WATCH MY LIPS A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO WHAT ROWAN COUNTY'S BOARD ACTUALLY DID — AND HOW TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE
- Outlaw Livin'
- 7 days ago
- 12 min read
THE OUTLAW ARMORY
ROWAN COUNTY ACCOUNTABILITY SERIES
THE OUTLAW ARMORY
ROWAN COUNTY ACCOUNTABILITY SERIES
WATCH MY LIPS
A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO WHAT ROWAN COUNTY'S BOARD
ACTUALLY DID — AND HOW TO HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE
Commissioner Greg Edds, March 16, 2026: "There is no data center deal." |
Published March 2026
Outlaw Livin' LLC | outlawlivin.com
Every claim in this document is sourced to enacted statute or published public record. Nothing inferred. Nothing embellished.
ESSE QUAM VIDERI
"To be rather than to seem." That is North Carolina's state motto. It is also the first principle invoked in the Rowan County Board of Commissioners' own Code of Ethics — a document signed by every sitting commissioner, including Greg Edds.
On March 16, 2026, Commissioner and NC House District 76 candidate Greg Edds stood before a packed room of citizens and said:
"I want to be clear about this, so watch my lips. There is no data center deal. We have made no offers on any data centers. No data centers have made any offers to us. We are not speaking to any data centers."
— Greg Edds, Commission Chair, March 16, 2026
This document presents the public record — sourced to board minutes, executed contracts, planning staff memoranda, and enacted North Carolina statute — that directly contradicts each of those four statements.
The purpose is not commentary. The purpose is to place the documented facts before the citizens of Rowan County so they may determine what was done with their land, their water infrastructure, their tax dollars, and their trust — and to equip every citizen with the legal tools to demand the records that remain concealed.
This is journalism. Every assertion in this document traces to a named primary source. If the record shows otherwise, we will correct it. It does not.
PART ONE: WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS
THE DOCUMENTED TIMELINE
The following facts are drawn exclusively from Rowan County Board of Commissioner meeting minutes, executed county contracts, planning department memoranda, and published public records. Each is identified by its source.
April 4, 2022 | The Rowan County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a $4,200,000 infrastructure reimbursement for Red Rock Developments for water, sewer, and road improvements on Long Ferry Road. Chairman Greg Edds chaired the meeting and was the most vocal advocate for the project from the dais. All five commissioners — Edds, Greene, Caskey, Pierce, and Klusman — voted yes. Source: BOC Minutes, April 4, 2022. |
Rowan County Board of Commissioners Minutes, April 4, 2022 — public record.
June 6, 2022 | The board amended the incentive terms for Red Rock, removing the requirement that payment be conditioned on a qualifying tenant and instead triggering payment upon certificate of completion for shell buildings. This decoupled the $4.2 million in public funds from the job creation requirement that justified the incentive. Source: BOC Minutes, June 6, 2022. |
February 2024 | The county executed the formal Incentives Agreement with RRIFI LF LAND, LLC — a South Carolina special purpose entity, not the 'Red Rock Developments' publicly presented to citizens. Commissioner Greg Edds signed the agreement personally on behalf of Rowan County. County Attorney John W. Dees II approved it as to form and legal sufficiency. Finance Director Anna Bumgarner pre-audited it. The agreement included Article VII, Section 5, a sworn warranty by the county that: 'To the best of the County's knowledge, no officer or official of the County has any interest (financial, employment or other) in the Company or the transactions contemplated under this Agreement.' Source: Red Rock Incentive Agreement, fully executed, February 2024. |
August 7, 2024 | Twelve days before the zoning vote, Rowan County Assistant Planning Director Shane Stewart sent the board a formal memorandum identifying the Z 09-24 request as an amendment to add 'Data Center' — SIC codes 7374 and 7379 — to the approved use list for the Long Ferry Road property. The staff report included a map showing Google, Microsoft, Facebook, AT&T, EMC, NetApp, Cisco, and Wipro data center facilities within approximately one hour's drive of Rowan County — the explicit market the site was positioned to serve. Staff noted: 'Considering the Red Rock plan is for speculative industrial development, it would be reasonable to assume a data center project may warrant a subsequent review by the BOC once project details are known.' Source: Shane Stewart memorandum to BOC, August 7, 2024. |
Planning staff memorandum to the Board, August 7, 2024 — twelve days before the vote adding 'Data Center' as permitted use.
