LORDSTOWN — Mayor Jackie Woodward announced a new moratorium committee at village council Monday.

Council members Robert Bond, Mark McGrail and Jamie Moseley will serve on the committee, and McGrail will serve as committee chairman.

Officials said the committee will address moratoriums placed on any type of business or issue.

At the meeting, council voted unanimously to establish a 180-day moratorium on any permits or applications for data centers to be located in the village.

The moratorium allows Lordstown officials and the community to study the long-term effects of data centers.

Bristolville 25 Developers LLC wants to build a data center encompassing land in both Lordstown and Jackson Township.

Bristolville officials have said they submitted their plans before the moratorium was put in place and took the case to the Ohio Supreme Court to be ruled on.

In her state of the village address to the public this week, Woodward said “a lot has happened in the past 365 days.”

Woodward said Ultium Cells has made changes with employees expected to be laid off this year which will affect the village.

“The Trumbull Energy Center should be up and running, which is the year for that,” Woodward said.

She said Foxconn has broken ground with an expected 1,000 to 1,500 employees when in operation.

Woodward said with one retirement to be replaced the police department will be at full capacity.

“It is nice to have more officers on the roads providing safety. We are fortunate to live in a community where our crime is low. We live in a very safe community with a low number of crimes,” Woodward said. She said the fire department staff is also providing 24 / 7 coverage with a full emergency medical service staff.

Fire Chief Travis Eastham said the fire department handled 1,189 runs in 2025.

Woodward said funding is being sought for the demolition of the Kunkel Building off Route 45 with officials to do decide what to do with the property.

She said the village is moving forward with a new 24-inch waterline from Mahoning Valley Sanitary District to the village, which should improve water volume, and getting a new water booster station started due to the time limit to use American Rescue Plan funding.

BOOSTER STATION

Village engineer Chris Kogelnik said the booster station project is one that the village needs to move forward on to disconnect and bring the current booster station on Salt Springs Road to a new site on state Route 45.

The $560,000 project has $200,000 in ARP funds that need to be used by end of September.

Officials have said the booster station will replace an older one off Pritchard Ohltown Road which no longer provides adequate water pressure to the southwestern part of the village.

Kogelnik said plans are to get the project started soon by moving the current station to the new location.

He said this should help with water volume.

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS

Several appointments were made by Woodward at this week’s meeting.

* Councilwoman Jessica Blank, council president pro-tem. She will also be chairwoman for the finance committee.

* Councilman Robert Bond, chairman of the police and fire indemnity board.

* Councilman Lamar Liming, chairman for fire and on the zoning board.

* Councilman Jamie Moseley, chairman for roads and buildings and LaFarge property.

* Councilman Mark McGrail, chairman for utilities and liaison to the school district.

* Councilman Ron Radtka, chairman for planning and on planning commission, and second representative to the fire indemnity board.