A candidate running for a Festus City Council seat in the April 7 election has filed a lawsuit against the city and its officials, claiming they have improperly handled the proposal for a data center to be built in the city.
CRG of St. Louis plans to develop a data center on property north of Hwy. 67 and west of Hwy. CC in Festus.
It’s also come to light that Festus City Administrator Greg Camp is poised to take a similar job in Silverthorne, Colo.
Jesse Cordova, a candidate for a Ward 3 council seat against incumbent Bobby Venz, Tim Bennett Jr. and Dan Moore, filed the civil lawsuit on Jan. 8 in the Jefferson County Circuit Court against the city of Festus, Mayor Sam Richards, Camp and council members Venz, David Boyer, Jim Collier, Brian Wehner, Staci Templeton, Kevin Dennis, Michael Cook and Jim Tinnin.
The case has been assigned to Div. 2 Circuit Judge Edward Page.
In his lawsuit, Cordova seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and civil penalties for violations of the Missouri Sunshine Law.
“I didn’t ask for anything specific,” he said. “I just want accountability. That’s why I’m leaving it up to the judge.
“This isn’t personal or anything. Just, if there was any wrongdoing. If they were outside of the appropriate processes of what’s outlined in the Sunshine Law, that simply needs to be declared and addressed moving forward.
“I know, for example, the Missouri Ethics Commission can require councilmen to take classes, things of that nature. If that’s what (the judge) sees fit to help officials stay within the appropriate processes of the law, then, great. I’m not going to disagree with him.”
Camp said Tuesday that due to the litigation and on the advice of counsel, “We cannot comment.”
Cordova, who said he is not an attorney, is representing himself in the lawsuit.
He and others have accused city officials of skirting the Sunshine Law by purposely meeting with CRG representatives in groups small enough to not constitute quorums to discuss the proposed data center development.
Noting the public outcry against the proposed data center, Cordova said he didn’t file his lawsuit for publicity, adding that the suit is legitimate.
“I don’t think it’s anything frivolous,” he said. “I can’t say I’m wholeheartedly against a data center so much as where it’s (proposed to be developed). I don’t like where they’re putting it. I don’t like a 200-acre or 300-acre industrial complex or development happening that borders residential.”
The following are some of the claims Cordova alleges in his lawsuit:
■ Prior to city Planning and Zoning Commission and council meetings regarding the potential data center development and actions taken related to the proposal, the defendants had not commissioned or relied upon any traffic impact study, utility capacity analysis, stormwater review, environmental assessment or written findings of fact addressing compatibility with adjacent residential uses;
■ Camp “engaged in private communications with multiple City Council members concerning the proposed data center project” and “acted as a conduit and intermediary relaying information, positions and strategy among City Council members outside of any publicly noticed meeting,” and these actions involved “substantive discussion of public business.”
■ City officials limited public participation over the proposed data center development, conducted public business through serial emails and text messages and conducted “walking forums designed to evade the open meetings requirements of the Missouri Sunshine Law.”
Under relief requested, Cordova asks that the court declare that the defendants violated the Sunshine Law, direct them to stop violating the Sunshine Law, assess civil penalties against the defendants and pay the plaintiff’s court fees.
A civil setting on the case is scheduled for 9 a.m. May 5 before Page at the Jefferson County Courthouse.
Camp up for job in Colorado
The Town Council of Silverthorne, Colo., was scheduled on Wednesday, after Leader deadline, to vote on a resolution appointing Camp as town manager and approving an employment agreement, according to the town’s council agenda posted online.
In an email, Camp said, “I am withholding any comment (about the Silverthorne town manager job) until Thursday morning at which time I will have a statement.”
Camp has been the Festus city administrator since 2017.
According to the resolution, the Silverthorne job would pay $260,000, plus a $350 monthly car allowance. Camp currently is paid $163,707, plus a $350 a month car allowance, as the Festus city administrator.
Silverthorne has a population of about 4,500, and Festus has a population of about 13,000.
Neither Richards, the Festus mayor, nor Boyer, the Festus mayor pro tem, immediately responded to the Leader’s request for comment about Camp’s apparent plan to leave Festus for the Silverthorne position.