Working together for safe communities

Posted: Sept. 29, 2009

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SCOTT ASH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Captain Tom Gerstner of the Sussex Fire Department explains the various hoses used by fire fighters to visitors at the open house and dedication ceremony for the new public safety building in Sussex on Wednesday, September 23.

SCOTT ASH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Captain Tom Gerstner of the Sussex Fire Department explains the various hoses used by fire fighters to visitors at the open house and dedication ceremony for the new public safety building in Sussex on Wednesday, September 23.

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Village of Sussex — Lake Country and Waukesha County officials participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week in front of a building they hope becomes a monument to intergovernmental cooperation.

The $1.8 million annex to the village fire station, that was scheduled to open for business Monday is designed to serve the public safety needs of Waukesha County as well as the Villages of Merton and Sussex and the Town of Lisbon.

It will be the headquarters for Waukesha County Sheriff's Department deputies patrolling the northeast quadrant of the county as well as the three communities that have separate police service contracts with the Sheriff's Department.

Seven deputies are assigned to provide around-the-clock protection to the Village of Sussex. Two deputies are each assigned to work an eight-hour shift for the Town of Lisbon. One deputy serves various eight-hour shifts for the Village of Merton.

In addition, two sheriff's detectives will work eight-hour shifts at the regional substation, according to Sheriff Dan Trawicki.

Waukesha County contributed $500,000 to the project, which also includes facility improvements for the Village of Sussex Fire Station on Main Street.

Local officials recognized that providing cooperative public safety services in a single building was more important than building individual political fiefdom's, Trawicki said.Sussex Village President Tony Lapcinski said officers will be able to operate more effectively in the building because it will improve communications among the law-enforcement officers and permit then to spend more time in the communities rather than having to commute between the communities and the County Administration Building in Waukesha.

"They will also be more visible. They are going to be on Main Street. They won't be in the basement any longer," he added.

The deputies assigned to Sussex shared an office space in the basement of the Village Hall. Village of Merton officers work out of small office in that Village Hall, and those assigned to Lisbon worked out of a town public works building.

Town Chairman Matt Gehrke said Supervisor Joe Osterman will negotiate with village officials over whether the town is willing to contribute to the salary of a full-time village employee who will work at an information desk in the substation.

Village officials have suggested that since residents of the town and the Village of Merton will benefit from services provided by the Sussex employee, those two communities should share in the cost of her salary.

Trawicki's idea for a regional substation was enhanced when the Town of Lisbon decided two years ago to dump its police department, which had become bogged down in personnel controversies, and replace it with a police service contract with the Sheriff's Department.

Gehrke cast a key vote in the Town Board decision that was spearheaded by former Town Chairman Michael Reed.

Some Merton officials have privately - and half-jokingly - suggested they are disappointed that the two to four county squad cars usually parked in front of the Village of Hall will be moved to the new Sussex facility.

The squads are a deterrent to speeders on Highway V near Village Hall and other potential criminal activity. .

One of those cars might remain at the Village Hall. It is assigned to a canine deputy who lives in Washington County. Trawicki said "something can be worked out" to keep the car in front of the Merton Village Hall.

Village President Bob Weber said the squad cars are a minor consideration compared to the benefits the village and other communities will receive from the new regional substation.

Weber said the Sheriff's Department can provide the village with cost-effective law enforcement service without village officials having to worry about operating its own police department.