The developer behind a proposed 257-acre data center campus in Portage County gave state Rep. Heidi Workman, R-Rootstown, $6,588.89 eight days before she announced her appointment to an Ohio legislative panel studying the data center industry.

Campaign-finance records reviewed by TiffinOhio.net show Conrad Geis, president of Geis Companies, contributed $6,588.89 to Workman’s campaign on May 5.

Transparency USA lists Geis as Workman’s second-largest contributor in the current campaign cycle, behind only Howard Rich.

Before making the contribution, Geis Construction had already asked Shalersville Township trustees to lift the township’s data center moratorium so vacant land at the company’s Turnpike Commerce Center could be marketed for data center development. Trustees rejected the request and extended the moratorium.

Shalersville is part of Workman’s 72nd Ohio House District.

Eight days after Geis contributed to Workman, she announced her appointment to the newly created Joint Data Center Committee on May 13.

The panel was created to examine the economic, environmental, energy and security impacts of Ohio’s expanding data center industry and hear from industry representatives, local governments and affected communities.

Workman was already sponsoring legislation regulating new data centers.

She and Republican state Rep. Steve Demetriou introduced House Bill 710 on Feb. 24.

The bill would prohibit state and local governments from awarding economic-development assistance to new data centers, restrict construction on certain properties, prohibit eminent domain for new data centers and require developers to bear electricity-system costs attributable to their projects rather than shifting those costs to other customers.

The Legislative Service Commission analysis says the bill would require developers to cover generation, transmission, distribution, capacity, congestion and other electricity costs attributable to new data centers.

When announcing the legislation, Workman said Ohio should not pursue development that “increases utility costs, or shifts infrastructure expenses onto working families and small businesses.”

Geis also gave money to Workman’s HB 710 co-sponsor.

Campaign-finance records reviewed by TiffinOhio.net show Geis contributed $16,615.66 to Demetriou on May 5 — the same day he gave $6,588.89 to Workman.

Together, Geis gave the two primary sponsors of HB 710 $23,204.55 in a single day.

On May 19, Workman and Demetriou testified in favor of HB 710 before the House General Government Committee.

Geis-backed project could include 15 buildings

On May 27, News 5 Cleveland reported that Singapore-based Bitdeer had a contract to purchase roughly 257 acres at the Geis-developed Turnpike Commerce Center in Shalersville.

The proposed campus could include 15 buildings, begin with approximately 150 megawatts of power capacity and eventually grow to as much as 750 megawatts. Bitdeer estimated construction costs exceeding $300 million before equipment.

Workman attended a May 29 informational event on the project where hundreds of Portage County residents gathered and protesters demonstrated outside.

At the event, Workman told News 5 she had not taken a position on the Bitdeer proposal and said questions involving water, electricity, cost shifting and tax benefits deserved scrutiny.

Geis told the outlet that “responsible data center development can be done.”

Bitdeer has said it is not seeking tax breaks for the Shalersville project. The project also remains subject to the township’s data center moratorium and had not received local approval when developers presented it publicly.

Geis is Workman’s second-largest campaign contributor. His company is pursuing a major data center development in her district, while Workman co-sponsors legislation regulating new data centers and serves on the General Assembly’s data center panel.

Workman is seeking reelection this November against Democrat Jeff Clapper and Libertarian Michael Fricke.