Radio System User Group — Minutes

Radio System User Committee Minutes February 26, 2026 Draft minutes pending committee approval. The Radio System User Committee meeting was called to order by Chairman Bob Ramthun in the Ozaukee Sheriff’s Office Lobby Conference Room of the Justice Center of Ozaukee County, Port Washington. Roll call was taken, and the following committee members were present: Jim Albrinck, Bill Rice, Josh Borden, and Rick Nelson. Others in attendance: Austin Winkler, Ozaukee County I.T.; Shawn Anderson, Ozaukee County Radio Services; Joe DeBoer, Port Washington Fire Department; Brandon Boettcher, Port Washington Fire Department; Jeff Vahsholtz, Cedarburg Fire Department; Jim Biever, Port Washington Police and Fire Commission; Heather Boesch, Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office, arrived at 3:36pm; Joe Laurin was absent. 1. Call to Order at 2:31 p.m. 2. Per Chairman Bob Ramthun, the meeting was properly noticed, and the agenda was adopted. 3. Approval of November 06, 2025, Minutes. Motion by Jim Albrinck, seconded by Rick Nelson, to accept the minutes as presented. Motion carried unanimously. 4. Public Comments/Correspondence/Communications Rick Nelson read a letter sent to him by the Port Washington Fire and Police Commission regarding concerns about the inability of fire and police to communicate due to encryption issues. Jim Biever deferred to Chief DeBoer to address the group. Fire and police need to be able to communicate directly better at critical scenes. Shawn is aware of the issues but needs more time and assistance to implement the new templates and test them. Discussion followed. Shawn advised that a contract employee is starting with him next week. This will be added to the next meeting agenda to see if any progress has been made. 5. Vacant Police Representative Bob Ramthun reported that the vacancy has been mentioned several times to the police chiefs with no response. There was no other new information 6. Radio Back-Up Procedure. There was a catastrophic radio system failure in late January due to water in a fiber-optic conduit. The current procedure was implemented. The failure affected only communication to and from dispatch. Megatone/paging was also down. A request was made to send the current procedure to all stakeholders. Shawn will work with Heather to get this done. Heather Boesch was informed of the need for a formal backup procedure notification process. She will work on getting that set up. 7. Fire Service Portable Radio Shoulder Mic Replacement Update Discussion held, there has been no help on pricing. Bill Rice, with the County Administrator, was told that any purchases are the individual department’s responsibility per the Radio System Agreement. 8. Radio Template Status Update Shawn stated that Mequon Radio Templates were updated to fix that issue, and Ozaukee Central Fire Department is testing the new fire template on a few radios. Matt Karpinski stated there is a list of issues. 9. Update on Radio Services, Condition of the Radio System, Planning for the Future of the Radio System Shawn Anderson provided an update. The programming of the revamped radio templates for the new radios is still in progress. A new contract employee will start next week to assist Shawn. 10. Status of Harrington Beach A programming issue was found with the Harrington Beach Tower, and it will be turned on once the new templates are active. 11. MABAS Update Bill Rice stated there was nothing new. He will be stepping down as the regional coordinator in the coming months. Andrew Jensen from St. Francis FD will likely take over his responsibilities. Box Cards are being updated. Heather Boesch described an issue discovered during a radio drill with Waubeka and Sheboygan County fire departments. The issue stems from a lack of interoperable radio channels between the two counties. Heather will be working with Washington County to try to reach a resolution with Sheboygan County. 12. Washington County Update Shawn Anderson reported that Washington County is turning on its 700 MHz system very soon. 13. Set Next Meeting Date and Time The next meeting is set for June 4th, 2026, at 2:30 p.m. Fire Chiefs will recruit a new representative to replace Chief Rice and forward the name to Rick Nelson for County Board approval prior to the next meeting. 14. Adjournment There being no further business, a motion by Bob Ramthun, seconded by Josh Borden, to adjourn the meeting at 3:55p.m. Motion carried unanimously. CC: County Clerk Radio User Group