The Commissioners Don’t Have the Final Say

A public record. A public process. A public future.

Don’t Pack It In. This Is Where It Actually Starts.

If you’re tired, frustrated, or angry — good. That means you understand what’s at stake.

But don’t mistake a vote for the end of the story.

It isn’t.

Communities are conditioned to believe that once commissioners approve something, the outcome is sealed. That resistance is pointless. That speaking up now is symbolic at best.

That is not how democratic systems are supposed to work.

And it is not how accountability is built.

History shows something different:

The most consequential changes rarely begin at the ballot table.
They begin after people realize how decisions were made.
They begin when records are read.
When timelines are mapped.
When patterns are named.
When ordinary residents stop accepting “process” as a substitute for consent.

If you’re still here reading this, you haven’t missed your moment.

You’ve reached it.

The “Greater” Montgomery County Economic Development Council

Long before the public debate over a data center ever reached a meeting room, a quieter process was already underway.

For years, an organization called the Greater Montgomery County Economic Development Council has existed for one primary purpose:

To market land.
To develop sites.
To coordinate infrastructure.
To position Montgomery County for large-scale industrial projects.

That mission is not hidden.

It appears directly in the organization’s federal nonprofit tax filings (IRS Form 990), going back multiple years.

Those filings show that between at least 2019 and 2023, the organization was:

• Spending money on “mega site initiatives”

• Receiving reimbursements for “mega site project costs”

• Funding the creation of a port authority structure

• Actively engaged in site and infrastructure development

“Mega sites” are not small business parks.

They are the same class of developments used for:

• Data centers

• Advanced manufacturing facilities

• Logistics hubs

• Energy-intensive industrial operations

In other words, the institutional groundwork for a project of this scale was being laid years before most residents ever heard the words “data center.”

This does not mean a single company was finalized in 2019 or 2020.

It means the machinery was being built.

And machinery shapes outcomes.

Montgomery City Community “Betterment”

At the same time, a second nonprofit organization was operating in parallel:

Montgomery City Community Betterment, Inc.

On paper, this organization presents itself as community-focused — including scholarships and local support initiatives.

But its own public tax filings show something else as well:

It has been involved in land-related financial activity, development coordination, and transactions connected to industrial site preparation.

This is not unusual in modern economic development.

Communities are often told that nonprofit structures are used to:

• Hold land

• Move funds

• Apply for grants

• Coordinate development

• Reduce liability exposure

The problem is not that these tools exist.

The problem is that residents are rarely told:

• when these entities begin acting

• what land is being positioned

• what commitments are being created

• or how early the future is being shaped

By the time a project becomes visible, the architecture behind it is already standing.

Leaders Who Shape Economic Development the Community Didn’t Ask For

Economic development does not happen in the abstract.

It moves through people.
Through boards.
Through signatures.
Through votes.

Public records show that a small group of local officials and civic leaders appear repeatedly across the institutions driving industrial development in Montgomery County — including:

• the County Commission (which approved the data center land actions),

• the Greater Montgomery County Economic Development Council (which has managed megasite planning and infrastructure positioning), and

• Montgomery City Community Betterment, Inc. (which has participated in land and development-related financial activity).

These are not isolated organizations operating independently in a vacuum.

They are overlapping structures — with overlapping leadership — shaping the same outcome through different legal vehicles.

The County Commissioners

According to the county’s official website, the Montgomery County Commission consists of:

• Ryan Poston, Presiding Commissioner

• Dave Teeter, First District Commissioner

• Doug Lensing, Second District Commissioner

These officials voted to approve land actions tied to the proposed data center development.

The Economic Development Council

IRS Form 990 filings list the following officers and directors of the Greater Montgomery County Economic Development Council during the years in which megasite planning and infrastructure development expenses were recorded:

• Brent Speight, President

• Mike Lichtenberg, Vice President

• James Krattli, Secretary/Treasurer

• Jeff Arens, Director

• Dave Johnson, Director

• Jack Holtman, Director

• Phil York, Esq., Director

The Community Betterment Organization

Public tax filings for Montgomery City Community Betterment, Inc. list overlapping names among its officers and board members during the same period that land-related and development-related financial activity appears in its records.

