Fitchburg Police and Fire Commission Meeting - July 15, 2026

The Fitchburg Police and Fire Commission met on July 15, 2026, at 5:00 PM (UTC). The meeting covered staffing reports, crime and fire response statistics, budget-driven staffing reductions, and closed-session actions to conditionally hire new officers and a battalion chief.

Consent Calendar

• Approval of Minutes: The commission unanimously approved the minutes from the June 17, 2026, meeting.

Public Comments & Testimony

• No members of the public were present or joined online, so no public testimony was heard.

Discussion Items

• Police Department Report (Chief Morales):
  • Staffing: Three vacancies exist; three recruits are at the academy, one is in field training, and three officers are on restricted duty. This leaves ten unfilled positions. The chief requested conditional offers for three candidates in closed session.
  • Call data: The department is struggling to accurately record citizen-generated and officer-initiated calls after the loss of dispatch services; they plan to compare year-over-year data once a full year is available.
  • Crime statistics: No homicides; one burglary (subject in custody); one stolen vehicle; one shots-fired incident (subject in custody, firearm recovered, under investigation); six firearms seized; one drug-related robbery; 13 domestic violence incidents. Aggravated assaults are leveling off but burglaries remain a concern. Theft from autos is still high but showed improvement in June. Shots fired are consistent with last year's lower totals.
  • Traffic: 24 serious crashes (state reports filed) and 56 driver-exchange type accidents (no report but documented) for June. Overall accident trends are down, particularly for serious crashes. Traffic enforcement activity is down due to vacancies and officer reassignments.
• Fire Department Report (Chief Sarberts):
  • Responses are trending similar to last year with no major spikes. Average response time is under six minutes for the year.
  • Staffing: One member left for nursing school; vacancies are being filled. The department brought on eight POX (part-time) firefighters, adding 500 more hours from May to June (1,419 to 1,950 hours), but total dollar amounts decreased due to lower POX costs. Some POX firefighters may leave for career jobs near Milwaukee.
  • Mandates (overtime shifts): Six mandates in June, down from 23 in May, attributed to improved staffing.
  • New metric: Reduced engine staffing to three firefighters when a fourth would require overtime (except for skilled positions). This change, driven by budget constraints, reduces capability. In the first 15 days of July, both rigs had four-person staffing 56% of the time. The chief emphasized this is a reduction and not a rationalization; the department is seeking grants and creative funding to restore full staffing.
  • Training center: Used shipping containers were placed yesterday; the center will be four times the original size and operational in about a month, funded through TID money.
  • Cancer screening: Ultrasound screening for seven major organs was completed (18 firefighters participated, self-paid, also offered to city staff).
  • Extrication class: Scheduled for first weekend in October, in partnership with a manufacturer, offering free spots and inviting other Dane County/Wisconsin firefighters.

Key Outcomes

• Closed Session – Police: The commission entered closed session under Wisconsin statute 19.85(1)(c) to consider conditional offers for police officer positions. Returning to open session, they unanimously approved a motion authorizing the chief to make conditional offers to three police officer candidates.
• Closed Session – Fire: The commission entered closed session to consider a conditional offer for the position of POX Battalion Chief. Returning to open session, they unanimously approved a motion authorizing the chief to make a conditional offer of employment for the POX Battalion Chief position.
• Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned with no further announcements.