LETTER: Newburg’s hard line shows need for Northern Ozaukee FD

To Ozaukee Press:

I was shocked to read the Ozaukee Press news article about the Town of Saukville and Newburg Fire Department.

At an October 2018 Town of Saukville meeting, the town disputed the proposed contract with the Newburg Fire Department, trying to bring it in line with other local township contracts and trying to understand the reasoning for the contract price.

At a November meeting, you would have thought someone from the fire department would have been there to address concerns. It was a no show.  

The Town Board discussed it and came up with numbers based on what the Town of Trenton and Village of Newburg pay.

They came up with a formula using hard numbers.  

The Town of Saukville sent the new figure to the Newburg Fire Department with a deadline of Dec. 4, 2018.

The fire department said no, the budgets were already set.  

At the December meeting, the fire department’s next move was to basically blackmail the town by trying to get other fire departments to withhold emergency services, and offered no other compromise or even justification.  

The Village of Saukville, Waubeka and Belgium Fire Departments develop their budgets and then sit down with their covered townships and show them the budgets, explaining what is needed. The  Newburg Fire Department does not do this.

All of the fire departments express concerns about the lack of volunteers and the need for replacement of fire trucks (all of the fire departments require this type of equipment).

The time has come to start the conversation for a central Northern Ozaukee County Fire District to combine fire departments (for example, north of Cedar Sauk Road up to Highway K).

Perhaps this would help to combine and bolster volunteer resources, and save on the cost of equipment.

Allan Gosewehr
Town of Saukville