Staff report map showing major data center operators within one hour of Rowan County. This document was in every commissioner's packet before the August 19 vote.
Staff comments explicitly noting a data center 'would be reasonable to assume' and flagging the need for subsequent BOC review.
August 19, 2024 | The board voted to approve Z 09-24, formally adding 'Data Center' as a permitted use for the Long Ferry Road parcels. On the same agenda, consent item 12 — a public hearing request for 'Project Seattle,' an EDC-coded economic development project — was removed from the agenda before the meeting without public explanation. Source: BOC Agenda, August 19, 2024. |
October 6, 2025 | The board voted on a final text amendment to the Long Ferry Road zoning. Source: BOC Minutes, October 6, 2025. |
November 2025 | The Long Ferry Road property sold for approximately $174,000,000 to EDC Charlotte LLC — an entity whose registered address traces directly to Edged Energy, a company that builds gigawatt-scale data centers. The sale closed six weeks after the October text amendment. Source: Published deed records; Salisbury Post, March 2026. |
March 16, 2026 | Thirteen days after winning his Republican primary for NC House District 76, Greg Edds stood before citizens at a packed board meeting and stated: 'There is no data center deal. We have made no offers on any data centers. No data centers have made any offers to us. We are not speaking to any data centers.' Source: Meeting recording; Salisbury Post, March 19, 2026. |
March 2026 — Edds to Salisbury Post | In a separate statement to the Salisbury Post, Edds said: 'Red Rock showed up with us in about 2021. It was all about industrial development. In 2024, they said how do you feel about data centers? We said we were open to that as well.' Source: Salisbury Post, March 2026. |
THE SELF-CONTRADICTION
On March 16, 2026, Edds told citizens in an official board meeting: 'We are not speaking to any data centers.'
In a statement to the Salisbury Post in the same month, Edds told a reporter: 'In 2024, they said how do you feel about data centers? We said we were open to that as well.'
Those two statements cannot both be true. Either the county spoke with Red Rock about data centers in 2024 — which Edds admitted to the press — or it did not — which he told citizens under his authority as Commission Chair. Both statements were made by the same man in the same month. One of them is false. The public record, the planning staff memorandum, the zoning vote, the Project Seattle agenda item, and the $174 million sale all corroborate the statement he made to the reporter — not the one he made to the citizens.
The board's own planning staff told them in writing, twelve days before the August 2024 vote, that a data center was the reasonable anticipated use for this site. The board voted yes. The property sold to a data center company for $174 million. Then the chair of that board told citizens there was no data center deal.
That is not a mischaracterization. That is not spin. That is a direct contradiction of documented facts in the board's own public record.
PART TWO: THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK
WHAT THE LAW REQUIRES
The following statutes and provisions are the operative legal framework. Each citation is to enacted North Carolina law or the board's own adopted documents.
