Kettle Moraine Fire Board — Minutes

KETTLE MORAINE FIRE BOARD MEETING MINUTES Approved June 25, 2026 Call to Order: President D. Miresse called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm on June 25, 2026, at the North Prairie Municipal Building at 130 N. Harrison St, North Prairie, WI. Roll Call: C. Mommaerts, J. Davis, W. Konichek, R. Spurrell, A. Shird, C. Wood, D. Miresse were all present. Pledge of Allegiance: D. Miresse led the Pledge of Allegiance. Discussion/action as necessary to approve minutes from May 28, 2026, and Special Meeting on June 4, 2026: Motion by C. Wood to approve the minutes from May 28, 2026, and Special Meeting June 4, 2026, as submitted. Motion seconded by J. Davis. No further discussion. All in favor. Motion carried. Citizen comments/concerns: Joan Beglinger, 198 Crooked Stick Pass, North Prairie, a new resident, requested assistance with locating documents that describe what the board is and its accountability. R. Spurrell stated he wasn’t exactly sure what Joan was looking for, but that some of the aspects of the Fire Board are established through municipal ordinances and those could be found in each of the municipality’s ordinances. Joan clarified she was looking for organizational structure, what the accountabilities are and past minutes. R. Spurrell stated that past minutes are on the website. C. Cliffgard added that all past minutes, financial reports and Fire Chief’s reports are available on the Kettle Moraine Fire District website. Announcement of possible closed session pursuant to WI State Statue §19.85(1) (g) for consultation with legal counsel concerning potential litigation related to accounting concerns: D. Miresse made an announcement of possible closed session pursuant to WI State Statue §19.85(1) (g) for consultation with legal counsel concerning potential litigation related to accounting concerns. Discussion/action as necessary to approve the financial report and monthly account payables: R. Spurrell inquired about the expense code being used for the payment made to Palmyra for EMS coverage. Chief Nottling stated those expenses are recorded under the Salaries- Part-time account. Motion by J. Davis to approve the financial report and monthly account payables as presented. Motion seconded by A. Shird. No further discussion. All in favor. Motion carried. Report from Administrative Assistant: C. Cliffgard provided an update regarding the audit process. She reported that Jordan had requested a few invoices, which she submitted. A. Shird asked if these receipts were from 2022. C. Cliffgard replied yes. Discussion/action long term plan regarding the Fire Chief position: R. Spurrell asked for this to be put on the agenda at the last meeting to discuss how the board should proceed because if it’s going to affect the budget the board needs to start looking at that as well. He stated now he is not sure what kind of discussion to have as a board member regarding our long-term plan since he is not sure of the long-term plan of the municipalities and where they stand. C. Mommaerts stated she feels the board should get an ad together for a full-time chief to move forward a little. R. Spurrell stated he would typically say ok to having that discussion, but the Joint Fire Committed had requested an item to be added to the Village of Eagle’s upcoming agenda regarding the Village and Town of Eagle joining together in a unified Fire Department. If the committee is recommending not continuing with this, he doesn’t think the board should go through the hiring process and have someone join us if we are not going to be here in a year or two. C. Mommaerts stated that North Prairie should figure out what they want on their end of the agreement and what they want to do, the Eagles will do the same, then all three municipalities can come back together to see what can and can’t be agreed on. J. Davis stated that the board could draft an ad for the Fire Chief position but doesn’t think they should post anything until we know what we are doing and if the communities are going to work together. D. Miresse mentioned he would like to see the Eagles hold off on doing anything until they can have further discussions. R. Spurrell mentioned that if the committee is not getting anything done then we should have all three municipalities sit down and have discussions until there is an understanding. W. Konichek asked for verification that if Eagle breaks off then that is terminating this agreement and about the assets if the district is no longer. R. Spurrell replied that if a municipality agrees to end the agreement that ends the district and regarding the assets each municipality takes due ownership of their vehicles since nothing has been purchased jointly. C. Wood asked if the advisory committee is not getting anywhere, he doesn’t know what the problem is to the Fire Board since we don’t have to listen to them and as a volunteer who serves on this board thinks that it