Why We’re Covering This:
We recognize that data centers probably are not what anyone expected Hagerstown Rapid Response to be writing about. They were not what we expected to be writing about either. But while researching the ICE detention center, we stumbled onto another story: a data center project that had been moving behind the scenes while our county commissioners knew about it, met with the developer, were involved in discussions surrounding it, and even signed NDAs about the project. We could not just ignore that. And as we began putting the pieces together, what disturbed us even more was seeing how taxpayer money, public infrastructure, tax breaks, and government decisions appeared to benefit current and former elected officials, their associates, friends, and family members. Every time we take a closer look at another corner of Washington County government, we seem to uncover more questions about secrecy, conflicts, favoritism, and what increasingly looks like grift and pay-to-play.
What we have published so far is only the tip of the iceberg. We have uncovered far more than we have had time to write about yet, and at this point the hardest part has been deciding where to even start. There is much more coming very soon. We love this community and this state, and we cannot stay quiet and simply hope someone else comes along and does the work. Because one thing has become painfully clear: we cannot count on our hometown newspaper to do it for us. So when we find something the public deserves to know, we feel a responsibility to raise the alarm.
Washington County Administrator Michelle Gordon apparently wants to “correct some false information” about data centers, so this seems like a good opportunity to correct the incredibly selective version of events she offered last Tuesday during the county commissioner meeting.
Gordon told the public that County staff have “begun working on best practices, potential zoning and policy changes” related to future data centers, and then declared that the Commissioners “have not approved a data center or data center construction in Washington County.”
That is a very carefully constructed statement because it answers a question nobody is asking.
No, the Commissioners have not held a public vote that says, “We hereby approve a data center.” That does not mean Washington County government has had nothing to do with the data center development now being discussed.
Michelle Gordon herself was in the December 9, 2025 confidential meeting with the County Commissioners and a project team that included Moshe Rubin, COO of data center developer Diversified Capital, and Gordon and the Commissioners each signed NDAs connected to that meeting. The County’s own minutes identify Moshe Rubin, former state senator Chris Shank, former Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, Connor McManus of Dynamic Engineering, and Zack Fritz of Sage Policy Group which is a data center economic consulting company, as members of the “Project Team.” Our investigation subsequently connected Rubin and the project to Diversified Capital, the developer associated with the Martin Farm/Burkholder Lane project.
And this relationship did not begin in December. Washington County Planning Commission minutes from June 2023 identify the project as “PC-23-001 – Diversified Capital-Martin Property” and state that a preliminary consultation had already been held on April 26, 2023, for a proposed one-million-square-foot warehouse at 12440 Burkholder Lane. Connor McManus of Dynamic Engineering, who would later be sitting in that December 2025 confidential meeting with Gordon and the Commissioners, represented the project at the Planning Commission meeting.
And let’s not forget one event which took place about three months before that secret meeting and which helped lead us to uncovering the entire data center project at the Martin Farm. That was Moshe Rubin’s $500 campaign contribution to Commissioner, Jeff Cline.
So when Gordon says the County has “begun” studying best practices and planning for “any future data facilities,” the obvious question is: begun when?
Before or after Gordon sat in a confidential meeting with the Commissioners and a project team connected to a developer that had already been working on the Martin property for years and had been advertising it as a location “ideal” for data centers, and then signed an NDA covering the project?
Because that is a pretty important piece of context to leave out while lecturing the public about “false information.”
The other trick in Gordon’s statement is the word “approved.” Saying the Commissioners have not “approved a data center” does not answer questions about whether County officials met privately with people connected to a potential data center project, what was discussed in those meetings, what assistance or information the County provided, what infrastructure or economic-development issues were discussed, or what County officials knew about the intended use of the property and when they knew it.
Those are completely different questions.
There is also something absurd about pointing to the County’s data center moratorium as though it settles the matter and the whole thing was not some poorly constructed dog-and-pony-show. The Commissioners approved a 12-month moratorium on June 30, 2026, by a 4-1 vote, with the stated purpose to give the County time to develop policies, performance standards and zoning regulations, and evaluate the impacts of large-scale data centers. But if June 30 was really the moment the County decided it needed time to study data centers, the obvious question is what exactly officials were doing during the seven months after they had already met privately with the developer.
The Martin property, meanwhile, is now moving toward annexation into Hagerstown. The City’s annexation proceedings involve 171.88 acres at 12440 Burkholder Lane and 12660 McDade Road, property currently designated Planned Industrial by Washington County. The Hagerstown Planning Commission recommended Industrial Mixed Use zoning if the annexation is completed. The Hagerstown Mayor and Council subsequently formally took up the Burkholder Lane Acquisitions and McDade Road Acquisitions annexation.
