The following is a statement from City Attorney Todd Luckman in response to claims on social media that the City is trying to silence citizens who signed a petition to ban high-impact data centers in Edgerton:
“The City filed for a declaratory judgement in district court and, as part of that process, named two individuals and The Public Trust Collective as the opposing parties. This is because Kansas law requires that people whose interests would be affected by the decision must be named. They were the primary individuals/organization that were behind the petition. They have an obvious interest in what happens in court and we wanted to make sure they were notified and involved in that process. Anyone who signed the petition can also request that they be added if they would like to be heard in court.
The City is not asking for any financial compensation, attorneys fees or monetary damages. There is some statutory language about court costs in the filing, but that’s standard and we don’t expect the court would order those costs anyway.
As for the City’s motion for a “restraining order” – most people think of a restraining order as something to stop another person from contacting them. This is not an order preventing these individuals from contacting the City or anyone else. The City is asking the court to temporarily pause the election process that is required under the state law while the court determines whether the proposed ordinance can legally proceed to a vote.”
A hearing on both the motion to pause the election process and the City’s request for a declaratory judgement has not yet been scheduled in Johnson County District Court.
