COSHOCTON − A Coshocton man filed a lawsuit in Coshocton County Common Pleas Court on June 17 against the Coshocton Port Authority over failure to fill part of a public records request, which the agency deems as being too broad in scope.
Andrew Frank claims the port authority did not answer all parts of a public records request he made on May 26 regarding the Aligned Data Centers project at the Conesville Industrial Park.
Frank met with Coshocton County Commissioners on June 22 and expressed his concerns about transparency from local government entities regarding the project and information on it released to the public.
“What concerns me most is not just the project itself, but the lack of skepticism surrounding it. We’re told this development is a good fit for Coshocton County. We’re told it’s sufficient. We’re told it’s sustainable and that it represents the future,” Frank said in the meeting. “I’m asking where the scrutiny is? Where’s the independent analysis and difficult questions?”
Aligned purchased the former Conesville AEP site in 2025 and is developing it into a large data center facility. It is expected to open in late 2026 as part of the broader Conesville Industrial Park project. The site will include a major building and power infrastructure, create about 30 permanent jobs, and involve more than 1,500 construction workers while supporting technology services like cloud computing and streaming.
Commissioners and Tiffany Swigert, executive director of the Coshocton Port Authority, maintained they have been open about the project and much regarding it has been reported in the local media and industry publications.
“This is the right move for this community,” said Commissioner Bob Bigrigg during the meeting with Frank. “We’ve made this into something that will hopefully spur not just data centers, but other types of industrial companies to move into this community.”
Swigert said she had a nearly two hour meeting with Frank on April 22, where she answered several of his questions and discussed what the project will mean to the community by increasing the tax base.
“Simply because you don’t like the answer, does not mean there is a lack of transparency,” Swigert said during the June 22 meeting.
Frank’s request
Frank asked the port authority for grant and lease applications, engineering and allocation records and meeting minutes dating back to Oct. 1, 2024, according to his lawsuit. These were provided to him, he confirmed.
Frank also asked for all emails, text messages, metadata, letters and written correspondence sent, received or carbon-copied by Swigert and all port authority board members back to Oct. 1, 2024, featuring the keywords “Aligned,” “Aligned Data Centers,” “Frontier,” “Frontier Group of Companies,” “AOFF,” “Mihalik,” “DEV0105461” or “Conesville.”
Swigert said a cursory search of their systems revealed approximately 9,000 documents and that is too much for her and Economic Development Specialist Hannah Gallagher to process. Frank was asked to narrow his ask in a reply, according to court filings. Frank then asked for only emails, texts and correspondence from accounts belonging to Swigert and sitting board members.
The port authority is being represented by the Bricker Graydon Wyatt law firm of Lebanon. A reply from attorney Brodi Conover in the filing said the request did not indicate who communications should be to or from and search terms provided does not allow the port authority to sufficiently search its emails to determine which records are responsive.
The complaint was forwarded by the local court to the Ohio Court of Claims, which resolves complaints when a state or local government agency improperly denies access to public records.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Dispute over 9,000 documents sparks lawsuit in Coshocton County
Reporting by Leonard L. Hayhurst, Coshocton Tribune / Coshocton Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Leonard L. Hayhurst, Coshocton Tribune | USA TODAY Network
