Police and Fire Commission Meeting

MINUTES CITY OF WAUPUN Special Police & Fire Commission (PFC) Meeting Waupun Safety Building – 16 E. Main Street, Waupun Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 5:00pm Upon reasonable notice, efforts will be made to accommodate disabled individuals through appropriate aids and services. For additional information, contact the City Clerk at 920-324-7915. CALL TO ORDER Meeting convened at 5:00pm by PFC President. ROLL CALL Present: John Bett (PFC Vice President), Teresa Heidemann (PFC Citizen), WFD Chief BJ DeMaa, Bobbi Jo Kunz (Council Member-Ex Officio), WPD Chief Jeremy Rasch, Tara Rhodes (PFC Citizen/Secretary), Mike Thurmer (PFC Citizen/President) Member(s) absent (excused): Bambi Buchholz (PFC Citizen), Guests: N/A RECOGNITION OF MAYORAL APPOINTMENT AND NOMINATION OF APPOINTMENTS The following annual Commission Nomination and Appointments were recognized: - Recognition of Mayoral Appointment of Ex-Officio Bobbi Jo Kunz. - T. Rhodes nominated M. Thurmer for President; nomination accepted. Motion at 5:02 by T. Rhodes, second by T. Heidemann to approve M. Thurmer as President; all in favor, motion passed. - T. Heidemann nominated J. Bett for Vice President; nomination accepted. Motion at 5:04 by T. Rhodes, second by T. Heidemann to approve J. Bett as Vice President; all in favor, motion passed. - T. Heidemann nominated T. Rhodes for Secretary; nomination accepted. Motion at 5:05 by J. Bett, second by T. Heidemann to approve T. Rhodes as Secretary; all in favor, motion passed. Motion at 5:07 by T. Rhodes, second by J. Bett for Commission to meet on quarterly basis with dates to be established due to wanting to align meetings with interview needs of Fire and Police departments; all in favor, motion passed. MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS Minutes from the April 22, 2025 meeting presented for approval. Motion to approve minutes as submitted at 5:08pm by J. Bett, T. Heidemann second; all in favor, motion passed. Minutes from the April 23, 2025 meeting presented for approval. Motion to approve minutes as submitted at 5:09pm by J. Bett, T. Heidemann second; all in favor, motion passed. GENERAL DISCUSSION AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION CONCERNING THE NORMAL OPERATIONS OF THE WAUPUN POLICE DEPARTMENT AND WAUPUN FIRE DEPARTMENT WPD Chief J. Rasch provided the following update:  Staffing: D. Hopp successfully completed shortened Field Training; currently acting in his patrol officer capacity. K. Konkel successfully trained in both investigations and patrol; currently acting in her investigative capacity. C. Hensen doing well in the academy. Officer on light duty expected to be back to full duty by end-of-month. Officer’s last day of work prior to deployment is 6/2/25.  Training: Detechtachem Drug Analyzer (9 attendees); Report Writing for Patrol Officers (1 attendee), K9 Training (1 attendee), SWAT Training (1 attendee), Taser Training (1 attendee), Firearms Training (2 attendees). Force-on-Force Training: most of the sworn personnel able to attend which was provided by  Officer Halverson/Lt Brzezinski. Mobile Field Force (at DOSO) in preparation for Dodge County Major Incident Response Team positions (3 attendees); Active Threat (also at DOSO) (2 attendees).  Equipment: 2025 squad delivered/outfitted/inservice; 2025 replacement squad for damaged 2024 squad delivered/at outfitter. Detectachem Drug Identifier (Spectrometer) unit is in service. Four 700/800mghz portable radios and two AR-15 Rifles delivered/inservice.  Community Engagement: FDL High School and Moraine Park Technical College job fairs, Waupun Truck Show Meeting (new organization), WBEV Community Comment, State Rep. Mark Born listening session, Celebrate Waupun Board Meeting, Salvation Army of Dodge County Board Meeting, FDL County Communications Review Board Meeting, Waupun Downtown Promotions Meeting, Waupun Business Alliance Ribbon Cutting – Wild Boar  Other: o Lt Williams provided a Taser presentation to the council covering the future of taser o Pastor Barry Lang is joining the Chaplain program; also have Minister Bill Gould has been with us for approximately 3 years; this program provides officer support related to death/difficult scenes. PFC recommended Chaplain Dennis Overlien and/or Pastor Jessica Osterhouse as possible contacts. o Working w/CSI to provide up-to-date Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group (WILEAG, state accreditation group) approved policies; and working with Deer Creek to provide Policy Document management. o Working with Sunrise Counseling Services to provide staff with the annual mental health check ins. Plan on starting in June. o CIJIS DOJ Audit – Received confirmation that WPD is in compliance; this was an intensive process. o 2026 Budget season has started; currently receiving quotes for equipment needed going into 2026 and beyond (i.e. Portable Radios, Squad Radios, Researching Drone Program, K9 Squad / Patrol Squad and equipment) o Participated again in the DOJ Drug Take Back; approximately 28 lbs from drop box in six months. o Notables: dog attack resulted in charges to District Attorney; 2023 overdose death conviction WFD Chief B.J. DeMaa provided the following update:  The City and Townships of Chester, Trenton, and Waupun continue to review budgets and discuss what a combined department would look like.  