Silver Lake Ad Hoc Fire/Rescue Department Committee ready to meet with Village Board

An ad hoc committee formed by village President Jeff Albrecht to consider the future of the village fire department and rescue squad is ready to meet with the Silver Lake Village Board.

Albrecht proposed the meeting with the Village Board at the conclusion of the ad hoc committee’s second meeting Tuesday night.

The committee was formed to consider alternatives for the future of the fire and rescue departments because maintaining the current situation is untenable, Albrecht has said.

Some of the possibilities the committee has discussed included merging the two now separate departments or merging with another area department.

The committee is made up of people who have experience with fire and emergency service, Albrecht said. Some do not live in the village. Neither Fire Chief Bill Brown or Rescue Chief Robert Johnson are members of the committee, but Assistant Fire Chief Andy McFarlane is.

The chiefs will also be invited to the meeting with the Village Board, Albrecht said. The public also will be able to attend.

The meeting will take place Tuesday, however no time has been set yet.

Though no formal agenda has been developed yet, discussion Tuesday was that the joint meeting will give the committee a chance to hear concerns from all parties and then be able to research the best possible solutions.

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5 Comments

  1. I have an idea says:

    CONTRACT SALEM!! Better service, better protection and a higher level of care for less $$!

  2. I wondering if that isnt a good idea! says:

    Also am wondering:
    Did the ad hoc committee considered contracting with Salem in their review ? Did they think outside the box? Doesnt Salem already supply services to others? I think they do to Paddock Lake but I could be wrong. Maybe also to Brighton. If they considered it, did they ask for information from Salem? In an open, upfront way? Did they get any feedback? I would not like to see the kind of antics as was with the Building Inspector position. That wasnt very professional at all. Learning by experience is good.
    I am not sure of the claim of better protection or better service of higher level of care as I think our team is a good team. I admit that I do not know if there are different certification standards (is there a certification necessary?) or competency between the SL and Salem? Would such a change be better as suggested? I hope the committee did check on that.

  3. Jeff says:

    Firs of all, I would like to say that it is good that teh village is exploring options to improve the emergency response, not that it needs it. They respond to emergency calls every day, do their job in a professional manner and return home safely. I don’t think you can ask for much more. As for contracting with Salem, that is fine if you want to pay more than twice the combined budget that the village has now and if you want to see a parade of equipment responding to a fire call and then having to come back and put out the fire a second time. They do not do the job the way that it needs to be done. And as for needing Paramedics!!! It is not needed, the rescue squad can treat their patients appropriately, 99% of EMS calls do not require a paramedic… Maybe the village should look harder at changing how the police department conduct themselves and look in a different direction, like contract with Kenosha Couty Sherriffs Dept. The village can save over $400,000. Thats ALL>>>>>>

  4. Hartnel says:

    Well here the Village is up to it’s usual antic’s, they just seem to not be able to do anything right, the Barb Ironside debacle, The employee suspension problem, the police not writing enough tickets, $48,000 not coming into the budget because of that, then not to mention the building inspectors fiasco.
    It took the Village board three meetings to decide to put a loading zone in front of a business in the village, but after 2 meetings the AD HOC committee is ready to bring things to the village board (we really do not need to have a AD HOC committee as we already know that President Albrecht has is own agenda), and I love Trustee Decker’s comment when this committee was formed “it’s nice to see what the citizens have to say” there are some people on there who don’t even live in the village, Member Phil Johnson is a member of Randall Fire Department and lives in Randall, if he feels that things need to improve between fire and rescue why does he not, or have made these recommendations to the Town of Randall. Is he looking out for a the best interests of where he lives no, then why is he making recommendations to the Village of Silver Lake, or is it that he is looking to make some part-time employment for himself as he is soon retiring from the City of Kenosha Fire Department.
    I also find it appalling that this was never ran through committee’s such as the emergency government committee or other committee’s first instead of adding an AD HOC committee, I think that is because this was President Albrecht has way of not really talking with the committee’s.
    Did President Albrecht go to any Rescue meetings or Fire Department meetings and get there input, I don’t know but I can guess probably not.
    I don’t know but I have seen what the Village of Silver Lake pays the rescue squad and it’s $27,000 dollars for wonderful service, I have used them a couple of times and their service in outstanding. Why does the Village want to mess with something that is working.
    Or does President Albrecht want to get Salem in here, he seems to want Salem in here a lot, I think the building inspector he wanted to be replaced with the Salem building inspector, wow was that a funny meeting.
    President Albrecht – if you like the services that Salem provides, please move there and run for the Town of Salem Board and stay away from us, you and the board have done nothing to promote businesses of any kind in the village, you have done nothing about looking to expand, uptown looks like a baron desert, Trustee Ironside’s and President Albrecht – the reason that tickets issued by the Police Department are down is not because of the police, ITS BECAUSE NO ONE COME’S INTO THE VILLAGE, THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE HERE IN THE VILLAGE. Less people mean less tickets issued.
    Instead of working on trying to fix something that is working, why don’t you and the board do something to lower taxes and not raise them, many people do not know what your up to, but soon many will find out, a snake eventually raises his head above the grass.

  5. I have an idea says:

    you would rather get rid of the police department that does a fine job and replace them with the sheriff? Yeah ok………so lets get KCSD in here so we can have 1 squad to cover the village. If the rest of the county gets busy (which it does) then our 1 squad gets pulled out of the village leaving us unprotected just like in Bristol and Paddock Lake. The revenue they bring in would drop BIG TIME! Look at hwy 50 in Paddock Lake…..how many times do you see someone pulled over? Barely ever. How many times is someone going 55+ and on your bumper there? Every day! How many citations do you think were issued by KCSD last year on hwy 50 in PL? 1……….yes ONE.

    If the sign says do 25 in Silver Lake then do 25! Don’t go crying foul when you get pulled over because you were speeding. Seems the only people that want SLPD to go away are the ones that have been in trouble with them! Follow the laws and you will be fine

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