Company representative said the project will enter a FERC pre-filing in December, followed by public hearings, federal environmental and routing review; company stressed the public component and state/county roles in the review.

The board authorized staff to prepare a petition to establish a DeKalb County Regional Sewer District with one amendment: language about 'septic elimination' was revised to 'septic elimination process where appropriate' before approval to avoid implying countywide elimination of septic systems.

Commissioners discussed a proposed resolution to commission an independent health and environmental study related to data centers. Some members urged a countywide environmental-health baseline study (not limited to data centers) and recommended starting with universities before issuing an RFQ/RFP; the committee held the item for additional member input.

Commissioners approved an amended demolition bid package for the Sunny Meadows facility that includes asbestos inspection and six inches of topsoil to the building footprint, and they signed an EPA Brownfields site access agreement to pursue Phase I/II assessments under a $500,000 grant.