Fire chief recommends hiring two more firefighters

The city and two towns served by the Rice Lake Fire Department are in jeopardy of not receiving about $48,500 from the state after an audit of the department.

The state Department of Safety and Professional Services conducted an unannounced audit of the Fire Department in February and determined it did not qualify to receive a portion of fire insurance premiums.

The DSPS disburses funds through the 2% Fire Dues Program, which come from fire insurance premiums collected by insurers in Wisconsin. The city of Rice Lake would receive $33,373.37, the town of Rice Lake $11,235.11 and the town of Oak Grove $3,917.57 — if the department qualifies.

The audit determined the department was not compliant in that it has three members on duty around the clock, but at least four — not including the chief — should respond to an alarm. The fourth could come from call backs or from another fire department through a mutual aid agreement.

Or it could comply by hiring two additional full-time firefighters, as Fire Chief Mike Hover recommended.

Hover told the City Council at its regular Tuesday night meeting that staffing has been an issue regarding noncompliance before.

"We would be compliant and eligible for the DSPS 2% dues if we would change our call-back procedures to when a pager goes off, the off-duty crew members would respond to the station," Hover said. "It will fulfill the 'letter of the law' but not serve the firefighters or citizens who are waiting for a fourth person to arrive to the station."

Hover said that for about one year they had two seven-member crews to make sure four members were on duty around the clock. However, positions lost through retirements were not filled and that reduced the crews to six members.

The department has had limited success using paid-on-call members to staff shortfalls due to work and school schedules, he said.

City Attorney Lindsey Kohls said the council needed to determine that night whether or not to appeal the state's finding.

Councilmember Jim Resac, who is the former fire chief for Rice Lake, said they should not appeal because the department was not in compliance. He said the state determines compliance by reviewing incident reports, and they are seeing how often the department has three firefighters instead of four.

"That is in part due to previous councils saying: 'We want the overtime reduced, thus reduce your call-back policy,'" Resac said. "It's not the fire chief's fault, it's the previous City Council's. Now we need to fix it."

Hover asked to hire two additional full-time firefighters to start no later than Jan. 15.

The council voted 5-1 against making an appeal and directed the fire chief to place expenses for the proposed additional personnel up for discussion over the 2024 budget. Councilmembers Marlene Dirkes, Gina Sookiayak, Harlan Dodge, Doug Edwardsen and Resac vote yes, Mark O'Brien voted no. Todd Larson and Steve Brown were absent.

In other action, the council:

Authorized the Community Services Department to work with the town of Rice Lake to pulverize and pave a 300-foot portion of West Avenue to the north of Knapp Street. Barron County estimated it will cost the city less than $10,000.

Approved the first reading of an ordinance to annex land owned by the city at the intersection of 18 1/2 Avenue and 19th Street in order to convert the parcels to right-of-way.

Accepted a donation from the Rice Lake Protection District for $12,002 to replace a non-ADA dock with an ADA accessible dock at Indian Mounds Park.

Approved the TID No. 7 project and boundary plan. The new TID is not adopted until given a final approval by the Joint Board of Review.

OK'd the Citywide Personnel Needs Assessment request for proposal.

Postponed hearing a report on residential solid waste collection services as City Administrator Curt Snyder was not present.

Postponed addressing the mayor's veto of the City Procedural Rules as Larson and Brown were absent.