A group of concerned citizens is seeking donations to continue a potential legal fight against the city of Warrenton for the proposed data center project.
Protecting Our Way of Life Warren County, LLC hosted a meeting Monday evening at the MaryLou Center in Truesdale and had as their special guest attorney Stephen Jeffery of Jeffery Law Group LLC to discuss legal avenues communities fighting data centers have.
During the meeting members of the group said they are seeking $6,000 to $10,000 in additional funding through GoFundMe and a local bank account to continue Jeffery’s work and to possibly hire experts for issues like water usage.
Jeffery told the crowd that he currently represents Preserve Montgomery County LLC, which is currently engaged in a lawsuit with Montgomery County; Wake Up Jeff Co LLC, a citizens group in Festus; and Pacific Group Coalition.
Jeffery said he has also been recently retained by Protecting Our Way of Life Warren County.
Jeffery said all data center projects follow the same playbook which includes using out-of-state real estate developers scouring the country identifying large parcels of property in rural counties because those areas have lots of property and are strapped for cash.
“All the local politicians see are dollar signs,” Jeffery said.
He said local officials also engage in secret closed door meetings with the developers to finalize details of a project.
Jeffery also said properties are often annexed into cities and then rezoned into some type of industrial zoning from agricultural.
Jeffery then said there were specific legal requirements and hoops that government entities have to jump through to annex and rezone properties, such as public notices and public hearings.
“These are all legal requirements that sometimes get skipped over,” Jeffery said.
He said if there is a procedural issue with the notices and hearings it could be subject to review and a legal challenge.
Jeffery began discussing infrastructure development agreements and Chapter 100 bonds.
He said that municipalities and counties issue revenue bonds that are bought by the data center operator or developer that are paid back over time. He said government agencies then use the funds provided by the developer to buy items such as computers, servers, infrastructure, diesel generators and other physical plant equipment because government agencies can buy items tax free. The government entity then gives the items to the developer or operator.
Jeffery said Montgomery would be issuing $35 billion in general revenue bonds.
Based upon the cost-benefit and accompanying documents in both Montgomery County and Warrenton though they will not be following this approach. The Chapter 100 bonds call for the issuance of bonds, but the bonds are merely paper transactions. No actual bonds will be issued and no financial transaction will take place. In both cases the developers/operators are purchasing the equipment to be placed in the data centers and then will give those assets to the respective governmental agencies. The items will then be leased back to the developer/operator.
Jeffery then spoke about the Missouri Sunshine Law and the requirements public agencies must follow for open and closed meetings. He spoke generally about the requirements of the law relating to open meetings, closed meetings and the varying notices required for each.
He also discussed non-disclosure agreements and his belief that Missouri law does not allow for such agreements, noting that the Missouri Sunshine Law does not mention NDAs as one of its exceptions.
Jeffery noted that a portion of the law allows a court to invalidate decisions made by a board if it has a number of Sunshine Law violations.
Jeffrey then answered several questions from the audience which was mostly clarification on the issues he already presented. One resident asked Jeffrey if he has found any Sunshine Law issues here in Warrenton. He responded that he hadn’t had the opportunity to review the materials yet and therefore didn’t have an opinion one way or another.
At the end of the meeting it was discussed that money could be donated to the group’s GoFundME or First State Community Bank for attorney’s fees.
