Voters in the Town of Clay flipped their Republican-led town board leadership. New Democratic town councilors Ryan Russel, David Capria, and Courtney Gauthier take office in January. Although no presidential candidates drew voters in for this year’s election, Clay residents still turned out to voice their concerns over their new neighbor, Micron Technologies.
“ Micron going on across the road over here-that's a big issue,” said fire safety technician Kurt Williams.
Town councilors serve as the direct liaisons between local residents and Micron Technologies. Former Republican Town Councilor, Ryan Pleskach, filled this role as co-chair of the 2024 Land Use Study. The report aimed to prepare the town for its projected local growth.
Many local residents like Nancy Brame are concerned over how this growth will affect their daily commutes and local taxes, which have not risen for five consecutive years.
“ The fact that we're having Micron here- I wanna make sure that the people involved in our local government oversee that and hold Micron accountable,” said Brame.
The proposed $100 billion four-fab facility project is projected to bring in 64,000 new residents to the area according to a statement from Jobs to Move America. The final environmental impact statement is set to be released this Friday. Over 1,300 comments were submitted to Micron’s 20,000 page Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which was released in June.
Editor's note: Abbey Leibert produced this story.