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Residents urge Erie council to acknowledge ICE fears and demand transparency on mineral-rights talks
Summary
Residents told the Erie Town Council on March 24 that families of color in town are living in fear because of nearby ICE activity and urged the council to publicly recognize those fears; several speakers also pressed for clear public processes and answers about possible sales or negotiations over the town's mineral rights.
At the March 24 Erie Town Council meeting, multiple residents told elected officials they feel unsafe because of immigration enforcement activity near town and urged the council to publicly acknowledge and address those fears.
"This fear is real," said Anna Clark, an Erie resident in District 2, describing her 11-year-old daughter's distress at the thought federal agents could detain her friends. Clark asked council members to "recognize them, and believe them."
Shannon Milliken, who has spoken at several recent meetings, said she welcomed the council's outreach but called for a clear next step: "We are asking you to bring forward a public proclamation that directly acknowledges the fear families in this community are living with right now and clearly states what this town will do to support and protect them," Milliken said.
Other supporters at the podium framed silence as harmful. "Silence feeds that seed until it takes root," Laurel told the council, summarizing work with survivors of genocide and noting the proximity of an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office less than 10 miles from Erie.
Council members acknowledged the comments and said staff will continue outreach. Mayor Moore said the town will hold a town hall on April 2 where staff will "go over many items in town" and take questions in a more interactive forum than the three-minute public-comment period.
Several speakers also brought up a separate but related transparency concern: residents said the council has used repeated executive sessions while negotiating or evaluating potential deals involving the town's mineral rights (several speakers referred to an offer from a company described as Civitas/SM Energy for the Draco Pad). "We've had six months of rolling executive sessions where both confidential information and nonconfidential information has been rolled into a process where you've kept it from us," one commenter said, urging the council to convene dedicated public meetings and to pledge not to bring binding contracts to a vote until the community has had input.
Mayor Moore said the negotiations are complex and in some cases constrained by confidentiality, but he said he understood the demand for transparency. He reiterated that "no agreement has been reached," that any set of terms would be presented in a transparent public hearing, and noted a State of the Town meeting scheduled for April 2 where he expected to share more.
The council did not take a vote on a proclamation or on mineral-rights matters during the meeting. Several councilors urged continued engagement with residents and follow-up sessions focused specifically on the issues raised during public comment.
Next steps: the mayor announced a town hall on April 2 at 6 p.m. as an opportunity for more interactive discussion and said staff would continue to update the council and public as information becomes available.
