Western Lakes Fire District’s Fire Board or Commission

Western Lakes Fire Board Joint Owners Meeting September 18, 2019 Call to Order  George Morris called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Board members present were, George Morris, Mike Sauer, Bill Riemenschneider and Mike Tompkins. Each of the municipalities then called their meeting to order. Proof of Notice  Mike Krug announced that the notice for the Fire District was posted September 12th to the website, at stations 1 and 2 and to the newspaper. Pledge of Allegiance  Don Desens led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Public Comment  George Morris opened the meeting to comments from the public. Don Desens announced that he would be retiring from the district effective October 14, 2019. Approval of minutes from Fire Board meetings.  A motion was made by Jack Nissen and seconded by Richard Wentland to approve the minutes of the June 26 2019 Capital Budget Meeting. Motion Carried. Presentation on FirstNet Cellular Communication Option  Chief Bowen stated that FirstNet by AT&T is available to Public Safety Officials and Essential Government Employees and would give priority on the cellular network to phones in the plan and part of group. Getting priority would require manual approval by a command officer. District Updates  Chief Bowen went over some updates and statistics: o Call volume increase of 13 – 15% o Implemented Fire Pre-Alerts which decreased notification times by 1 minute o Grants:  Our AFG grant application for a new vehicle exhaust system is still being considered.  Our DNR grant application for a skid unit is still pending o Fire Inspection Fees were approved and invoices are being sent now. There have been a few questions regarding the invoices including incorrect square footage numbers. Updates are being made upon verification and adjusted invoices resent. o The fire code ordinance that was being worked on by Assistant Chief Leidel was temporarily put on hold. o The part-time billing position is included in the 2020 budget. o For our future recruiting, we are working with two departments that recruit a number of our staff. They can’t help financially with our recruiting, but could possibly help offset with equipment or training. o Jack Riley asked about the Levy Limit Shortfall statute 66.0602. He wanted to know if this was on the levy limit worksheet as an adjustment. Lauri Sullivan said it was. o Jack Nissen asked that the board look into changing legislation for the use of impact fees so they could be used for replacing equipment. September 18, 2019 Joint Owners Meeting.docx Page 1 of 2 Discussion / Action – 2020 Operational Budget  Chief Bowen said that there were two items that will affect the 2020 budget so changes will be needed. The first is with contract discussions with the Town of Oconomowoc, who did make a motion to have Western Lakes cover more of their area. The second is with Health Insurance rates. The budget included a 4% increase, but the state came up with an 11% increase.  Chief Bowen did go over the 2020 budget. Jack Nissen asked what the board would like the municipalities to do tonight with regards to the budget. He suggested that no action be taken until more details and hard numbers are available. Jack Riley asked what the increase would be to the budget with the 11% increase for insurance. Chief Bowen said about $20,000 to the levy.  At 7:32 pm the municipalities requested a recess so they could discuss the budget. The meeting reconvened at 7:45 pm.  Chief Bowen stated that we should not vote on the Operational Budget tonight. A meeting will be held in the next few weeks with the chief elected officials and administrators and a few of the board meetings to review a new proposed budget. Then each municipality can vote on the budget in their regularly scheduled municipal meetings in October. Discussion/Action – 2020 DFD old debt payment  Dousman, Summit and Ottawa have outstanding debt. In 2021 all of the old debt will be paid off. Each of the three municipalities need to approve the payment of the debt for 2020.  Each municipality did vote to approve the debt payment in their municipal meetings. Discussion – Fire Department Fee Ordinance  No further updates Future Agenda Items and Meetings  Chief Bowen was going to e-mail the municipalities to schedule a meeting date. Adjournment  A motion was made at 8 pm by Jack Nissen and seconded by Jack Riley to adjourn. Motion carried. September 18, 2019 Joint Owners Meeting.docx Page 2 of 2