Large industrial projects are not guided by a single vote or a single organization.

They are advanced through networks of entities, often staffed by the same individuals:

One body approves land.
Another prepares sites.
Another holds property or moves funds.
Another applies for certification.
Another coordinates infrastructure.

Each step looks separate on paper.

In reality, they form a single development pipeline.

Naming that structure is not personal.

It is factual.

And it is essential for public accountability.

Why This Process Feels Familiar Across Missouri

Montgomery County is not alone.

Across Missouri, communities are seeing the same sequence:

• An industrial site becomes “certified”

• Infrastructure planning quietly accelerates

• Development entities expand their authority

• Fire stations, substations, and utilities are proposed

• Public meetings are held late in the process

• Residents are told the project is “already too far along”

This is not coincidence.

It is a model.

And once you recognize the model, you start to see it everywhere.

A Word About AI, Technology, and Reality

Let’s be clear about something that keeps getting twisted:

Using AI to organize writing, research, or communication
does not mean you want a hyper-scale data center next to your home.

You can support technology
and still defend land, water, safety, and local control.

Those are not contradictions.

They are boundaries.

Technology should serve communities.

Not overwrite them.

What Approval Really Means — And What It Doesn’t

A commission vote is not destiny.

It does not eliminate:

• future litigation

• state-level regulatory review

• environmental challenges

• public records investigations

• federal compliance hurdles

• investor withdrawal

• financing collapse

• or political consequences

Projects fail every year after approval.

What approval really does is shift the burden:

From corporations
to communities.
From private risk
to public cost.

That is why this moment matters.

What Montgomery County Can Still Do

If you live here:

• Request public records (emails, contracts, timelines, land transfers)

• Ask when site certification began and who applied

• Demand full disclosure of infrastructure commitments

• Attend meetings — and bring documentation

• Support local journalism and independent research

• Organize residents, landowners, farmers, and business owners

• Vote for civic leaders who openly support your vision for your community — not just “growth” in the abstract

Development is not neutral.

You are allowed to choose what kind.

What Other Missouri Communities Should Learn Now

If a site is being proposed near you:

Do not wait for the announcement.

Start with:

• Economic development councils

• Port authorities

• Community nonprofits

• Industrial certification programs

• Utility planning documents

• Fire protection district budgets

• Water district capacity reports

By the time the ribbon is shown, the decision is already halfway made.

Early awareness is leverage.

Call to Action

This is not about being anti-progress.

It is about being pro-community.

Ask questions early.
Read filings.
Track timelines.
Follow the money.
Share what you find.
Vote with intention.

And refuse the lie that says:

“You’re too late.”

You’re not.

Not yet.

Closing

Power depends on people believing they are small.

Communities are not small.

They are simply expected to be quiet.

You don’t have to be.

In solidarity,
Lyndsay LaBrier
Merchant Ship Collective
The Launch Dock

References

Greater Montgomery County Economic Development Council. (2020). Form 990: Return of organization exempt from income tax (Tax year 2019). Internal Revenue Service.

Greater Montgomery County Economic Development Council. (2021). Form 990: Return of organization exempt from income tax (Tax year 2020). Internal Revenue Service.

Greater Montgomery County Economic Development Council. (2023). Form 990: Return of organization exempt from income tax (Tax year 2022). Internal Revenue Service.

Greater Montgomery County Economic Development Council. (2024). Form 990: Return of organization exempt from income tax (Tax year 2023). Internal Revenue Service.

Montgomery City Community Betterment, Inc. (2023). Form 990: Return of organization exempt from income tax (Tax year 2022). Internal Revenue Service.

Missouri Department of Economic Development. (n.d.). Missouri Certified Sites Program. https://ded.mo.gov

LocationOne Information System. (n.d.). Montgomery City Industrial Park – Certified Site profile. https://app.locationone.com

Montgomery County Commission. (n.d.). County commissioners and official proceedings. Montgomery County, Missouri. https://www.montgomerycountymo.gov

Internal Revenue Service. (2023). Instructions for Form 990: Return of organization exempt from income tax. U.S. Department of the Treasury. https://www.irs.gov