CODE OF ETHICS § 1 | "Board members should obey all laws applicable to their official actions as members of the board. Board members should be guided by the spirit as well as the letter of the law in whatever they do." Adopted September 7, 2010, signed by every commissioner. Source: Rowan County Code of Ethics. |
CODE OF ETHICS § 2 | Board members must exhibit "trustworthiness" and present "opinions to all in a reasonable, forthright, consistent manner." Source: Rowan County Code of Ethics, Section 2. |
CODE OF ETHICS § 3(a) | "Official actions should be above reproach." The standard is whether "a reasonable person who is aware of all of the relevant facts and circumstances surrounding the board member's action would conclude that the action was inappropriate." Source: Rowan County Code of Ethics, Section 3(a). |
CODE OF ETHICS § 5 | "Board members should conduct the affairs of the board in an open and public manner... They should prohibit unjustified delay in fulfilling public records requests... make clear that an environment of transparency and candor is to be maintained at all times." Source: Rowan County Code of Ethics, Section 5. |
N.C.G.S. § 14-209 | False reports by public officers. A public officer who knowingly makes a false statement in the exercise of their official duties. The March 16, 2026 statements were made by Edds in his capacity as Commission Chair, in an official board meeting, in response to direct citizen questions about official county actions. Source: N.C.G.S. § 14-209. |
N.C.G.S. § 128-16 | Removal from office for willful neglect of duty or misconduct in office. Civil proceeding; remedy is removal. Source: N.C.G.S. § 128-16. |
N.C.G.S. § 14-234 | Contracts with public agencies in which a public officer has a financial interest. Criminal penalty. The county's own executed contract warranted that no officer had any financial interest. Whether that warranty is accurate is a factual question requiring the records demanded in Part Three. Source: N.C.G.S. § 14-234; Red Rock Incentive Agreement, Article VII, Section 5. |
N.C.G.S. § 132-6(d) | The economic development records exemption that allowed temporary withholding of project-related public records expired at sale. Once the property sold to EDC Charlotte LLC — a data center company — for $174 million, every record previously withheld became immediately public. Source: N.C.G.S. § 132-6(d). |
N.C.G.S. § 132-1(d) | No political subdivision of North Carolina may enter into a nondisclosure agreement to restrict access to public records. Any such agreement is itself a public record. If an NDA is associated with a closed session, it must be included in those minutes. Source: N.C.G.S. § 132-1(d). |
N.C.G.S. § 158-7.1 | Economic development incentives must serve a public purpose. The incentive was approved on the basis of job creation. After the June 2022 amendment decoupled payment from job creation, and after the property sold to a buyer with no job creation commitment, the statutory public purpose predicate is a legitimate legal question. Source: N.C.G.S. § 158-7.1. |
CENSURE: THE BOARD'S OWN MECHANISM
The board's Code of Ethics contains its own censure procedure. If a majority of the board has reason to believe a member has violated the Code, it may open an investigation and proceed to a public hearing. The hearing must be open session. The accused member may present evidence and cross-examine witnesses. The board votes on a resolution of censure by majority vote.
Citizens may demand the board initiate censure proceedings against Commissioner Edds. The demand must state the specific Code provisions violated and the documented conduct. The board's refusal to act is itself a public record and a basis for further accountability.
The Code further provides: "If upon investigation, the board concludes that a violation of a criminal law may have occurred, it shall refer the matter to the local district attorney." The local district attorney is Brandy Cook.
PART THREE: PROJECT SEATTLE
On August 19, 2024 — the same meeting at which the board voted to add 'Data Center' as a permitted use for the Long Ferry Road property — consent agenda item 12 was removed before the meeting. That item was:
"Public Hearing Request — EDC 'Project Seattle'"
— Rowan County Board of Commissioners Agenda, August 19, 2024, Item 12 (struck through)
EDC code names are used for one purpose: to conceal the identity of a prospective business from the public during active recruitment negotiations. That is the legitimate use under N.C.G.S. § 132-6(d).
That exemption is now expired. The property sold. Edged Energy closed a $174 million transaction. Every record held by the county, the EDC, or any county officer relating to Project Seattle is now a public record subject to mandatory disclosure.
The question citizens must ask: Was Project Seattle Edged Energy? If so, the board was simultaneously recruiting a data center company through a concealed EDC project while publicly voting to add data centers as a permitted use — and its chair was telling citizens there was no data center deal.
The answer to that question is in the records. Citizens have the right to those records today.
PART FOUR: WHAT YOU DO NOW
YOUR LEGAL RIGHT TO THE RECORDS
You are a citizen of Rowan County. Under N.C.G.S. Chapter 132, every record made or received in the transaction of public business is your property. Not the board's property. Not the county attorney's property. Yours.
The following is a ready-to-use public records demand. Print it. Sign it. Hand-deliver it to the Rowan County Administration Building, 130 West Innes Street, Salisbury, NC 28144, during business hours Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Keep a copy with the date and name of the person who received it.
