Falls Village Board OKs plan to negotiate fire department merger with Lannon
Menomonee Falls — The villages of Lannon and Menomonee Falls could reach an agreement to consolidate fire departments by the end of summer, Menomonee Falls village officials said Monday.
Menomonee Falls followed Lannon’s lead, adopting a resolution that formalizes nearly 18 months of negotiations between the municipalities to consolidate or share fire and ambulance services.
On Monday, the Falls Village Board approved a resolution that directs Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald to negotiate a formal agreement with Lannon and bring it back to the board for final approval. It also directs him to investigate additional opportunities for intergovernmental cooperation between the two villages.
Lannon adopted a similar resolution last week. The two municipalities can now work out details of a merger, with the hope of having an agreement in front of the Menomonee Falls Village Board by the end of summer.
“This formalizes this as a matter of policy so we will get down to the nitty-gritty,” Fitzgerald said. “Now, we’ll kick off in a more formal way and the goal is before the end of summer to bring you back a tentative agreement and we can move through a ratification process, if possible. That is our time frame.”
Menomonee Falls currently provides fire dispatch resources to Lannon, while Lannon provides services to the southwest portion of the village, said Village Trustee Sharon Ellis.
As part of the Menomonee Falls’ 2013 capital budget, the village is funding the design to relocate Fire Station 1 from downtown to Menomonee Avenue and Main Street, while using the same designs to build a new fire station on Silver Spring Road, west of Pilgrim Road. Lannon would close its fire station in downtown, moving personnel to the new station to help run it, said Village President Randy Newman. Falls would fund construction of the fire stations in its 2014 capital budget.
“We’ve been talking about this for a while. We think that’s a great use of resources,” he said.
Merging fire departments is one in a slew of intergovernmental agreements between the two villages. The dispatch agreement for fire services has been in place since 2009. In 1989, a mutual aid response agreement was implemented with Sussex and the Town of Lisbon.
Menomonee Falls also provides Lannon with snow plowing services for a set fee, which is the latest in a list of agreements.
E-mail Newsletter
Top stories from the Lake Country area. Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings.
Enter your e-mail address above and click "Sign Up Now!" to begin receiving your e-mail newsletter
Get the Newsletter!
MORE: See full gallery
SUBMIT: Post Your Photos now
Do you have news or a nonprofit event that you would like to share with the community? Whether it's a community organization, a business, a local school, or a notable neighbor, we'd love to hear about it.
- MainStage Dancers Perform at OAC May 26th
- FREE Organic Lawn Care Workshops This Saturday!
- Little Treasures Launches Summer Camp June 10-August 30th, 2013
- Hamilton announces April students of the month
- Learn to skate
- Christ the King Church Announces Vacation Bible School Schedule
- Birth to 3 Walk on June 1st Frame Park
- Waukesha County HeartChase is June 22
MORE: See the rest of Your Stories
SUBMIT: Post Your Story now
Lake Country residents share their views on news, happenings and current events.
LivingLakeCountry.com features more than a dozen community bloggers - a group of volunteer conversation leaders who are up on the latest topics and never short on an opinion. Just a few are pictured here. Check out the rest and see what they have to say!
View All Blogs
Discussion Guidelines
Do you want to become a Community Blogger? LivingLakeCountry.com welcomes your thoughts and opinions. Contact us for more information:
I want to blog
Information on Mukwonago Publications
Find metroparent locations
We encourage your comments but will strive to remove discussion that contains personal attacks, racial slurs, profanity or other inappropriate material as outlined in our guidelines. We post-moderate comments on most content, but may choose to pre-moderate some comments so please be patient if you don't see yours appear right way. We also ask for your help by reporting comments you think are inappropriate.
Please login or register to post a comment.