EM police department evidence room planned for DPW cold storage
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound Police Department will soon have a new evidence room in the cold storage area of the department of public works building.
The Elk Mound Village Board approved building the evidence room at a cost not to exceed $7,000 at the February 19 meeting.
The estimate for building the evidence storage is $6,708.85.
The property and finance committee toured the current evidence storage area in the village hall and also toured the department of public works building before making the recommendation to the village board, said Elk Mound Police Chief Chad Weinberger.
The total cost includes $1,000 for a rolling stepladder with a platform, which is necessary for safety purposes, and $1,000 for two gun safes, he said.
All together, $6,000 will be transferred from the police citation savings fund to the cold storage general fund, and another $500 will come from the public works cold storage fund, while $1,200 will come from the police department’s new equipment fund, Police Chief Weinberger said.
At a previous meeting, the police chief told the village board that the evidence room in the village hall was running out of room and also said that village employees who work at the village hall were indicating the smell of marijuana and methamphetamine was making them feel ill.
The Elk Mound Village Board approved the police department evidence storage area in the department of public works building on a voice vote.
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Village Board:
• Learned from Mark Levra, director of public works, that Levra had submitted the application for the village’s Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit the day of the village board meeting. The application is due in April, and the permit is expected to be issued in September, Levra said.
• Learned from the police chief that incidents of identity theft in the village are increasing, with one suspect identified as being in Bosnia and another in India.
• Learned that the Elk Mound Police Department had participated in active shooter training at UW-Stout on January 18.
• Learned that a family with a “dangerous dog” that had bitten several people had voluntarily moved out of the village.
• Learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is considering the idea of bringing training to this area for dealing with “swatting” incidents. Swatting involves making a false emergency call in the hope that armed police will come and raid someone’s home.
• Learned that the Elk Mound fire department had 83 calls in 2023, and that the fire department responded to 63 calls in 2022. The payroll for 2023 was $6,055.91 more than for 2022. The fire district also is working on an ordinance pertaining to invoicing for fire calls.
• Learned that the second Colfax ambulance is now parked at the Elk Mound fire station. Work is continuing to make sure staff are available to take the ambulance out on a call, which requires one Advanced Emergency Medical Technician and one Basic EMT, although if the ambulance is “second out” on a particular call, then it can be taken out by two Basic EMTs.
• Reviewed recommendations for the village park rental policy. Some of the recommendations included increasing the fee of $25 to $50; increasing the insurance requirement to $100,000; and increasing the cost of field rental from $2,500 per year to $5,000 per year. The village board approved tabling the item until the March meeting to give board members time to think about the recommendations.
• Approved an amendment to Section 2-2-9 of the village ordinances to hold one village board meeting per month instead of two meetings, with one meeting being held on the third Monday of each month. No discussion was held on Section 2-2-8 of the village ordinances, which refers to the compensation being paid to village board members for their service to the village.
• Approved a bartender operator’s license for Brandon Redwine (Kat’s Pourhouse).
