Ryan Knudson

The chairman of the development company has said the project won't pollute the water and that the state has taken steps to protect residents from rising utility bills.

All of these resident concerns were brewing in the lead up to that explosive city council vote where the story began.

Opponents of the data center had been defeated, but they weren't done fighting.

After the city council vote, they declared a new mission.

Vote out every city council member who supported the data center and recall the mayor.

That's next.

Not long after that data center vote in March, four out of eight city council seats in Festus were up for reelection.

One of the newly elected city council members told a local TV station that he'll do everything he legally can to stand in the way of the data center.

I'm not against data centers as a whole.

It's the process that unfolded and where they're putting it is the problem.

After taking out four council members, residents are now looking to recall Festus' mayor, Sam Richards.

Will sat down with the mayor during his trip to Festus.

More than 4,000 people have signed petitions to recall the mayor and three other council members who supported the project, but have yet to face reelection.

Well, it sounds like in Festus, the people that live in that community have made up their mind.

Yes.

They do not want this.

So what's going to happen to the data center then?

Is it going to get built?

Around the country, other communities are looking to head off these fights before they begin by passing moratoriums on new data center construction.

The city of St.