A group of county residents have filed a lawsuit against Montgomery County and the Missouri Department of Economic Development seeking to void the agreement between the county and Amazon for the proposed data center to be located at the Heart of America mega site.
Preserve Montgomery LLC, an organization of Montgomery County residents who are opposed to the data center project, filed a lawsuit on Feb. 16 in the Cole County Circuit Court in Jefferson City. The citizen group is represented by Chesterfield attorney Stephen Jeffrey.
The data center is planned on 1,000 acres northeast of New Florence.
The suit alleges the county violated the Missouri Open Records Law in a variety of different ways.
First, the suit alleges that the county failed to properly give notice of the time, date and place of public meetings by not posting those notices on a bulletin board or other prominent place as required by law. The suit alleges that the county posts notices of meetings on the county’s Facebook page and on a clipboard in the commission office, asserting this does not meet the law’s requirements. The notices were for 14 different meetings between July 28, 2025, to Feb. 5, 2026.\
The suit also asserts the county failed to properly post notices of discussions relating to the Amazon data center project, specifically covering meetings on Dec. 18 and Dec. 29, 2025, Jan. 12 and Feb. 5.
Another allegation is that the commissioners engaged in unlawful closed sessions on Oct. 6, Nov. 20, Dec. 18 and Feb. 5, wherein they discussed matters relating to the proposed data center.
Additionally, the suit asserts that the county, in scheduling its public notice for the taxing district hearing relating to the issuance of bonds for the Amazon project, was also in violation of the law. The suit alleges that by law a 20-day notice is required before a hearing is held and that notices of the hearing were published on Dec. 10 and Dec. 17.
A separate allegation relates to the charging of improper fees for public record requests made under the open records law.
The suit then ties all of these acts together and utilizes them to assert that the department of economic development failed in its duty to monitor the county’s performance of a grant agreement between the county and the state entered into on July 17, 2023, relating to the Heart of America site.
Other allegations assert that the commissioners lacked the legal authority to enter into non-disclosure agreements they signed July 21, 2025. It also asserts that they entered into the agreements in order to keep the facts of the proposed data center project from the public.
The suit also challenges the commission’s acceptance of water usage reports provided by Amazon, alleging that county officials failed to adequately evaluate the water usage for the project. The suit also alleges that county officials never actually negotiated the tax abatement agreement with Amazon and failed to effectively evaluate the proposal before approving it.
“We believe it is wrong for our county officials to sign nondisclosure agreements and hold closed-door meetings with the data center developers,” said Tom Westhoff, a Montgomery County resident, in a press release. “The lack of transparency with the public is irresponsible.”
“It is certainly questionable whether a trillion-dollar company really needs any tax abatement,” said Harry Cope, a Montgomery County business owner and farmer. “Although the data center would pay some taxes, the Montgomery County R-II School District loses out on an estimated $195 million.”
“The data center is projected to consume millions of gallons of groundwater annually,” said John Bognar, RG, a registered hydrogeologist. “But, the information relied upon by the data center to show there is ‘plenty’ of groundwater is based on a report issued by the Missouri (Department of Natural Resources) in 2020, which obviously does not include water usage by any data center in this immediate area,” Bognar added.
“This is about protecting our way of life,” said Sharon Ridgley, a Montgomery County resident. “It is about a legacy of grit, determination and farming traditions that we all love, and we refuse to stand by and watch it be destroyed.”
The suit asks the court to void all of the actions taken by the county during commission meetings that occurred on Dec. 18 and Dec. 29, 2025, and Jan. 12 and Feb. 5 of 2026, which were the actions taken with respect to the Amazon project and the approval of the tax abatement provided to Amazon.
The suit also asks the court to order the department of economic development to find that Montgomery County violated the terms of its grant agreement, terminate the agreement and recover any payments made to the county under the agreement.
The suit also asks the court to penalize the county for violating the open records law by assessing a civil penalty for each violation of the law.
It also asks the court to invalidate the site plan, bond order and development agreement with Amazon.
The Montgomery Standard reached out to Commissioner Ryan Poston, who said he read the lawsuit but had no comment on the matter at this time.
A second data center in Montgomery County will be operated by Google and will be located on approximately 800 acres southeast of the Interstate 70 and Highway 19 interchange.
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