Dowson Family Farms, which has four parcels of land under contract to CyrusOne for construction of a $500 million data center project in Talkington Township, contacted area school officials to tout “a once-in-a-lifetime tax revenue opportunity.”
Darrel Thoma, chief financial officer of Dowson Family Farms, sent a follow-up email April 3 to Becca Lamon, superintendent of Ball-Chatham School District, to bolster support of the CyrusOne project. The emails, which were obtained by Illinois Times through a Freedom of Information Act request, show how the Divernon-based company pitched CyrusOne’s project to education officials. Thoma made it clear that CyrusOne would, if necessary, turn its attention and cash infusions to other school districts.
Thoma told the Ball-Chatham superintendent that CyrusOne had committed to assisting local trade schools and committed to giving $2 million each to the Chatham and Auburn school districts over the next five years.
“What an amazing benefit. However, this will not happen unless it goes to vote and it passes,” Thoma warned in the email, just days before the Sangamon County Board ultimately approved the project in a 17-10 vote April 7.
He added that the Auburn School District’s leadership was supportive of the proposal.
“Auburn School Board is excited and is reaching out to the County Board members showing their support. I am asking that you also consider the benefits to the community and reach out to the board members. If you know someone personally, it would be great to contact them directly, or you can send an email to all the board members,” he continued. “If you are not in support, then that is OK, as we will direct our resources and efforts to other communities.”
A FOIA request sent to Auburn School District asking for similar communications returned no results, according to superintendent Darren Root, who is also the district’s FOIA officer.
“It is not my place nor that of the school board to take a position on this matter,” Root wrote in an email to Illinois Times addressing Thoma’s April 3 comments obtained from the Ball-Chatham School District.
Thoma later told Illinois Times the statement about Auburn’s School Board showing support was “probably not worded correctly.”
He said the statements and emails were ultimately unsuccessful in this instance since both County Board members representing Auburn and Chatham, Tracy Sheppard and Pam Deppe, voted against the proposal.
“I don’t know if they (Auburn School Board) reached out to the County Board members. I was expressing my position that if it was to go through, that obviously schools and communities were going to be receiving benefits,” Thoma said. “I have no clue whether they contacted one single person. It’s not quite worded right – it should have said that they were excited about the chance of receiving funds.”
Thoma also told Illinois Times the $2 million figure he referenced in the April 3 email is not certain.
“I don’t know the exact amount; those are the numbers that I heard or were rumored and I know it was over several years,” he said. “It was communicated… at the (April) County Board meeting that CyrusOne was reaching out and helping both those school districts.”
Thoma originally contacted the superintendent of Ball-Chatham School District on March 18, requesting that Lamon join him and Chatham village president Dave Kimsey for a meeting the following day.
“We did the Double Black Diamond (DBD) solar project and are currently working with CyrusOne on the proposed data center. DBD will provide over $40 million in tax revenue to the North Mac and Waverly school districts and the data center will provide an additional $65 million. So if passed, these projects will bring in over $100 million for those local school districts. Truly something that is unimaginable for these schools,” Thoma wrote. “Chatham has a tremendous opportunity for future projects, but we just need to know if there is support or if we need to direct these projects outside the area.”
When contacted May 4, Kimsey told Illinois Times he’s not sure he “would have any information to add regarding the CyrusOne project.”
IT emailed the Ball Chatham Glenwood Parent Teacher Organization twice in April but did not receive a response.
Lamon, who said she did not attend the March 19 meeting but did eventually have a meeting about the project, told IT she has not heard anything about the proposed community benefits agreement since it was announced.
“Besides the initial announcement, I’ve had no communication on that,” Lamon said. “The district takes a neutral stand on those types of projects unless they directly affect the school system, so unless something is going to directly affect the outcomes for my students in the educational space, we’ve not weighed in.
“There’s always a need for us to improve upon our structures and any additional funding that could help offset that for our taxpayers would be beneficial,” she said. “This is an interesting project because it’s not within our school system, so it’s not within my boundaries. While it is within the county’s boundaries, the impact to our school system is very minimal.”
The impact to nearby North Mac School District, which would be a direct recipient of the property taxes paid by CyrusOne, could be massive, superintendent Kyle Hacke said.
“It’s going to be a very significant, positive development for us financially. If the numbers that have been shared with me are correct, it’s going to mean over a $70 million increase in our EAV (equalized assessed value) … that’s going to mean over $2.5 million in revenue annually,” Hacke said.
“It will lower the tax rate and reduce the burden on our local taxpayers, so that’s the biggest shot in the arm – it’s going to be a reduction of our tax rate,” he said.
Waverly superintendent Rob Pipher took a more cautious stance, wanting to see the money come in before any plans are made.
“I’m not aware of if, when or how much we would receive. I have no plans for new money until I see it,” Pipher wrote.
CyrusOne plans to purchase four separate parcels of farmland that Dowson Farms, through various entities, bought in 2023 and 2025 for $7.6 million total, according to county property records. The Texas-based company’s contract to purchase is not public, so it is not known how much CyrusOne plans to pay for the 280 acres.
In 2024, CyrusOne paid nearly $61 million for about 230 acres in Kendall County to develop a data center in Yorkville.
