Monroe Police and Fire Commission Meeting – March 18, 2026
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Monroe Police and Fire Commission Meeting – March 18, 2026
The Monroe Police and Fire Commission met on March 18, 2026 at 2:00 PM in City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting included a roll call establishing a quorum, approval of the previous meeting minutes, and a brief open discussion before the Commission moved into closed session to consider qualifications of police chief candidates. No public comments were heard.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes – February 12, 2026: The minutes from the previous meeting were approved by voice vote with no additions or corrections.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public provided comments or testimony.
Discussion Items
- Closed Session Procedure and Candidate Involvement: Prior to moving into closed session, the Commission briefly discussed whether outgoing Police Chief Kelly should be present for the candidate review. It was decided that the Commission would first review the two candidates independently, without the Chief's input, to avoid any perception of prejudice or undue influence. The Commission then considered a motion to enter closed session under Wis. Stats. §19.85(1)(c) to discuss employment, promotion, or performance evaluation data of public employees, specifically to discuss applications for the position of Police Chief.
- Open Session Item D.1 (Recruitment and Timeline): The agenda listed an open session discussion on recruitment and timeline for the Police Chief candidate, but the Commission did not address this item in open session before entering closed session. The item was effectively deferred to a future meeting or handled within the closed discussion.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to Approve Minutes: Approved by voice vote (all in favor, none opposed).
- Motion to Enter Closed Session: Moved and seconded, with a roll call vote resulting in 4 yes votes (Dave Denninger, Robin McLeish, Jerry Gooth, Amanda Fields) and no no votes. Greg Fetters is not recorded as voting, but quorum was established with five members present. The motion carried, and the Commission entered closed session at approximately 2:05 PM to review Police Chief candidate qualifications.
Meeting Transcript
All right, the uh hour of two o'clock having arrived, we'll call this meeting of the uh Monroe City Police and Fire Commission to order. Uh first order of business is roll call. Dave Denninger, uh here, Robin McLeish, Jerry Gooth, Greg Fetters, and Amanda Fields. Okay, we have a quorum. Um next order of business is uh correction and or approval of minutes from February 12th. I believe copies of that were emailed to us. Uh any additions or corrections? None appearing. A motion would be in order to approve. So moved. Second, moved and seconded that the February 12th minutes uh be approved. There was no additions or corrections previously, so uh voice vote. All in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Motion carries that brings us to closed session, Chief Kelly around. So he is available if you would like him to be here. Um he wasn't quite sure, and we weren't of of how much he should or or you guys would want him to be involved in this. Um we thought it may be best for you guys to look at the two candidates and get your own opinions and then potentially ask him as part of further follow-up, but without maybe having his prejudice or the perception to others of him maybe persuading or or something, the the direction. All right, uh, you do have a closed session schedule, but I'm reading at one time. We thought we might have a uh new officer candidate to uh talk about, but apparently that's no longer the case. Is that correct? Okay, uh so we are under uh the following. We're going to uh uh go into closed session potentially to consider uh employment or promotion of uh public employees over which this body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility and the point will be to discuss uh the applications that were received for the position of chief of police that's under 1985 1C. Is there a motion? Move to go into closed session for the reasons stated and under the statute provided. Second, second motion and second, any discussion? None appearing, roll call. Dave Denninger, yes, Robin McLeish, yes, Jerry Gooth, yes, and Amanda Fields, yes. All right, motion carries. We are in closed session.
openpublica.com