Detour alert Cty Hwy JJ

People in the JJ, Richmond, Lynndale Ave. area may be experiencing power outages. It looks like a power pole was shattered around 8am this morning near Carew Concrete. Crews are presently working to repair the pole. Traffic is blocked off on JJ between Lynndale and Gillett Street and looks like traffic will be detoured for a while today.

Merger presentations postponed

Merger presentations by Appleton Police Department and Outagamie County Sheriff, tentatively scheduled for Monday, March 3, are being rescheduled. It looks like presentations will not happen until the week of March 10. Will post date when confirmed.

Merger musings

I've been researching other police departments both locally and around the country this last month. Departments include Fox Valley Metro, Brown County, Marion, Bonduel, Indy Metro, and Lousiville Metro. Some of these departments merged, some decided against, some are actually not considered mergers, but contractual services to towns.

I was especially interested in the Indianapolis merger with Marion County Sheriff's Department, as this is considered the "poster child" of police mergers. The newly merged department became official January 2007.

Some random thoughts regarding the information I've been gathering. Some or all of these will be included in a report I'll be giving to the board tomorrow. A final copy will be posted on the Web site Thursday or Friday.

Fox Valley Metro—Kimberly and Little Chute villages each pay a percentage of all costs of the department based upon a formula weighted by populations and equalized valuations of each community.

Mergers in Indy and Louisville came about because of the city sprawl encompassed most of the county. The city and sheriff's department were overlapping services.

Brown County Sheriff's Department offers a contracting program to the villages of Howard and Allouez. This is similar to Outagamie County contracting out to Greenville and Buchanan. These municipalities opted to secure police services instead of starting their own police department for financial reasons.

There was a very clear process involved when the municipalities examined mergers or contractural agreements.

• Started out with a private feasibility study.
• Had a joint advisory board to review service options
• Had a clear vision and firm objectives in mind before the proposal went public.
  
• Had much public participation before adopting the merger.
  
• Had clear and equitable funding formulas covering members oblications

Indy merger took three years to develop. Louisville five.

These facts are just the tip of the iceberg. More to follow in the report.

February 21, 2008 meeting agenda

The agenda for the Thursday's February 21st Town Board meeting is available for download. As previously mentioned, Chairman Marsden will give an update regarding the police merger proposals. The Board will meet in closed session before the Town Board meeting to hear presentations from Outagamie County Sheriff and Appleton Police Department.

Town board meeting changed to Thursday, February 21

This next week's Town Board meeting will be on Thursday, February 21 at 7pm due to the Wisconsin State primary elections on Tuesday, February 19. The board is meeting in a special closed session Thursday at 4pm to discuss police merger proposals. The board meeting on Thursday is a good opportunity for residents to voice their opinion to board members regarding the proposal.

I have received a copy of the February 21st meeting agenda. Chairman Marsden will give an update of the police merger discussions during his Chairman's Report.

What's really going on: police merger talks

I've been fielding a lot of calls recently regarding the Police Department merger proposals that are being submitted by Appleton Police Department and Outagamie County Sheriff's Department. There has been some confusion, partly, I think due to a headline in the Post-Crescent entitled Appleton, Grand Chute merger ready for a 'test drive.' Even I had to do a double take at this headline, as it can be construed as a merger is a done deal. Needless to say, my phone was ringing off the hook early Saturday morning by some very upset residents and police officers, thinking the Appleton proposal had been accepted and was going through.

To clarify, the article was in response to the Appleton Police Department releasing their proposal before the February 11 deadline for town submission. Further adding to the confusion, Outagamie County Sheriff's Department submitted their proposal by the February 11 deadline, but has not received any coverage in the newspaper as of this posting. In any event, Town Supervisors have received full copies of this report on Monday. Supervisors were orginally slated to receive only staff recommendations with this Friday's report, but I requested last month to receive the reports in their entirety on the due date.

I want to make the public aware of the upcoming process. Town Supervisors are reviewing the reports received Monday, February 11. The Town staff will submit their recommendations to the Town Board on Friday, February 15th. The Town Board will meet in closed session Thursday, February 21 to discuss the reports.

I'd like to hear your opinions regarding a possible merger. Please email or call me with your thoughts and concerns. I will let you know what I think after our closed session meeting.

January 2008 meeting minutes

Town Board meeting minutes from January 3, 2008 and January 15, 2008 are available for download from the Grand Chute Web site.

Small dollars add up

There is an item on tonight's agenda to award a bid in the amount of $23,635 for purchase of a Ford F150 pickup truck from Les Stumpf Ford for Fire Department use.

I spoke with Chief Bantes and Administrator Rohloff about pricing, as our Friday report indicated the differnce of purchasing the vehicle from Les Stumpf Ford in Grand Chute and a dealership in West Alllis. The West Allis dealership was $694.71 cheaper. However, Adminsitrator Rohloff, argued, the time and expense involved to pick up the vehicle would negate any savings incurred from purchasing at the West Allis dealership, and staff recommendation is to purchase the truck from Les Stump Ford.

I called down to the West Allis dealer and spoke with the manager, who indicated there would be no charge for delivery of the truck to Grand Chute.

Often, I will get comments from people who view saving such a small amount as nitpicking. $694.71 is a small drop in the Town's overall budget. However, each small savings adds up. A fiscally conservative approach in spending has already funded two extra part-time police officers this year. One simple phone call has the opportunity to save the town almost $700.

February 5th meeting agenda

The agenda for the February 5th, 2008 Town Board meeting is available for download and review. The project manager from Boldt will be giving the Board an update regarding process on the fire station construction. Agendas for the Sanitary and Plan Commission meetings are also available.

Call for emails

I am in the process of creating an expanded email group list that will allow me to keep in conctact with Grand Chute residents directly. I envision emailing people on this group list when important events or issues come up. One recent example was an email notifying residents about the issues facing passing the 2008 highway budget. Please email travisthyssen at yahoo dot com if you would like to be added to the group email list.