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Festus City Council rejects recall resolutions for mayor, 3 council members 17%
By Rob Edwards0%
6/9/2026, 3:00:00 AM
Keywords: Data Center, Festus
BS Summary: This article contains 12 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Framing Effect, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Confirmation Bias as the most egregious example at 14.5% saturation with 53 hits. Analysis detected 316 faulty-reasoning hits from 365 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.5% and a BS Rank of 17% (18,255 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 83.40% of the article peer group.
The Festus City Council voted Monday night to reject recall elections for Mayor Sam Richards and three council members, months after opposition to a proposed hyperscale data center sparked a citizen-led petition drive.
The recall effort targeted Richards and council members Mike Cook, David Boyer and Kevin Dennis, all of whom voted in favor of the data center project earlier this year.
At Monday night’s meeting, the council first allowed Festus City Attorney Brian Malone to summarize his legal opinion.
Malone told the council he believed the recall petitions were insufficient because "they do not state that any act was performed unlawfully."
Malone also said the council members who faced a possible recall should be allowed to vote on the resolutions.
Minutes later, over the jeers of those in the packed crowd, the council heard and then rejected each resolution.
The resolutions involving Dennis, Boyer and Richards failed on 4-3 votes.
The resolution involving Cook ended in a 3-3 tie, with Cook abstaining.
The mayor cast the deciding vote to break the tie, and the resolution failed.
In each case, except for when Cook abstained, the council members who faced a recall voted against the resolutions.
The recall effort started when residents opposed to the data center project circulated petitions throughout the community.
Jefferson County Clerk Jeannie Goff verified last month that organizers had gathered enough signatures to trigger the recall process.
Initially, Goff said there were not enough signatures to trigger a recall for Boyer, but Goff certified that petitioners produced the needed signatures last week.
Malone’s legal opinion that he shared Monday night aligned with a lawsuit that Richards and the three council members filed last week against Goff.
The suit argues the petitions are invalid because they don’t allege specific acts of misconduct or a failure to perform official duties.
They also claim that the petitions didn’t gather enough valid signatures and that people were unclear about what they were signing.
The recall campaign emerged after months of debate surrounding the proposed data center.
In April, Festus voters ousted four city council incumbents in favor of candidates who opposed the project.
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