Northern Wisconsin town official lists solar panels among reasons to oppose Native youth treatment center

A northern Wisconsin town official is listing a planned solar panel installation as among the reasons why she and some other local officials are opposing a proposed Native youth addiction recovery center in the area.

Cassian Town Chairperson Patty Francoeur said she has a background in firefighting and said the local volunteer fire department isn't equipped to deal with a fire in a building that has solar panels.

She said local firefighters are trained to shut off power to a structure if they have to respond to a fire, but there may be new protocols if the structure has solar panels, as is planned for the proposed Native youth center.

“They can shut the power off, but they’ll still have to know how to shut off the (solar) panels,” Francoeur said.

She also explained that local firefighters were recently trained how to respond to an accident involving an electric car.

Bryan Bainbridge, CEO for the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, which is organizing the proposed development, said he believes a real reason why some local officials are opposed to the facility is because it’s being built by local Native American tribes.

He had given a presentation about the 36-bed residential facility at a town meeting this summer and said an audience member told him to “go back to the reservation.”

But Francouer said, “From the town (board’s) perspective, this has nothing to do with race.”

Town officials passed a resolution this fall outlining some of their concerns about the proposed facility, which included its effects on public safety and local infrastructure costs.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican whose district includes much of the Northwoods, echoed those concerns in a Nov. 15 statement.

“The small community of Cassian lacks the public safety infrastructure for a drug rehabilitation facility the size and scope of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC) proposal,” he said. “While I applaud GLITC for seeking to help those who have substance abuse problems, GLITC has numerous tribes that have the public safety and medical infrastructure missing in the town of Cassian.”

Bainbridge had already addressed many of these concerns in an Oct. 31 letter to town officials.

He wrote that no funding has or will ever be asked of the town to support the project.

Bainbridge added that the tribes could even bring in money to the area to assist with funding infrastructure and public safety.

“We would welcome the opportunity to explore how we could work together to seek out additional funds to help address challenges within the town,” he wrote.

Bainbridge wrote that he doesn’t see public safety from the facility being much of an issue, anyway, because the youth would be checked in on a voluntary basis and will be monitored by doctors, nurses and staff 24/7.

Addressing why it’s not being built on one of the reservations, Bainbridge said the facility would serve all the tribes in Wisconsin and the site in Cassian is centrally located for all the reservations in Wisconsin.

He said the land that was purchased also is ideal because of natural setting and woods, which will provide a peaceful atmosphere for those in recovery.

The facility will open to children ages 13 to 17 and, while tribal youth will be given priority, it'll also be open for non-tribal youth.

Francoeur said there are still unanswered questions and local officials hadn’t discussed possible infrastructure funding with GLITC.

She said town officials feel like they haven’t been informed fully about the project during the process.

“From the town’s perspective, this was already done with everything and we didn’t have a say or input,” Francoeur said.

The project only needs approval from the county board, not the town board.

Francoeur said some town officials have attended county board meetings about the project because they're concerned residents and she believes county officials are looking at the project from mostly a zoning perspective.

The project has been meeting all county zoning regulations.

Francoeur said the town board has hired an attorney to look into ways to stop the project.

Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact him at fvaisvilas@gannett.com or 815-260-2262. Follow him on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Rep. Tom Tiffany joins town officials in opposing Native youth center