A town hall meeting was held on Sept. 14 at the Montgomery County High School gymnasium by a new group that has citizens who care about the future of Montgomery County.

The group is called Protect Montgomery County’s Future. It was formed in late August and plans to hold monthly meetings at the Montgomery City Public Library.

Protect Montgomery County’s Future is separate from Preserve Montgomery County LLC, which brought a lawsuit against Montgomery County and the Department of Economic Development regarding the Amazon data project.

“Going forward in our community, we need a group of people paying attention to what’s going on with everything, not just data centers,” said Jonesburg resident Tammy Ridgley, who is part of the new group.

Tom Westhoff, another group member and the moderator of the town hall meeting, said the group’s goals are becoming more active in the local government and keeping citizens informed about the facts, transparency and accountability of the local leaders.

“We will provide reports from the county commissioner meetings, planning and zoning meetings and port authority meetings,” Westhoff said. “So it’s a chance to keep updated and get a little more involved in our local politics.”

The town hall meeting lasted for over an hour and had five people as guest speakers. They were Stacy Bax, a Democratic candidate for District 61 State Representative; John Wells, a Democratic candidate for Missouri Senate 10; Lynn Thompson, CEO/general manager for Consolidated Electric of Mexico (Audrain County); John Coffman, consumer advocate attorney with the Consumer Council of Missouri; and Steve Jeffery, attorney for Preserve Montgomery County.

The meeting gave citizens an opportunity to voice their concerns about the data centers being built in the county. Two data centers are being built along the Interstate 70/Highway 19 interchange. Google and Amazon have invested a combined $25 billion in the projects.

“I understand this is an important topic for our communities, especially like Montgomery County,” said Wells, who is running against Republican candidate Mike Deering for District 10 State Senate in the November election. “We’re talking about economic development for this community. While nobody wants to see unfettered growth, there are some good things that come along with the data centers that are coming to our communities.”

There were more than 60 people in attendance at the town hall meeting. It was the second town hall meeting that was held at MCHS this year regarding the issue with data centers. The first meeting was held on Jan. 29 and was hosted by Preserve Montgomery County LLC.

Bax, who is running against Republican candidate Bruce Sassmann for District 61 representative in the November election, said she first started hearing about data centers coming to Montgomery County a year ago.

“I attended town halls and I listened,” Bax said. “What I heard from this community is clear. People were upset and rightfully so. This deal was done behind closed doors without community input, without a real conversation about what it would mean for the people who already live here. The more I learned, the more concerns I had.”

Jeffery said there are also residents in Jefferson County who oppose data centers. He also represents the citizens through the Wake Up Jeffco group in Festus, which is suing the data center developers.

“The important thing here is people like you are fighting back,” Jeffery said. “Probably the most compelling reason why people fight back is because all of these data center decisions are made in the dark and behind closed doors.”

Thompson said his company serves only the rural areas on the north side of I-70 and its role in the data center project is limited.

“We’re providing temporary power for the few job shafts, we’re providing temporary power to the railroad crossing until a permanent solution is put in process there and we remove poles and lines to farms and houses that are no longer there,” Thompson said.

Coffmann said the construction of the data centers may cause a huge increase in electric rates.

“There is not much that can be done about grocery prices and there’s not much the state government can do about gasoline prices, but there is something they can do about electric rates,” he said.

A question and answer session was held after the meeting, and six people participated. One of them, Jennifer Thomas of Truxton, was for the data centers, saying that they are important buildings for the community.

“Technology is going to happen, even if you stand up and say no,” Thomas said. “It may not happen in your backyard, but it’s going to happen somewhere. It’s going to be happening in places where people are standing around and not paying attention.”

Wells said voting in the November election is very important.

“I have a poster at home that says, “For strong leadership, vote democratic.” If your leadership hasn’t been working for you, then maybe it’s time to try something else.” Wells said. “I would encourage you all to consider Democratic leadership this year. We care about people and we care about what happens to our communities, we care about the environment and we’re going to use those things when we make decisions.”

The Protect Montgomery County’s Future group will hold a meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 12 at MCPL.