A case asking the courts to force Festus city officials to allow recall elections to proceed against the mayor and several City Council members has been dismissed.
St. Louis County Associate Circuit Court Judge Jason Krol Lewis, presiding over the case at the Jefferson County Courthouse, announced Aug. 31 he dismissed the case concerning recall election efforts against Festus Mayor Sam Richards and City Council members Dave Boyer of Ward 1, Kevin Dennis of Ward 3 and Mike Cook of Ward 4.
Festus resident Dennis McDonald, in a petition filed June 18, alleged the city failed to perform its mandatory, ministerial duty to put the question of recalling the elected officials on the ballot. McDonald was seeking a writ of mandamus to compel the city to move along the process to put the recall elections on the ballot.
Had Lewis eventually ruled in McDonald’s favor, the Festus City Council would have been directed to approve submitting the recall elections to the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office, which then would decide when the matter would be placed on the ballot.
Lewis presided over an Aug. 28 hearing on the case; his judgment was posted Monday.
“I’m very pleased with the court’s decision,” said Brian Malone of Lashly and Baer, the law firm representing the city. “I’m gratified that the court recognizes that the City Council has a duty to make a finding as to the sufficiency of a recall petition.”
Charles Hatfield, an attorney representing the Festus mayor and the three councilmen targeted in the recall, issued the following statement: “The court made clear policy disagreements are rightly handled at regularly scheduled elections. Asserting generalities and inferring acts that did not occur is demonstrably unfair to the public and their elected officeholders. The citizens of Festus deserve an honest and respectful debate about the proposed data center and all policy discussions.”
McDonald’s attorney, Steve Jeffery, said he needs to discuss with his client what he would like to do next, but his client has at least a couple options.
“I’m sure he is disappointed with the judge’s decision,” Jeffery said. “In reading his opinion, the judge indicated a declaratory judgment action could be brought to determine whose authority, if any, the city has under the section (state statute 77.655).
“Also, in any case involving a writ, if the party does not obtain the writ from a circuit court, the party can file for the same writ with the Court of Appeals.”
According to court papers, Lewis – brought in after Jefferson County judges recused themselves and the city of Festus had requested a change of judge – declared in his judgment that the relator (Jeffery on behalf of McDonald) did not present evidence sufficient for him to approve a writ of mandamus to compel the city to move the process along for recall elections.
“Having carefully considered the relevant laws and the parties’ arguments, the court hereby grants the city’s motion to dismiss and motion to quash the preliminary writ for all of the reasons stated in the city’s motions,” Lewis said in the judgment.
Among the reasons Lewis gave for his decision are:
■ What the petition asks for involves policy, which is not a matter for the court. “Taking all of the factual allegations in relator’s writ petition as true, relator is seeking to recall several members of the Festus City Council. Relator suggests that the city’s reading means that the very people subject to a recall petition must evaluate an effort to recall them. This is chiefly a policy concern. Courts are not policymakers,” the judgment said.
■ The writ petition does not attach any actual finding of insufficiency by the council. “The writ petition, whether through careful pleading strategy or otherwise, does not actually allege that the City Council made an insufficiency finding. And the writ petition does not seek mandamus relief to compel the City Council to make a sufficiency-or-insufficiency finding.”
■ The structure of state statute section 77.655’s final two sentences supports imposing separate duties upon the county clerk and the City Council. Jeffery’s petition had asserted that state statutes called for the Festus City Council to, as a mandated ministerial function, approve submitting the recall elections to the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office after that office certified recall election petition signatures. The County Clerk’s Office would then decide when the matter would be placed on the ballot.
A great deal of time during the Aug. 28 hearing involved lawyers on both sides arguing if the words “deem” and “found” in the state statute mean the same thing. Lewis determined they do not.
”Finally, relator’s construction of section 77.655 contravenes the canon against redundancy. In relator’s view, the first clause in the final sentence of the statute, “(i)f the petition shall be found to be sufficient...” is not relevant because it simply restates what the county clerk has already done: deem, or find, that a recall petition is sufficient or insufficient. But courts must “presume the legislature did not intend to use superfluous, meaningless and redundant language.” Moore v. State, 318 S.W.3d 726, 731 (Mo. App. E.D. 2010). The legislature’s inclusion of nine words, including one critically different word than a similar clause in the preceding sentence, is presumed to be intentional. The court cannot overlook words in the statute,” the judgment said.
The recall efforts stem from the City Council’s votes on a CRG data center development project, announced in late 2025. CRG of St. Louis plans 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 consistently or at least at times supported the data center development project during the project’s process, lost their seats during the April 7 election.
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.
Recall efforts focused on Richards and council members Boyer, Dennis and Cook, who all had a year left on their terms.
Petition drives were launched to call for recall elections of the four. The Jefferson County Clerk’s Office certified a sufficient number of signatures were gathered for the petitions. The matter was returned to the Festus City Council to determine if recall elections should be scheduled. The effort was blocked by votes of the council and mayor.
Cook abstained on the recall vote on himself, and there was a 3-3 tie. Richards cast the deciding vote against a recall election for Cook.
In the votes to proceed with recall elections on Richards, Boyer and Dennis, the council voted 4-3 against the recall.
In both votes on recall efforts, Ward 2 Councilman Allen McCarthy joined the incumbents to vote down recall elections on them.