Coweta City Manager Apologizes After Data Center Comments
The fight over a proposed data center in Coweta has led to an apology from City Manager Julie Casteen after she said protesters “were not very smart.”
She issued an apology this week after one of the protesters, Darren Blanchard, made the revelation following an Open Records request about how the city came to be the proposed site of the data center.
Blanchard, the same protester who was arrested for speaking longer than three minutes at a Claremore City Council meeting regarding a data center project, made his open records request in early January.
Text Message Sparks Controversy
In the records he received, Blanchard found a text from Casteen.
“I don’t mean to sound demeaning or arrogant but a lot of the people protesting are just not very smart and can’t accept change,” she wrote.
KTUL News 8 Tulsa reported Casteen admitted this week that she should not have written what she did in the text.
“I recognize that what I said in text messages to others was inappropriate and hurtful, and I sincerely apologize. I take full responsibility for falling short of the standard this community deserves and am committed to better judgment and better communication moving forward.”
Protesters Respond to Remarks
The original comment wasn’t well received by some of the protesters.
“Yeah that’s the most troubling one of them all and it just shows that the city manager lacks the wherewithal to be a decent human being in my opinion. And it just shows that if you lack that compassion for someone that has a modality in order to bring them life, to continue life, how can the community of Coweta expect her to make a good decision on a data center?” said Blanchard.
Allen Prather, another vocal opponent of the data center remarked, “It just really underscores the contempt that our city manager has for residents of this town. If we’re supposed to be such dullards and unintelligent folk, why did they bother to keep it secret from us?”
Additional Comments Draw Further Criticism
The open records request also revealed the city manager appeared to make light of one protester during the November meeting who had to wear oxygen tubes and it apparently interfered with the city sound system.
David Seals told the city council it should have a better microphone system and the city manager made reference to it in a subsequent text.
“Except for the old guy about the microphones. We tried to turn them on but there was too much buzzing and interference. His oxygen machine was louder than a data center.”
Seals was awaiting a lung transplant at the time and was wearing oxygen tubes at the meeting held in November of last year.
“I was the only one on oxygen that I know of in the whole room. I just said that you’d think that the city could get a microphone that worked,” he said. “Is it insulting? I guess probably it is but since she doesn’t matter neither does her comments as far as I’m concerned,” said Seals.
Ongoing Tensions Over Coweta Data Center
The controversy highlights growing tensions surrounding the proposed Coweta data center project, which has drawn strong reactions from residents concerned about transparency, community impact, and local leadership decisions.
📌 MORE ENERGY NEWS
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Coweta City Manager Apologizes After Data Center Comments
The fight over a proposed data center in Coweta has led to an apology from City Manager Julie Casteen after she said protesters “were not very smart.”
She issued an apology this week after one of the protesters, Darren Blanchard, made the revelation following an Open Records request about how the city came to be the proposed site of the data center.
Blanchard, the same protester who was arrested for speaking longer than three minutes at a Claremore City Council meeting regarding a data center project, made his open records request in early January.
Text Message Sparks Controversy
In the records he received, Blanchard found a text from Casteen.
“I don’t mean to sound demeaning or arrogant but a lot of the people protesting are just not very smart and can’t accept change,” she wrote.
KTUL News 8 Tulsa reported Casteen admitted this week that she should not have written what she did in the text.
“I recognize that what I said in text messages to others was inappropriate and hurtful, and I sincerely apologize. I take full responsibility for falling short of the standard this community deserves and am committed to better judgment and better communication moving forward.”
Protesters Respond to Remarks
The original comment wasn’t well received by some of the protesters.
“Yeah that’s the most troubling one of them all and it just shows that the city manager lacks the wherewithal to be a decent human being in my opinion. And it just shows that if you lack that compassion for someone that has a modality in order to bring them life, to continue life, how can the community of Coweta expect her to make a good decision on a data center?” said Blanchard.
Allen Prather, another vocal opponent of the data center remarked, “It just really underscores the contempt that our city manager has for residents of this town. If we’re supposed to be such dullards and unintelligent folk, why did they bother to keep it secret from us?”
Additional Comments Draw Further Criticism
The open records request also revealed the city manager appeared to make light of one protester during the November meeting who had to wear oxygen tubes and it apparently interfered with the city sound system.
David Seals told the city council it should have a better microphone system and the city manager made reference to it in a subsequent text.
“Except for the old guy about the microphones. We tried to turn them on but there was too much buzzing and interference. His oxygen machine was louder than a data center.”
Seals was awaiting a lung transplant at the time and was wearing oxygen tubes at the meeting held in November of last year.
“I was the only one on oxygen that I know of in the whole room. I just said that you’d think that the city could get a microphone that worked,” he said. “Is it insulting? I guess probably it is but since she doesn’t matter neither does her comments as far as I’m concerned,” said Seals.
Ongoing Tensions Over Coweta Data Center
The controversy highlights growing tensions surrounding the proposed Coweta data center project, which has drawn strong reactions from residents concerned about transparency, community impact, and local leadership decisions.
📌 MORE ENERGY NEWS
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