The organizational and monthly meeting for the Fennimore City Council was the first for newly elected City of Fennimore Mayor Rob Krantz and 3rd ward alderperson Todd Lippert.
After now former mayor Ryan Boebel called the organizational portion to order and verified Krantz and Lippert had been sworn into their offices, he and former alderperson Marc Chiefari gave their positions to their replacements.
During the organizational meeting, in addition to committee appointments and a brief legality discussion of mayoral and city council responsibilities from city Attorney Ben Wood, 2nd ward alderperson David Streif was reelected as city council president.
From there it was on to the monthly meeting portion, in which the ongoing issue of assisting the Fennimore EMS was a focal point of last Tuesday’s meeting.
Alderpersons Sarah Kretschman and Adam Day, after two meetings with Fennimore EMS Chief Brian Heisz and EMS crew members, many of whom were in attendance for the meeting, presented three possible solutions for the current ongoing issues, the main one, verified again by Heisz is keep a full crew.
Heisz stated that the squad is averaging 330-350 calls a year, up from only 250 such a few years ago, and from the beginning of the year until now, the squad has had 121 calls.
The first possible option Kretschman and Day presented to the EMS and council was for the EMS to enter into a “stand alone” contract with the city, with Kretschman citing Dodgeville and their EMS as an example of such an agreement.
This option would “give the city oversight into the EMS’ operations” as their is no contract between the independent/nonprofit EMS and the city.
A second option would be what Lancaster does with their EMS and that would be for the EMS still operating as an independent, but the city would hire a director that would act as a liaison between the EMS and the city, according to Kretschman and Day.
Costs would be split between the city and the EMS and the director could take some responsibilities off Heisz’s plate including recruitment, and the director would be another staffed EMT available.
Both Kretschman and Day brought up would there be a demand for the position and would it be full or part time, and other job duties of the position would need to be addressed.
Day stated that this option “works for Lancaster, but they do have a hospital in town and have a higher call volume.”
The last option discussed was for the city to contract with another squad, not to replace the current one, but to act as a “back up” of sorts. Costs and response time should that option come up would have to be explored further.
“We see your struggles and we just want to pick the best option,” Day went on to say. “The city needs to come into some kind of contract.”
Any commitment won’t start until 2027, Kretschman pointed out, as things would “have to be moved around” financially, but a sense of the ball needs to begin rolling was echoed between Heisz and the council.
But again, it all goes back to staffing. “Commitment is the main problem,” Heisz explained. “We get people, but after a year or so, they bow out. For us to have a two person crew 24/7, it would 150 hours or 35 hours a week.”
Day agreed stating, “Comes down to recruitment and families today are maxed out (time wise).”
When asked about what the other area townships were doing, Jenifer Heisz, also on the EMS squad, said they all were waiting to see what the city would do. “You’re the catalyst for everything,” she stated.
Day went to say this all “would not be an easy process, but to move forward, we need direction (from the council). We’re not ignoring the other townships, but we need to worry about inside the city first.”
Krantz stated that since he and Lippert were new, they would like a chance to look over everything EMS related over the past few months before more discussion.
Library update
The bids pertaining to the Dwight T. Parker Public Library remodeling were approved by the council. The first being a furniture bid from Henricksen for $82,187.04, and the second for shelving went to Library Furniture International for $117,926.43.
Both were within the budget and were recommended by FEH Design, the designer overseeing the remodeling.
Library Director Cathy Smith also gave an update on the remodeling/expansion to the council, stating that it was “slow going” during the fall/winter months and after being assigned a new lead architect from FEH, things are “coming along.”
Smith stated that dry walling had begun and brick would be installed shortly. She went on to say that the underground utilities work would be done in the next week and windows would also be installed soon.
Budget-wise everything is doing fine, according to Smith, and she went on to give praise to City Clerk Ashley Edge for all her organizational skills with the grant funds.
The grant the library received stated that the library must be in use by October, and with the weather cooperating, Smith stated that construction should be done by the end of August, with moving back in taking place in September.
City officer reports
In her report, Edge stated that the election ran very well overall with the use of the Badger Books, and that the election inspectors felt that the Badger Books made things quicker than the paper poll books. She went to report that overall, voters didn’t seem to mind the update. Final election numbers were 597 total voters, with 95 being absentee voters.
Director of Public Works Anthony Downing reported that the department has gone from snow removal to grass mowing in what seems like a couple of weeks.
He also stated that after the recent emergency siren testing and discovering blown fuses, the department has begun working with the fire department to make arrangements to get the city’s two fire/emergency sirens back to fully operational.
They rotate, but are not blowing enough sound, according to Downing. He went on to say that Fennimore Fire Department Chief Todd Bresee has been questioning his and the city’s confidence in the city’s current siren maintenance company’s service, and a replacement company is being looked into.
Fennimore Police Chief Walt Dresen reported to the council that Grant County completed its transition to a digital radio system, which required all radios to be reprogrammed.
The department was fortunate that the fire department had the software to complete this process, and Fennimore Fire Chief Bresee donated his time assisting with the project, saving approximately $800 in programming fees.
The department also recently began demoing Central Square, a mobile CAD software system used by Grant County. The system, according to Dresen, has many beneficial features, including mobile dispatching and the ability to access their database for contact information.
If the department chooses to proceed, the cost will be approximately $180 per year per computer installed, with only one or two mobile computers needed.
The squad car, approved at last month’s council meeting, was ordered through Fillback, with an estimated build date in July. Dresen also stated that a new P25 digital radio was also ordered through General Communications to replace the last outdated non digital radio and will be installed in the new squad.
The next meeting of the Fennimore City Council is scheduled for Monday, May 18, at 5:30 p.m., in the council chambers of the Memorial Building.
