SAND SPRINGS, Okla. — The Rock Volunteer Fire Department has turned down a $250,000 donation from Google, saying community trust mattered more than needed funding as opposition grows to a proposed data center near Highway 97.
Fire Chief Charley Pearson said the department could have used the money, but accepting the donation, leading to the development of the data center, would jeopardize community safety and quality of life, KTUL reported.
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“That’s what all the people out here are fighting for, cause that’s what they moved out here for,” Pearson told KTUL.
“It’s going to jeopardize the people that live out here,” he continued.
Pearson said the decision was made after discussion with the city council.
“As a volunteer firefighter, I’ve stood in the middle of that road, and I’ve heard a mother cry and shout because her son, her daughter got killed in a car wreck,” Pearson told the city council.
Pearson said the issue also raised questions about money.
“Money is the root of all evil,” he said during the council meeting.
Pearson said Google representative Kate Franko approached him with an offer to donate $250,000 to the fire department, funding he acknowledged the department could have used, but the offer prompted serious discussion among the department’s board of directors.
Pearson also stressed that the fire department is not taking a position on the proposal and will continue serving the community regardless of the outcome.
Pearson said the department’s equipment and resources have been made possible by years of public support, and he did not want to risk undermining that trust. He said that because the department is staffed entirely by volunteers, the donation would have been helpful, but leaders ultimately decided to decline Google’s offer.
Would your department turn down a $250,000 donation to preserve your community’s way of life? Why or why not?
FireRescue1 readers respond:
- Sounds pretty dumb to me! Volunteer fire departments are secured by funds. Whether they’re donated or an ESD that can support the equipment. Firefighters, trucks, you name it. He said that it’s not a political position, but everything you do as a chief is political. If Google is moving to your community and is willing to pay for your help and securing them, you’re doing the same to help people, not just your community. That’s what the fire department’s for!
- $250,000 is a drop in the bucket when a new truck is 1 million, and who knows what else they’ll need to combat a fire in a place like that.
- I am soo proud of all of you and thank you for your integrity.
- I think that acceptance of the money should have been made conditional on whether or not the data center was built. If the center is built, it becomes another resident, and they will need that money to equip and train to respond to it if it is in their response area. If not, their resources won’t be strained any more than they are now, and they can’t be accused of “selling out” by a vocal minority.
- The decision seems to have a political lean to it, being “anti” data center. Some questions as a taxpayer in the community I would be asking are as follows: Is the data center going to be built whether the FD accepts the donation or not? What impact on the data center does the decision to reject the donation have? Could my taxes have been impacted by accepting the donation? Could the services provided to the community as a whole be impacted by the donation? Were there “strings attached” to the donation? Is the decision being made purely on optics?
