Susan Harrison is the newest member of the Festus City Council after being voted in to fill an open Ward 2 seat.
The council on Monday approved Mayor Sam Richards’ nomination of Harrison with five members voting for the motion and two abstaining. Ward 3 Councilman Dan Moore and Ward 4 Councilman Rick Belleville abstained, while Dave Boyer and Karl Weekley of Ward 1, Allen McCarthy of Ward 2, Kevin Dennis of Ward 3 and Mike Cook of Ward 4 cast the yes votes.
There was no discussion prior to the vote to fill the seat left open since April 13, when Staci Templeton resigned from it.
Richards on Tuesday morning said he considered Harrison the best choice for the seat.
“She was qualified, and she was the person interested in things that are best for the city,” he said. “She’s dedicated. I am quite sure she will be an asset to the City Council.”
Moore and Belleville did not respond to requests for comment about abstaining from the vote by Leader press time Tuesday.
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 (with later additions bringing the total to about 370 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.
Harrison on her application for the Ward 2 seat, which was included in council meeting packet information, listed her occupation as a meeting and event manager with experience in project coordination, budgeting, planning and leadership. She further stated she has been a Festus resident for 40 years, is a graduate of Festus High School and of St. Louis Community College. In addition, she has been on the committee of GSBTTC (Giving Something Back to the Community), is an active member of American Legion Auxiliary Unit 253 as past president and member of the Cultural Diversity Committee.
“Serving on the council would give me the opportunity to give back to the community I call home,” she said on the application. “I want to help make Festus a stronger community and contribute to decisions that positively impact our residents and our city’s future.”
On her application for the Ward 2 seat, she said, “I believe we should continue to maintain and continue to improve our streets, invest in our parks and recreational facilities, along with investing in our fire and police departments. Lastly, to identify opportunities to generate revenue to support those services and growth while ensuring responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
Harrison will hold the seat until the April 2027 election, when it will be on the April ballot for a new two-year term.
Previously, Richards nominated Aaron Pashia to fill the open Ward 2 seat, 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 was ever taken on his nomination.
Richards did not bring forth another name for the council to consider until Monday.
In the 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.
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, although one of them, Mary Youmans, identified herself as having applied for it.