OKMULGEE, Okla. — As progress builds at the Fluidstack data center west of Okmulgee, so too does concern from the small Highway 75 community.
TJ: "I was going to ask you what the tenor or the mood or tone was this morning."
Karl Clinger: "Distrust. There's a lot of distrust."
WATCH: 'A LOT OF DISTRUST': Latest on Okmulgee data center
That's how Karl Clinger, who lives in Okmulgee, described the scene at the Okmulgee County Commissioners meeting on August 3.
"I can tell you that there's just a lot of distrust in general about a data center coming into town," Clinger said. "It's as though there's a conspiracy. People have determined that."
It's something 2 News Oklahoma's Samson Tamijani has seen in our coverage of the data center over the last few months. That lack of trust stems from a public belief that the county wasn't upfront with people in town about the data center coming to Okmulgee. Klinger says that was addressed in the meeting.
"I think the conclusion people are coming to is that the county commissioners really were not involved in any kind of a meeting or didn't have any foreknowledge of the Fluidstack data center coming into town," Klinger said. "So that got dispelled. That's something that has kind of been lingering."
Other people 2 News talked with off camera about the data center say they're simply frustrated one is coming where they live. As for people's concerns going forward?
"This is a private property transaction between a private company and an individual," Klinger said. "So largely in a county that has no ordinances, there's really not much input for the community to decide on."
We did try talking with a few of the county commissioners after the meeting, but we weren't able to get an interview set up.
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