Chief says deadline is too tight for new fire department

The Ozaukee Central Fire Department is getting on its feet but has a deadline at the end of the year that Chief Bill Rice said is keeping him up at night.

The merger of the Grafton and Saukville fire departments two months ago meant the OCFD inherited the responsibility to handle the financial and human resources services that are currently provided by the Village of Grafton.

Last week, the OCFD Fire Board considered a memorandum of understanding that would have continued the village’s human resources and financial services for the department with one caveat — they would drop at the end of the year.

Rice said the deadline doesn’t give the department enough time to figure out how to manage those services independently.

“I don’t know how we can do that,” he said. “The Village of Grafton had 125 years to get this straight. We can’t in 10 months. We simply can’t.

“I cannot stress how difficult and challenging this is for the staff.”

The amount of knowledge that needs to be learned is “overwhelming,” Rice said.

“To be an expert on finance and on human resources is too much,” he said. “It’s very scary for me.

“All joking aside, this is what keeps us up at night. You wake up and think about it and can’t stop. It only happens every night.”

The board took no action on the memo.

The OCFD Fire Board has been working to establish the department as a separate entity from the Village of Grafton, which has proven to be tricky.

In order to ensure continuity of wages and benefits, all of the department’s employees are employed by the village, according to a memorandum of understanding signed in November.

That memo also expires at the end of the year.

The OCFD Fire Board is facing a looming, costly renovation of both its stations. A 2023 study conducted by Zimmerman Architectural Studios estimated the work would cost about $8 million.

The stations in Grafton and Saukville need additions to accommodate code-compliant kitchens and living quarters for full-time firefighters working 24/7 shifts, Rice has said.

OCFD, while still relying on paid on-call volunteers, will be staffed by full-time employees that need the space, he said.

The OCFD is currently budgeted for 22 full-time department positions, with three more expected to phase in during the year.