All right, good evening, everyone.

We'll call the Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 meeting of the Finance Committee to order.

We do have a quorum.

Um next item on our agenda is Pledge of Allegiance.

Please stand.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right.

Next item on the agenda is public comments.

I do not see any members of the public here this evening.

Um that'll bring us to item number four A, which is approval of minutes for the 28th of April.

Any changes to those minutes from the committee?

All right.

Seeing no changes, those minutes are approved through unanimous consent.

We have three business items tonight, all of which are from the fire department.

Um item number five A, which is a review and possible action on a radio grant for fiscal year 2026.

Assistant Chief Fleming.

If you'd come up and introduce yourself to the folks at home, and the floor is yours.

I think we're unmuted there.

Yes.

Uh good evening, Tim Fleming, is it through your mic?

I don't think so.

There we go.

Good evening, Tim Fleming, assistant chief with the City Watch South Fire Department.

Thank you for your time this evening.

All right, so a radio grant.

Uh we were able to take advantage of uh a grant opportunity that came about.

Uh this is part of the 2028 countywide uh radio system change.

Uh this is an opportunity for us to offset some of those costs that are projected for the 2028 CIP.

Tim, could you just give us a quick little little bit of a background on the the county change with radios?

Certainly.

Uh I guess in general, uh the county is looking to increase the capacity of the current radio system and work a little bit more through interoperability with other area counties and Milwaukee Racine uh into the south.

Uh and uh basically uh if you think of it as a two-lane highway to a four or five-lane highway and creating uh a bigger capacity as all of the radios are interacting on that system, known as the OASIS system.

Uh the upgrade allows that the county gets uh if we don't upgrade our radios, even though that capacity is in place, we're still taking up multiple lanes each time we make a transition.

I'm sorry, transmission on the radio system.

So uh putting this technology into the existing radios uh that have the capability or replacing the radios that are no longer supported or have that technology available.

So this will be a two-part uh process with this grant uh will be what's called flashing, which is adding that technology to existing mobile radios, uh the uh that are available within our system, and then starting that replacement program with our portable radios.

Um with the cost of these radios, we're looking at flashing uh bear with me here.

Um a total of 41 of the mobile radios and then replacing for the portable radios.

Uh those prices are included in the financial remarks.

Uh the portable radios are uh 11,600 each, and the flash cost is 5648.

So very advantageous to take advantage of this opportunity now, knowing that we're be uh tackling this as a citywide project in the 2028 CIP.

Great.

Thanks, Tim.

Questions from the committee?

Alder Person Anderson.

Just one quick one.

Acceptance of this grant doesn't come with any strings attached or that we have to do anything or buy specific radios or anything with that money.

No, the system is exclusive, not exclusive, but we use Motorola radios on the system, so we will be working with Motorola for replacement, but there are no requirements as far as um how the money is spent.

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions for Chief on this?

I'd entertain a motion for approval.

Alderman Lemke.

I move to accept fiscal year 26 interoperable radio program from Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs Office of Emergency Communications.

Is there a second?

I'll second second by Alderman Matthews.

We have a motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

We'll do voice vote.

All those in favor sign aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

That item passes unanimously.

Tim, item number five B is review and possible action on the 2026 to 2028 urban search and rescue agreement with the state of Wisconsin.

Yes, thank you.

So this is uh the a next round or next contract to continue our uh membership, if you will, as part of Wisconsin Task Force One.

Uh, this is part of our special services team, uh, urban search and rescue and technical response within the state program.

We currently have two members.

Uh this is the uh next contract, and there are minimal changes to language.

They remove some language that uh referred to COVID, uh, cleaned up some other language that was a bit ambiguous.

Those were highlighted in the uh contract that was shared with this.

And uh other than that, there are no major changes so it's renewing this contract as far as operating for us.

So and and you touched on it, this is something that cities already the city's been in for handful of years, correct?

Correct.

Yep.

How often how often do we get called out under this agreement?

Uh we're deployed through training resources, but uh we only have two members on it uh as a department at this point, so they have not been deployed on an actual deployment as this that would not be considered training.

Which is a good thing.

That means it is a good thing.

Nobody needs searching or rescuing.

So it does provide additional training opportunities for us and it keeps us um in touch with the state teams uh so that we're working in conjunction uh with them at all times, even with our local incidents that don't require uh bringing in Wisconsin task force.

We're still operating that same platform.

Any questions for the chief on this item?

The committee with that, I'd entertain a motion for approval.

Alder Person Wigerson.

I will do a motion to approve the Hold on a second, I'll get back here to the reading.

Um the 2026-2028 um urban search and rescue agreement with the state of Wisconsin.

Is there a second?

Second by Alderman Lempke.

We have a motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

All right.

