Elk Mound Village Board approves purchase of another new police department radio for $4,500
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound Village Board has approved the purchase of another new radio for the Elk Mound Police Department at a price not to exceed $4,500.
These radios are software based, so they are easy to update, said Elk Mound Police Chief Chad Weinberger at the Elk Mound Village Board’s April 15 meeting.
The radios also have immense capabilities and can be used to talk to the county sheriff’s department, he said, noting that this is the last portable radio to be replaced in the police department.
When children were playing on the railroad tracks and the train had to do an emergency stop, Police Chief Weinberger said he was able to communicate with other agencies.
The radios also allow the police chief to communicate directly with the school district, which cuts down on response time, he said.
Because the radios allow officers to talk with Dunn County and with the Wisconsin State Patrol, for example, there is no “back and forth” between the other agencies and dispatch so that the officers can get the information directly from the source, Police Chief Weinberger said.
The cost of one individual radio seems expensive, but the Elk Mound Police Department has been budgeting to replace the radios so they can all be changed out, he said.
All of the older radios used by the police department have reached their “end of life.” They still work, but they do not work as well, Police Chief Weinberger said.
The radio in the patrol office also will not link to Wiscom (Wisconsin Interoperable System for Communications) and also is in the “end of life” stage, the police chief said, adding that he is currently looking for grant opportunities to replace the patrol office radio, which will cost about $10,000.
The Elk Mound Village Board unanimously approved purchasing one EF Johnson Kenwood Viking P25 VP8000 radio for the police department at a cost not to exceed $4,500.
Shed
A shed located at the Elk Mound Village Park situated close to the town line was sitting askew and almost falling over, reported Mark Levra, director of public works.
Public works employees used the tractor and the loader to push it back upright again, and then used diagonal poles to stabilize it, he said.
The shed is not on a slab, and it is in the beyond-repair stage, Levra said.
The Elk Mound Lions Club uses the shed for storage, and the village has cones and barrels stored in the shed, he said.
Levra said he has been looking at options for replacing the shed and would bring a price to the Elk Mound Village Board for consideration.
The size Levra has been looking is 16-feet by 16-feet, which is somewhat larger than the existing shed, and village employees could build it themselves, he said.
The doors on the old shed function all right, but there have been some high winds lately, and the shed was leaning hard, Levra said.
“It is back as straight as it can be, and it is braced as well it can be,” he said, adding that he was fairly certain it would not tip over within the next day or two.
The shed is over 100 years old and was donated by a nearby farmer to the Lions Club in the earlier days of the club, said Terry Stamm, village president.
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Village Board:
• Learned that in March, there were 57,194 gallons of wastewater going through the wastewater treatment plant, compared to 107,129 gallons in March of 2023. The reduced number of gallons is due to the fact that there was little to no snowmelt runoff this year, Levra said.
• Learned that the water has been turned on and the bathrooms have been opened at the village park.
• Learned during the police chief’s report that there had been a parent at Mound View Elementary who was very upset. Police Chief Weinberger said he responded to the school and issued the parent a citation for disorderly conduct.
• Learned that the Elk Mound Police Department had 77 cases for March and that two traffic citations and two traffic warnings had been issued.
• Learned that on March 6, there had been a domestic violence situation in the village during which gunshots had been fired.
• Learned that the police chief has been checking on the possibility of charging records request fees for outside entities, such as adoption and foster checks. The Boyceville Police Department currently charges $20 per person. Many of the checks are for people who do not reside in the village. Recent legislation has expanded what fees the police department can charge for records.
• Received a request from the police department that the village board consider a future agenda item concerning an ordinance amendment about people sleeping in vehicles parked along the streets or on village-owned properties. Since there is more homelessness, this could become more of a problem, Police Chief Weinberger said.
• Learned that Elk Mound fire department had responded to four calls in the last month, and that the department responded to 83 calls in 2023.
• Learned that the Community Center/Library Committee has voted to investigate designating the Community Center/Library Building as an alternate polling place.
• Learned there will be a “Flames and Fenders” event sponsored by the Elk Mound fire department on August 17 at the Elk Mound Village Park from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and that the event will include a car show, silent auctions, food sales, canned beer sales and kids games.
• Approved updating contact information in the Village of Elk Mound Emergency Operation Plan. The plan has not changed operationally and only needs updated contact information, Police Chief Weinberger said.
• Approved changing the May meeting date from Monday, May 20, to Tuesday, May 21, at 6 p.m. Levra said that his daughter will be running in a track meet on May 20, and he did not want to miss it.
• Approved an outdoor consumption permit and event application submitted by the Elk Mound fire district for the August 17 event.
• Appointed Village Trustee Pat Hahn to serve on the village’s Board of Review. State statute 70.46 (1) states that the clerk, village president and all village trustees must serve on the Board of Review. It was not clear why only Hahn would be serving on the Board of Review and not the rest of the village board. The Board of Review for Elk Mound is expected to be held in August. At least one of the people serving on the Board of Review must take the state-approved Board of Review training.
