City Council Members Voted Out After Controversial Approval Of $6 Billion Data Center
What local accountability looks like.
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Has your local government been held accountable like this?
By Dutchess🇳🇱
May 14,2026
In Festus, Missouri, a town of about 14,000 people, the city council quietly approved a $6 billion Ai data center to be built on 360 acres just north of Highway 67.
Residents say they were never properly heard. Meetings were held in private. Documents were released too late. A week after the approval, the town held a regular election. Voter turnout jumped 129 percent.
Every single council member who had voted yes lost in a landslide. A 70-year-old first-time candidate beat an 8-year incumbent by 40 percentage points.
Now a recall petition is circulating to remove the mayor as well. The lawsuit against the city is already filed.
Source https://substack.com/@mcdutchess/note/c-259205163
Festus isn’t done voting people out as residents pushing for a recall
May 20, 2026
Residents who ousted four council members in April are now trying to recall the mayor and three more — and the clock is ticking.
At the planning and zoning meeting, the vote was 4-4 — with the mayor casting the tiebreaker in favor of the rezoning. At the subsequent city council meeting, the vote to rezone was unanimous. Fakes said she made one simple request that night before the vote.
"All I asked that night was very simple — could you just pause and talk to us first before you vote on this?" she said. "And instead, the mayor entertained a motion and waived the rules and voted immediately to rezone residential land into this industrial for this hyperscale data center." Continues at https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/festus-isnt-done-voting-people-out-as-residents-pushing-for-a-recall/63-fed2cdb8-6424-458b-9dd0-9e34a677e5c3
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Doreen Agostino
Our Greater Destiny Blog
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