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Festus council member steps down amid data center backlash 4%
By Katie Grawitch0%
4/17/2026, 10:00:00 AM
Topics: Politics
BS Summary: This article contains 13 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Begging the Question, and Unattributed Quote, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 37.7% saturation with 122 hits. Analysis detected 465 faulty-reasoning hits from 324 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 17.4% and a BS Rank of 4% (21,110 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 96.40% of the article peer group.
Festus City Council member Staci Templeton resigned on Saturday after five years in office.
The Ward 2 councilwoman is the latest member to leave office during data center backlash.
Festus residents voted out all four council members running for reelection last week in favor of candidates who opposed a proposed hyperscale data center project.
Templeton has taken part in the council's unanimous decisions leading up to a proposed hyperscale data center in the city's 4th Ward.
But she voted against an agreement setting requirements for data center developer CRG alongside fellow Ward 2 council member Brian Wehner.
Wehner was one of the council members unseated last week.
Mayor Sam Richards said Templeton announced her resignation privately on Saturday but agreed to stay on for the Monday city council meeting at his request.
Four new council members were sworn in Monday night before the council elected pro-data center member Mike Cook as mayor pro tempore.
In that meeting, Templeton tied the vote in favor of Cook over anti-data center council newcomer Rick Belleville.
The mayor had the tie-breaking vote to elect Cook.
“I just asked her to make the council meeting on Monday and then (said) she could resign after that meeting,” Richards said.
“And that's what she did.”
Richards said Templeton left for personal reasons.
Richards will choose a new candidate for the vacant seat.
Then, the remaining members will decide whether to approve them.
Council members serve two-year terms — and one member from each of the city's four wards is up for election every year.
Data center opposition group Wake Up Jeffco and four Festus residents are suing the city and CRG, claiming city officials knowingly withheld information about the potential development that was within the public interest.
The suit aims to invalidate the city's requirements for the developer and reverse rezoning decisions related to the area set aside for the proposed project.
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10%flagged-word coverageSam Richards
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