Police and Fire Commission Meeting

POLICE AND FIRE COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES July 24, 2023 at 5:00 PM Kronenwetter Municipal Center - 1582 Kronenwetter Drive Room C108 (Fire Department Incident Command Room) 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER A. Roll Call Vice President Chet Rucinski called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. PRESENT Vice President Chet Rucinski Commissioner Paul Raymond Commissioner Lucene Udulutch ABSENT President Doug Schemmel Commissioner David Forsythe B. Pledge of Allegiance 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES C. Approve 06/26/2023 meeting minutes. Motion made by Commissioner Raymond, seconded by Commissioner Udulutch. Voting Yea: Vice President Rucinski, Commissioner Raymond, Commissioner Udulutch 3. NEW BUSINESS D. Announcement of closed session. E. Discussion and possible action on Fire Department hiring/firing. The Fire Chief discussed with the Commission the discipline, suspension and firing procedure she learned from the Village Attorney. She stated the Fire Chief can discipline, suspend and terminate firefighters/first responders, but can only discipline fire department officers. The Chief can bring charges to the Commission against a fire department officer, but only the Commission can suspend an officer pending a termination hearing, and then conduct said termination hearing. No action taken. 4. PUBLIC COMMENT None. 5. CLOSED SESSION Consideration of motion to convene into closed session pursuant to Wis. Stat. 19.85(1)(c) for consideration of employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility – to wit review and revise Fire Department applicant interview questions.  Motion made by Commissioner Raymond, seconded by Commissioner Udulutch at 5:20 p.m. Voting Yea: Vice President Rucinski, Commissioner Raymond, Commissioner Udulutch 6. RECONVENE OPEN SESSION Consideration of motion to reconvene into open session at 5:47 p.m. Motion made by Commissioner Udulutch, seconded by Commissioner Raymond. Voting Yea: Vice President Rucinski, Commissioner Raymond, Commissioner Udulutch 7. DISCUSSION AND ACTION F. Discussion: Promotion of Firefighter to Captain. The Fire Chief informed the Commission that effective August 1, 2023, she promoted firefighter Kyle James to the rank of Captain. No action taken. G. Discussion and possible action regarding proposed firefighter job description. The Fire Chief informed the Commission that the Village Board had approved a firefighter job description and sent it to the Commission to also approve. Commissioner Raymond read the following paragraph from The League of Wisconsin Municipalities Handbook for Wisconsin Police and Fire Commissioners at the bottom of page 19: “2. Qualifications A. Who Establishes The chief has command of the department under the direction of the mayor or village board, and must obey their lawful written orders. A commission without optional powers lacks authority to establish minimum qualifications for any position within the departments. Rather, the municipal governing body establishes minimum qualifications for such positions. The statutes do not authorize commissions to establish minimum qualifications, but merely refer to the commission’s role in examining whether applicants possess the required qualifications.” Commissioner Raymond requested the prior paragraph be incorporated into the minutes. Motion made by Commissioner Raymond that based on the League of Wisconsin Municipalities Handbook, the Police and Fire Commission does not have the authority to approve the job description. Seconded by Commissioner Udulutch. Voting Yea: Vice President Rucinski, Commissioner Raymond, Commissioner Udulutch 8. ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by Commissioner Udulutch, seconded by Commissioner Raymond. Voting Yea: Vice President Rucinski, Commissioner Raymond, Commissioner Udulutch Meeting adjourned at 5:58 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Dianne Drew, Police and Fire Commission Secretary Approved on: August 28, 2023