As the Festus City Council prepares to vote on a data center development agreement at a meeting this evening, opponents of the project vowed Sunday to continue to fight it even if the process passes.
The Festus City Council has scheduled a special meeting for 6:00 p.m. today at Festus High School, 501 Westwind Drive, with an agenda listing Bill No. 4876, an act approving the infrastructure development agreement with CRG Acquisition, as the only operative part thereof.
CRG of St. Louis announced in late 2025 its plan to develop a data center on a site north of Hwy. 67 and west on Hwy. CC in town. Before long this announcement sparked controversy, when a large number of people and groups spoke against the plan, while others came out for it.
A March 29 Wake Up Jeffco rally drew 120 or more people to the basement of American Legion Post 253 in Festus, where leaders of the Wake Up Jeffco group against the project said they expect City Council action on the deal to pass.
A common theme during the meeting of Wake Up Jeffco was its leaders and the lawyer of the group, Steve Jeffery, urging those who attended the meeting to continue working against the plan that they believe will increase the rates of electricity and water, cause noise pollution, cause health problems and damage the value of property, among other concerns.
“Don’t give up,” said Judith Ivery of Wake Up Jeffco, who served as conference emcee. “Don’t give up, there is still hope.”
In Ivery’s introduction for him, he said that Jeffery represents the same groups in Wake Up Jeffco against data center projects in many places around Missouri.
Jeffery asked the crowd, “Is the city honest in this process?” The attendees responded bluntly, “No. Jeffery talked about the emails between Festus and CRG leaders that were released in December 2025 about the Sunshine Law requests made by citizens.
Jeffery said some of the emails produced by the city indicate that closed-door meetings were set up between council members and other city officials and CRG representatives, but only a few council members attended those meetings to avoid creating a quorum, thus keeping the meetings confidential.
He said city officials did this to “inherit” Missouri’s Sunshine Law.
Greg Camp, who was the city manager of Festus before leaving to take the same position in Colorado, during the release of the official emails of the city said that the members of the City Council had CRG representatives in order to avoid the quorum was not a unique situation for the data center project.
Jeffery went through some examples of what he said showed a lack of transparency on the part of Festus officials during the process of advancing the data center development project.
He also argued that the agreement between the city and CRG will be a breather for Festus city officials said.
During the question and answer session, the person present asked about information recently confirmed by the opponent of the data center that cemeteries, including old slave graves, are located on the site of the proposed data center, and if this information could stop or delay the project. Some members of the crowd said that the cemetery information has not been confirmed.
Jeffery said those interested in this matter should contact the State Historic Preservation Office, which is a branch of the Department of Natural Resources, to see if the office will conduct an investigation.
Jeffery said: “But this is all based on the actual information that the remains are there. “It’s just a suspicion that the body doesn’t do anything for anybody.”
The public comment portion of Festus’ special meeting has not yet been decided
During the Wake Up Jeffco meeting, attendees pointed out that Festus officials announced that no public comment will be offered at the special meeting unless council members approve the proposal of the public comment section by a third of the council.
A written statement from the city released on March 27 said that Mayor Sam Richards intends to make a proposal at a special meeting to allow a public comment section and if that process receives the necessary approval, the public comment section will take place. Potential speakers are allowed to register to speak through the Festus city clerk with the understanding that such a public comment period may or may not occur.
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