Consultant: no joint fire department

Posted: Aug. 31, 2010

Town of Vernon — Town residents who were expecting to hear three recommendations from McGrath Consulting Group Inc. regarding the Big Bend-Vernon Fire Department might have been disappointed last Tuesday when only two options were presented to the Town Board: either have the Village of Big Bend contract with the Town of Vernon in a town fire department or go at it alone with a town fire department.

A third option - to contract with other departments for fire service - was listed in the report but not brought up at the meeting. The report says the consultants did not feel that option was viable.

There was no recommendation to remain a joint department.

The board's motives have been questioned after a series of secret meetings took place between board members and the consultant and town officials refused to turn over a copy of the report they discussed, stating it was a "draft."

At the regular Town Board meeting Aug. 19, town resident Dan Sherbarth said meeting with the consultant in secret raised a lot of questions.

"What changes were made?" he asked. "We don't know - we have to trust you … It's going to take away from the final document."

Bob Stedman of McGrath Consulting Inc. presented two options to the board last week, the first of which was forming the Town of Vernon Fire Department and providing fire service to Big Bend through a contract.

"We realized the town wanted to provide quality services and work together as much as you could but have a different way of running the department," Stedman said.

Stedman said due to the low volume of calls for service in Big Bend, a contract may be the way to go.

"But it's up to the board entirely if they want to do that or not," he said.

Stedman also said he thought the town could continue to provide paramedic services under this option.

"Under this option, the costs for providing the current level of service to the taxpayers of both communities would remain relatively stable and would avoid duplication of services, equipment, buildings and personnel," says the report. "Thus, this option would keep the costs at a level that both communities can afford to pay."

Vernon could also form its own fire department and not contract with Big Bend, Stedman said. That option could cost the town a little more than $10,000 more than the option to contract.

"The town is willing to be good neighbors to the village, they're just looking for a new way of governance," he said.

The report specifies the steps needed to be taken by the town in order to proceed.

The new department would be run by the Town Board, not a fire board, a new name should be adopted, a part-time fire chief hired, fire department members hired and licenses obtained, among other things, Stedman explained.

Stedman recommended that all the current members of the department go through a shortened interview process and said the goal would be to have 50-percent of the members be residents in the immediate area (at the time of the study, only 16 of the department's 43 members lived in Big Bend or Vernon.)

The town would also need to secure a medical director and submit an emergency medical services plan to the state.

Stedman said someone may need to personally deliver that plan to Madison to ensure it be approved by Jan. 1. If the board ran into trouble, it could always seek help from its state representatives. Although Stedman didn't seem to see this as an obstacle, Town Chairman Fred Michalek expressed concern.

"This is a huge amount of things to get accomplished," he said.

Michalek said he was concerned that if a fire chief needed to be hired to get the ball rolling, it might be too late to meet some of the other requirements.

The consultants said it shouldn't take long to hire a chief or at least an interim chief.

Tim McGrath said the board first needs to decide who it will provide fire service for and then who they will get to follow the timeline set forth in the report.

"It needs to be quickly choreographed," said Michalek in a followup interview.

The board was expected to meet in special session again Tuesday to discuss its options - that meeting took place after The Mukwonago Chief went to press.

"We got the report, we're all reviewing it and it's imperative we meet on Tuesday to find the direction of the Fire Department from the board's perspective," Michalek said.

When asked why none of the consultant's recommendations included remaining a joint department, Michalek said he assumed that would have been an option.

"I thought they would be coming back with a third option that would say stay the same way you are (a joint department). I always felt that the joining of the departments would be part of the recommendation, and it wasn't," he said.

To view the consultant's report for yourself, visit www.townofvernon.org.