KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.
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Independence said its City Charter forbids citizen-initiated referendums related to ordinances like the one authorizing tax incentives for a massive data center in the Little Blue Valley.
The city filed two responses Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court to the lawsuit filed March 9 by residents Rachel Gonzalez, Kharma Magers and Misty Vaughn, a last-ditch effort to put $6 billion in tax incentives for the project to a public vote.
According to Independence's filings, Section 2.22(1) of the City Charter, which delineates the types of ordinances subject to referendum, and the Missouri Constitution prohibit putting the issue to a vote.
If a judge agrees, it would deal a significant blow to efforts to block the development of the 2.1-million-square-foot, $150-billion hyperscale AI factory that Nebius plans to build along Little Blue Parkway near Missouri 78.
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Gonzalez, who leads an opposition group that organized to fight the Dutch AI company’s planned data center, and the other plaintiffs sought a writ of mandamus.
Essentially, that means they asked a judge to force Independence City Clerk Susanne Holland, who is named in the lawsuit, to approve their petition to begin gathering signatures in hopes of putting the $6-billion package of tax incentives to a citywide vote.
Gonzalez filed an intent to seek a referendum within days of the Independence City Council approving an ordinance March 2, which authorizes Chapter 100 bonds for the Nebius project.
The city’s responses to the lawsuit said residents do not have “a clear, unequivocal right to proceed with the referendum.” As such, Holland “has no ministerial duty to certify Relators’ Petition for Referendum.”
Under Section 2.22(1)(d), “any ordinance relating to a specific contract” is exempt from being subject to referendum and the Missouri Constitution also prohibits a referendum on laws that go into effect immediately, like the ordinance in question.
Opponents of the project argued that the City Charter allows them to file an intent to seek a referendum within 10 days, which then triggers a 30-day period for crafting ballot language and gathering signatures to put the proposed law to a vote.
Not so fast, according to Independence’s response, “because this Ordinance went into effect immediately, both as a matter of law and as a matter of fact, it is not subject to the referendum.”
Only ordinances that do not go into effect immediately, which are outlined in Section 2.22(2) of the City Charter, can be subject to a citizen-initiated referendum.
“Just as the City needs the power to deal with emergencies immediately and appropriate funds outside the referendum process, it needs the power to approve contracts and issue bonds,” the city’s response said. “Third parties to those contracts and bond issuances need the certainty that comes with immediate approval. That is a decision that is left to the City Council and cannot be exercised directly by the voters nor interfered with by this Court.”
City millions in projected tax revenue from the Nebius project, which would flow into the general fund and buoy Independence Power & Light, the Independence City Council voted 5-2 to approve bonds for the project.
A third party entered into a separate agreement to build a natural-gas power plant not far from the data center at the site of the retired Blue Valley Power Plant, a coal-fired generation facility that was decommissioned in 2020.
Nebius said it plans to begin construction as soon as next month and IPL is contractually obligated to begin supplying power to the site later this year.
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