Independence residents seek 2nd chance to recall councilmember over data center vote
After a review by the county election board, Independence residents seeking to recall councilmember John Perkins have a long road ahead.
Perkins was one of five current and former Independence City Councilmembers to vote in favor of a $6 billion set of sweeping tax breaks for Nebius, a Dutch artificial intelligence company currently constructing a $150 billion hyperscale AI data center in northeast Independence.
After 18 years on and off representing the First District, some residents have been attempting to remove Perkins from his post in reaction to the vote. A similar wave of anti-data center sentiment recently contributed to ushering out two of the other five councilmembers who voted for the tax breaks; Councilmember Jared Fears was removed from his at-large seat of four years, while Bridget McCandless lost both her spot on the dais and her bid for Independence mayor.
Organizers seeking to recall Perkins engaged in a 30-day petition drive to put up a vote on a special ballot for First District residents. They needed about 1,000 signatures, but came up 359 short, according to organizer Rachel Gonzalez.
In the end, 745 signatures were collected and verified by the Jackson County Election Board. Only residents of the First District, in the northwest quadrant of Independence were eligible to sign the petition or distribute copies.
However, a second wave of signature collecting is already underway. Under the Independence City Charter, if a certified petition — like the one to recall Perkins — comes back under the threshold to create a ballot measure, its sponsors have 10 additional days to either amend the petition or submit additional names.
Now, about a week remains in the Perkins recall’s second chapter. Organizers plan to use the extra chance to redouble their efforts, increasing their engagement across the First District in order to attract both more signers and more volunteers.
An effort to collect more signatures
McKenna Cobb, treasurer of the Independence Action Committee and one of the lead organizers of the recall effort, said that the 10-day extension period will be “the most important phase of this campaign.”
“If you have been waiting to get involved, now is the time,” Cobb said. “We need volunteers to help gather signatures, spread the word, and connect with neighbors across the district. Every conversation and every signature matters.”
Residents are planning to collect signatures across the first district from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day until Friday, and have been knocking on doors across the district since the second period began. The First District includes the Mt. Washington, Ott-Chrisman and Kentucky Hills neighborhoods of Independence, along with historic areas including the Truman Library and Englewood Arts districts.
“Please make it worth our while to be out here,” organizer Elisa Breitenbach said in a video shared on social media Sunday.
‘Giving residents a voice’
Organizers with the Independence GUARD Alliance, a related watchdog group consisting largely of those who live closest to the data center, are also hoping to catch residents’ attention this week.
The group has retained two attorneys engaged in several other anti-data center fights, including Stephen Jeffery, who is currently representing residents seeking to halt a data center project underway in St. Louis suburb Festus, Missouri.
The GUARD Alliance will host a town hall Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Rhapsody Event Space, a multipurpose venue at 2322 E R D Mize Rd, Independence, MO 64057.
“This movement has always been about giving residents a voice,” Cobb said. “We are not giving up, and we are not going away.”
