Overview
- District 1 voters removed Councilman John Perkins in a special election held Sept. 1, with unofficial Jackson County tallies showing roughly 68 percent voted to recall him.
- The recall was driven by Perkins’s March vote to approve the Nebius hyperscale AI data center and large tax abatements that opponents described as about a 90 percent cut and part of more than $6 billion in incentives.
- Residents placed a roughly 190-page recall petition on the ballot after the city declined to certify a referendum petition, and two other council members who voted for the incentives lost April elections.
- The recall must be certified by the Jackson County Election Board and the city clerk and leaves the district without representation while the city follows the charter; City Manager Troy Anderson recommended a Feb. 2 primary and April 6 general special-election schedule.
- The campaign cost the city about $164,400, recalled officials are barred from city employment for two years, and the outcome highlights a broader, organized backlash in Independence — including a 115,000-member online group and door-to-door activism — that is reshaping local policy fights over data centers.