Project Marvel: A Test of Public Trust

Guest Opinion by Terri Michal

Data Centers in Big Bessemer

Project Marvel is the name given to the proposed hyperscale Data Center campus in Bessemer. Very recently, it was sold for approximately $432 million to QTS Data Centers. QTS has confirmed that it intends to move forward with one of the largest economic development projects in Alabama history. The project calls for approximately 18 data center buildings in Bessemer across roughly 1,600 acres.

However, many questions remain.

Project Marvel has been promoted as a transformational economic development project for the City of Bessemer. However, residents repeatedly expressed concern throughout the approval process that Mayor Kenneth Gulley and some City Councilors signed non-disclosure agreements that limited what they could discuss publicly about a project that will permanently reshape the Bessemer Community.

That should concern every single Bessemer Citizen, regardless of whether they support or oppose Project Marvel. Public Officials are elected to represent the people. Therefore, Public Officials should not be withholding information from the very citizens they were elected to serve.

Sometimes, confidentiality may play a role in economic development negotiations, but secrecy should never become a substitute for accountability. When decisions affect thousands of acres, cost billions of dollars, impact public infrastructure, and alter the future of our city and state, transparency must occur. Even worse are potential environmental impacts, such as battery and fuel storage risks inclusive of chemical leaks or contamination, massive water use, high electrical demand, heat and noise pollution, etc.

Now that the property has officially been sold to QTS, additional questions naturally arise: What did City Officials know during the negotiation process? When did they know it? If QTS is not asking for Property Tax Abatements, what ARE they asking for?

Those questions pertain to accountability and public trust, not just business.

Economic development and transparency are not separate. A City can welcome investment and also ensure citizens receive honest answers from the Public Officials they elected.

Public Trust in Bessemer City Hall

The concerns surrounding Project Marvel have raised broader questions: Can Bessemer citizens trust their City Hall to be transparent in Data Center related decisions?

That question extends beyond Data Centers.

It extends to Mayor Kenneth Gulley’s residency.

Alabama law requires a Mayor to reside in the City he or she serves. Residency is a fundamental qualification for holding office. Questions about Mayor Gulley’s residency are not new. In 2010, a lawsuit challenged his eligibility to run for Mayor, alleging that he resided in Hueytown rather than Bessemer. Gulley denied the allegations, stating that he maintained a residence in Bessemer while his wife and daughter lived at the family’s home in Hueytown. Recently, the postmaster who delivers Mayor Gulley’s mail reported that Gulley lives in Hueytown because that is where he delivers his mail to him. Of course, a mail carrier’s observation does not determine legal residency on its own, but that is information that would make a reasonable Bessemer citizen scratch their head, right?

Undoubtedly, the decisions being made today with Project Marvel will shape Bessemer for decades to come. The people making those decisions should be the same people who will live with the consequences. Should a Mayor make long-term and significant decisions for a city where they may not be living in?

Conclusion

Ultimately, this election is about trust.

Trust that Bessemer City Hall will be transparent with the public.

Trust that decisions affecting Bessemer’s future, such as Project Marvel, are made both transparently and with accountability.

Trust that Bessemer’s Mayor satisfies all legal requirements to hold office, so he will live with the fallout from Data Centers or any other projects that the citizens in the City of Bessemer will be dealing with.

Terri Michal is a former Birmingham City School Board member and founder of Civic Impact Alliance. 

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