schedule, which was approved.
Last on the agenda was to consider the nomination of Commissioner Logan Hudson to the Gray County Appraisal District Board of Directors, which was approved.
With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.
