The promise of a political reckoning made by residents opposed to a $6 billion data center proposal in Festus came true Tuesday, as four city council members lost their reelection bids.
The major council shakeup came after months of growing fervor against its members and Mayor Sam Richards over CRG Clayco's plan to build a likely hyperscale data center on 360 acres just north of Highway 67.
The four council members who supported the development were ousted by four candidates who each ran on pro-transparency and anti-data center platforms. The council has a total of eight members.
"This data center fight has struck this community to the core and really, honestly ignited a community-driven effort here," said Dan Moore, who defeated Ward 3 incumbent Bobby Benz, according to unofficial election results. "People are awake now, and we're not going to let this continue on anymore."
Additionally, Karl Weekley unseated Jim Collier in Ward 1, Allen Joseph McCarthy ousted Brian Wehner in Ward 2, and Rick Belleville defeated Jim Tinnin in Ward 4.
Wehner voted against the most recent ordinance on the development last week, along with fellow Ward 2 council member Staci Templeton. However, previously the board had unanimously approved several other required steps for the development.
The election could serve as a bellwether for elections in areas where data centers are planned, as officials balance the potential for massive tax revenues from the often multibillion-dollar projects with public pushback.
CRG Clayco's Festus project is just one of nearly a dozen in the region and is the company's second proposal to meet headwinds from public opposition. Its previous proposal in St. Charles ended with a yearlong moratorium passed by the city.
In a previous interview with St. Louis Public Radio, Festus City Administrator Greg Camp described the project as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the city, county and other taxing districts in the area when it comes to revenue.
"'It's unlike anything that any of these, certainly the city, or any of those institutions, have ever seen before," Camp said late last year.
Residents in Festus opposed to the development filled the town's gym last week in a last-ditch effort to stop an ordinance creating a rule framework for the development at a raucous city council meeting.
There, residents complained city officials were not listening to their concerns about the data center. Those complaints reached far beyond the development itself and into transparency concerns over how the city was conducting business with the developer.
Moore said transparency issues, the project itself and a feeling that the council was ignoring citizen complaints fueled the four new council members' victories. He pointed toward a Sunshine request that members of the data center opposition group often reference, in which city officials referred to the group as "uneducated."
"We have been ignored for way too long," Moore said. "It has been a problem in Festus for quite some time. I think this has just brought it to the surface."
Belleville, who also won Tuesday, said he hopes to improve transparency during his time on the council. He said the transparency issue was a major reason he chose to run.
"We're going to approach those challenges as a community and not as a group of people who don't listen to us," Belleville said.
At polling places throughout the city, petitioners also collected signatures for a recall of Mayor Richards.
Elsewhere in the region, other politicians who supported data centers also faced headwinds. In Pacific, where residents have also rallied against a proposed data center in the area, Mayor Heather Filley lost her reelection campaign to Ward 3 Alderwoman Debbie Kelley.
Kelley ran on a pro-transparency ticket. Much like in Festus, transparency issues served as a flashpoint for public opposition to the projects.
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