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Citizens at Barron County meeting press for release of 9-80 committee minutes, criticize treatment and spending at Justice Center
Summary
Two residents urged the county to release minutes from the 9-80 committee’s closed sessions and criticized the Justice Center and related spending; they called attention to victims’ needs and to an unresolved $4.5 million accounting concern.
Two Barron County residents used the Feb. 17 public-comment period to press the board for greater transparency about the 9-80 committee and to criticize how the Justice Center serves defendants and victims.
Dennis Rochelle, of 1228 Eighteenth Street in Barron, said he had tried to read minutes from the 9-80 committee but found most of the records were in closed session and therefore unavailable. Rochelle asked the board to release those minutes now that the matters in question are concluded and said he was concerned about the county’s spending on the Justice Center.
Walter Herman, of 1708 Fourth Street, also raised the 9-80 committee minutes and said he had not received requested information after asking committee members for records. Herman said defendants appear to be “waited on hand and foot” and contrasted that treatment with victims, whom he said received “nothing.” He asked why certain inmates could not be housed at the Justice Center while construction progresses elsewhere.
Both speakers also raised a separate fiscal concern: Herman urged additional review of a roughly $4.5 million “screw up” in county expenditures and asked the county to investigate where that money went.
Board chair and supervisors took verbal note of the concerns and referred some questions to committee chairs and staff; no formal action was taken during public comment.