And Gordon’s qualifier matters: the moratorium applies to the unincorporated areas of Washington County. Gordon actually included that limitation in her statement. If the property becomes part of Hagerstown, planning and zoning authority over the property shifts to the City, which makes citing the County moratorium as some kind of definitive answer particularly misleading.
This is why the distinction between “the Commissioners have not approved a data center” and “the Commissioners have not been involved with a potential data center project” matters so much. The first statement can be technically true while telling the public almost nothing about the second.
Nobody needs to invent a secret vote or claim that a data center building permit has already been issued by the County Commissioners. The documented timeline is concerning enough on its own.
February 4, 2020, on behalf of the County’s Business Development department, Horowitz sent the Maryland Senate Budget and Taxation Committee a letter saying Washington County “fully support [sic] Senate Bill 397” because it would encourage data centers to locate in Maryland by exempting them from both sales and property taxes.
June 5, 2023 - Diversified Capital appearing before Washington County’s Planning Commission in connection with the Martin property in 2023.
June 27, 2024 - 12440 Burkholder Ln starts being advertised as being “ideal” for data centers.
August 25, 2025 - Commissioner Jeff Cline received a campaign donation from Diversified Capital COO on August 25, just three months before the closed-meeting presentation about the project in which everyone had to sign an NDA.
December 9, 2025 - Gordon and the Commissioners were in the December 9, 2025 confidential session with the Project Team, and each signed an NDA connected to the project. And seven months later, the County imposed a data center moratorium, which only includes non-incorporated towns in Washington County, while leading up to this point the property was being advertised as a data center site with the Washington County Business Development Director listed as a contact.
June 12, 2026 – Jeff Cline’s Streisand effect begins. Cline returned the $500 campaign contribution from Diversified Capital’s COO, ensuring that a contribution most people probably never would have noticed became considerably more interesting.
June 16, 2026 - Then, just four days later, Washington County quietly added to their website - without promoting it to the public - a draft ordinance for a data center moratorium. Weird timing!
June 30, 2026 - The same day that moratorium was adopted, the property owners sought annexation into Hagerstown, which is probably not a coincidence.
That chronology makes Michelle Gordon’s attempt to “correct” the public particularly ridiculous. And this is yet another example of why there are serious questions about whether Gordon is equipped for the most important administrative position in Washington County government. According to Washington County’s own description of the County Administrator’s Office, that office is supposed to promote “transparent and effective collaboration” among businesses, organizational leaders, and elected officials. Apparently, “transparent and effective collaboration” means collaborating privately with developers, attorneys, consultants, and elected officials, then waiting until much later to let the public piece together what was actually happening.
The County Administrator should be the person making complicated issues clearer for the public, making sure the Commissioners and County government are operating from complete and accurate information, and explaining what the government has actually been doing. Instead, Gordon took a complicated history in which she was personally involved and reduced it to the technically narrow observation that the Commissioners have not “approved” construction of a data center.
If Gordon genuinely wants to correct misinformation, she should identify the actual claims she believes are false and correct them. Saying “we never approved a data center” does not rebut the documented meetings, the NDAs, the developer’s years-long history with the property, or the annexation timeline.
And when the person doing that is the County Administrator who was herself sitting in the confidential meeting at the center of those questions, and who signed an NDA concerning the project, it does very little to inspire confidence that Washington County has the leadership this situation requires.
There is also a much bigger problem Gordon’s statement does nothing to resolve: County officials were discussing this project under a nondisclosure agreement while Gordon and the Commissioners were directly involved in those discussions. The County’s own December 9 minutes say the project presentation had to occur behind closed doors because public discussion would “violate terms of NDA with business and reveal confidential business information.” Gordon and four of the five current Commissioners were present during that closed session. So when Gordon now tells residents that the Commissioners never “approved” a data center, that carefully chosen word answers nothing. What did they discuss? What did they agree to? What do they know that the NDA prevents them from saying? A government cannot voluntarily conduct business with a private developer under confidentiality restrictions and then act bewildered when residents are skeptical of carefully worded public assurances. The problem is not that the public is confused. The problem is that County officials created a situation in which they are asking the public to trust their version of events while openly acknowledging that they cannot tell the public the whole story.
Recommended Reading:
New Court Filing Reveals Washington County Administrator Met With ICE Detention Center Contractors and Local Utility Companies
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Terrific reporting. $500. Wow I was looking for some more zeros on that, but so it is.
INCREDIBLE reporting and layout of the timeline, @LauraSpiviak! Really, really incredible reporting. THank you for your diligence in hunting down this information and laying it out in a clear, concise timeline.
It's SCATHING. Keep it up!