KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.
—
The Independence City Council approved an emergency ordinance Monday putting the effort to recall Councilman John Perkins, who has represented the city's 1st District since 2016, to a Sept. 1 vote.
The effort stems from Perkins' vote in early March, when he was one of five council members who approved a 90% tax abatement for Nebius, a Dutch technology company planning a 2.1-million-square-foot data center in the Little Blue Valley.
The project, which will require 1.2 gigawatts of power at full buildout, drew months of heavy and vocal opposition before receiving council approval March 2.
McKenna Cobb, who organized the petition drive to trigger the recall vote, said the campaign was never about personal animosity toward Perkins.
"This has never been an I hate John Perkins petition," she said.
Cobb said she had no prior experience in political activism before joining the fight against the data center project.
"I've never done anything like this before in my life, never," Cobb said.
She said the data center proposal sparked widespread concern among residents and became a catalyst for community organizing.
"The data center conversation, or I guess the data center as a whole, it touches a lot of parts of our lives, and it started a lot of conversations with people," Cobb said.
Cobb described the recall effort as an outlet for residents who felt unheard.
"It's not just anger that people are feeling, it's frustration, and it's (the recall vote) finally the opportunity to have a vessel for that frustration, and to organize and demand better," Cobb said.
Perkins defended his record in office, pointing to work he has championed along U.S. 24 Highway, in the Englewood Arts District and the Fairmount neighborhood, among other victories. He vowed to keep working.
"I'm here at City Hall doing the work that they elected me to do to keep moving the items forward," he said. "Last night was a good example where I had the moratorium to save our historic sites. That type of work."
The city council unanimously approved Perkins' resolution to explore ways to fund historic sites preservation in Independence.
The Independence City Council also unanimously approved a 180-day moratorium on new projects that involved data centers and battery energy saving systems in an effort to get code enforcement and other details ironed out.
While he acknowledged the recall effort, Perkins, who also represented the 2nd District from 1996 to 2004, said it would not slow him down.
"This is just a part of it," he said. "This is just the world that we live in right now. I'm still hunkering down and doing the work that I was elected to do."
Perkins vowed to fight to keep his seat, while Cobb said she hopes the civic engagement surrounding the recall becomes a lasting movement rather than a fleeting moment.
"The long-term goal of this is to have conversations with our neighbors. There's been hundreds, arguably thousands, of conversations made in this corner of town with neighbors in regards to how they feel and their opinions about things, and those conversations with neighbors are what's most important for us right now," Cobb said.
The Jackson County Election Board confirmed Tuesday that it has received the city’s ordinance and only residents in the 1st District, the northwest corner of Independence, will vote in the election.
It will cost Independence roughly $164,400, a prorated rate, to conduct the 1st District-only election, according to the city and election board.
A spokesperson for the Jackson County Election Board said staffing issues may require the Sept. 1 election to use fewer polling places than the Aug. 4 primary.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
—
