Judiciary and Law Committee recommends $712,000 in carry-forwards for 2024 budget
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Sometimes it takes a while to complete projects.
The Dunn County Judiciary and Law Committee has recommended to the executive committee and to the Dunn County Board that $712,237 be carried forward into the 2024 budget.
The committee held a special meeting March 8 to consider the carry-forward request from Melissa Gilgenbach, Dunn County emergency management director.
The projects that would be covered by the carry-forward are for communications and emergency management equipment and software, Gilgenbach said.
Several projects related to IT software would use $275,135 of the carry-forward funds. The projects would include replacing a generator at the Menomonie tower site, she said.
Gilgenbach said she has been trying to replace the generator over the past couple of years, but the replacement was delayed because of supply chain issues.
The problems with the supply chain issues have been worked through, and the project is ready to complete. Unfortunately, the generator did not arrive “on scene” in time to be installed under the 2023 budget, so Gilgenbach said she was asking the money to be carried forward so the project could be completed this year.
Another part of the $275,135 portion of the carry-forward involves a software program that will help emergency medical dispatch to assist in medical emergencies while taking 9-1-1 calls, she said.
Currently the people working in dispatch use flip charts that they have had for 10 or 15 years, and upgrading to a software system will make the process more efficient, she said.
The Dunn fire and EMS infrastructure also needs new repeaters and new microwave lengths to connect, Gilgenbach said.
Building improvements
Approximately $425,000 of the carry-forward will be for building improvements.
The improvements will include the replacement of some communication towers and repeater sites, Gilgenbach said.
A communications study approved by the judiciary and law committee will be available in the next week or two, she noted.
Improvements at the tower and repeater sites would presumably improve communications in the northern part of Dunn County.
At the Colfax Messenger office, for example, the Messenger can only hear the Colfax Rescue Squad and the Colfax Fire Department on the scanner in the office when the agencies respond to a call from dispatch but does not hear the original call from dispatch.
As soon as either agency leaves town, the transmissions are mostly lost unless Dunn County dispatch is contacting first responders in the northern part of the county in relation to the same call. The Messenger hears only the calls to the first responders but not any responses after that.
The Messenger also used to be able to hear Menomonie fire and ambulance calls and calls for deputies to respond to crashes or other incidents anywhere in the county.
Other than responses from the local agencies in Colfax, the Messenger only hears calls from St. Croix County regarding fires in Hudson or New Richmond or for some ambulance calls in St. Croix County.
This has been an issue since 2018.
The Colfax Community Fire Department also has told the Messenger that sometimes when firefighters are responding to a call north of Colfax, they lose contact with dispatch and with each other at times.
UPS system
The Dunn Energy Cooperative has provided a grant or donation to replace the UPS (uninterrupted power supply) system at the dispatch center, Gilgenbach said.
The UPS system is a back-up system that bridges the gap between a power outage and the generator kicking in, she said.
It takes time for the generator to fire up, maybe 30 seconds to a minute, and in that time, the computer system can go down, Gilgenbach said.
The UPS system carries the power load until the generator is fully functioning, she said.
The current uninterrupted power supply system has been in place since 1998 when Dunn County emergency management first moved into the judicial center, Gilgenbach said.
The new UPS system is all ready to go, but the room where it would be installed is jam-packed with equipment. The sheriff’s department must move a server out of that room before the new UPS system can be installed, and that is why the project could not be completed last year in 2023, she said.
The $712,237 in carry-forward accounts for three line items in the budget and covers about 10 separate projects all together, Gilgenbach said.
Already budgeted
Tom Gilbert, county board supervisor from Elk Mound and a member of the judiciary and law committee, asked if the money was in the budget previously.
The money has all been included in previous budgets, and the carry-forward is being requested so the projects can be finished, Gilgenbach said.
If the money is not carried forward where will it go? Will the money be shifted back into the county’s general fund? asked Robert Bauer, county board supervisor from Mondovi and a member of the judiciary and law committee.
Gilgenbach said she assumed the money would be transferred to the general fund.
The Dunn County Judiciary and Law Committee unanimously approved recommending to the executive committee, and ultimately the Dunn County Board, that the $712,237 in funds be carried forward into the 2024 budget.
The judiciary and law committee meets next on March 25.
