Joliet officials now say Planning Director Jayne Bernhard had a “clerical” role in some communications on the proposed 795-acre data center that would be built on land held by relatives but not Bernhard herself.

Previously, they said she had no involvement in the project, including any “conversations” about the data center.

However, brothers Jeff Becker and Thomas Becker, members of The Watershed Committee, a Will County organization that is looking into the data center project, in recent city public hearings have pointed to a handful of emails on the project that list Bernhard among the recipients and one indicating that she was involved in preparation of a staff report.

“She was working on the project,” Jeff Becker said at a public hearing on Monday.

Becker focused on an October email from Ray Heitner, the city planner who prepared the initial staff report on the project before it was tabled for months. The email states that Heitner “incorporated a few additional talking points and edits with Jayne’s help” in the staff report.

The email was sent to Dustin Anderson, the city director of community development, who told The Herald-News in January after being asked about Bernhard’s involvement in the data center that she “has not been involved at all by administrative direction with any matter regarding that development.”

City spokeswoman Ann Sylvester followed up at the time with a statement saying that Bernhard “has not been involved with conversations regarding the project.”

On Wednesday, Sylvester issued a statement saying Bernhard’s “engagement in any communications was clerical in nature and did not involve any evaluating or advancing the proposal. The city has reiterated to her that she will have no involvement whatsoever in any matter related to the project.”

Sylvester did not respond to a request to elaborate on what “clerical” involvement Bernhard has had in the project.

“She shouldn’t be doing clerical work,” Jeff Becker said Wednesday. “She shouldn’t do absolutely anything.”

Bernhard’s father is among family members with a financial interest in the farmland that would be sold to Hillwood and PowerHouse Data Centers for the project, Sylvester said in January. Bernhard herself does not have a financial interest in the deal, Sylvester said.

The city on Wednesday continued to say that Bernhard has not had any significant role in the project.

“As previously disclosed, City Planner Jayne Bernhard notified city leadership that members of her family have an ownership interest in farmland included in the area being considered for the proposed Joliet Technology Center,” Sylvester said in her latest statement. “She recused herself from any substantive involvement in the project and has not participated in any related decision-making on behalf of the city.”