The Owen-Withee Police Committee met on Tuesday, September 29. Under Public Comment, committee member Bob Wilczek said that having Chief Fehlman, Officer Haugstad, and K9 Jimi at the Firemen’s Challenge during the fair was well received.
The committee went into closed session for about half an hour to discuss wages for Chief Fehlman. Wages for the other two officers are set per union contract. In open, it was announced that Fehlman would get an increase of $1 per hour or 2.6 percent.
Discussion then moved on to the budget for 2027. A question was asked about how much money might be left over at the end of the 2026 budget. Chief Fehlman said that with the payroll issue the auditor found and having to pay that for a portion of the year, it was going to be very close. He said they have about 24 percent of their budget remaining for the final quarter of the year. Clerk Rau said that they have been paying the city back for payroll correctly since June but the rest that is due for 2026 has to be paid by the end of the year. That amount is estimated at $62,263.63 for 2025. The police department also owes approximately $34,000 for 2026. Rau said she is waiting for the final audit report before asking for payment, which will have to come from police savings.
Committee member Larry Klabon questioned why the department is liable for paying it when it was the auditor who made the mistake. He said that people will not be happy with the budget increase this has caused. Chief Fehlman said he cut where he could and it will only be a one-time thing. There are some budget items that he has no control over. Wilczek said if you take out the increase caused by the payroll error, the budget is only going up about $5,000. Chief Fehlman said that Klabon had brought up the $12,000 in projected overtime. He said that part of this is getting paid 2½ times their regular rate if they work a holiday. The officers work it if it is on their scheduled day to work. Fehlman said he could not work holidays if the committee wished. He also spoke about Chapter 51 incidents and that they might take up to 20 hours or longer. There are also anticipated items like Withee Days, Owen Jr. Fair, Owen Main Street Car Show, and Homecoming where he knows there will be overtime. Committee member Susan Kalepp said it comes with the nature of the job. Klabon asked if they get paid overtime when they go to court. Fehlman said it might run into overtime hours, but not always.
Wilczek said the increase to the budget would have been about 1.25 percent without the addition for the payroll error. Committee member Randy Shelton asked if the auditor shouldn’t be liable for what they already owe. Rau said she can say something to them. Wilczek pointed out that the police committee doesn’t have an attorney and to add one would add to the budget. Rau wondered why Owen and Withee’s attorneys wouldn’t defend the police committee if it got sued. She said both municipalities would be sued. Fehlman pointed out that the police committee only deals with finance and hiring and questioned why it would get involved in any type of litigation. Kalepp suggested asking the attorneys for both municipalities what they think.
It was pointed out that the budget could be approved as it won’t change. The back pay to the city is not in the budget and is a separate issue.
With that, the committee approved the budget for 2027 in the amount of $436,649.64, with Owen’s portion at $283,822.27 and Withee’s $152,827.37. This is an increase of 16.325 percent.
The committee is still waiting for the rental agreement. That will hopefully be done for their December 1 meeting. If a special meeting is needed one will be called.
Shelton asked a question about the status of those who got ordinance violation letters. This is not part of the Police Committee’s purview and will have to be brought up at a Withee village board meeting.