Monroe Police and Fire Commission Closed Session for Police Chief Interviews - April 16, 2026
Police and Fire Commission Meeting: Police Chief Candidate Interviews - April 16, 2026
The City of Monroe Police and Fire Commission met on April 16, 2026, at 1:00 PM in City Hall Council Chambers. The primary purpose was to conduct closed-session interviews of police chief candidates with selected community stakeholder panelists, review candidate qualifications, and discuss the recruitment process. The meeting was attended by Commissioners Deininger, McLeish, Fields, and Guth; Commissioner Fedders was absent.
Closed Session
The commission entered closed session at 1:04 PM under Wisconsin Statutes §19.85(1)(c) to consider employment, promotion, compensation, or performance evaluation data of a public employee. During the closed session, commissioners interviewed two police chief candidates with eight invited community stakeholder panelists representing local schools, Green County EMS, the City Council's public safety committee, fire department, SSM Health, the city of Fitchburg, and Main Street Monroe. Following the interviews, commissioners reviewed the candidates' qualifications with the panelists and later deliberated among themselves. The closed session concluded at 3:36 PM.
Open Session Discussion
Following the closed session, the commission reconvened in open session to discuss the police chief recruitment process, timeline, and logistics. They scheduled a follow-up meeting on April 23, 2026, to continue the selection process. No other action was taken.
Key Outcomes
- The commission unanimously passed motions to enter closed session (4-0) and to return to open session (4-0).
- A motion to adjourn at 3:38 PM passed unanimously on a voice vote.
- A follow-up meeting was scheduled for April 23, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
It appears the uh hour of one o'clock has arrived and we've got a busy afternoon. So I think I will call the meeting of the City of Monroe Police and Fire Commission to order. First order of business is roll call. Dave Denninger. Here. Jerry Gooth. Here. Amanda Fields. Here. And Robin McLeish. Okay. All four present members are present. We have a quorum. We will be going into closed session, but before we do that, while we're still in open session, I would like to uh introduce the uh guest panelists that are uh giving us an afternoon of their time to help us uh in the selection process for the new chief of police. So I'll call your name and if you just raise your hand, we'll know you're here. Joe Monroe from Monroe Schools, Al Gerber, Al Gerber. What he's not here. Okay, uh Hanni Rieger. Did I pronounce that right? No. Oh, okay. Is it Han? It's Hannah. Hannah. Okay. Okay. Hannah Riger, and you are the uh new director or chief of the uh Green County EMS service. Um Matt Schaeffer, okay. Matt Schaeffer, and uh you chair the City of Monroe Council's um public safety committee. All right, um Al Roofer present over here, our fire chief, Catherine Raymond, okay, from SSM Health, Chad Brecklein, Chad Brecklein, and you are the city administrator in Fitchburg and formerly police chief. Thank you. And Jordan Nordby, all right, and you are the uh executive director or whatever the title is for Main Street Monroe. All right. Um so I want to thank you all for being willing to do this and to uh give us the benefit of your um experience in the community and your expertise in your fields, and uh we're looking forward to a productive afternoon. With that, uh I think we'll go into more details once we get into closed session, and let me refer to my agenda. What we're doing this afternoon is um considering the employment uh promotion uh of a public employee over which this body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Specifically, our uh afternoon will be devoted to uh uh interviewing uh candidates for the chief of police of the city of Monroe and thereafter uh discussing uh the results of those interviews and uh uh qualifications of the two candidates. So with that, uh do we have a motion? Move to go into the closed session under the provisions listed on the agenda. Second, second moved and seconded that we go into closed session uh under section 1985 1C uh as stated in the agenda. Uh we need a roll call vote. David Denninger? Yes, Jerry Gooth, yes, Amanda Fields, yes, and Robin McLeish. Yes. Motion uh carries unanimously. Uh we are in closed.
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