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ST. CHARLES 鈥� Hundreds of residents flooded the St. Charles City Council meeting on Tuesday night, many frustrated with city officials over a now-failed attempt to build a data center in a water protection district here.

One speaker called the process 鈥渟limy鈥� and 鈥渕alignant.鈥� Others said city officials had undermined the public鈥檚 trust. Several called for St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer to resign.

鈥淭hey were thinking we were a whole bunch of country bumpkins, who wouldn鈥檛 catch on to this,鈥� Colette Travers, a St. Charles resident, told the council. 鈥淏ut this is an intelligent and educated community, and we caught on.鈥�

In all, more than 50 residents spoke. And the vast majority weren鈥檛 happy.

Borgmeyer sat stoically at the dais for most of the meeting, reading papers or scrolling on his phone. But at the end of the meeting, he leaned into the microphone and chastised the audience, describing it as a 鈥渓ynch mob.鈥�

鈥淎ll this screaming and yelling,鈥� he said, 鈥淚鈥檓 a bit embarrassed by it, as a matter of fact.鈥�

There were several contentious moments at Tuesday鈥檚 meeting, especially when data center spokesman Korb Maxwell addressed the council. His comments were met with boos, heckles and, at times, drowned out by the jeers of the audience that filled the ballroom at the St. Charles County Convention Center and spilled out into the hallway.

After the meeting, Maxwell acknowledged some missteps by the developer, CRG, the development arm of construction giant Clayco.

鈥淲e did not do a good job of clearly communicating the clear benefits of this project,鈥� Maxwell said. 鈥淎nd the community called us on it.鈥�

CRG had hoped to build a sprawling data center complex on 440-acres along Highway 370 in north St. Charles. The facility, which would have been built over the next decade, was going to be used by an American 鈥淔ortune 100,鈥� which officials declined to identify.

Residents on Tuesday criticized city staff for describing the project as 鈥渓ight industrial.鈥� If comparing water and electric consumption at data centers of similar size, residents said, the project should have been described as 鈥渉eavy industrial.鈥�

Some said they were angry for CRG for seemingly pitting St. Charles County-based labor unions 鈥� who supported the project because it would create hundreds of construction jobs 鈥� against the residents of the community. Many labor organizations were represented Tuesday, with members standing in brightly-colored T-shirts along the wall of the ballroom.

鈥淚t is not us against the unions. It is us against you, Mr. Maxwell,鈥� said resident Barb McCann. 鈥淪o I hope tonight you get in your car, drive away and keep driving.鈥�

And residents were incredulous when state economic development officials touted the project as a 鈥渓ife-changing鈥� job creator and described the data center, if approved, as St. Charles鈥� largest taxpayer. The project, state leaders have said, would have an economic impact of more than $1 billion.

Others cast doubts on the developer鈥檚 pledge to pay for all needed utility and infrastructure improvements, and on its promise to create 250 jobs.

Maxwell, however, insisted the plan was for 50 full-time jobs in each of five warehouses, plus 50 affiliated jobs through vendors and support businesses.

Susan Cordani, who lives less than a mile from the proposed data center, laughed at the proposition.

鈥淭his is all about the money,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is always about the money.鈥