The City of Owen and Village of Withee held a joint meeting of the Owen Common Council and Withee Village Board on Tuesday, May 20. The meeting was held at the request of the City of Owen.
The first item on the agenda was related to the Bike Trail grant received by Owen. A portion of the trail is in Withee and they would be responsible for paying for that part of the trail upgrade. They would need to sign a contract with Owen and Owen would bill Withee’s portion as it is completed. The grant is an 80/20 grant with the Wisconsin DOT paying 80 percent and Owen and Withee the remaining 20 percent. The current estimated cost of the project is $684,953. Owen’s total portion is $591,799 and they will have to pay $118,360 after grant reimbursement. Withee’s portion is $93,154 and they will have to pay $18,631 after grant reimbursement. Funds need to be expended before being reimbursed by the grant.
Owen DPW Chad Smith said he is working on something right now that he hopes will reduce the grant by another $70,000 but that is not a for sure thing at this time. He said the current estimates are 2024 prices. He said that Cedar Corp would like to do their surveying work in October of this year, looking at items like culverts and wetlands. Smith felt there shouldn’t be any issues as they are just replacing what is there. The goal is to keep the cost minimal in 2025 as neither municipality budgeted any funds for the project this year. Design work will be done in 2026. Bid and commencement of the work has to begin by September 13, 2027. They might be able to push that start date off until 2028 or 2029. The entire project needs to be completed by June 30, 2031. The current trail is eight feet wide, but with the new standards it will have to be 10 feet wide with two foot shoulders. Trustee Bill Kroeplin asked how many lights Withee is responsible for. Smith thought three or four. Village President Larry Klabon asked about the cost for traffic control. Smith said that was during construction for signage and maybe flagmen to stop traffic for dump trucks etc. Mayor Scott Jalling said that Owen just found out a week ago that Owen would have to sign a contract with Withee as the grant was given to Owen. Withee will be billed for their project costs as they happen. Smith said numbers could change as they are just estimates. If Withee opts not to participate, Owen will stop at the village limits.
Alderperson Bob Wilczek said they are looking to put out donation jars to help with funding the project. The original trail was funded with donations. Trustee Nancy Amacher felt that there are probably organizations that would be willing to help also. Owen Clerk Tracy Rau said she sent letters to area businesses asking for donations. Withee needs to make a final decision on their participation by June or July. Trustees Sue Kalepp and Bill Kroeplin said it needs to be done. Withee Clerk Ellen Niemi said the village can pay for their portion with savings.
The Withee board approved a motion to move forward and join Owen on this project. Owen will have their attorney draw up a contract and DPW Smith will work with Withee to finalize the details.
They then moved on to discussion of the Police Agreement. Mayor Jalling said the council had talked about the agreement being a 65/35 percent agreement in regard to the finances, but a 50/50 agreement in regard to representation. He said that Owen feels that Withee should either pay more or drop one person off the Police Committee to allocate things more fairly. Trustee Randy Shelton said that there were three members from each municipality so Withee would have a say in the matter. The finance portion was drawn up based on population. Trustee Kroeplin asked if there had ever been a 3-3 split vote on any issue. Police Chief Patrick Fehlman said on the garage and that it was pretty close when it came to hiring a third officer. President Klabon said the garage belongs to Owen, the police department doesn’t own it. Fehlman said they do use it for the squads, but there are issues with mice and yellow jackets. He said it would be nice to properly utilize the garage and not have it damaging their property. Klabon asked about the officers taking the squads home and Fehlman said they were just trying to protect the property. In the alternative, they would have to leave them outside. Alderperson Wilczek said it would cost $70,000 for doors, insulation, an electrical upgrade, etc. to repair the garage. There is money to do it in police savings. Alderperson Pam Jaffke said the police pay the utilities on the building, so it is the police department’s building. She said if there was no police department that Withee would get 1/3 of the value of the garage. Wilczek said he remembers voting to give it to the police department, but so far they haven’t found anything in the minutes to say that. Alderperson John Mauel didn’t believe the council ever voted on it. Trustee Shelton said it had never been brought up at a Police Committee meeting.
Clerk Niemi said when they were talking about representation numbers, they are talking about the committee, everything still has to go back to the boards to approve what happens. She said what they vote on is only a recommendation. Chief Fehlman said that only applied to the budget and anything major that would require extra funds, per the agreement. Niemi said Withee’s attorney said that all decisions have to come back to the board and council. She said Withee’s attorney said the garage is not covered by the agreement. Owen should fix the garage and charge the police department rent. Alderperson Jason Thornton brought up the fact that Owen had to take out a loan to help pay for Withee’s Water Treatment Plant. He said it is the same concept. Trustee Amacher said there is a lot of emotion related to this issue and a lot of preconceived notions. She said she doesn’t know the whole story, but didn’t like the tension. She said they need to make a decision based on what is best for the community.
