First hearing leads to new judge in Amazon data center case

The hearing on the case between Preserve Montgomery County and the county regarding the Amazon data center scheduled for May 13 in Cole County Circuit Court Division II ended fairly uneventfully with the only action being the transfer of the case to a new judge.

The original judge on the case was Brian K. Stumpe, but Preserve filed a motion for change of judge which was granted, causing the case to be assigned to Judge Daniel Green. On May 6, the county and the State of Missouri filed their own motion for change of judge, which was granted May 13. The new judge is Judge Cotton Walker in Division III, according to online court records. The next hearing is scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. on Monday, June 1.

The lawsuit was originally filed February 16 alleging a number of counts against Montgomery County and the Missouri Department of Economic Development regarding the Amazon data center and the Heart of America mega site in New Florence. The state filed a motion to dismiss the case March 19, which was followed by the county’s motion to dismiss March 20.

On May 4, Preserve Montgomery County filed an amended petition in the case which primarily included a report from the Missouri State Auditor dated February 2024 that the county was not complying with the Sunshine Law with respect to open and closed meetings, specifically outlining issues with closed meetings from Jan. 1, 2022 to June 22, 2023.

Also on May 4, an intervenor’s petition was filed in the case to add two additional plaintiffs to the lawsuit. The two plaintiffs are the Judy B. Hillebrand Revocable Trust and the Miller Joint Revocable Trust. Both trusts purportedly own real property in Montgomery County adjacent to the 500-acre mega site.\

As Judge Green recused himself from the matter, none of the other motions filed in the case have been ruled on.

Amazon is planning a data center to be located on a 1,000-acre parcel in the northeast quadrant of the Interstate 70 and Highway 19 interchange near New Florence. A second data center, to be operated by Google, is being built in the southeast quadrant of the I-70 and Highway 19 interchange. The project consists of 780 acres in the county and 130 acres within the city limits of New Florence.