sounds like a good idea for the 3 municipalities get together. He was also wondering why the Village and Town of Eagle would want to reconstitute something they couldn’t afford which led us to forming the Fire District and what has changed. C. Wood mentioned looking around the state of Wisconsin and our area in general and that the only way to survive is with Fire Districts. Motion by R. Spurrell to table this until the 3 boards meet jointly. Motion seconded by C. Wood. No further discussion. All in favor. Motion carried. Chief’s Monthly Report: Chief Nottling summarized his written report. He stated as of June 24th, we are at 235 calls, all apparatus are in service, Engine 33 recently had tires replaced and a front-end alignment and the AFG Grant application has been submitted. The training opportunities in the acquired structure ended on May 16th. With the assistance from numerous other organizations, we were able to host several live fire scenarios in the house and ultimately burn it down. The property owners were there with family members and were very impressed with the entire operation. Chief Nottling wanted to take a point of personal privilege since this would be his last Fire Board meeting as a Fire Chief. He wanted to say a sincere thank you to the employees of the Kettle Moraine Fire District and the men and women that work here are true professionals. He stated that it hasn’t been easy for them and it hasn’t been easy being the Chief. As the current Fire Chief and as a citizen he stated that we’ve heard many times that this was set up for failure from day one and he encourages the board and especially the 3 municipalities not to repeat that. Chief Nottling mentioned that there are consulting firms that the board can hire that will look at the whole district, the agreement, our call volume, response times and they will do it for you. Right now, we have a committee of people that don’t have relevant experience in the fire service trying to make decisions for the fire service, and when we do fire service decisions those decisions have potentially life consequences. Chief Nottling stated the board needs to start with how to come up with the money, how they want the staffing to be, not just the Fire Chief and that volunteerism is no longer. Lastly, he stated they need to figure this out, gambling with firefighters’ lives, it’s gambling with citizens’ lives and that’s not a gamble that anybody should be willing to take. He thanked the board and is looking forward to his next step. C. Wood asked the Chief if he still believes that the board would not have luck finding a full-time chief or even if that’s the way we should proceed. Chief Nottling replied personally he doesn’t feel it has to be a full-time chief and that a part-time chief can 100% get all the administrative duties done. He stated the micromanaging needs to stop and let whoever they hire do the job the board hired them to do and that the chief shouldn’t be expected to contribute to the staffing problem. Chief Nottling added the district needs full-time employees to be here to go on the calls and take care of the citizens. Motion by C. Wood to go into recess till 7:15pm. Motion seconded by W. Konichek. All in favor. Motion carried. Recess at 7:05pm President D. Miresse called to order the remainder of the Kettle Moraine Fire District meeting on Thursday June 25th at 7:15pm Motion to enter closed session pursuant to WI State Statute §19.85(1)(g) for consultation with legal counsel concerning potential litigation related to accounting concerns: Motion by C. Mommaerts to enter closed session pursuant to WI State Statute §19.85(1)(g) for consultation with legal counsel concerning potential litigation related to accounting concerns. Motion seconded by J. Davis. Further discussion R. Spurrell was not sure what the advice is from the council, but he always had accounting discussions in open meetings. C. Wood mentioned he was not aware of what the closed session was about as well. No further discussion. 4-3 vote. Motion carried. Roll Call Vote: C. Mommaerts – yes, J. Davis – yes, W. Konichek – yes, R. Spurrell -no, A. Shird- yes, C. Wood – no, D. Miresse - no Closed session: Closed session at 7:16pm. Motion to reconvene into open session: Motion by R. Spurrell to reconvene into open session. Motion seconded by C. Wood. No further discussion. All in favor. Motion carried. Open session: Open session at 7:53pm Discussion/action regarding WI Statue §19.85 (1)(g)- Accounting matters if needed: Motion by J. Davis to proceed as discussed in closed session. Motion seconded by C. Wood. No further discussion. All in favor. Motion carried. Upcoming Meeting: The next regular Fire Board meeting is Thursday, July 23, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at the Eagle Municipal Building. Motion to Adjourn: Motion by C. Wood to adjourn. Motion seconded by A. Shird. All in favor. Motion carried. D. Miresse adjourned the meeting at 7:55pm.