Alderperson Wilczek asked if the village was happy with the service provided by the police department because he has heard a lot that they aren’t. Trustee Shelton said he has heard that some people in Owen aren’t happy, but he has also heard from a lot of people in Withee that are happy with the police department. He has heard the other way also. Trustee Kroeplin said it depends on who you talk to and Shelton said that comments for the most part were positive. President Klabon added that maybe one in 10 comments are negative. He said the negative is not about what the police do, but about visibility in the community. People want the police to be more visible in the community. They aren’t interested in the number of citations, but in seeing the police around town. Chief Fehlman said they do drive up and down the streets.
Officer Jake Haugstad said that Fehlman only works the day shift. He and Officer Jason Scheffler work nights. They drive the community but it might not be during daylight hours. Alderperson Wilczek said he checks in with the officers and they are doing a lot more investigative work. He said it is hard to be everywhere at once. He said the officers feel they are not doing enough to make anybody happy. He said he understands their frustration, but “they are doing the best they can with what they got and it just doesn’t seem to be enough.” Trustee Kroeplin mentioned comments from people that see the county cops on the road by Kerry but that is because the gas pumps at the county shop are there. He added people don’t know the whole story. Officer Haugstad said they need the help of municipal officials in letting people know things like that.
Alderperson Wilczek said that the two municipalities are separate but that it is one big community. Trustee Amacher added that from the outside people think of it as Owen-Withee. Haugstad said for him it is Owen-Withee, just one big town for them. Amacher said they don’t agree on everything all the time. Wilczek said there are a lot of assumptions on both sides. Alderperson Jaffke said she hears about the lack of visibility too. Amacher said times have changed and there needs to be a balance between being in the community and office work. Officer Haugstad went over a map showing calls for service and traffic stops in 2024 and 2025. He said sometimes assisting the county or an investigation takes them out of town. It works out that the calls are about evenly split between the two communities over time. Chief Fehlman said that they do have some jurisdiction on Hwy 29 and they might also be called there to assist the county. Fehlman said he spent four hours documenting speed on the west side of Withee because people have complained about speeders there. In four hours, he only stopped one vehicle for speeding. The average speed of the 427 cars that went through during that time was 30 mph. He prefers patrolling to sitting and doing traffic. He said most Highway 29 enforcement is done after dark. Fehlman only goes out on Hwy 29 when requested. President Klabon asked if they know the number of contacts in Owen and Withee per year. He has heard comments about it being like a quota system for traffic. Officer Haugstad said quotas are illegal. Fehlman said they write about one citation for every 10 warnings. Wilczek said that when Fehlman first started, traffic was an issue that was discussed at multiple police committee meetings. Klabon asked if traffic has improved. Officer Haugstad said yes. Klabon asked about putting the extra squad car out somewhere to try to deter traffic issues. Officer Haugstad said that could create issues with vandalism of the squad car. Fehlman said driver inattentiveness is a problem. Seeing a traffic stop does get people’s attention and warnings are still a deterrence.
Community member Grace Dale said that the Fire District uses equalized assessed value to determine each municipalities portion of the budget, it used to be split seven ways and everyone paid equal. In regard to visibility, she is out walking her dog and often sees the police around town. If people are walking, they will see them. Dawna Fehlman noted the contradiction between enough visibility versus saying they are enforcing quotas because of the numbers in the newspaper. Trustee Amacher said the real issue is that you go where people need you, that is one of the things that can be said when people complain. Community member Tim Swiggum said this goes back 20 years with the 1/3-2/3 thing. They tried to make it feel like you have 100 percent coverage, they have to go where they are called. He said, “The police show up if called, if they ignored the calls, then it would be a problem. Right now we have 100 percent coverage when they are on duty.”
Officer Haugstad said there is coverage seven days per week at night. Alderperson Wilczek said he has heard complaints about shifts overlapping but that some overlap in shifts is necessary to transfer information. Trustee Kroeplin said now he has an answer to why they are taking the police squads home. Alderperson Mauel asked if they use the garage at all. Chief Fehlman will park the squad in the garage if a storm is coming, but vehicles aren’t left in there for an extended period of time because of mice chewing on the wires. President Klabon asked about getting an exterminator. Fehlman said they have looked into that but it won’t solve the problem because of the number of holes in the building. Alderperson Mauel asked if they could just build a two car garage. Wilczek felt fixing what they have would be cheaper. Mayor Jalling said it would be Owen’s cost as Withee is not going to do anything with the garage. Tim Swiggum said if Owen fixes the garage, then the police should pay more rent. Klabon asked how long the police department has to pay rent on their portion of city hall. Wilczek said 20 years from build, which was in 2020.
Alderperson Thornton asked who breaks the tie if there is a 3-3 vote, it isn’t part of the agreement. Alderperson Wilczek pointed out that Withee has a quorum of their board at police meetings. The agreement is indefinite until one of the municipalities would decide to sever it. President Klabon asked questions about the purchase of the last squad car, which was paid for with savings. Community member Rick Nelson said if they don’t spend all of the police budget, that should be used to reduce the next year’s budget. Klabon asked if they should continue with the current agreement or make a change. Each municipality can talk to their attorney as to suggestions for how to break a tie-vote. One suggestion was that maybe Mayor Jalling could break a tie. Both sides will talk to their attorney and then possibly have another joint meeting.