Public Safety Committee — Minutes

Minutes of the September 3, 2026 meeting of the Sawyer County Public Safety Committee of the Sawyer County Board of Supervisors Board Room; Sawyer County Voting Committee Members Present: Others Present: Ron Buckholtz Mike Markgren John Froemel Marc Helwig Liz Klein Nicole Ripcinski Jeff Hoehne Bryan Deyo Kristi Kare Marshal Savitski Sheriff Mrotek Mike Woller Jim Evans- Virtual Greg Ripiczinski Marge Kelsey Sandy Okamoto Call to Order –Chair Buckholtz called the meeting to order at 9:00 am. Roll Call taken. Quorum was met. Certification of Compliance with the open meeting law was met. Meeting Agenda- Set Public Comment – Linda Zillmer Minutes from the previous meeting dated: August 6, 2026 Motion to approve made by: Mr. Savitski Second by: Mr. Helwig Motion carried without negative vote. Clerk of Courts/Register in Probate Reports - A written report was provided. The new criminal clerk has resigned, leaving the position open again. Sheriff’s Department Report – Patrol Report – Lt. Ripczinski reviewed the written patrol report: there were 653 calls in July, 45 traffic citations issued and 14 crashes 4 with injury, one fatality. There have been 177 total crashes year to date, 57 with personal injury, 1 fatality. Jail Report – Lt. Woller reviewed a written jail report for July with arrest data by race and gender. There was an average of 66 inmates incarcerated with a 60% unemployment rate at the time of booking, 1 on electronic monitoring. Dispatch and Emergency Management – Dispatch- Dir. Ripczinski reviewed a written report showing 610 emergent 911 calls and 3,071 non-emergency calls received in August, with a total of 26,378 dispatch calls received year-to-date. The committee was updated on upcoming staff training events. Emergency Management- Dir. Ripczinski reviewed a written report with updates on events, grant funding, training and radio communications meetings. Code Enforcement- A written report was provided on dog licenses, dogs at large, TRH and human health hazards investigated. There were four TRH complaints investigated in August, and three new potential human health hazard complaints from August were investigated and closed. Child Support Department Report – Ms. Okamoto presented a written report for July and updated the committee on an annual audit. Emergency Services— Mr. Froemel presented a written report for the period January 1-August 25, 2026. New software is providing meaningful data points for reporting. Radio Towers Update- Mr. Markgren updated the committee on the status of the towers, which are still on schedule to be operational by the end of 2026. Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Update– Mr. Markgren shared Justice Point statistics, an update on the RCORPS grant submission, and Allrise conference takeaways which emphasized meeting basic needs and employment for successful treatment outcomes. Board Appointed Committee Updates— None Correspondence, Reports from Conferences and Meetings— Mr. Savitsky thanked the Phipps Motorcycle Ride for their generous donations to local law enforcement and EMS. Future Agenda Items- Radio Tower Update by GenComm Meeting Date/Time – The next meeting of the Public Safety Committee will be October 1, 2026 at 9:00 am in the Board Room. Meeting adjourned at 9:24am Minutes recorded by Liz Klein, Sawyer County Clerk