You may also submit requests through the county's feedback form at rowancountync.gov. Document every submission.
NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST Pursuant to N.C.G.S. Chapter 132 Date: __________________ To: Rowan County Board of Commissioners / Rowan County Manager 130 West Innes Street, Salisbury, NC 28144 And To: Rowan County EDC, 204 E. Innes Street, Salisbury, NC 28144 Pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 132-6, I hereby request immediate access to and copies of the following public records:
N.C.G.S. § 132-6 requires the custodian to permit inspection and copying of public records as promptly as possible. The economic development exemption under § 132-6(d) has expired. The property sold. No further withholding is authorized. If any record is withheld, you are required to state the specific statutory basis for withholding and log each withheld record. Any NDA purporting to restrict access to public records is void under N.C.G.S. § 132-1(d). Requestor: ___________________________________ Address: ____________________________________ Phone/Email: _________________________________ Signature: ___________________________________ |
AFTER YOU FILE YOUR REQUEST
The county must respond as promptly as possible. If they deny your request, they must cite the specific statute authorizing the withholding. If they claim attorney-client privilege, they must log each document withheld with a description sufficient to evaluate the claim.
If they fail to respond or improperly withhold records, N.C.G.S. § 132-9 gives you the right to file a civil action in superior court to compel disclosure. Court costs and attorney fees may be awarded against the agency.
Document everything. Date-stamp every interaction. The record you build today is the evidence in the proceeding tomorrow.
PART FIVE: THE INJUNCTION QUESTION
Construction is active on Long Ferry Road. Every day that passes makes the harm harder to remedy. A taxpayer plaintiff — any Rowan County property tax payer — has standing to file for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in NC Superior Court on the following grounds:
Spot zoning: The June 2024 and August 2024 amendments added data center as a permitted use for a specific parcel while the owner was actively negotiating a sale to a data center company. NC courts have voided amendments that benefit a single private party without adequate public benefit nexus. The public benefit stated — jobs and tax base — was never conditioned on data center use.
Statutory predicate failure under N.C.G.S. § 158-7.1: Economic development incentives require a finding that grants serve a public purpose including job creation. The June 2022 amendment decoupled payment from job creation. The ultimate buyer has no job commitment. The statutory predicate is undermined on the face of the record.
Warranty breach: The executed incentive agreement warranted that no county official had any financial interest in the company or transactions. If that warranty is false, the agreement is voidable.
Irreparable harm: Bulldozers are running. Infrastructure is being installed. Money cannot restore what is being physically altered. This is the textbook standard for emergency injunctive relief.
Public interest: The county's own planning staff flagged that further BOC review would be needed once data center project details were known. The board never conducted that review. The public has a substantial interest in transparent decision-making on a $174 million transaction affecting public water infrastructure and taxpayer obligations.
The citizen document you are holding is the evidentiary foundation for that filing. The Chapter 132 demands in Part Three will surface the remaining records. Those records either confirm the case or they do not. Either way, the public record is now complete enough to act.
TO BE RATHER THAN TO SEEM
The Rowan County Board of Commissioners adopted a Code of Ethics in 2010. They put North Carolina's state motto in the preamble. They signed it. They acknowledged it.
Esse quam videri. To be rather than to seem.
The record shows a board that voted to fund infrastructure, amended the terms to decouple public money from job creation, rezoned the property to permit data centers, concealed a coded EDC project named Seattle on the same agenda as the data center vote, watched a data center company buy the land for $174 million, and then had its chair stand before citizens and deny that any of it happened.
That is not being. That is seeming.
The citizens of Rowan County — particularly those in NC House District 76 who will vote on Greg Edds' bid for state office — are entitled to know the difference.
The public record makes it plain. The law gives you the tools. What you do with both is up to you.
THE OUTLAW ARMORY
Outlaw Livin' LLC | outlawlivin.com
Above reproach is the baseline. Not the aspiration.
Every claim in this document traces to enacted statute or published public record.
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