Elected officials in two rural Central Texas counties are in the spotlight because of business involvements with data centers.

The Caldwell-Hays Examiner reported Caldwell County Judge Hoppy Haden signed a pre-sale agreement with an acquisition company tied to a proposed data center.

Claudia Hollern, a member of the Caldwell Data Center Action Team, argued the land deal is a conflict of interest and needs to be investigated. Hollern added Haden’s actions affect the entire county.

"It creates a heat bubble that can raise the temperature up to 16 degrees, up to six miles around you. If you are taking up all the water, if vibrations are coming from your building and sound being emitted that's affecting the cattle around, it affects all of our land," Hollern outlined.

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The group is calling for Haden’s resignation. Assistant District Attorney Richard Sitton also signed a land deal and was fired.

In neighboring Guadalupe County, a lawsuit has been filed to rescind tax abatements for the Palomino Alpha data center after it was discovered the land at or near the site was owned by County Judge Kyle Kutscher and company representatives attended closed-door meetings.

Bobby Levinski, public interest attorney for the Save our Springs Alliance, is representing the Data Center Action Coalition.

"There's a state provision in the Texas Tax Code that says if county commissioners own property, those properties are not eligible for tax abatement," Levinski pointed out.

Kay Weinberg, a member of the coalition, said residents in the area have lost trust in local officials, adding neighbors are rallying against the data centers because they're harmful to the region.

"In terms of what the infrastructure does in the long term to communities and what it does to property values, health, cost of living. It's unpopular, people don't want it, and so they have to sneak these things through behind the scenes," Weinberg asserted. "If they asked the community's input, then these projects wouldn't be going through."