On July 28, the Ames City Council voted to delay the data center decision for nine months. The Ames City Council staff originally suggested delaying the decision six months in order to have time to research more; that did not include time for public feedback or the other topics that were brought up that night to research. City Council member, Ward 3 Representative Gloria Betcher suggested the nine-month delay to give staff enough time to research and to allow time to host more community listening sessions. The City Council awarded a contract with Cahoon Sales Inc. for the generator step-up transformer for $2,470,416. The next city council meeting will be Aug. 11; the agenda is not out currently.