Shortly after one petition was verified seeking to ban battery energy storage systems in the city of Emporia, another has also been validated for a neighboring community.
According to Lyon County Clerk Amie Jones, both the petition impacting the city of Emporia and a separate, yet related petition seeking to ban high-impact data centers and tier 2 and 3 battery energy storage systems in Americus met the necessary threshold for verified signatures. The petitions will now go before the respective governing bodies — the Emporia City Commission and Americus City Council — for additional actions.
The verification of the petitions comes a week after Emporia City Commissioners voted unanimously to send a separate yet related petition seeking to ban high-impact data centers in Emporia to Lyon County District Court for a declaratory judgment.
1:44 pm Thursday: Petition seeking prohibition of battery energy storage systems in Emporia deemed valid by Lyon County Clerk’s Office
The second petition submitted by Emporia Neighbors United has been verified.
Lyon County Clerk Amie Jones, Thursday afternoon, stated that the signature verification process had been completed and that the petition seeking to prohibit battery energy storage systems within the Emporia City limits had gained the necessary 805 signatures to move forward in the process. The petition will now come before the Emporia City Commission for further action at a later time.
The verification of the petition comes a week after Emporia City Commissioners voted unanimously to send a separate yet related petition seeking to ban high-impact data centers in Emporia to Lyon County District Court for a declaratory judgment.
These petitions are two of now several which have been circulating in recent weeks. The other petitions include a package of three requests to reform city government: abolishing the current at-large City Commission structure, replacing it with a ward-based City Council and using special elections instead of appointments to fill unexpired terms for either the City Commission or City Council, whichever government model is used once the petitions are resolved. There is also a recall of Emporia City Commissioner Erren Harter and the creation of a citizen grand jury against Harter for alleged misconduct while in office. The grand jury petition was turned in to county officials earlier this week.
