Police & Fire Commission

1 City of Plymouth Police and Fire Commission Meeting Tuesday, May 6, 2025 @ 8:30 A.M. Room 210 Plymouth City Hall, 128 Smith Street, Plymouth, WI 53073 Members Present: Vice President James Flanagan, Secretary Warren Wieser, Gary Rooker, Tim Lemkuil, Police Chief Ken Ruggles, Deputy Police Chief Matt Starker, and Fire Chief Ryan Pafford. Absent – President Mark Melcher Vice President James Flanagan, called the meeting to order at 8:30 A.M. in Room 210 @ City Hall, located at 128 Smith Street, Plymouth, Wisconsin. A motion made by Gary Rooker and seconded by Tim Lemkuil to approve the Police and Fire Commission meeting minutes of April 8, 2025, and April 14, 2025. Motion carried. Review Citizen Complaint – Jonathan Woodward Concerns: This was tabled until the next meeting. Plymouth Fire Department Report by Fire Chief Ryan Pafford: 1 – Fire Chief Pafford reported recent chicken dinner was success. Feedback on holding the dinner in the fire department garage was positive. 2 – Racers Hall asked the fire department to participate in fire fighter fun rising event. The event was successful and raised $2,200.00 for the fire department. 3 - Fire Department personnel participated in an inspection of the new apartment complex known as The Landing at Hub City Apartments, located across from Walmart. 4– Fire Chief Pafford has been working on a training site, however land availability is an issue. 5 – Vice President James Flanagan asked Chief Pafford to update the commission on Assistant Chief Jason McCoy on becoming a “Certified Driver Operator Aerial”. Fire Pafford related that Assistant Fire Chief, Jason McCoy, yearlong course is scheduled to be completed on May 28th and “Certified Driver Operator Aerial” will be part of the end of May event. Chief Pafford reported several members of the fire department will gain additional certifications at the end of May event.  2 Plymouth Police Department Report by Police Chief Ken Ruggles: 1– Police Chief Ruggles reported the City of Plymouth Police Department went live on April 16th with the new Motorola in car camera system. They experienced equipment reliability issues but have been working through the issues with new installation and equipment. Police Chief Ruggles’ stated picture quality is excellent and gives the department a substantial improvement in redaction capability, both its speed and quality. They are importing some older in-car camera footage into the new system. Due to the startup issues, staff training has been moved to June in 2025. 2– Police Chief Ruggles and Deputy Police Chief Starker spent training effort to improve Lieutenants report writing capabilities. The Lieutenants are now moving this down to the officers. This will increase capability among the staff. At one point almost all the reports were completed by the Police Chief and Deputy Police Chief. 3- Police Chief Ruggles reported Sheboygan County District Attorney’s has reduced the open cases from 68 to 30 open cases. This office is making progress cleaning up the outstanding open cases. 4– Police Chief Ruggles updated the commission on the numerous events during May and early June. 5– Police Chief Ruggles reported that Deputy Police Chief Starker will graduate on June 6th from Command Training Class. That is a significant accomplishment. 6– Deputy Police Chief, Matt Starker, reported two retired police/fire officers will be recognized at the next council meeting for their life saving efforts. 7– Deputy Police Chief Starker updated the commission on police department formal training. Review/Approval of Fire Department Position Job Descriptions: Fire Chief Pafford presented five job descriptions. The job descriptions were Certified Firefighter, Lieutenant, Captain, Assistant Chief – EMS and Health & Safety” and Assistant Chief – Operations and Training, all dated April 8, 2025. All were approved at the last meeting with minor changes, and the Fire Chief presented updated documents with the minor corrections. After brief discussion, motion by Warren Wieser and second by Tim Lemkuil to approve the documents as presented. Motion carried. Entertain a Motion to go into Closed Session:  3 This was tabled. No further action, motion for adjournment at 9:23 A. M. Motion by Warren Wieser and seconded by Gary Rooker. Motion carried. Submitted on the sixth of May 2025. Warren Wieser--- Secretary