HomeMy WebLinkAboutSheriff’s Emergency & Veterans’ Services Committee - Minutes - 10/21/2024
Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support
Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors
Minutes of the:
Bayfield County Sheriff’s Committee Meeting
October 21, 2024, 4:00 p.m.
Meeting Held in the Bayfield County EOC, Washburn, WI
The meeting of the Bayfield County Sheriff’s Committee was called to order at 4:00 p.m. by Larry Fickbohm.
A roll call was taken as follows: Chair Larry Fickbohm – present; Dennis M. Pocernich - present; Jan Lee –
present; Vice Chair Marty Milanowski – present. Total: 4 present. A quorum was present to conduct
business.
The following were also present for today’s meeting: Sheriff- Tony Williams; Child Support- Michelle Alexy;
Emergency Management Director- Meagan Quaderer; Emergency Management Assistant- Maria Renz;
PSAP Director – Jaime Moore; Dispatcher – Katie See; Chief Deputy - Andy Runice; Jail Captain - Luke
Kleczka; Deputy Mike Hanold; County Board Member Sue Rosa; Citizen Alan Bochler; virtual: Sjana
Schanning.
Sheriff’s Office Awards: Sheriff Williams presented Katie See with the Employee of the Year Award. Sheriff
Williams presented Mike Hanold with the Life Saving Award.
2. Approval of Minutes of August 19, 2024
a. Motion by Milanowski, seconded by Pocernich to approve the Minutes of the Monthly
Bayfield County Sheriff’s Committee Meeting held on August 19, 2024. Motion carried, 4-
0.
3. Public Comment: Sjana Schanning shared a story video.
4. Child Support:
a. The Budget Summary was presented by Michelle Alexy. The budget is on track. The 2025
budget includes a levy of $32,000. 66% of most of the expenses gets reimbursed by
federal.
b. Alexy shared that the federal fiscal year ended September 30th and because they met all
four performance measures. The incentive funding from 2023 will be received in 2025
and 2024’s funding in 2026. The entire Child Support staff was able to attend the WCSEA
conference. They are currently full staffed with three staff members.
5. PSAP:
a. Jaime Moore, PSAP Director, gave an update on the consolidation process. He has been
working on ESInet, to go live on November 19th. Ashland County needs to go through that
process before consolidation, he is pushing for the first two weeks in December. He has
Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support
Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors
been conducting stay interviews with all the staff asking them why they are here, why
they want to be here, and what can he do to help. He is working on finalizing the schedule
and they will be holding shift picks soon. They will have a new CAD next year, with
transitioning occurring through April, training for the field users in May and dispatch in
the summer. He hopes to go live by September. Pocernich inquired about the Ashland
County position advertisement. Moore responded that it was taken down.
6. Emergency Management
a. The Budget Summary was presented by Meagan Quaderer, Bayfield County Emergency
Management Director. She reported that the budget is on track. Capital Improvement will
not be used. Currently at 113% revenue and 75% of the expenses.
b. Quaderer gave an overview of the department. We received $1500 from the EMS Council
for the Halloween Outreach Event EM is hosting. Bayfield county partnered with Ashland
County to provide both trailers with activities. Ashland County’s trailer will be an escape
room, and ours for the younger kids concentrating on cold safety. The trailers will be in
Washburn on gate night at the Clark’s house and in Ashland Halloween Night. Last year
the outreach event served about 1700 kids, Quaderer is projecting a higher number this
year. Rosa inquired if it could be done in Cable. Quaderer explained that Halloween night
in Cable would not be available, however, a different community event is also possible.
EM would probably partner with the Sheriff’s Office since they are doing more
community outreach as well. Sheriff Williams shared that the office will be attending
eight different communities to hand out candy.
c. Clean Sweep was presented by Maria Renz, Emergency Management Assistant. Clean
Sweep was held on Saturday, September 28th from 8 am until noon. This year, the event
saw 330 vehicles. Dynamic was the agency that held the electronics collection, and it was
completely free because they were able to get Samsung to sponsor the event. They
collected about 9,000 pounds of electronics. This year there were more vehicles that
came for more than one of the collections. The health department collected more sharps
and medications than last year. There were more in hazardous waste collection as well.
d. EMS Proposals: Quaderer reported that the idea of a paramedic service was not
supported, so it was not added to the proposals. The hiring of an EMS Coordinator was
supported. Moore’s vision is to add the duty of the Quality Insurance Program, listening
to EMS calls and grading them according to EMD, to the position. The coordinator would
coach dispatchers on how to execute EMD correctly. He hopes to roll that into their job
description. Proposal 2 would put more squads on the road spreading more people over
the county. Sheriff Williams stated that they are already responding to most calls, just not
with training. Another positive would be that the county is not paying for down time, and
they can still render aid when waiting for response. Proposal 3 is to increase the amount
Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support
Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors
of funding given to each of the services from $20,000 to $75,000, with the stipulation that
the money will go towards staffing. Proposal 4 is for a possible countywide program that
includes checking in on outpatients. With an EMS focus, it is the same idea as proposal 2
without the added benefit of law. Proposal 5 is to do nothing and wait. It is not the
county’s statutory requirement to provide EMS services, that belongs to each
municipality. Pocernich brought up that people are afraid of a county wide EMS agency
when we are focusing on benefiting the agencies.
7. Sheriff’s Office
a. The Budget Summary was presented by Sheriff Williams. He reported that the budget is
looking good and would like to get two thermal drones with the extra funds.
b. The Office Overview was presented by Sheriff Williams. Williams shared that they
responded to three missing people incidents, and they used a drone to look for the
people. He shared a video on one of the rescues. They were able to locate people from a
capsized canoe and give the location to the coast guard. They helped the FBI with a child
porn case. They also solved a burglary spree and recovered a lot of the stolen property.
There have been 56 car-deer crashes from September until now. They had 18 mental
calls and half of them became transports to behavioral health units. There were questions
about ATV issues that Sheriff Williams addressed. Sheriff Williams responded to a
question about extra patrol on election day. There have been many stolen or vandalized
signs in which they solved a case.
c. The Jail Overview was presented by Luke Kleczka. He shared that they currently have 44
inmates. They are boarding 8 from Douglas County. Two of our inmates are boarded out
for various reasons, and one is on an electronic monitor. There are two full-time open
jailer positions, one jailer resigned and took a position with the state. They hired a part-
time, already trained, jailer. They have seen a large increase in transports. The jail is
required to transport inmates who invoke their right to appear in court. The cases that
are normally left in warrant status while the inmate is serving in another county, are
being processed sooner, and that contributes to the increase. They kept the CNA they
had. The medical provider is provided through the company and previously worked for
the jail. Mental Health provider is currently through telehealth, and no one is in-person.
That position needs to be filled. The door project still needs to be completed.
8. Other – Jail & Dispatch tour at the next meeting
9. Next meeting November 18th at 4pm EOC
10. Adjournment:
Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support
Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors
a. There being no further business to come before the Sheriff’s, Emergency Management,
Veterans, Child Support Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors, Chair Fickbohm
adjourned the meeting at 5:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Maria Renz
Bayfield County Emergency Management