Callaway County Presiding Commissioner candidate interview: Larry Robinson
Three Republicans are competing in the August primary for Callaway County Presiding Commissioner. In contention is Rob Barnes, Larry Robinson and former Sheriff Clay Chism. ABC 17 News sat down one-on-one with each candidate to discuss their priorities for the county, the proposed data center in northern Callaway County, planning and zoning, government transparency, and why they believe they are the best choice for voters. Mike Conner is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
EUPHENIE ANDRE: Welcome, everybody, to ABC 17 News' Your Voice, Your Vote segment for the Voters' Guide of August 2026. I'm Euphenie Andre, and I'm here with Larry Robinson. Larry, thank you so much for being here today. Can you please start by introducing yourself and what you are running for?
LARRY ROBINSON: My name is Larry Robinson, and I'm running for Callaway County Presiding Commissioner for 2026.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: Sounds good. So you're trying to go back into office after trying to run for the Western District Commissioner back in 2024? Can you please tell me the different approach, if you made one, from 2024 to this year?
LARRY ROBINSON: Well, I learned a lot during that campaign, but I want to try to do my best, and you learn and you succeed from all that you can. The approach has been I go door-to-door. I still go door-to-door and talk to people.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: So both roles have been commissioner roles. Why is that so important for you to obtain that role?
LARRY ROBINSON: I grew up in Callaway County, and I've seen Callaway County at its best and at its worst, and I think that Callaway County can be built stronger for our future, for a younger generation coming up. I'd like to do my best to give back to the community that raised me.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: What are your three-top priorities if you are elected the next Callaway County Presiding Commissioner?
LARRY ROBINSON: I would like to see manufacturing or distribution work come back to Callaway County because we used to have it, and we lost it, and we're stuck, well, we're not stuck, but we are in between Cole County and Boone County, and everybody goes to these counties to work, and they spend their money there. If we could get a developer involved to see how we can entice companies to come to Callaway County and build and employ not just a handful of people, but three or four or five hundred people so that they can possibly move to Callaway County, build in Callaway County, live here, raise their family, and support their whole family. I'd say what they spend here also. We got downtown Fulton, and we got different places to go in Callaway County, Holt Summit, Auxvasse.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: What are your other two?
LARRY ROBINSON: A lot of people hasn't hit this part, but I'm out and about. I have a dump truck business, and I talk to dozens of people every day. Not just one or two. Out in the county, people are worried about the infrastructure of Callaway County. Roads and bridges, and that's one of my specialties anyway. Excavating and concrete work. The road boss that's there now, he's doing a real good job, but I think it could run a little bit smoother if you get people in there that has had experience and maintain stuff like that. Not just fixing it, but maintaining it. That's a concern to a lot of people out in the rural part of the county, not so much in the towns. Another part is we got to give back to our youth and our communities. They are the future of Callaway County. In 15-to-20 years, it seems like a long way away, but it isn't, and these children, young adults, a lot of them don't know the life experience out here.
They got to know the technology that is out here now. They're in front of their phones and iPads. They don't leave the house often. They don't even know what type of birds are in their front yard, and they're 12- and 13-years-old. My wife is [at] the state-licensed day care in Fulton. I see these children grow up every day, and a lot of times I see, just walking around like in Walmart, parents give their kids, little kids, their phones just so they'll be quiet. But we need to get something set up for our communities all through Callaway County, not just Fulton, but involve Holt Summit, New Bloomfield, Mokane and work with the schools and volunteers and get the youth out here. Get out of those and experiencing life as a child should. I'm for that because they are our future. They're the ones that's going to be taking all this over. So we got to build a Callaway County stronger and better for the future.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: If elected, do you see any similarities or differences from how the current commission is being run to how you would run it, if elected?
LARRY ROBINSON: Gary Jungermann, he's done a real excellent job in his three terms. The commissioners right now, they're doing their best. They have fought with the solar farm that came through Kingdom City, and now they're dealing with the data center. The data center is a big subject in Callaway County right now, and the commissioners really don't know a lot going on because there is no planning and zoning in Callaway County. They don't even have to come to the courthouse to turn in a set of blueprints or talk to a commissioner. That's private landowners selling to a private company. Since there is no planning and zoning, and I'm not for planning and zoning, but if we had some type of restriction set up for X amount, the size of a building being built, that it would have to go through the commissioners to get permits. Like if a business wanted to come in, they build a building, say 30,000 square feet, they need to get a permit through the commissioners and go through engineers' blueprints so that everybody's on board with everything.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: But isn't that planning and zoning?
