Minutes

MINUTES MEETING POLICE & FIRE COMMISSION BERLIN, WISCONSIN BERLIN CITY HALL – 2ND FLOOR COUNCIL CHAMBERS August 05, 2026 -6:30pm President Ron Ross called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. Present: Commissioners Morgan Monohan, Ron Ross, Gary Podoll, Denise Krentz, and Keith Hess. Seated virtually: None. Absent: None. Also present: Interim Police Chief Noah Knetzger, Fire Chief Doug Dewhurst, City Admin Jesse Balcom, and Berlin Journal: Paul Weigel. Public appearance: None. Under general public comments, none. Under approval of minutes, Hess moved to approve the open P&F Commission minutes of July 01, 2026. Krentz seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Podoll moved to approve the fire department expenses as presented. Hess seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Under Fire Department rescue squad replacement Fire Chief Dewhurst explained the rescue squad is at the end of its life. There is $100,000 earmarked for the replacement. We are currently looking for equipment made for hauling our stuff. Podoll stated they could look into Towns. Under Fire Department reporting and updates Fire Chief Dewhurst explained there were 18 calls for last month, and 99 calls for the year. Maintenance issues, the tank rebuild will happen next month. Upcoming events, we held our family night cookout which went well. The department participated in Neshkoro parade, July 3 festivities, and the farmer’s market. Training, conducted water training by the river. Hess moved to approve the Police Department expenses as presented. Monohan seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Interim Police Chief Knetzger stated that the chart provided to the commission shows last month’s calls. The chart shows that there were 181 traffic stops, 10 drug investigations, 14 welfare checks, 3 theft investigations, and 2 domestic abuse investigations. The chart indicates, traffic contacts have a slight decrease. There has been a slight increase in property damage but three of the crashes happened in a parking lot. Under Police reporting and updates, Interim Police Chief Knetzger explained that we have not heard yet from the small rural tribal body worn camera grant. The department executed two drug related search warrants resulting in the seizure of over 200 grams of cocaine. We have submitted for training re-imbursement from the DOJ. We should see something for that this November or December. Officers provided patrol to the bugle mouth bass event. Two staff members will be attending first line supervisor training. One officer will be attending narcotics association conference. Another staff member will be attending AR-15 armorer school. We have the upcoming first responder community festival in Princeton this year. Under Police Chief interview process, the interviews will be conducted on August 13. After that we will set up a joint meeting to go over the interviews. Under old business: None. Under new business: None. Hess Motion to convene into closed session pursuant to Wis. Stat. Sec 19.85(1)(c), to consider employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility (1) Police Chief search) Krentz seconded the motion A roll call vote resulted in five (5) ayes, zero (0) nays, and zero (0) absent. Motion carried. At 7:05pm Hess motioned to convene into open session. Krentz seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. At 7:06pm Podoll motioned to adjourn. Ross seconded to motion which carried by voice vote. Submitted by Stephanie Skivers Administrative Assistant Next scheduled meeting will be Wednesday, September 2, 2026 at 6:30pm at the Berlin City Hall