COWETA, Okla. — Coweta residents packed the April 6 City Council meeting.
“We’re here tonight, because we all want the best for Coweta,” Coweta neighbor Cathie Hogate, said, “We ask that you terminate our manager, Julie Casteen. No more silence, hidden agendas. Stop letting intimidation stop you from doing your job.”
WATCH: CALLS PERSIST: Coweta neighbors ask for city manager's removal
Citizens began making these allegations in the wake of Project Atlas. The council did not respond to any of the public comment. Project Atlas was the planned data center, since scrapped by the developers. It was marked by six months of debate between neighbors and the council.
PLANS SCRAPPED >>> Developers withdrew from the project
“It is time. Now. For this city council to do the right thing. They can. The only thing it can do, to redeem itself. Fire Julie Casteen for cause,” another Coweta neighbor, Allen Prather, said.
Darren Blanchard lives in Mounds, not Coweta. He crusades against Data Centers across Green Country.
In Coweta, he submitted a public records request, which he says yielded text messages sent by Casteen. Blanchard says the texts were offensive to citizens.
“My response to that is, this text wasn’t very smart, and I assure you, there is change coming,” Blanchard said.
THE START >>> Coweta announced plans for the center in October of 2024
2 News Oklahoma spoke with Casteen after tonight’s meeting and she declined any comment.
“You can tell someone who genuinely cares about the people they serve. You can tell who should be representing the area they are tasked with representing,” another Coweta resident said.
According to her Linkedin page, Casteen became city manager in March 2024. Before that, she worked in various positions with the cities of Coweta, Glenpool and Sand Springs.
“The one positive thing that came out of all this, Project Atlas, you have woken a sleeping citizenry,” one neighbor who spoke to the council said.
The council took no action on Casteen’s employment.
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