KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.
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The Independence City Council’s approval of a Dutch company’s hyperscale AI data factory in the Little Blue Valley last month continues to create blowback for elected officials.
Two council members — Bridget McCandless, who was running for mayor, and Jared Fears, who was seeking re-election — were defeated April 7 at the polls. Both supported the Nebius project.
Now, another council member who voted for the project, John Perkins, faces a recall effort.
“In the efforts of organizing against the data center, we had a lot of people in a room and, when you get people in a room talking, you realize we have a lot more in common than we realize,” said McKenna Cobb, who lives in Independence’s 1st District. “One of those things was frustration in the 1st District with how we've been represented.”
Cobb filed a recall petition Monday with the Independence City Clerk’s Office. They now have 30 days to gather signatures to put the recall question on a future ballot.
“We’d like to see somebody who takes concerns seriously when people are expressing them,” Cobb said.
The official “Petition to Recall Council Member John Perkins” solely references his support of the data center project for removing him from office.
“I'm obviously aware of the petition and the recall efforts,” Perkins said Tuesday outside Independence Municipal Commons. “I don't believe it looks at the full scope of the work that hasn't been done in the 1st District, but I do respect the process that they want to go this route.”
Perkins defended voting for the Nebius project, citing his trust in Independence Power & Light’s recommendation and the tax money the project is expected to generate, which could transform Independence’s finances in addition to benefitting local school districts.
“I do not regret my vote,” said Perkins, who has represented the 1st District since 2016.
The Independence City Council authorized up to roughly $150 billion in Chapter 100 industrial revenue bonds for the project on March 2. The ordinance passed 5-2 and included a $6.6 billion tax abatement, though Nebius will pay more than $650 million in PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, during the next 20 years.
IPL will receive roughly the same amount via power agreements.
Perkins, a William Chrisman graduate, cited his broader efforts to improve Historic Independence Square, improve the U.S. 24 corridor, redevelop the Englewood Arts District, restore the Fairmount Neighborhood, advocate for GO bond projects in the district and support the city’s historic sites.
“I think my record speaks for itself,” Perkins said. “The capital improvement projects that have been brought to the 1st District, like the 24 Highway, multi-million-dollar project that we have done there to enhance public safety. Looking at Inglewood as a prime example of a derelict building that was an eyesore, calls for service from the police department, but fast forward to now, and it is a thriving building that brings in economic development. The work that's taken place in Old Town Fairmont. ... I can't make everybody happy, but I think the record that I have done will stand on its own.”
Perkins, who previously represented the 2nd District from 1996 to 2004, certainly has some supporters, too.
A coalition of six labor unions — the International Association of Firefighters Local 781 (IAFF), the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1 (FOP), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 53 (IBEW), the Communication Workers of America Local 6360 (CWA), the United Steel Workers Local 13558 (USW) and the Independence LAGERS Retirees — published a letter Tuesday pushing back against the recall effort.
“Councilman Perkins ... makes sure citizens’ voices are heard as well as respected” and “has shown a commitment to the citizens of the 1st District through reducing blight,” the labor coalition’s letter said, in part.
“Since the recall effort started yesterday, it's been very humbling to get all the support, especially from the labor coalitions,” Perkins said. “It's very humbling to have that support reaffirmed, but also it's very humbling to have the people that I have worked with — people from neighborhoods like Kentucky Hills, Fairmont, Englewood — who have all reached out to say thank you for what you've done, that they don't appreciate this recall, ‘we have your back.’ That is probably the most humbling thing that I've ever felt in my tenure in city politics.”
Cobb acknowledged that Perkins has his supporters, but she wants the district to decide if he’s still the right person for the job.
“There’s a lot of feelings around a recall,” she said. “It's not something that comes in an easy decision. ... I hope, starting now, we're really waking up to what Independence can be, and we're not just accepting what's being handed down to us. We're demanding more.”
The petition was filed April 27, so organizers have until May 27 to gather signatures.
According to the Jackson County Election Board, 1,104 signatures will be needed, which is 8% of the 13,798 registered voters in the 1st District for the April 2, 2024, election.
However, the deadline to certify questions for the August primary is May 26, so they would have to be turned in at least a day early to be on the August ballot.
“If signatures are turned in by then, we would hustle to get them verified and have two weeks after the certification date with a court order to put it on the August election,” Jackson County Election Board Co-Director Sara Zorich said via email.
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