In 39 of the 50 states that form Our Republic, citizens are empowered to seek the electoral recall of local officials whose performance is “criminally incompetent” but nonetheless legal.
Pennsylvania is not one of them. The state constitution is chock-full of options for dispatching corrupt officials who break laws. Officials who break faith with constituents can’t be fired until their terms expire.
Kelsey Pazanski Wargo and her fellow volunteers with Stop Archbald Data Centers know this, but are circulating a petition for the immediate recall and removal of Archbald Borough Council President Dave Moran, Solicitor Jay O’Connor, Borough Manager Dan Markey and, Zoning Officer Brian Dulay. No crimes are alleged, but the petition accuses the targeted officials of siding with invasive data center developers at the eternal expense of their constituents.
“The petition is not a tool for legal removal of the council president or the borough employees,” Kelsey said Monday. “It’s just a way for people to express themselves to show that they’re concerned with the decision-making that was used in pushing this overlay amendment through and looking at the downstream negative ripple effect that it’s going to have on the town and the residents.
“We understand that there’s no legal standing behind it, but it’s about standing up to put a little bit of pressure on our local officials.”
And Archbald residents are standing in line to sign it. The petition is limited to borough residents and property owners and must be signed in person. A weekend gathering at the gazebo in High School Plaza Park across the street from the borough building drew scores of eager signees.
“The response has been phenomenal,” Kelsey said. “We received over 500 signatures and we only did the petition signings on Saturday and Sunday… There was a line of people waiting to get in there. So what we decided to do is hang on to the petition a little longer and announce some future dates, because people have the right to be heard.
“This petition is just a really peaceful, powerful way for people to come out and say, ‘I disagree with what happened here. This isn’t the leadership that we were looking for in the circumstances that we were in.’ ”
Kelsey, 37, is a registered nurse. Her husband, John, 52, is a biomedical engineer. She grew up in Browndale, he was born and raised in Eynon. When they decided to build a new home in Archbald, Kelsey and John invested in his deep community roots. John has been a volunteer firefighter with the Eynon/Sturges Hose Company since he was 16. His parents live up the street.
Kelsey and John don’t have kids, but Otis, a German shorthaired pointer, and Lila, a Black Lab-mix, are family. If they had known their dream home would be threatened by an invasion of hyperscale data centers, Kelsey and John might have built somewhere else.
“We thought it was a good move at the time,” Kelsey said. “His parents live right up the street, so we could help them when they need things. And now to think that all of this time and money and financial investment was made in a town that took this complete change in direction toward, like, an industrial revolution. It’s a little upsetting, to say the least.”
Kelsey isn’t exaggerating when she describes what’s planned for Archbald as an “industrial revolution,” although “automated suffocation” might be more apt. Archbald is the target of a staggering six separate data center projects, including Wildcat Ridge, which would pave over 574 mountainside acres above Business Route 6 to build 14 structures each the size of a Walmart Supercenter. The mammoth “campus” would consume up to 3.3 million gallons of water and 1.6 gigawatts of electricity.
Daily.
Archbald will hold a public hearing Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Valley View High School auditorium, 1 Columbus Drive, to consider a conditional use application for the “Project Green” data center campus, which would erect seven data centers at the Stavola Quarry off the Casey Highway. The use would at least match the property.
“I know that we’re called Stop Archbald Data Centers, but I want to make it clear that we’re not anti-data center, anti-progress, anti-development,” Kelsey said. “We’re definitely for all of that, but when it’s done safely and responsibly and considers all parties. The goal of our message is responsible zoning, so we’re not trying to turn us into a concrete and industrial building jungle.
“If we have to have room for these, and we do, then put them where they should be, because right now they’re encroaching upon not just schools, not just residential neighborhoods, but parks and conservation lands, wetlands, places that just should have never even been considered.”
Considering the wide political divides that roil Our Republic, Kelsey said she sees hope in the bipartisan opposition to invasive data center development. The more people learn about it, the more they unite in opposition.
“This is the issue that brings both sides together,” she said. “Once you’re awake to this, you cannot go back. You are here to stand up for what’s right, to fight for your family, fight for your friends, fight for your town, fight for your neighbor. If we don’t do it, who’s going to do it? As people see us standing up, I think we are gaining momentum. We’re like a snowball that’s rolling downhill.”
Fair warning to invasive developers and the elected officials who serve them. Every avalanche starts as a snowball rolling downhill.
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, has survived many bipartisan recall attempts. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook; and @chriskellyink on Bluesky.