Mercer County community members stand outside of Burgin Fire and Rescue in Burgin, Kentucky, after the city canceled a meeting regarding the proposed data center on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Isabella Sepahban/The Watchdog

The city of Burgin announced that a special meeting for the second reading of an annexation ordinance tied to a proposed data center would not occur.

In a social media post, the city said the meeting, scheduled for July 20, was not “legally accurate” because there was not a first reading of the ordinance.

“Therefore the council cannot legally have a second reading of the ordinance,” the post said.

Council voted 3-2 in favor of a “first reading” during a meeting on July 9 and scheduled the second reading.

During the meeting for the first reading, Council did not read the ordinance or its summary, which is required under Kentucky state law.

According to KRS83A.060, an ordinance cannot be enacted until it has been read on two separate days. Stating the title and reading a summary of the ordinance instead of the full text is also allowed under the statue.

Council would have to schedule another meeting to hold a first reading of the annexation ordinance to have an eventual second reading, according to Councilmember Sindicat Dunn.

“In order to have that brought to a special meeting, they would have to have four Council members sign a petition for that,” Dunn said, “and I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

The Mercer County Joint Planning and Zoning Commission will consider revised text amendments to an ordinance that would create Industrial Technology Zones during a special-called meeting on Thursday, July 23.

IT Zones would allow for the development of data centers or small data centers in Mercer County, which has drawn much criticism from the community.