On Tuesday, both the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors and the Ashland County Board of Supervisors is meeting and potentially voting on a cooperative agreement between the County Sherrifs Dept. and Enbridge where sherrifs would provide law enforcement services for Enbridge and Enbridge will reimburse them. Show up on Tuesday February 24th to voice your concerns.
Ashland County Board of Supervisors Meeting:
Courthouse, 201 Main st. W, Ashland
Tuesday, February 24th at 9am
Bayfield County Board of Supervisors Meeting
Courthouse, 117 E 5th St., Washburn
Tuesday February 24th at 6pm
Services will include:
- Assign officers to perform patrols of the Project site and surrounding locations on a daily basis to promote safety and wellbeing on the Project site.
- Maintain the peace in and around the Project site, including assistance with crowd control measures.
- Provide any required emergency or environmental services consistent with statutory duties.
- Coordinate with Enbridge Project personnel as required to perform statutory duties.
- Provide transportation, parking, and traffic control services.
- Respond to calls for service received through general dispatch for incidents at the project site.
- Respond to accidents or incidents at the Project site requiring first responder services, including but not limited to administration of first aid and completing accident reports.
- Assist in the development and presentation of education-based programs to address public safety concerns regarding the Project.
Of exceptional concern in the agreement is Section G. which appears to highlight keeping all financial records hidden and it tip toes on all files being hidden. I.e. no FOIA allowable. This is an extra caveot to what they did for the Line 3 agreement. Likely because people were able to FOIA the financial records and then publicize them.
Of additional concern, is that it is likely that the County Board agenda does not comply with the notice requirements of the open meetings law. See pp 14 to 17 of this compliance guide. The law says that the agenda needs to appraise the public of what will be discussed and that if the government body can anticipate a lot of public interest then they need to be more specific. If that agreement relates to Enbridge then the agenda title should say that explicitly since the public is surely interested in an agreement that relates to Enbridge. https://www.wisdoj.gov/Open%20Government/OML_guide.pdf
Download and read the agreement here.