LARRY ROBINSON: You can keep the restrictions and ordinances away from the planning and zoning, but you'd have to put it out in front of the voters to vote on it. That would keep the planning and zoning part out of it. A lot of people want to say, "Well, that is part of it, planning and zoning." No, it's restricted to large buildings. It could be passed as a 50,000 square feet building like these data centers there in Kingdom City. There's somewhere around 800,000 square feet, but if there was something like that set up, they'd have to go through the commissioners, being transparent so the public would know what's going on. Nothing's hidden, and they're dealing with that right now, but they don't know a lot going on. I can believe that because I've worked in towns and cities that have planning and zoning, and most people are always open about it.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: Why are you against planning and zoning?
LARRY ROBINSON: It’s a rural community and farmers. They’re always having to make a quick fence for cattle, for horses, for whatever livestock they got. Planning and zoning, there was different parts of it, but they’d have to go get a permit before they could set up a fence to keep their livestock if a flood came through and it took out a big section of the fence, or just keep the cost down for people that’s doing repairs on their farm. But that’s what entice a lot of people to come to Callaway County, no planning and zoning.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: Someone would say, with the lack of planning and zoning that Callaway County has, is a reason why the data center is being built there. We’ve seen Boone County has all these restrictions, so it’s not easy to come into Boone County and build a data center.
LARRY ROBINSON: Yes, I will agree to that. If we did have planning and zoning, it would be harder for them to come in, and if you look at the solar farms that came through, like Montgomery City, Callaway County, to me, it feels like it was just a step to see what they could get by with, and since there was restriction, I mean, people fought against a solar panel, but there isn’t nothing they can do about it. It’s an uphill battle, and I’ll be there to the end. If I’m elected, I will fight for the people out here, but it’s going to take more than just going to the county. It’s going to take going to the capital.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: Are you in support of data centers?
LARRY ROBINSON: No, I oppose data centers. Yes, we need them, but on this larger scale and so fast, people don’t know what’s going on, and that’s what’s scaring people. If they had a total understanding of why, we’ve had the center since the 1940s. Here in the last few years, they have just supersized, and they’re eating up all our resources, electric. If we didn’t have electric in the power grid two years ago for the electric cars that were introduced, how can we have all this grid now? It’s coming hard and quick, and people are confused.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: They had their initial stages earlier this week. They had an open house yesterday in Callaway County about the data center, so it’s going to be in progress, and whoever is the next Callaway County presiding commissioner, that is a study that they are going to have to tackle. How can you ensure that you are transparent with the residents of Callaway County of what is going on each step of the way?
LARRY ROBINSON: Well, transparency, I’m open about everything. I think everybody should know what’s going on because you’re working for the people in the county. You’re not just pleasing yourself. You got to talk to communities, and at the courthouse, I know they give you a 24-hour notice when they have a meeting, but I think that needs to be up until like 40 hours so the working people can get up there because sometimes it’s hard to find a babysitter or your employer won’t let you take off. But if you’re given enough ample time, you can get off so you can go up there to listen to what’s going on. Even though it is recorded, you can listen to it and watch on the Internet, but I think it’s more informed if you’re there in person.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: Do you think data centers provide any opportunities for Callaway County at all?
LARRY ROBINSON: Oh yeah, it will for part of the infrastructure and stuff to bring in taxes. The revenue, it could help drastically in different areas in the county that have shortfalls in it, like the emergency personnel, the 911 commission. I mean, stuff like that could be rebuilt, relocated. I don’t know if we could get a new hospital or not there in Fulton that everybody wants, a Callaway hospital, but I don’t know what the revenue would be coming in on it yet. I have to go through the figures when this was all finalized to see what can be done, but it could help Callaway County at the same time.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: The residents that are opposed to it, they say that it will increase electricity bills, that it will waste water, taxes will be upheld on them. Are those the same fears that you have as well?
LARRY ROBINSON: Yes, big, big corporations. Sometimes they tell you what you want to hear and not the truth, like the water usage. This one in Callaway County they're proposing is smaller than the one in New Florence, and the proposed is 1.4 million gallons of water usage a year. Even though it’s a closed-loop water system, that still scares me with all the big data centers going on around here, and they draw down to our main aquifer. If there’s 10 of them and they’re using millions of gallons of water, it can start draining that and hurting the residential deep wells around here.
EUPHENIE ANDRE: Why should voters choose you over your opposing candidates?
LARRY ROBINSON: I had the experience, not so much in politics because I’m no politician, but I am a blue-collar working person. I get up every morning, go to work, come home every night, talk to the whole community every day, have the experience in the construction field, and work getting permits in different states, in different locations, talking to the public out here before you start a project because the neighbors want to know what’s going on and taking place also, so you got to inform them what you’re doing. So I know how to talk to the people out here and listen to their concerns, and I just want to get back to the community that gave it to me all my life.