All those in favor sign aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

That item passes unanimously.

Item number five C is review and possible action on a reallocation of funds from the capital improvement program project 26 F08, Chief.

Thank you.

Uh I promise this is the last ask I'll have this evening.

Uh this is 26 F08.

That's the replacement of the uh outdated fire safety house that we walked through last year through the show and tell.

Uh we are just wrapping up that uh project.

We will have delivery of the new trailer uh next week.

It'll still have to go for uh graphics, but that'll be operational here in the very near future.

Uh and through that process, we were able to uh find some significant cost savings through that process.

Uh as you'll see in the financial remarks, we're looking to add approximately $98,000 of available funds.

Uh so we're looking to use uh about $35,000 of that in working with the fleet manager.

We were able to locate a vehicle for the our MIH position.

Uh as we've discussed in the past, that position is uh responsible for responding out in non-emergency calls.

It uh is that opportunity to not have our engines and ladders and frontline equipment uh responding to incidents that uh perhaps are non-emergency in that nature allow her to do that.

But to do that, she needs a vehicle.

So we're currently utilizing uh uh I will call it an outdated fleet vehicle.

Uh so our two options here are to utilize these funds uh to uh purchase the new Ford Escape.

Uh that's a recommendation of the fleet manager, and to pull that uh older SUV out of service before it becomes an expenditure that we don't want to maintain any longer.

Tim, could you give the committee maybe an example of the call that this individual goes on?

Certainly.

Uh so uh for example, if our folks uh respond out uh and they find somebody that is struggling for um any need as far as caring for themselves, uh access to housing, uh access to city services, county services, uh they're referred through our MIH program.

At that point, uh Megan is her name, uh responds out.

She does a one-on-one assessment with the SCP this with these people.

Uh she has extraordinary patience and the ability to connect uh her to the services that this person may need.

It can be as simple as getting in touch with uh cell phone provider that's government assisted to allow them to get into contact with things.

Uh she can work with housing and different opportunities to get them if they're homeless uh to get them opportunities for shelter.

Uh quite honestly, any need that uh uh comes upon us.

So our folks are doing a very nice job of realizing that some of those calls that perhaps are uh concurrent users, people that are stuck in the system that aren't getting the care they need.

This is that opportunity to pull back our frontline staff and realize these aren't emerging calls and allow her to get uh in contact with them and get these people the assistance they need to get their independence back and get them in the system where they're supported.

And that role is currently grant funded, similar to the police department's role, correct?

It is not.

How is okay?

So how is that funded then?

Is that a city position?

Okay, that's right.

I the police department is grant funded.

This is a city.

Correct.

This started through grant funding initially, but in 2026, it's fully funded as part of our org.

Okay.

Questions on the vehicle, Alderman Anderson?

Well, I I guess not on the vehicle, but on the money that's not going to the firehouse safety house.

What's not being done to the fire safety house for $35,000 that we thought we might need it for?

Yes, so uh obviously that's a pretty substantial leftover fund.

Uh, and I appreciate that.

That number was estimated through CIP by previous administration, if I'm being honest, as we worked through the process to to build out this trailer, we were able to take advantage of some competitive bid options with the company LLSS indigenous fire that we worked with.

Um we held it at a 27-foot trailer.

Uh it has all the ADA compliant pieces that we were missing from the the 1980s version that we're operating in.

And uh we're very excited and and uh like the project that is coming forward.

I look forward to showing off to uh the community as a whole.

Uh there are no components that we don't have on it.

We just were able to realize some savings and uh had a number that we did not need to spend all of to get this uh project completed at an appropriate size.

Thank you.

You bet.

Other questions for Alderman Lumpkey.

So it says here that an alternative option is to extend the use of an older SUV.

What year is that and how many miles does it have on it?

Uh the exact mileage I don't have on it.

I'd be guessing.

Uh we just had this conversation with the fleet manager.

I apologize.

I didn't grab either of those numbers.

I'm gonna say it's a 2015, I believe, Ford Explorer.

Uh the mileage I don't have.

Um more than a hundred thousand?

I'd be guessing.

I'd I'd hate to put something on record to be off.

Um $35,000.

Well, everybody wants a new vehicle.

I have thousands and thousands of customers and constituents who are driving older than 10-year-old vehicles.

If this isn't an emergency response where they're gonna go with lights and sirens to the um site, I see nothing wrong with a 10-year-old vehicle with a hundred, 120,000 miles making the trip uh to I mean, we're coming into budget season where we're gonna be looking for every cut that we can.

And I think if we bought a vehicle for $35,000 and the average 10-year-old vehicle with 100, 125,000 mile escape at my shop where they get 90% of their work on doesn't spend $5,000 per year, we could get five years out of a vehicle like that.

