Minutes

MINUTES MEETING POLICE & FIRE COMMISSION BERLIN, WISCONSIN BERLIN CITY HALL – 2ND FLOOR COUNCIL CHAMBERS January 07, 2026 -6:30pm President Ron Ross called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. Present: Commissioners Morgan Monohan, Ron Ross, Gary Knoke, Denise Krentz, and Keith Hess. Seated virtually: None. Absent: None. Also present: Police Chief Brian Pulvermacher, Fire Chief Doug Dewhurst, Liaison Stobbe, and Berlin Journal: none. Public appearance: None. Under approval of minutes, Hess moved to approve the open and closed P&F Commission minutes of December 03, 2025. Knoke seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Under Fire Department discussion on junior firefighter program, Fire Chief Dewhurst explained they would like to start a junior program geared toward 16–18-year-olds. We would be able to put those who are interested through firefighter one schooling so when they turn 18 years old they can simply enroll with our department. I have spoken to the city administrator and attorney; they are both on board with this program. There would need to be some changes to policies and ordinances to allow this but it is just minor. So long as you approve here, we can start this process and kick start the program. Hess stated that this is a good program to start. Ross asked what the cost would look like for this. Dewhurst stated there wouldn’t be much of a cost. At this time, we would buy a couple of the books needed for the schooling but that should be it. The junior program would use the turnout gear that is used. We don’t know the exact extent of the cost yet since it has not started but there is little anticipation of a significant cost. Monohan asked what would the responsibility be of those in this program if they went on a call. Dewhurst stated that most of that would be clean up duty and learning what each tool is used for on the trucks. Krentz asked if they would be on payroll. Dewhurst stated no they would not it is a volunteer program. Hess motioned to approve the junior program for the Fire Department. Krentz seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. 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. One call from last month was a house fire. The fire was contained but there was significant smoke damage. Maintenance issues, the UTV had a barring out that was replaced. There was a leak on 69 from a corroded fitting. Red power did come out to fix that. Upcoming events, none. Training, we have our training laid out for the year. We will be doing our annual DNR training this month. This past month we had truck cleaning again after that house fire and we changed out batteries. We will also be having our air apparatus training this month. Krentz moved to approve the Police Department expenses as presented. Hess 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 139 traffic stops, 4 drug investigations, 11 welfare checks, 3 theft investigations, and 5 domestic abuse investigations. The chart indicates, traffic contacts were below average this month. Theft reports were below average also. Domestic abuse incidents were up significantly last month. This could be due to the stress of the holidays. Under Police reporting and updates, Police Chief Pulvermacher explained we continue to work with the body cam pilot program and server. We also continue to work with other agencies to get them to understand how to use the links that are sent so they may view the content. Our annual training on response to active shooter took place at Green Lake High School. Shift picks are all completed for this year. All staff are currently remaining on their same schedule but one staff member is switching rotations. At the end of this school year, it will be the third year for Officer Plath as the SRO. With that we will be looking to post the SRO position soon so we can get a new selected officer for the three-year rotation of that position. The annual shop with a hometown hero went very well. There were about 100 children that participated in the program this year. We had generous donors and volunteers to help make this very successful. Under old business: None. Under new business: Annual Reports, Fire Department service awards. Ross moved to convene into closed session pursuant to Wis. Stat §19.85(1)(d) 19.85(c) Considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises ((1) Staff update) Hess seconded the motion. A roll call vote resulted in five (5) ayes, zero (0) nays, and zero (0) absent. Motion carried. Ross moved to seat Police Chief Pulvermacher and Liaison Stobbe. Hess seconded the motion. Motion carried. A roll call vote resulted in five (5) ayes, zero (0) nays, and zero (0) absent. Motion carried. Discussion continued in closed session. At 7:24pm Hess motioned to convene back into open session. Krentz seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. At 7:25pm Knoke motioned to adjourn. Krentz seconded the motion which carried by voice vote. Submitted by Stephanie Skivers Administrative Assistant Next scheduled meeting will be Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 6:30pm at the Berlin City Hall