The Owen-Withee Police Committee held their regular quarterly meeting on Tuesday, March 3. Police Chief Patrick Fehlman went over some items in the Call Report. They are working on comparisons to the prior year in their reporting. He said there have been more crashes so far this year than all of last year. He also reported that Officer Jason Scheffler had assisted in a pursuit of a vehicle stolen in Eau Claire County and had done a successful spike deployment to stop the vehicle. The company they get their spikes from replaces the parts when they are used. There was also a disturbance at a downtown tavern. He felt the owners were happy with how things were handled. Officer Jake Haugstad and Jimi assisted the State Patrol to do drug sniffs on some traffic stops. On the common items that were put on the comparison sheet, there were 521 items for all of last year and 125 items so far this year. That includes traffic crashes, warnings, and citations, municipal ordinance citations, arrests, assisting EMS and other agencies, domestic offenses, animal complaints and bites and welfare checks.
The committee then discussed moving the K9 savings account to the Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP). Chief Fehlman said the budget line for the K9 had been reduced. They are planning to do some fundraisers to make up the difference. He asked for clarification on whether the savings account was to get a new dog when Jimi is retired or for expenses. It is for a new dog. Committee member Bob Wilczek said that Austin Hogan is setting up a meet and greet event similar to the Firemen’s Challenge that they did last year. He would like to get the police department involved this year. Interest rates are dropping for LGIP so the committee voted to move $4,500 from the K9 savings into a 9-month CD at Prevail instead. The expected interest rate is 3.99%.
For the Equipment/K9 update, Chief Fehlman said everything is good with the 2016 squad. It is going in for some recall work and an oil change in preparation for spring. When he gets that back, the Crown Vic will go in to be checked over. K9 Jimi is putting on weight and doing good with his health issues. He had some teeth removed. Fehlman said the city of Owen is putting money into fixing the garage and wanted to know if the police were going to have to pay the heating bill. Wilczek said that Withee said they would rather pay rent than pay to fix the building. He asked who is going to pay the utilities and maintenance. He felt it should be talked about for 2027. Fehlman said any agreement needs to be in writing. Wilczek said they could develop a rental agreement with the city of Owen for the police department’s portion of the city hall building and garage. The Owen Finance Committee can take a look at it and bring something back to the committee for approval. It will be for 2027 as this year’s budget is already approved. Committee member Larry Klabon said that maintenance should be the city’s responsibility. Fehlman said the county is looking at a new records management system and is hoping that all the police departments in the county will go to that system. The Sheriff’s Department would have the main terminal with local departments paying for their software and permissions to use the program.
Under the Treasurer’s Report, Owen City Clerk Tracy Rau informed the committee of a change to how bills would be paid. The city will pay all police department bills and the police department will write one check to the city each month. She will send reports to the committee every month on what is paid and they can approve it at the quarterly meeting. The change is being made at the request of the auditors for the city.
The next meeting is scheduled for June 2, 2026.