Where the Candidates Actually Stand

We asked every candidate two direct questions about innovative land uses and setbacks.

Thank you for offering to serve Mason County as a _________. As a voter, I’d appreciate your thoughts on a topic that I believe is critical to our community’s future.

Mason County has lost tobacco, dairy, and major industrial employers over the past four decades. Innovative land uses — such as utility-scale solar and data centers — represent some of the most realistic opportunities to rebuild our economic foundation and restore the tax base that supports our public services, history, and quality of life.

I would be grateful if you could answer the following questions:

1. Do you support innovative land uses — such as utility-scale solar and data centers — as tools to rebuild Mason County’s economic base, provided they comply with all local, state, and federal regulations?

2. Current setback requirements for wind, solar, and data center facilities are significantly higher than any other land use in the zoning ordinance. Are you inclined to maintain, increase, or reduce those setbacks — and what evidence or reasoning guides your position?

Here’s a summary of how they answered — or didn’t. (Where a candidate has a voting record on innovative land uses such as solar, we’ve included it alongside their answer) Each candidate’s complete answers is available at https://solarformasoncounty.com/yourvote/

Mason County Judge/Executive

Owen McNeill (D): Supports the data center project in detail, pointing to jobs, infrastructure paid for by the developer rather than ratepayers, and a lower tax burden, and presents it as part of his ongoing recruitment efforts to counter the county’s population and job losses. Supports moving forward under the county’s existing regulations, which he considers in line with other Kentucky solar ordinances.
Eric Bach (R): Declined to respond.

Mason County Commissioner (Vote for one from each district)

Glenny Riggs Jr. (R, District 1): His late response states that he supports landowners’ right to use their own property as they see fit, and defers to the decisions the Joint Planning Commission and Fiscal Court have already made.
Rebecca Cartmell (D, District 1): Open to “many ideas” — agritourism, brownfield housing, historic preservation, parks and trails — but doesn’t believe a data center or any single project is the county’s only path forward. Supports proportionally large setbacks for a hyperscale data center, citing her visits to data centers and accounts from nearby residents.
Henry C. Boone (D, District 2): Declined to respond.
Jason C. Sheppeck (R, District 2): Declined to respond.
William Lawrence (R, District 3): Declined to respond.

Maysville Mayor

Debra Cotterill (D): Supports innovative land uses provided they’re fully vetted and don’t shift costs onto residents, citing Maysville’s household income — well below the state average — as the reason growth is necessary. She supports revisiting setbacks and using screening and natural barriers “without taking additional farmland for setbacks.”
Robert Boone (R): Rejects the term “innovative land use,” calling these projects “an exchange of land for a permanent impact.” Opposes the data center, citing his workforce-development experience with projects that overpromised and his estimate that 80% of constituents oppose it. Would at least maintain current setbacks. As a sitting appointed Maysville commissioner, Boone has already voted against accepting a $3.5 million payment that passed despite his vote and will cover the cost of designing a needed water system upgrade.

Maysville City Commission (At-Large) (Vote for four)

Rick Lawrence: Argues, “There is no such premise of ‘stay the way we are,'” and that the county must keep competing for new investment — but declines to comment on the data center specifically, citing pending litigation. Would leave setbacks as they are, absent new data.
LaRon Washington: Open to projects that create jobs and strengthen infrastructure, framed around keeping young people in Maysville. Wants setbacks decided case by case rather than by a blanket rule.
Tommy Marshall Jr.: Says he supports landowners on both sides — those who’ve sold and those who haven’t — and wants transparency about who benefits from a project, without committing to a yes or no on this one. Supports fact-based setbacks.
Kirby Bennett: Says he’s for innovative land use “done the right way,” but specifically not for the data center, citing unanswered questions and a feared spike in utility rates. Open to raising setbacks if the city grows.
Victor C. McKay: Says he supports innovative land uses including data centers, provided infrastructure costs land on the project rather than on residents’ electric bills, and favors reducing setbacks to a reasonable distance. His voting record cuts the other way: as a sitting Maysville commissioner, he voted to block all utility-scale solar from locating in the city. (see section 320.415.07 of ordinance)
Ann Brammer: Declined to respond. But as a sitting Maysville commissioner, she voted to block all utility-scale solar from being located in the city. (see section 320.415.07 of ordinance)
David Cartmell: Declined to respond. But as a sitting Maysville commissioner, he voted to block all utility-scale solar from locating in the city. (see section 320.415.07 of ordinance)
David Irwin: Declined to respond.

Kentucky State Representative, District 70

Charlotte Harris (D): Says landowners should be free to use their property as they choose and notes that zoning is a local, not state, decision. Strongly opposes eminent domain.
Mike Fisher (R): Supports innovative land uses — solar, data centers, river ports, power stations — as long as they meet regulations, and frames it as a property-rights issue rather than a data-center-only question. Opposes eminent domain for these projects and wants setback rules backed by data.

Five candidates gave voters nothing at all — no response, and no public vote on solar to point to. Two more skipped the question but left a paper trail: Brammer and David Cartmell didn’t answer, but both voted to block utility-scale solar in Maysville. Of the fourteen candidates whose positions we do know, the split isn’t really about data centers — it’s about whether Mason County builds toward something new or holds onto what it already has. Read every response in full at Your Vote Matters, and vote accordingly on Nov. 3.