MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. (WJHL)—Mountain City residents entered City Hall on Tuesday evening to tell the Board of Mayor and Aldermen how strongly they opposed the potential bitcoin mine.

“Our elected officials owe it to the residents to be in full disclosure concerning the possible CleanSpark deal,” one resident told the board.

“Washington County fought to remove CleanSpark from Limestone, Tennessee, because of these very dangers,” another resident said. “Mountain City must not ignore them.”

Mountain City resident Amelia Lopez Saltarelli said the potential mine would drive away long-time residents.

“We’re not going to put all this money we saved up into a town we wanted to live in,” she said. “And if they’re going to treat us like this, we’ll find another small little town.”

A large concern brought up by city residents was the potential noise the mine would bring in.

“The particular class of sound that Bitcoin mines create is the same category as sound weaponry used for things like crowd control, torture and war,” one concerned citizen said.

Members of the BMA and Mountain Electrical Cooperative General Manager Roger Metcalf went on a tour of a facility managed by CleanSpark. They claim the facility would not produce that amount of noise.

“They [were] running at full speed practically, and there was no noise coming from that,” Metcalf said. “There was more noise coming from the HVAC system.”

“I’m willing to put my reputation on the line as to when I went down there, there is not going to be a noise problem,” Mountain City Mayor Jerry Jordan said.

Following public comment, Mayor Jordan announced that the vote scheduled for May 22 would be moved. Metcalf said he recommended this decision.

“I want the community to feel comfortable with it,” Metcalf said. “I don’t want to bring anything in here that the community is going to be upset or irate about.”

Saltarelli said this announcement gave her a slight sense of ease.

“That part is encouraging,” she said. “Frankly, I hope that CleanSpark listens and understands and decides during that time to go somewhere else.”

Jordan did not give a date as to when the vote would take place. He added that they hope to take a group to the facility they toured so they are able to see it for themselves.