Manitowoc Police and Fire Commission Meeting - April 15, 2026
Manitowoc Police and Fire Commission Meeting - April 15, 2026
The Manitowoc Police and Fire Commission held a regular meeting on April 15, 2026, at 4:00 PM in the Public Safety Building Lower Level, with remote participation via Zoom. All five commissioners were present for the open session, though Commissioner Sauer was excused before the closed session. The meeting covered approval of routine reports, establishment of eligibility lists for police and fire positions, and a closed session to interview internal applicants for the Assistant Fire Chief position.
Consent Calendar
- March 2026 Police and Fire Commission Minutes – Approved unanimously (5-0).
- March 2026 Police Department Monthly Report – Chief noted call volumes were consistent with March 2025. No questions raised.
- March 2026 Fire Rescue Department Monthly Report – Call volumes slightly increased but on par with 2025; a blizzard response was highlighted as a well-coordinated effort with no incidents or crashes.
- March 2026 Building Inspection Monthly Report – Permit activity is increasing seasonally; the Lakeshore Community Foundation renovation at West Gardens and a new sprinkler building replacing a fire-damaged structure were noted. The housing inspection position is being filled.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made.
Discussion Items
- Police Detective Sergeant Eligibility List – Approved for one month. List includes Eric Schultz, Jason Denk, and Alex Mabel. Commissioner participated in interviews and found no issues.
- Police Training Lieutenant Eligibility List – Approved for one month. List includes Noah Draxler and Jeremy Weber.
- Police Patrol Officer Eligibility List – Approved for 12 months. List includes Jordan Smith, Jorge Gonzalez, Catherine Ristikin, and Jacob Pike. Commissioner noted Gonzalez is fluent in Spanish, a needed skill.
- Firefighter/Paramedic Eligibility List – Approved for 12 months. Anticipated first round of hires is five, with potential for more. Commissioner participated in interviews and endorsed the list.
- Closed Session – The commission convened in closed session at 4:15 PM (4-0, Sauer excused) under Wisconsin Statute 19.85(1)(c) to interview internal applicants for Assistant Fire Chief.
- Reconvene in Open Session – At 5:39 PM, the commission reconvened (4-0).
- Assistant Fire Chief Eligibility List – Established for one month, including Brent MacDonald, Jason Sweney, and Jeremy Wagner.
Key Outcomes
- All consent agenda items and eligibility lists were approved by unanimous votes (5-0 in open session, 4-0 in later votes with Sauer excused).
- The closed session was conducted to interview internal applicants for Assistant Fire Chief, and the resulting eligibility list was approved for one month.
- The meeting adjourned at 5:40 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Call the meeting to order roll call. We have all commissioners present. Any public comment? We have no one from the public. Consent agenda. We'll start with the minutes. Are there any corrections? Police department monthly report. Yeah, I reviewed the report. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, but the numbers from March 25 are very consistent with March 26. I did not see a lot of a lot of changes. It's very consistent. Any questions from the chief? Nope. And then we'll go to fire department monthly report. Yeah, and reviewing our monthly report, kind of similar to uh PE, pretty much on par with 2025 numbers, maybe a little increase in in call volume, other than that, pretty much right on par with what we've had in the past. Obviously, if there's any questions, please feel free to ask. Yeah, yeah, that that uh the blizzard went well. Um kind of worked together with uh DPW contacted PD and kind of came up with a whole game plan for uh the event and uh with that um we didn't have any incidences. Um I just know from listening to our members that uh say it's almost like a well-oiled machine. Um we ran enough calls and when the calls are out. I know some of them would deviate off the routes to help us get to uh residences things like that. So uh we kind of had our emergency contacts in place. We were able to get the shelter open when we needed to, things like that, and uh everybody was helping everybody. So it uh worked built well from all aspects. Great job. You guys have an opinion that not a lot of crashes. Uh I guess probably from the standpoint of cars couldn't go fast enough to get in the accident. Just a lot of vehicles stuck, uh, but very very few crashes from from uh the information that I was given. Okay, you want to speak to building inspection on that way? Sure. Yeah, um, as far as building inspection, um things are happening in the city. I know permits, you know, this time of the year the activity ticks up a little bit. Um but I guess nothing really uh that I saw it tonight. Um Chief Laser might have a I don't know if you have any other really comment on that. No, you're good. Okay, just making sure. Um just from what I saw, like I said, uh things are things are moving along and uh they've been talking with Scott Kyle, the new supervisor, yeah, for building inspection. Um he's been reviewing a few more uh home finance, things like that. So Ben, what is that Lakeshore common FDM under new commercial? Lake Shore FDN. Um basically, sorry, at Steve. No, that one I don't know where off of the uh lake front there. Um basically we're um West Gardens. West Gardens, thank you. There's uh they're using part of that building, so there's some renovations that are going on over there because the Lakeshore uh community foundation, which is another non-profit is working uh and obviously closely with the West Foundation, but they're kind of in the same general location, and I can leave that uh office alteration is just some work that's being done to kind of give them their privacy or their own uh part and swing in the dawn of the parking because that's gonna be a new uh structure. That is the brand new one that's going up there. Yeah, the 1.8. They had the fire. That's the one that we're rebuilding.
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