'Slow' fire merger discussed in Merton

Posted: Feb. 1, 2012

Town of Merton - Representatives from three private, not-for-profit, volunteer fire departments indicated last week they are willing to consider a "slow" incorporation of the departments into a single fire protection district that would serve the Town of Merton and perhaps portions of the Town of Oconomowoc and other surrounding communities.

The representatives of the Stone Bank, North Lake and Merton departments said they wanted all of the departments to maintain their individual autonomy and authority while operating within the proposed fire protection district. The representatives warned that if municipal officials try to rush into the consolidation of the fire departments, the departments will likely lose volunteers.

But a prominent municipal attorney told the group that state law may require a different organizational structure of the fire district than the membership of the three departments might prefer.

The fire district would be established by municipal government; however, the board of directors of each of the fire departments would have to approve each department's consolidation into the district.

The Stone Bank Fire Department provides fire and emergency medical services to portions of the towns of Merton, Oconomowoc and Ashippun. The North Lake Fire Department provides only fire services to portions of the Town of Merton and unincorporated North Lake. The Merton Fire Department provides fire and emergency medical services to the Village of Merton and portions of the Town of Merton that do not receive fire or emergency medical services from the North Lake and Stone Bank departments.

"The fire district is a slow merger of all of the separate departments," suggested Dustin Becker, one of the Stone Bank Fire Department representatives who attended the meeting on Jan. 27 at the Merton Town Hall in North Lake.

"They have to be careful not to try to do this too quickly; otherwise they may lose some volunteers. The officers of the three departments have to be the ones to help them make the transition," Kevin Labbs, president of the Stone Bank department, said after the meeting.

Fire Chief John Leidel and Capt. Bob Graser represented the Merton department at the meeting. Mark Oman and Mike Kusch represented the North Lake department.

Merton Town Chairman Dick Morris has asked the three departments to discuss with town officials, including Town Attorney William Chapman, the possibility of consolidating their departments into a newly created fire protection district.

The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, in a study commissioned by the Town Board, has concluded the town should either create a fire protection district, or join an existing one, rather than continuing to rely on separate emergency service contracts with the three not-for-profit departments and the Hartland municipal fire department. The town spends more than $530,000 annually for fire and emergency medical services.

Morris explained that the town will have to find a more-efficient and cost-effective method of providing emergency services to town residents because economic conditions, along with state-imposed tax levy limitations, will reduce the amount of future revenues that can be dedicated to fire and emergency medical response.

"We have to go slow, but we also have to look at the big picture," he told the representatives of the fire departments.

Fire and municipal officials agreed to meet again, possibly in February or March, to continue their discussions.