Scioto County officials say Google promised to use local workers whenever possible on its massive Franklin Furnace data center project. But when Commissioner Merit Smith visited the construction site to ask why workers were coming in from Wisconsin, he discovered the general contractor apparently didn’t know about that agreement.
Smith told fellow commissioners Thursday that he’d received complaints about out-of-state workers being brought in for jobs that local tradespeople might be able to fill.
He decided to take the complaints directly to Holder Construction, the general contractor overseeing Google’s Project Dazzler.
“We’re getting complaints that there are workers up here that came in from Wisconsin,” Smith said.
According to Smith, he explained to a Holder representative that the county had an agreement with Google to use local workers whenever possible.
The response surprised him.
“The guy from Holder told me that he had not seen that agreement,” Smith said. “He wasn’t aware of that.”
Contractor Promises to Look Into Complaints
Smith said the Holder representative told him he hadn’t been aware of workers coming in from Wisconsin, either.
The representative suggested a subcontractor may have brought in its own workers without the general contractor knowing where they came from.
But Smith said the representative promised to investigate.
“He said, ‘We will work to rectify that,'” Smith told commissioners.
Smith said the local hiring commitment was part of the agreement between the county and Tilted Gate, the property entity associated with Google’s development.
The agreement called for the company to make an effort to use local workers and local union labor whenever possible.
However, Smith said the Holder representative told him he hadn’t seen the agreement.
That raises questions about how the hiring expectations were communicated to contractors and subcontractors working on the project.
Thousands of Construction Jobs Expected
Google’s data center campus is expected to support between 3,500 and 4,500 construction jobs during the development.
With that many workers needed, Smith acknowledged that some labor will have to come from outside Scioto County.
“We know if Google has 3,500 construction workers, they probably have to bring people in from out of town,” he said.
But the commissioner wants to make sure local workers get every opportunity to participate.
“We understand that we have a lot of union tradespeople in this county, and we want to see those people working,” Smith said.
“Our hope is that they take everyone they can get from this community.”
The distinction matters because the hiring commitment described by Smith is not a promise that every construction job will go to a Scioto County resident. It’s an agreement to prioritize local workers when possible.
Union Representative Involved
Smith said he has also spoken with Adrian Harrison, president and field representative for Laborers Local 83.
According to Smith, Harrison agreed to keep him informed about whether there had been any changes in the way workers were being called out for jobs at the site.
That would give county officials another way to identify continuing problems.
Smith said he recognizes that complications are likely during a project of this size.
“We realize along the way there will be glitches, and we’ll have to work through it,” he said.
For now, Holder Construction has reportedly agreed to look into the complaints and the local hiring agreement.
The bigger question is whether that commitment will translate into more opportunities for Scioto County workers as construction continues over the next several years.