Fire department loses three more of its members to retirement

Three longtime officers of the Saukville Fire Department retired this week, but Fire Chief Thad Trinko said the trio’s departure was nothing more than “natural attrition.”

“It’s just some people with long tenures deciding to move on,” he said.

According to congratulatory announcements posted on the department’s Facebook page, which were later removed, those leaving the department are Assistant chief Matt Geib, who retired after more than 32 years and two months with the department; Emergency Medical Service Capt. Jennifer Calkins, who served for 18 years; and Lt. Tom Traugott, who served for 18 years and nine months.

Trinko said the department is in the process of finding replacements.

“We’re in the process of doing a recruitment drive coming up in March,” he said. “We’re encouraging people to come see our department and we have promotional testing going on” for current firefighters. 

“Things are going along as normal,” Trinko said. “We have people attending school to improve themselves.”

Trinko was hired in October over four other candidates, including Geib, to replace longtime Chief Gilly Schultz, who retired in September after 44 years with the department, 19 of those as chief.

Other recent retirements from the department include Assistant Chief Jim Schlegel, who was with the department for 38 years, and his wife, Sue Schlegel, a 15-year fire department veteran. They retired in June.

At about the same time, Maribeth Barbuch, the department’s assistant chief of EMS, also left.

A study completed last year by a consultant for the village concluded the department has a high degree of dedication and pride but that improvements were needed in personnel policy development and training of administrative staff.

The consultant also noted that the department was top heavy, with more officers than usual for a department its size.

Trinko said the recent retirements are unrelated to that issue. “That was handled before I came here,” he said.

Like most volunteer fire departments, maintaining staffing levels can be a challenge, Trinko said.

“We’ve always been somewhat understaffed, and we have had a constant inflow and outflow of people. That’s just the way it is,” Trinko said. “We’re not shorthandedd,  but we could always use more people.

“There’s only a certain group of people who fit into that mold” of being a paid-on-call firefighter. “Every department in the county is going through the same thing.”