HILL COUNTY, Texas — Hill County Judge Shane Brassell and 2 county commissioners are being sued by data center developer RCM Hill in a $100 million lawsuit after commissioners voted to institute a moratorium on data center development in the county.
The lawsuit states RCM Hill has spent more than a year and invested nearly a million dollars to acquire rights to purchase land and legal entitlements to develop the data center.
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The Lawsuit can be seen below
Locals say they have lived in the county longer and should have a say in what gets built there.
"We've worked our land for our whole lives, our children live here," said Hill County resident Pat Abbott.
"We're just now finding out about this!" added Hill County resident Brenda Ladd.
One resident said she believes the commissioners and judge had good intentions with the moratorium, but feels that if prior data center concerns from residents had been acknowledged, the county would not be in this position.
"Here's some more solid moratoriums out there, and they were done the right way, and this one, I think they jumped way ahead," Hill County resident Olivia said.
In previous coverage, Judge Brassell stated the county attorney warned them a lawsuit could be possible. However, he said the county has a right to protect its citizens from known and unknown threats.
Residents say they want county leaders to hold firm.
"I would implore that they stand their ground, because if we don't, no one else is going to," said Hill County resident Jennifer Isaacks.
With the potential for the suit to financially impact citizens, locals say they want transparency from their county leaders.
"I know $100 million is a lot of money, but honestly it just happened last night and I'd kind of like to, I, I want to know what the commissioners actually think. And they all have to be on the same page and right now they're not." Olivia said.
I reached out to Judge Brassell and both county commissioners listed in the suit but did not hear back before air time. Lawyers tell 25 News RCM Hill will not be making any statements at this time. County commissioners will be meeting Friday morning May 29th 2026, and 25 News will be there with the latest.
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