Statement from City Manager Krishna Namburi on the Verrus Proposal

We have urged Verrus to engage with the community. I want to be clear. My expectation is that Verrus must engage with the community and provide the information people need to understand their proposal and its potential impacts.

I also want to acknowledge that I believe we, as a City, will do better. We are already moving in the right direction.

Improvements to the City's economic development processes have been suggested through the Budget Committee process. We are looking at our development practices and programs to assess their effectiveness in delivering livable-wage jobs for Salem and identify opportunities to strengthen our approach.

As an organization, we have more to learn from this experience. With Council support, we are reviewing NDA practices and AI data center land use regulations. We will continue community engagement through a task force and subsequent town halls that will bring recommendations on these important issues back to Council.

That is how good government should work. We learn. We improve.

I share many of the same questions and concerns that I have heard from members of our community regarding the impacts of data center development. Protecting Salem's environment, water, neighborhoods, and quality of life is a shared responsibility. Those issues deserve serious consideration through a fair, transparent, and objective public process.

The Verrus proposal will be evaluated through the City's established public process and in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and City standards. The City's role is to ensure that the process and the law are followed, and that the Council and community have the information they need as the process moves forward. That process should be rigorous and transparent, and it should give the community an opportunity to understand the proposal, ask questions, and provide input before decisions are made.

We live in challenging times. Technology is moving fast, driving the need for faster consideration of policies, processes, and regulations. Many communities in Oregon and across the country are facing similar challenges. The proposed moratorium gives the City, our Council, and the community time and opportunity to ask difficult questions and ensure our policies and regulations are keeping pace with the changes we are facing.

I am grateful to our community members who have taken the time to share questions, concerns, and suggestions. We need that community input, and I encourage people to continue sharing their ideas as we work through these issues together.