RICHFIELD, Wis. — Hundreds of Richfield community members spoke out against a Milwaukee substance abuse recovery organization moving to town at an open house meeting Tuesday.
Initially, the plan was for people to walk through the meeting space at the Richfield Fire Station and speak individually with Great Lakes Adult & Teen Challenge (GLATC) , but the event quickly turned into a crowd Q&A session.
"Who are these people going to be coming into our community?" multiple people asked.
"They come from all over the state of Wisconsin," GLATC programs and services director Jennifer Harper said.
Watch: Richfield community questions substance recovery staff over proposed move to their town
GLATC put in an offer to buy the old St. Hubert Church and St. Gabrial School on Hubertus Road with mostly negative reactions from louder Richfield residents.
"I'm all for helping people, I just don't find that this is a great place to do this," Lisa Ziolkowski said. "I think there are great places north of here, northwest of here, and rural communities? This is not it."
Some said they are worried about their property value and the location of the center.
"Don't get me wrong, I think what they're doing is great," Cindy Rogers said. "They're doing a great job and everything, but it's just not a good fit here between two bars."
A few people said they are in favor of the substance abuse facility making Richfield its home.
"I'm embarrassed to be from this community with its head in the sand to say that the problems these women will have are not from this community," Amy Kreuser said. "[To say] That we don't have these problems and that people here don't have drinking problems, I'm embarrassed that people are so opposed to this."
“I’m just disappointed such that the crowd cannot ask a single question and get a single answer," Ken Kreuser said. "Everybody wants to chime in, they can’t do it in an orderly fashion and it’s kind of sad.”
Others said the high turnout and vocal crows are a good way to find out more answers to questions concerning the community.
"I would like to see the village have more information out on this, maybe some fliers, and a month or two of meetings before a vote on Thursday night."
The Richfield Village Board and Plan Commission will hold a public input session at the fire station on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Following the next meeting, the village could vote to deny, approve, or table GLATC's proposal to purchase the buildings and land from St. Gabriel's Parish Church.
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