TRENTON, Ohio — Trenton Mayor Ryan Perry announced his plans to resign on Jan. 1 during Thursday night's Trenton City Council meeting.
The move comes as the city finds itself at an inflection point ahead of the November election with a measure to ban certain data centers on the ballot. It follows what's been about a year of contentious data center debate in the city.
Perry has served the city since 2012. He said that back then, he spent about five hours a week on city work, but that has since ballooned to 35 to 40 hours a week.
WATCH: What we know about the mayor of Trenton's announcement to resign
"I am changing my work responsibilities again. And I will be at work more. So, because of that, I am asking council to please accept my resignation," Perry said. "I have moved on in my career, and I have moved to a place where I don't have that kind of time to spend with the citizens anymore. And that's irresponsible for me."
We reached out to Perry and requested an on-camera interview to have him explain his decision to resign. He declined the request but said the words he shared during the council meeting were "100% the reason why" he resigned.
For John Glenn, a St. Clair Township resident who was at the meeting, the announcement came as a surprise.
"To be honest, it was shocking. No, I didn't expect him to turn that in, especially with everything that's going on," Glenn said. "I figured if anything, you're looking at somebody that's planning on being mayor for a long period of time."
Two data center proposals in Trenton this past year near his home pushed Glenn to get involved. He is also a new member of the St. Clair Township zoning commission. He said one of the data centers would sit less than a half mile from his and his family's front door.
"I have two small children. I live here. There's multiple people right here that [have] small children that could be affected by the effects of contamination, noise, stuff like that," Glenn said.
Glenn said he attended the Trenton meeting to inform residents and council that St. Clair Township had moved forward with an amendment that would "ban data centers in St. Clair Township" and had hand-delivered it to the Butler County Zoning Commission.
"I made the choice to fight the data centers. [Perry] made his choice to believe that [data centers were] the best thing for the city, and he stood on that, and, and that's honorable," Glenn said.
Vice Mayor Floyd Croucher will take over as mayor when Perry leaves office Jan. 1. Council will then vote to fill the vacant vice mayor role, according to the city charter. Glenn said he would prefer the city hold a special election instead.
"I hate to see him go like that, especially right in the midst of all this. I really hate to see him stepping down. I really wished he would, he would finish it out and see it through," Glenn said.
We also reached out to every one of the Trenton City Council members. They did not return our requests for comment.
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