So I mean, I would not be in favor of it unless you came to the finance meeting the next time with the numbers where it makes sense.

I mean, yeah, it's $35,000 left over, but if we keep spending our leftovers, we'll never get ahead of the game.

And so if we have a vehicle uh that we can use, my opinion is that we should use it uh and not save taxpayers' money because uh but but use that money elsewhere, for example, and I'm just using this as an example for the committee.

I have 85 sections of sidewalk in my subdivision that need to be replaced that we don't have the money to do, and Heritage Hills has numerous amounts, and I'm gonna be pushing for an increase in the sidewalk budget because that's where people trip and fall.

We've already got one broken arm, but that's that's my opinion.

So I wouldn't be in favor of it without more knowledge.

Thank you.

Other questions go ahead, Tim.

Yep, I appreciate that.

I just to clarify, we had that conversation with the fleet manager uh with Mr.

Weinkoff and had that exact conversation uh to evaluate both the concurrent the current use of the vehicle versus replacement uh and the recommendation that he had based on his cost projections was to replace it.

So just wanted to answer that question.

And the due diligence was done, and I apologize I don't have the exact numbers, uh, but it was evaluated with those numbers in mind.

Other questions?

Alder Person Anderson?

Uh along the same lines of the cost of things.

Is there any value to the old fire safety house and what are we doing with it?

The old fire safety house has had some pretty substantial work done to the frame.

The frame failed and then was welded, so it'll have to be evaluated to go to auction.

Uh most likely that's where it'll go.

Uh but we'll be working with uh City Garage with Fleet just to assure that it's um in a current state that would be safe to auction off, knowing that it came from our city.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other questions for chief on this item?

So I'll make a motion to approve the reallocation of funds for the vehicle.

Um is there a second?

Oh second by Alderman Anderson.

Um just kind of knowing the work that this individual does, and it's one of those things where it in the situation where the response like this is needed, you want a vehicle that's gonna work, and you want to make sure that we're getting the folks that need the necessary help.

The other thing that I have is that we've done, in my humble opinion, done a better job of replacing things before they break and before they come become more expensive.

And especially as it relates to police and fire vehicles.

I think this is something that rises to that for me, even though to Alderman Lempkey's point that it's not something that's responding to an emergency call.

But at the same time, we're not an individual that might be having a mental health crisis or something like that.

That is certainly deemed, you know, could be deemed an emergency.

So I'll support it this evening at committee, but I think what you're hearing tonight, Tim, is that if you could bring some more additional information to the finance committee and or even just email the finance committee with some more background on the existing vehicle uh prior to this going to council, I think that would be helpful.

Certainly.

Any other questions for the chief on this?

Alderman Lempke.

My last comment, and again, with 35 years of repair experience, 90% of broken down vehicles get repaired the same day at our place, drop them off in the morning.

They're done the same day.

I think they can be done at the city garage with uh with uh a little bit of effort, and I don't always agree with Mr.

Whitecoff's position of getting rid of vehicles when they're 10 years old.

So uh I won't be voting no.

So that's just that's just one of five.

Very good.

Any other questions?

Any other discussion?

Alderman Mass.

Also to be included too, if we ask about mileage, I'd like to maybe in the future see a statement, uh break down you know, a cost analysis of you know repair versus replace over that.

You mentioned that he had recommended you know it it might be not be cost prohibitive or it might be cost prohibitive to keep servicing that, but some maybe something a statement or a write-up for that would help out as well.

Certainly.

All right.

Any other discussion or questions?

All right, we'll take a vote.

All those in favor of the motion sign aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Great.

All right, so that item does pass four to one.

Assistant chief, thank you very much.

I know you've you've got your kind of your marching orders to get us a little little bit more information prior to this going to council.

Certainly, thank you, Al, for your time.

Appreciate it.

Uh that'll move us on to item number six, communications.

Mr.

Brown.

Uh I know that uh uh Chief Fleming had mentioned uh no more requests tonight, but uh pretty soon we're gonna ramp up with the requests uh in terms of the city budget.

Uh the most probably uh important document that we create on an annual basis.

Um so tomorrow I will be sending uh you along with the rest of the council members the budget calendar.

Um but uh I'd be remiss if I did not say that you should mark your calendar for August 25th for the show and tell at the city garage.

And on the one other item I would identify as something that is different from last year's schedule is that we have two days for that finance committee to risk uh review the CIP as opposed to three for probably the past I would say two, three years.

Um we've been able to get it through through it in uh two meetings, so I'm pretty confident that we will this year as well.

Other than that, uh that's all I have this evening.

Thank you.

Very good.

Any referrals from the committee?

Any objection to adjourning?

Seeing none, we are adjourned.

Thank you, folks.