One of my favorite ways to describe

Abilene is we're mid-sized [music] and

mighty. We're innovative. We're filled

with opportunity. [music]

We're warm. We're friendly. And we're

serious about business. I describe our

city as a city with a lot of culture and

tradition, a lot of western heritage.

We're a railroad town, and so we never

want to forget our heritage and what got

us to this point. It was just hard to

imagine that, you know, okay, that

you want to be able to build a huge data

center in Abilene, Texas. So, it was

just kind of like it

is this really true? The more questions

we asked, [music] the more skeptical we

became because a hyperscale data center

is something so unknown. And artificial

[music] intelligence, it was such an

opportunity for us to diversify our

industry [music] base. It represents new

dollars on the tax rolls, which actually

then assists [music] them to be able to

grow the community, to improve

infrastructure,

>> [music]

>> to offer opportunities to our existing

citizens and to our future citizens.

This particular land out there, that

land wasn't very usable. [music] It was

real rocky, hard clay. It wasn't

agricultural land. So, it's [music] it's

really helping our property tax base

also. So, the land itself, you know,

when [music] we talk about, "Well, that

land could have been used for this or

that." This particular project, that

land wasn't very good for hardly

anything.

>> What we're talking about then, [music]

too, is the school districts. You have

students now that have

>> [music]

>> new equipment, students that are going

to be able to be educated in new

facilities because of the [music] the

tax benefits to the school districts, as

well. I'm very proud of Abilene for

being forward-thinking [music]

and to look at these opportunities that

we have to continue to grow. You know, I

love West Texas, and I love all these

small towns in West [music] Texas. And

so, you know, when the opportunity comes

to you like [music] this, you need to

utilize it. We know that Stargate was

going to be built, and it could have

been built in any other state, it could

have been built in another city in

Texas. The technology is coming, and so

when they pick Abilene to do that, we're

excited. [music] When I say

transformational,

I think about great-grandchildren.

[music]

It will mean future prosperity for

everyone. We don't want to forget our

heritage and our culture, but I want

Abilene to grow, and and if we're going

to be the hub of this type technology

>> [music]

>> and reap the benefits from it, I'm for

it. I'm for this for Abilene.