Barber County forms Google communications committee as company briefed commissioners

Barber County commissioners agreed to form a four‑person committee to begin communications with Google about a potential data‑center project. The group will include Chairman Bryan Quick, County Counselor Hannah Molz, Economic Development Director Loretta McGuire and a representative from Sharon City Council; the board recorded the appointment of Micha Werner to the Economic Development Board during the same meeting.

On Feb. 12 Google representatives (Trystine Payfer, Betsy Cheung, Mark Long and Andrew Harnish) and Google attorney Alan Anderson presented a project overview and a general location description at a special meeting. The minutes record that Google advised a public map should be available in about a week. Commissioners held multiple short executive sessions during the special meeting to discuss trade‑secret information provided by Google.