The Waupun Truck-N-Show presented the Fire Department with a plaque and a check in the amount of $5,610.00 for the many years of support we had given to them.  SSM Health – Waupun Memorial Hospital offered us an opportunity to conduct some training in the old hemodialysis building before it was torn down. Even with our training tower, there are certain skills that can be difficult to train on. Having the ability to destroy a building through training isn’t an opportunity that comes along often. We value our relationship with SSM Health and appreciate that they thought of us as part of the decommissioning process.  We were able to meet with some of the police department’s new hires to provide some high-level fire safety training as well as explaining some of the different ways we have worked together in the past.  2 members participated in a 12-hour Ag Rescue course that focused on large animal emergencies, grain dryer fires, grain bin entrapments, confined space, equipment entanglements, and fire department support at rope/technical rescues. FF Abel Kooima is working with Ballweg Implement to do our own version of Ag Rescue training with the entire department.  CPR/AED training was provided to new employees at the Waupun Community Center. 3 EMRs also provided training to an employee group out at Central Cable.  We received a $5,000 grant from United Cooperative. The original ask was in excess of $150,000 so we will need to go through the application to see what equipment can be purchased that addresses our biggest needs.  Chief DeMaa and Assistant Chief Beer met with the Waupun PD, Administrator Kathy Schlieve, Aldermen Kaczmarski and Siebers, and Excel Engineering to review information that Excel put together from meetings held in February. Excel’s work was focused on trying to determine what the potential space needs could look like as we try to anticipate the next 40+ years of building life. The State of WI is expected  to roll out an Innovation Grant in June or July. For communities that qualify, awards could go as high as $10 million. Some of this work is in preparation for that grant process.  Chief DeMaa met with Dan Williams (Ret. Department of Health Services – EMS) to discuss what next steps would look like for the EMR program if we were to move to a transport service (back-up to Lifestar versus calling mutual aid from a neighboring community 15+ minutes away). CLOSED SESSION The Waupun Police and Fire Commission adjourned into closed session under Section 19.85 (1) (c) of the WI Statutes to conduct interviews with qualified applicants for employment for the open Firefighter and EMR vacancies. (c) Considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Motion to go into Closed Session at 5:35pm was made by T. Rhodes, J. Bett second; all in favor, motion passed. OPEN SESSION The Waupun Police and Fire Commission reconvened in open session under Section 19.85(2) of the WI Statutes at 6:37pm after motion from T. Rhodes, J. Bett second; all in favor, motion passed. ACTION FROM CLOSED SESSION Motion at 6:38pm to approve promotion of two Firefighter Lieutenants, D. Holz, N. Schears, for the open Lieutenant positions by T. Rhodes, J. Bett second; all in favor, motion passed. Motion at 6:40pm to make conditional offer (criminal background/work history/reference checks) to Firefighter candidate C. Hartgerink was made by T. Heidemann and J. Bett second; all in favor, motion passed. Commissioner T. Rhodes abstained from interview/motion/vote due to possible conflict of interest. Motion at 6:42pm to make conditional offer (criminal background/work history/reference checks) to EMR candidate K. Pritchard was made by T. Rhodes, J. Bett second; all in favor, motion passed. FUTURE MEETINGS AND GATHERING INVOLVING THE POLICE AND FIRE COMMISSION The next Commission meeting is to-be-scheduled at the Waupun Safety Building. The PFC meets quarterly, at minimum. If necessary, please send any agenda requests to Chief DeMaa or Chief Rasch so appropriate preparation(s) can be made. Upon reasonable notice, efforts will be made to accommodate disabled individuals through appropriate aids and services. For additional information, contact the City Clerk at 920-324-7915. ADJOURNMENT Motion at 6:43pm to adjourn meeting made by T. Rhodes, T. Heidemann second; all in favor, motion passed. Respectfully submitted, Tara Rhodes, Secretary