Opposition to the Sand Springs government’s handling of a massive data center came to a head this week when critics gathered over 1,600 signatures to recall three city councilors.
Cody Worrell of Ward 1, Matt Barnett of Ward 2 and Mike Burdge of Ward 3 are facing the possibility of a recall election after protesters delivered proof of signatures Tuesday. Their chief critique: The council’s vote enabling Project Spring, a data center project that had already attracted lawsuits and national media attention.
City Council voted 6-1 in February to rezone 827 acres belonging to the family of Alan Ringle, enabling the facility to be built on the site. Worrell, Barnett and Burdge were a part of the majority who approved. Burdge recently told NBC News he supports the data center because it will bring more industry and jobs to the town of 20,000.
Residents pushed for the recall of Mayor Jim Spoon as well but were not able to gather enough signatures.
Kyle Schmidt, president of the board of directors for the Protect Sand Springs Alliance, organized the recall. Tulsa Flyer interviewed Schmidt as he clutched several thick folders of signatures demanding the recall Tuesday. He was headed to give them to a clerk inside City Hall.
A group of 40 demonstrators were gathered there to protest the city’s decision on the data center.
“I would like to see change,” Schmidt said. “Right now I do think the deck is stacked against the citizens.”
The fallout centers around the Sand Spring government’s agreement last year to annex land to the developer White Rose Partners for the construction of Project Spring, a data center expected to be run by Google for cloud storage.
That annexation did not involve feedback from Osage County residents who live outside of city limits near the proposed site. Spoon told those residents that they don’t have a voice in the matter.
Katherine Smoots has lived in Sand Springs for nearly 18 years and has come to think of it as a place where most people grew up together, attending the same churches and schools. But, over the last several months, Smoots has watched her close-knit community face deep strife over the way the local government has managed Project Spring.
Smoots is one of hundreds of Sand Spring residents who allege town leaders improperly annexed the land for the data center.
Besides opposing the center, many locals disagree with the government’s decision to exclude residents outside of the city limits from the annexation.
Smoot, who lives inside city limits, thinks excluding county residents was wrong.
“I believe in all the citizens in Sand Springs,” she told the Flyer outside City Hall. “I think everyone should have an equal vote. I want so badly to be able to help the people that live (outside of city limits) that it is going to affect the most. But in reality, it is going to affect all of us.”
The small town’s fallout has led to several legal battles launched by grassroots organizations, including Schmidt’s, opposed to the annexation.
Morgan Caywood, a Sand Springs resident who lives in city limits, told the Flyer she joined the recall effort because she wants to take advantage of the opportunity she has that others may not.
“It is time for the community to come together because we have to. If we don’t come together now, part of our community is being excluded and their rights are being trampled,” Caywood told the Flyer.
“They are basically being railroaded by people who are worried about money and not the people.”
A recall election has not been set just yet. A verification and certification process of the petition signatures from the city of Sand Springs could take up to 30 days. After this, the recall election could end up on the November ballot this year.
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