2010 town of Sheboygan Falls annual meeting

The town of Sheboygan Falls Annual Meeting started off with rousing conversation and discussion after the residents, in attendance, had the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about an ordinance that would have allowed for charges regarding emergency fire protection.

This ordinance was created by Town Attorney Crystal Fieber under the direction of Chairman Steve Bauer and the board.

The following is the letter that was attached to the ordinance, directed to Bauer. These comments from Fieber are what raised the attention, not only of residents, but also the firefighters from both fire departments, town of Sheboygan Falls and Johnsonville.

“I clarified the two fire departments which serve the Town and added language referring to the written schedule,” stated the letter from Fieber. “We will need the fire departments to let the Town know what equipment they have. I think it makes sense to ask the FD’s what they believe is the appropriate hourly cost for each piece of equipment. The Board may then adopt the schedule as proposed or modify it. The FD’s or Board may also want to list the hourly cost per firefighter.”

The Liability portion of the proposed ordinance had this information, in part, in it:

“The charges for said calls shall be imposed pursuant to the Town of Sheboygan Falls Fire Protection Charge Schedule, attached hereto and on file with Town Clerk, which may be amended from time to time by the Town Board. If the call is to real estate located within the Town, the charges shall be imposed on all owners of the real estate to which the particular fire call is made. In the event that a fire call is not made to real estate located within the Town, but is instead made to personal property, such as a vehicle, the charges provided for under this ordinance shall be imposed on all owners of such personal property.”

Payment of Charges reads:

“The emergency fire protection charges provided for in this ordinance shall be paid in full to the Clerk of the Town of Sheboygan Falls no later than 60 days after the date of the particular fire call. The failure to pay the bill within 60 days will result in interest being charged at the rate of 1½ percent per month from the date of the bill. Those bills for fire calls to real estate, including interest, that remain outstanding for more than 90 days as of November 1st of any year shall become a lien against the real estate and shall be placed on the tax roll as a delinquent special charge under Wis. Stat. 66.0627.”

“What is the purpose of this ordinance?” asked resident Richard Boenisch. “The purpose is to try and recover Fire Department expenses,” Bauer said. “Will this reduce taxes?” Boenisch asked.

“No,” Bauer answered. “This will be extra money to help with the payments of the fire trucks.”

“What I’m concerned with is that the residents won’t call us,” said Greg Van Helden, Johnsonville firefighter. “They won’t call until it’s bigger and they will wait too long!”

“There will only be a $500 maximum on a fire call,” Bauer said. “A lot of insurance companies are already requiring this.”

“This is the wrong way of doing things,” Van Helden said. “If the town needs to increase the taxes, but [do] not penalize the ones with a fire.”

“The town is required to provide fire protection,” Fieber stated, “and that is a substantial part of the town’s finances, which is fire protection.”

“This sounds like double-dipping,” said Larry Gumm, Johnsonville. “We are already being charged for fire protection and this is not the answer.”

“The volunteer’s life is out there to protect these people!” exclaimed Dave Boenisch, firefighter. “We are putting our lives on the line already and the town could waive the fee. I can see the legal battles. This just opens the door.”

“The state statutes already allow for highway calls regarding burning vehicles on state roads,” Boenisch said.

“This is not a good idea, Duane Gumm said. “There is something out there already. Why do we want to nickel and dime the residents some more?”

“The fee would not exceed $500, or it would be an amount depending upon the piece of equipment,” Fieber reiterated.

“Who will do the paperwork?” asked Aaron Strassburger, town constable. “This law is too broad with no specific fee, and the property taxes already cover this. It can’t be up to the board to decide who gets charged and who doesn’t. This is way too broad!”

“How much revenue do you expect to get from this in a year at $500?” Van Helden asked.

“Are we going to charge the town of Lima the same rate?” asked Richard Herzog, Johnsonville firefighter.

“This will cost the town more in lawsuits and just because other townships do this, we don’t need to jump into the lake after them,” said Larry Gumm.

“There will be no insurance companies paying for this because we all have high deductibles,” said Dennis Roehrborn, Johnsonville fire chief. “You will be fining the person, not the insurance company. We are taking this right out of the homeowner’s pocket. If you want to generate funds, issue burning permits. Make an ordinance for a burning permit, but this is bull crap.”

“I have already considered that to be included as a charge,” Bauer said.

“I just want it to be put on record that the town of Sheboygan Falls Fire Department is against this,” said Milton Rowe, firefighter, “except for burning vehicles on county roads and the state already has an ordinance regarding vehicles on state roads, but we are against a real estate fee.”

“The Johnsonville Fire Department is also against a charge for real estate fires, only vehicles on county roads,” said Richard Herzog, firefighter.

The fee ordinance was not passed, but there will be one drawn up to address burning vehicles on county roads.

The discussion regarding the installation of a P.A system for the Town Hall also was addressed. The overall cost would be $1,500; and then discussion arose regarding the number of microphones, length of cords, etc.

“I think the speakers at meetings need to stand, introduce themselves and speak more clearly and louder,” said Dave Dassow, outgoing town supervisor.

“Speakers should face the audience and speak up,” reiterated Dave Schueffner, resident.

“Just standing up is a lot cheaper than investing $1,500,” Roehrborn said.

“I think people are more apt to stand up versus speaking into a microphone,” said Kevin Reyer, Johnsonville.

The P.A. proposal was tabled by the board at this time.

The town of Sheboygan Falls Financial Audit Report was discussed and Town Clerk Jenny Meyer answered questions that arose.

One question was in regard to under which heading the revenue is reflected that is collected from the power plant located on Bridgewood Road with an annual amount of $200,000.

“This amount is added into the intergovernmental revenues on the shared revenue line,” Meyer said. “That total amount is $271,920.”

Bauer was issued a cell phone at the reimbursement of $50 toward the monthly cell phone bill at the annual meeting of 2009. He requested an increase of $10 a month. “I can take pictures. I take a lot of pictures, and I’ve been buying disposable cameras and having the pictures developed at Walgreen’s. Sometimes I don’t use up all the film, so it just gets wasted.”

“I would suggest that the town get a digital camera for $100 or less,” said Strassburger, “and then the pictures could still be printed at Walgreen’s or done here on the computer at the Town Hall.”

Bauer asked Meyer if this was possible and she assured him it was.

A digital camera will be purchased for town use.

Supervisor Cliff Otte requested that the financial report be finished earlier in the future so it would be available for the town’s people to “go over” before the annual meeting.

Strassburger stated that he would like to see the constable position be elected on alternate years so there aren’t two new ones elected at the same time.

The ordinance for constable election will be changed to stagger voting to make this possible. Jim Hanke and Lyman “Skip” Theobald were the newly elected supervisors to the Town Board. The 2011 Sheboygan Falls Annual Meeting will be the second Tuesday, April 12, 2011.