The dozens of people cramming a Jefferson County Courthouse courtroom this afternoon, Aug. 28, left with no more information than they brought with them after the judge presiding over the case relating to the Festus recall elections said he would ponder some decisions over the weekend.
Festus resident Dennis McDonald, in a petition filed June 18, alleges the city failed to perform its mandatory, ministerial duty to put the question of recalling the elected officials on the ballot. McDonald is seeking a writ of mandamus to compel the city to move along the process to put the recall elections on the ballot. The Festus City Council would be compelled to approve submitting the recall elections to the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office, which would decide when the matter would be placed on the ballot.
After a hearing of about an hour and a half that started at 2 p.m., St. Louis County Associate Circuit Court Judge Jason Krol Lewis – brought in after Jefferson County judges recused themselves and the city of Festus had requested a change of judge – said over the weekend he would consider motions that would end McDonald’s suit. If he decides the case should proceed, a tentative final hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, at the courthouse pending the availability of a courtroom.
“So, you all have given me a lot to think about over the weekend,” Lewis said. “The court does intend to issue a decision to dismiss or quash as expeditiously as possible, but I don’t want anyone to leave here without a future court date. So, we’re going to be scheduling another hearing in the event the motions to dismiss and quash are denied, which would mean that we would need to go forward on a final hearing on the merits.”
A recall effort against Festus Mayor Sam Richards and sitting council members (Dave Boyer of Ward 1, Kevin Dennis of Ward 3 and Mike Cook of Ward 4) who all had a year on their terms reached their targets for signature on petitions for recall elections to be held. However, after the signatures on the petitions gained certification from the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office and the matter was returned to the Festus City Council for the next step in the process, it was blocked by votes of the council and mayor.
When Cook abstained on the recall vote on himself and there was a 3-3 tie, Richards cast the deciding vote against. In the votes to proceed with recall elections on Richards, Boyer, Dennis and Cook, Ward 2 Councilman Allen McCarthy joined the incumbents to vote down recall elections on them.
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. 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.