Our Daily Show Interview! Madison County Chairman Chris Slusser
EDWARDSVILLE – As 2026 ensues, Madison County Board Chairman Chris Slusser promises the county has “a lot of good things going on.”
“I’m just very, very excited about the region. I’ve never been more excited. Not just because I’m in office, but just in general, what I’m seeing, the excitement about Madison County,” he said.
Slusser shared that, after he was elected in 2024, one of his first goals was to “straighten out the chaos” and end any county “infighting.” Two years later, he feels that the county government is “really stabilized,” with all departments working together. He acknowledged that County Board members don’t always agree, but their disagreements remain respectful and professional so the meetings are not “embarrassing.”
Data centers are one of the most talked-about issues in Madison County right now. Slusser has dedicated many hours toward studying data centers.
“The main concerns with data centers are, number one, they use a lot of power and they use a lot of water, they can be noisy, not a lot of jobs, takes up a lot of farmland, those kinds of things,” Slusser shared. “We started going through and addressing all those, and once we got more educated on that, we felt more comfortable with them for a couple of reasons.”
He explained that he toured a hyperscale center in Nebraska and found that data centers are not as disruptive as they seem. The noise seems to be a nonissue outside of the facility. Property taxes also have the potential to decrease considerably if a data center is built in Madison County, according to Slusser.
Slusser encourages all municipalities to put in restrictions that require a closed-loop evaporative cooling system. This minimizes the amount of water used by the data centers. Data centers can use over a million gallons of water a day; with a closed-loop system, the center would put in a million gallons once that would then circulate in perpetuity.
Slusser expects a data center to bring in a couple hundred jobs, whether through security or technology jobs, in addition to the initial construction. He noted that they also need HVAC specialists, plumbers, pipefitters and more workers to maintain the facility, jobs that would be contracted out to local companies and unions.
He pointed out that our region is on the MISO power grid map, which travels from Manitoba to New Orleans. He argued that community members will see an increase in their electricity rates if a data center is built anywhere in this map.
“They could build one of these in Detroit, Minneapolis, Little Rock, or St. Clair County. Our rates are going to be affected one way or another,” Slusser said. “If they go and build this somewhere else, our rates will be affected regardless and we’ll have none of the jobs, none of the revenue, none of the benefits.”
As the community learns more about data centers and their potential impact in Madison County, Slusser encourages community members and elected officials to educate themselves and continue having conversations.
Slusser added that he is working with several developers to bring businesses to Madison County. He expressed his excitement to see development in Wood River, Granite City and other surrounding municipalities.
He also noted the importance of fighting trash and litter in Madison County. He said he wants to see more statewide regulations on trash trucks to minimize the amount of trash they drop on their routes to and from the landfill. Additionally, he encourages the Sheriff’s Office to stop and fine these trucks as needed.
Overall, Slusser is looking forward to a positive year in Madison County. He hopes to see more development and conversations as the year goes on.
“We have a lot of good things going on, that’s for sure,” he said.
