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Former Milton City Administrator Al Hulick, left, tells the Rock County Board Staff Committee, including Supervisors Tom Brien, Philip Gorman and Barb Tillman (seated), along with County Administrator John Light, he is against a proposed non-disclosure agreement ban for employees, saying that it is so commonplace that he doesn’t remember how many he has signed.
Former Milton City Administrator Al Hulick, left, tells the Rock County Board Staff Committee, including Supervisors Tom Brien, Philip Gorman and Barb Tillman (seated), along with County Administrator John Light, he is against a proposed non-disclosure agreement ban for employees, saying that it is so commonplace that he doesn’t remember how many he has signed.
JANESVILLE — Rock County Board Supervisor Philip Gorman said he will bring back a “fresh resolution” regarding guardrails for county staff signing non-disclosure agreements after his initial resolution was postponed indefinitely.
The resolution, which would effectively ban county staff from entering non-disclosure agreements, was taken up Monday by the county board’s staff committee. The issue arose over NDAs related to Janesville’s data center saga. Gorman eventually sided with the majority to make the postponement unanimous. Those who pushed back against the resolution argued that indefinitely postponing could give the issue a “fresh start” as they felt angst over the data center and NDAs were two separate issues.
The resolution was voted down by the county’s planning and development committee March 26.
Gorman said, however, that data centers will not go away.
County Corporation Counsel Richard Greenlee said a new resolution on the issue may be brought up by Gorman or another county board member.
“I really thought the reason now to bring up the NDA resolution specifically on data centers is just so people would know what projects are being considered in their areas and they wouldn’t be surprised and find out that something is about to be approved in their backyard that has been talked about for a year and a half,” Gorman said.
Gorman felt staff didn’t do anything wrong, but said guardrails needed to be put in place because the county is accountable to the public. He also said he was against hyperscale data centers, much like the a 430-acre project proposed in the town of Beloit, dubbed Project Cornmaze.
“The status quo is not acceptable,” Gorman said.
Project Cornmaze came to light through media reports rather than official channels of the Town of Beloit or Rock County.
“The public craves to know about the importance and the impact on their homes and on their farms and on their utility bills, property taxes and the environment, and this is a very controversial proposal,” resident Judith Robson said. “This is not your normal business trying to be competitive in Rock County. This across the country has been very controversial and it’s time for the county to end non-disclosure agreements.”
Former Milton City Administrator Al Hulick, who was also the economic development director for the city of Janesville, spoke against the resolution, saying that it was “bad policy” and that NDAs are common practice.
“From personal experience, I have signed a lot of NDAs. Do I know the number? No I don’t. Why? Because they’re common. They’re not these cloaked, backroom deals that people are painting them to be,” Hulick said.
State Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken) has proposed a similar ban on NDAs statedwide in cities, villages, towns and counties. It was co-signed by local Sens. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) and Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit).
“I think the biggest concern is it’s becomme common practice that developers go around local governments and hide information from communities. I think one of the most important things for government is to have transparency,” Jacque told The 69.
Gorman cited a February Marquette Law School poll gauging public perception on the benefits of data centers. In that study, 70% of respondents said that the costs of large data centers “outweigh the benefits,” which was an increase when 55% shared the same sentiment in the same study conducted in October 2025.
The Legislature failed to pass the bill before going into recess. Jacque said it would be taken up in the Assembly in January 2027.
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