Village to join feasibility study for sharing fire, EMS services
The Grafton Village Board is weighing its options for sharing fire and emergency medical services with other Ozaukee County communities.
On Monday, the Village Board unanimously agreed to enter a study to determine the feasibility of consolidating those services with the cities of Port Washington, Mequon and Cedarburg, Town of Cedarburg and villages of Saukville, Thiensville and Fredonia.
In past discussions, Grafton Fire Chief Bill Rice said consolidating neighboring departments is inevitable because of a shortage of volunteers who have traditionally staffed fire departments.
“The long-term solution is to have a combination of communities that have full-time, part-time and paid on-call employees,” Rice said.
“But I’ve also seen how long it takes for consolidation to happen.”
Village Administrator Jesse Thyes said that during the last few years a number of municipalities in the county have held informal meetings to explore the potential of sharing services among area fire departments.
The Grafton Fire Department has five full-time members, including Rice and Division Chief Matthew Karpinski, and approximately 60 paid on-call volunteers. Rice said his department also relies on mutual aid from other area departments to assist with emergency calls, which is common among local communities.
Rice said his greatest concern is finding volunteers to staff the ambulance during weekends.
“It’s a very desperate feeling for me as a fire chief,” he said. “Grafton’s growth has outpaced the high volume of calls for EMS.”
The feasibility study will cost $22,000, which will be split between the participating communities. The village’s contribution will be $2,750.
Thyes said the cost may be reduced if the Belgium Fire Department joins the study.
The analysis will be conducted by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, which will collect data on operating and capital budgets, service call history and personnel-related information, such as staffing levels and employee policies.
The first phase of the study will begin this month and take about six months to complete. Following the initial phase, communities may choose to pursue a more formalized approach to service sharing, Thyes said.
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