Minutes

MINUTES MEETING POLICE & FIRE COMMISSION BERLIN, WISCONSIN BERLIN CITY HALL – 2ND FLOOR COUNCIL CHAMBERS February 04, 2026 -6:30pm President Ron Ross called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. Present: Commissioners Morgan Monohan, Ron Ross, Gary Knoke, and Keith Hess. Seated virtually: None. Absent: Denise Krentz. Also present: Police Chief Brian Pulvermacher, Fire Chief Doug Dewhurst, City Admin Jesse Balcom, Liaison Stobbe, Fire Department members and family, and Berlin Journal: none. Public appearance: None. Under Fired Department service awards, the following awards were given to those on the department. For 10 years: Water Officer-Aaron Dollevoet, and Lieutenant -Troy Hahn; For 15 years: Lieutenant-Kyle Boeck; For 30 Years: Captain-Tim Bending, and Assistant Chief-Chad Hahn. Under Fire Department applicant Jake Fox, Hess motioned to approve the appointment of Jake Fox to the Fire Department. Knoke seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Under approval of minutes, Hess moved to approve the open and closed P&F Commission minutes of January 07, 2026. Knoke seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Under Fire and Police Department annual reports, Chief Pulvermacher stated that he used the same format as in the past years. Most of the categories that are shown in the report have remained the same aside from OWI. The OWI category has actually gone down. This could be due to a new trend of non-drinkers, as the new generation does not drink as much. The department as a whole has met most of the goals, we set for ourselves. In general, the department is very young and they are all still learning. Hess stated that it is nice the department has gone a whole year being at 100%. Chief Pulvermacher agreed. No further questions or comments were made for the police dept. annual report. Chief Dewhurst explained that there were more accident calls within the city this last year than in previous years. He also stated that he had followed the same outline for the report as in the past. Monohan stated that Tuesdays seemed to be the high call volume for the week. Chief Dewhurst stated that is correct and not sure why Tuesday is a high call day but it tracked with the previous year. No further questions or comments were made for the fire dept. annual report. Knoke moved to approve the fire department expenses as presented. Hess seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Under Fire Department reporting and updates Fire Chief Dewhurst explained there were 12 calls for last month. Most of the calls for last month were CO2 alarms, but it seemed they were just bad detectors. Maintenance issues, engine 69 had a water leak. Red power did come out to fix that with a valve replacement. Upcoming events, none. Training, we had self-contained breathing apparatus training this past month. We will also be having a search and rescue training later this month. Hess moved to approve the Police Department expenses as presented. Monohan seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Police Chief Pulvermacher stated that the chart provided to the commission shows last month’s calls. The chart shows that there were 179 traffic stops, 7 drug investigations, 8 welfare checks, 6 theft investigations, and 7 domestic abuse investigations. The chart indicates, traffic contacts had returned to a more normal volume for the month. Domestic abuse cases have climbed in call volume. Under Police reporting and updates, Police Chief Pulvermacher explained the first defense and arrest tactics training has taken place and another is scheduled for later this month. The Assistant Chief has finished the 4th week of the 6-week Command College training. It is nice to see when he comes back the new knowledge he has gained from the course. Next week I will be attending the annual Chief’s conference. The SRT grant for body worn cameras has come back open. The deadline for this grant is March 12. We will be going in front of the Common Council to ask for their approval for this grant as it is a one-to-one match. So, if we were selected for the grant the city will have to match what is given. Since we are not able to meet again before this deadline, I wanted to give you a heads-up that we would be asking for this grant. It would greatly help with the pilot program we currently have going. We could get more cameras and/or possibly get a redaction software for the video so it would be easier to do those types of open records. The pilot program so far has gone very well. We still have some issues with sending video links and the other agency opening those links in time. The officers really like the program and enjoy not having to burn DVD/CDs anymore. Under old business: None. Under new business: None. At 6:52pm Hess motioned to adjourn. Monohan seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Submitted by Stephanie Skivers Administrative Assistant Next scheduled meeting will be Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 6:30pm at the Berlin City Hall