Craig Mayor Rescinds Letter of Support for Toto Labs Data Center

Steamboat Springs —Matt Solomon, vice president of operations for Toto Labs, got a memo on August 11. The City of Craig was taking back its word.

Just one month prior, Mayor Chris Nichols had signed a document titled “Official Letter of Support” aimed at Toto Labs’ investors and partners. It promised that the city recognized the “potential value” of advanced technology and infrastructure investment. It sounded like a handshake deal waiting to happen.

Then came the retraction.

Nichols formally rescinded the letter, admitting it hadn’t gone through the public City Council process. It wasn’t an official endorsement. It was a mayor’s personal stamp of approval on a piece of paper that needed a council vote to mean much of anything.

For context, this wasn’t just a clerical error. It was a transparency issue. The city told Toto Labs to stop circulating the document and to notify anyone who had already received it that the support was withdrawn.

Here is the timeline, because dates matter when you’re trying to figure out who knew what and when.

• June 7: Solomon and Phil Klevorick met with Mayor Nichols. They talked data centers, power infrastructure, transmission capacity, available land, and workforce.
• June 8: City Manager KC Hume had a roughly 30-minute conversation with Toto Labs representatives. The focus shifted to workforce housing, though data centers were still on the table.
• July 14: Nichols signed the letter of support.
• August 11: Nichols withdrew it.

City Manager KC Hume provided clarification to the Craig Daily Press, noting that those two meetings in June were exploratory. They represented the entirety of recent city contact with Toto Labs.

“There were no negotiations,” Hume said.

That’s the key phrase. No negotiations. Just conversations. But the letter Nichols signed in July made it sound like the city was already leaning toward backing a major development push. The letter specifically stated it did not approve a land use application, incentive, contract, funding commitment, or other regulatory action. It was a statement of interest, not a checkbook.

Yet, Toto Labs used it. They sent it out to prospective investors, financial partners, and strategic partners. They used the city’s name to signal stability to their backers. Now, the city is asking them to take it back.

The reversal isn’t happening in a vacuum. Moffat County officials are facing their own questions about data center discussions. There are contacts with companies interested in developing near Trapper Mine. The county is figuring out if they should have disclosed those contacts to the public sooner. Toto Labs is one of those companies.

The financial implications for locals aren’t about immediate tax hikes or new roads today. It’s about the uncertainty of what comes next. If Toto Labs is serious about a data center, the infrastructure costs — power, transmission, housing for workers — will eventually land on the community’s lap. The city is currently just saying, “We’re interested,” rather than “We’re paying.”

Hume’s statement makes it clear: the city is still in the exploratory phase. They aren’t building anything. They aren’t signing any contracts. They are just talking.

But the withdrawal of the letter signals a correction in how the city presents itself. They can’t just have the mayor sign off on support for a specific company without the council’s backing. It keeps the process transparent, or at least, it’s trying to.

The bottom line? Craig is still shopping its infrastructure to data center developers. Toto Labs is still listening. But the city is making sure its investors know that the mayor’s signature isn’t a binding promise. It’s just a conversation starter. And right now, that conversation is still happening.