The Festus City Council on Monday night rejected motions calling for recall elections of three council members and the mayor, drawing angry remarks and some obscenities from the dozens or so in the council chambers.
The next step for those behind the recall effort may be the courts, but at least one leader of the effort said the group is not yet ready to announce what its response to the recall election rejections will be.
The Jefferson County county clerk certified three of the recall petitions May 28 for Mayor Sam Richards and council members Kevin Dennis of Ward 3 and Mike Cook of Ward 4 and the fourth on June 1 for Councilman Dave Boyer of Ward 1. The clerk then submitted the certifications to the Festus City Council to consider whether to put the recall questions on the ballot.
Each of the City Council votes ended with 4-3 tallies against putting recall issues on the ballot. In the cases of Richards, Boyer and Dennis, council members voting for the recall elections to move forward were Karl Weekley of Ward 1, Dan Moore of Ward 3 and Rick Belleville of Ward 4, with no votes coming from Boyer, Dennis, Cook and Allen McCarthy of Ward 2.
In the motion for a recall election on Cook, he abstained, leaving a 3-3 tie between the yes votes of Weekley, Moore and Belleville and the no votes of Boyer, Dennis and McCarthy. Richards broke the tie with a no vote to defeat the motion.
The no votes, particularly from McCarthy, greatly angered members of the crowd, many of whom said they had worked on the petition drive and also are against the proposed CRG data center development project, the source of controversy in the city for months.
CRG of St. Louis announced in late 2025 its plan to develop a hyperscale data center on 361 acres north of Hwy. 67 and west of Hwy. CC. CRG, which is the St. Louis-based data center development arm for Clayco, 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.
Four council members, who had supported the data center development project, lost their seats during the April 7 election.
The recall efforts targeted council members whose seats were not up for election on the April 7 ballot and who had supported the data center project. One other council member whose seat was not up for election, Staci Templeton of Ward 2, resigned from her seat April 13. Her seat remains open at this time.
During and after Monday’s meeting, members of the crowd vented their anger at Richards and council members who voted against holding the recall elections.
McCarthy especially drew the wrath of attendees as he has been considered part of the new blood on the council who won their seats during the April 7 election by unseating incumbents who had voted yes on matters that moved the data center development project forward.
“I don’t think (McCarthy) sided with his constituents,” resident Vaughn Hogan said. “There’s a lot of resentment toward McCarthy.”
Hogan, like a number of other attendees, said they believed the City Council had gone against state statutes regarding recalls.
“What they voted on was not legal,” she said.
Erica Carter, who has been a leading data center development project opponent as well as a leader of the recall petition drives, said she believed the City Council was obligated to put the recall questions on the ballot after the County Clerk’s Office had certified the signatures.
“The constitution was not followed,” Carter said. “The petitions were certified. They failed in their duty.”
McCarthy, who said little during the meeting, was shouted down by crowd members hurling insults and obscenities at him when he tried to speak.
“The people that voted for you, the vote that you just gave, was that what they wanted?” a crowd member yelled at him.
When contacted Tuesday morning, McCarthy said he did not wish to comment on his votes.
Prior to the recall motions, Belleville made a motion to make the opinion of Brian Malone of Lashly & Baer, the city’s law firm, public in regard to the recalls. Council members voted 7-0 to have Malone present his advice at the meeting.
Malone said he was giving advice and it was up to council members to decide on the recall motion. He said he believes the petitions do not meet state statute requirements for recalls.
“I’ll cut to the chase,” he said. “I’ve determined that all four petitions are not sufficient because they do not state facts that constitute misconduct in office and (constitute) failure to perform duties prescribed by law. Courts have interpreted the phrase ‘misconduct in office’ to mean an unlawful act or act in an unlawful manner or failure to perform a duty required by law.”
He said he did not believe reasons for recall cited in the petitions rise to statute requirements for a recall election.
“While the petition states that certain acts of the city were not adequately transparent or done with meaningful public impact, they do not state that any act was performed unlawfully,” he said.
After the meeting, Richards said he believes the matter of the recall petitions are settled and he has no plans to do anything further with them.
When asked Tuesday if those behind the recall petitions have any means of appealing the City Council votes on the recall elections, Malone said they can pursue a civil suit.
When reached Tuesday, Carter said those behind the recall and opposing the data center development project will continue their efforts, but was not ready to reveal what they will do next.
Mayor, councilmen suit to block recall elections to continue
A lawsuit to block the recall efforts filed on behalf of the mayor and the council members targeted in the recall petitions will continue despite the City Council votes Monday night, an attorney representing them said Tuesday.
“We are going to leave the suit on file to see what happens next,” attorney Charles Hatfield said in a written statement. “I am hopeful that last night’s vote will be the end of the matter and the lawsuit will be moot.”
On June 5, Hatfield of Jefferson City filed the lawsuit -- Sam Richards, Mike Cook, David Boyer and Kevin Dennis v. Jeannie Goff.
In her official capacity as Jefferson County clerk, Goff was named in the suit in Jefferson County Circuit Court. She oversaw the certification of recall petitions on the mayor and three council members.
The lawsuit petitions the court for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief to: declare that the recall petitions are legally insufficient; and to enter a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and, upon final hearing, a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendant from placing the recall petitions on the ballot or taking any further action to advance the recall process. It also asks the court to award plaintiff’s their attorney’s fees and costs.
Richards, Boyer, Cook and Goff did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Dennis when contacted declined to comment.
“The attempt to recall committed community leaders in Festus is ill-advised and illegal,” Hatfield said in a written statement. “The petitioners do not actually have enough signatures to complete a recall. As important, they have not met the target requirements for conducting a recall. It is a really big deal to throw elected officials out of office in the middle of their terms, and the law must be followed. It has not been followed here. As detailed in the lawsuit, there are multiple problems with the way the county clerk conducted her review of the signatures in addition to the basic legal problems.”
From the other side, Carter said the recall petitions are valid and Goff certified them properly.
“We’ve done our due diligence for the recall, and Jeannie has done hers,” Carter said. “She’s done everything she can do. She’s certified the petitions. So it’s up to the mayor and council… they need to do their due diligence. That’s kind of where we’re at.”