EASTON, MARYLAND — Should Talbot County impose a twelve-month moratorium on processing, reviewing, and approving data-center applications while it writes zoning rules? Resolution 395 was introduced Aug. 11, 2026, 3-1 — Vice President Pete Lesher, Lynn Mielke, and Dave Stepp introducing; Keasha Haythe voting not to introduce; President Chuck Callahan absent. Star Democrat coverage quotes Haythe saying the review pause is “certainly fine,” but that “nine times out of 10, a data center has not looked at Talbot County.” That no vote is named opposition on the record.

A hearing is not a vote. 395 is not law unless the Council adopts it. Talbot has no data-center zoning on the books as a permitted use under current code, per County Attorney Patrick Thomas’s Aug. 11 remarks. Lesher has framed the year as time to work jointly with the Town of Easton and the power companies. Stepp has pointed to strain on water and power systems. Frank Gunsallus, a Council candidate with years in enterprise technology sales, published an argument in June against data centers in Talbot on electrical load, water use, noise, and the irreversibility of converting farmland, citing Harford County’s June ban. Resident Em Kohanski spoke against data centers at the August meeting.

The county’s Aug. 11 meeting highlights set a public hearing on the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund distribution plan during the Council meeting that began at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in the Bradley Meeting Room. Star Democrat reporting said Resolution 395 would be open to public comment that night and gave no separate start time. That Sept. 8 legislative meeting has now occurred. The county’s pending-legislation page still lists Resolution 395; the county has not posted a final roll-call. The live question remains how long and how narrowly any pause should run — a twelve-month freeze on all applications is a different tool than a pause on facilities above a given megawatt threshold.

The Opinion desk wants letters, with name and town: from Talbot County Economic Development and the Economic Development Commission; Easton Utilities; any landowner approached about a site; anyone who thinks a blanket moratorium is the wrong tool; and from Lesher, Stepp, Haythe, Gunsallus, and any resident who wants the pause longer, shorter, or permanent. Gunsallus is a candidate. The other Council candidates get the same invitation. We will print a well-argued dissent at length.