The Owen-Withee Police Committee held their regular meeting on Tuesday, September 3. Early in the meeting, the members went into closed session for about an hour to discuss the union contract. In open it was announced that they had agreed on a contract to be approved at a later date. The contract will be approved after it is typed up with any changes discussed in closed.

The Quarterly Call Report was approved with no discussion. It listed 86 offenses from June 1 to August 31, 2024.

Under Equipment/K9 Updates, it was reported that basic maintenance had been done on the squads, including a sensor replaced in the Crown Vic and a tie rod on Officer Haugstad’s vehicle. It was reported that K-9 Jimi is doing well on his new medication and diet. He has more blood testing coming up soon. His numbers are still high due to permanent kidney damage, but much better than they were. Jimi has put some weight back on and is back to doing his job. The department will also be replacing their rifles which are 16 years old. This item was budgeted for.

Chief of Police Patrick Fehlman presented his 2025 budget including the hiring of a third officer. He presented information on the new supplemental aid being provided to municipalities by the state for police, fire, and public works as part of Act 12. If not used for these departments, the aid will have to be paid back and the municipality will also lose a portion of its state shared revenue. The information provided shows the Village of Withee getting $41,718 in 2024 and $42,687 in 2025. Owen will get $93,799 in 2024 and $95,978 in 2025. Data was also presented showing that in 2022, Wisconsin cities with less than 10,000 people had an average of 3.49 officers per 1,000 population. Nationally the rate was 3.5 officers per 1,000 population. Owen and Withee combined have a population of about 1,400. This doesn’t take into account the number of people coming into town off of Highway 29 on a daily basis. He said that with a third officer they would be able to do more ordinance compliance and spend more time on traffic violations. This would also allow them to focus more on drug issues in our area as there would be an officer to do traffic stops and Officer Haugstad could deploy Jimi as needed. It was pointed out that the requested increase for the third officer was only a portion of the Act 12 funds the two municipalities would be getting. The budget increase was corrected subsequent to the meeting. The budget would increase by $39,441 for a total budget of $337,268.48. Owen’s share of the increase would be $25,636.65 and Withee’s share $13,804.35. Officer Haugstad said it was always a money issue in regard to getting a third officer, that people were not opposed to the idea. Committee member Jason Thornton felt that a third full-time person was needed and that they should use Jimi as much as possible. He said if the money is there, it made sense to do it. Committee member Everett Lindgren said he is not against it, they just need the money to do it. Committee member Bob Wilczek felt hiring a third officer made sense and committee chair Pam Jaffke said the money is a gift and using part of it to hire a third officer made sense. Wages and benefits would only increase by about $10,000 as they could better manage overtime. The largest increase would be for health insurance. There would also be an increase to the uniform allowance. The budget for squad fuel was increased slightly due to higher fuel costs. Maintenance for the squads also saw a slight increase in the budget. There is $1,000 in the budget for Public Relations. This has been used in the past to help people when there was an emergency. Chief Fehlman said if they don’t use it by the end of the year, he would like to give any remaining funds out as a scholarship to a student planning on going into the criminal justice field. Ammunition also saw a slight increase with the third officer included. The K-9 budget was increased by $500 due to Jimi’s medical issues. The committee approved both the budget and the third officer, but both need to be approved by the Withee Village Board and Owen Common Council before the decision is final.

Under Garage Updates, Chief Fehlman said he had gotten another proposal for the garage. At this point, he is suggesting they do the minimum that needs to be done to replace the doors and seal the building up. There are currently mouse and wasp issues inside the garage.