A Festus City Council seat vacated about sixth months ago has not yet been filled and there has been no recent effort to do so.
Councilwoman Staci Templeton resigned from one of the two Ward 2 seats on April 13. There are eight seats on the council, two from each of the city’s four wards.
Mayor Sam Richards, who as mayor is given the task of nominating a replacement for an open seat, has declined to comment on why the seat remains open. Once the mayor nominates a candidate for an open seat, the council would be tasked with approving or rejecting it.
Selection of someone to take over the open Ward 2 seat has been complicated due to a controversy surrounding a proposed Festus data center development project.
CRG, which is the St. Louis-based data center development arm for Clayco, announced in late 2025 its plans to develop a hyperscale data center on 361 acres north of Hwy. 67 and west of Hwy. CC. CRG has estimated the cost of developing the facility at $6 billion. In the Festus project, CRG would develop the property, and then a data center company would operate it, although no operator has yet been identified.
Soon after the data center project was made public, the matter became a major source of controversy in Festus.
On March 30, the City Council in a 6-2 vote approved a data center development agreement with CRG. Council members Dave Boyer and Jim Collier of Ward 1, Bobby Venz and Kevin Dennis of Ward 2 and Jim Tinnin and Mike Cook of Ward 4 voted for the agreement, while Brian Wehner and Templeton of Ward 2 voted against.
Collier, Wehner, Venz and Tinnin all lost their bids for reelection on April 7, losing to Karl Weekley in Ward 1, Allen McCarthy in Ward 2, Dan Moore in Ward 3 and Rick Belleville in Ward 4. The newcomers had all come out against the project.
On April 13, Templeton resigned her seat. Shortly after her resignation, Richards attempted to nominate a replacement for Templeton, who had served on the council since 2021.
He nominated Aaron Pashia, and the nomination was on the April 27 council agenda. That meeting ended early due to a severe weather threat and was continued to April 30.
At the April 30 meeting, council members voted to postpone a decision on Pashia until May 26 in order to give new members of the council, who were voted into their positions April 7, time to speak with Pashia.
But Pashia’s nomination was not taken up on May 26, and no action has since been taken on his nomination. In addition, Richards has not brought forth another name for the council to consider.
In the ensuing weeks after the April 7 election, data center opponents collected signatures and turned in petitions calling for recall votes on Richards, as well as Boyer, Dennis and Cook (who each had a year left on their terms) to the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office. The County Clerk’s Office certified the signatures on Richards, Dennis and Cook on May 28 and on Boyer on June 1, sending the results to Festus officials June 1.
On June 8, by 4-3 votes, the City Council rejected all of the recall petitions, infuriating those who had worked on gaining the signatures for the recall petitions. Meanwhile, the Ward 2 seat remained vacant.
In an Aug. 13 story in the Leader, Richards said he had interviewed three people interested in filling the seat. But he said he had not made a decision over nominating anyone. He did not release the names of those who requested to be considered for the seat.
Mary Youmans, an opponent of the data center project, said she told Festus city officials months ago that she was interested in the Ward 2 seat. She said the mayor interviewed her for the seat shortly after she had expressed interest in it.
“What I did, I think it was May, I emailed the mayor and all the councilmen,” Youmans said. “I interviewed with Mayor Richards on June 15. I know he had two gentlemen interested in it (the vacant seat). It was a cordial interview. I asked if he would let me know either way. He has not contacted me back.”
During the public comments section of council meetings, Youmans has more than once publicly expressed her interest in the seat and criticized Richards for not finding someone to fill the seat.
“Mr. Richards, how fair do you think it is that the citizens of Ward 2 are still not being fully represented?” she said at the council’s Aug. 24 meeting.
“Is it just because you don’t like me or we don’t agree on stuff? Important issues are happening in the city of Festus. Even though you choose not to listen to us, Ward 2 deserves full representation.”
At the July 13 council meeting, Youmans said she planned to run for the seat the next time it is up for election if she’s not appointed to fill the vacancy.
Templeton won her last two-year term in the April 2025 election.
Whoever is appointed to the Ward 2 seat will hold it until the April 2027 election, when it will be on the April ballot for a new two-year term.
“Appoint me to the Ward 2 spot or don’t appoint me to the Ward 2 spot,” Youmans said.
“But I’m coming for it in April (2027),” she said.