Elk Mound village board discusses future of police department, attorney policy
By Cara L. Dempski
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound village board discussed where to go with the police department and president Steve Abraham’s suggestions regarding the village attorney policy at its first May meeting.
Abraham addressed the interim police department as part of the new business before the board at the May 10 meeting.
“There seems to be some confusion as to who the two officers referred to in various articles were that resigned,” Abraham said. “We as the village, who paid the bills, never received any sort of formal letter of resignation. We’d really like to see that.”
However, an email Hakes forwarded to members of the employee relations committee, the Messenger, and several other media outlets April 20 contained a brief resignation letter from part-time officer Cory Dechow. The letter was time stamped April 19, 2017, and stated Dechow’s intent to resign his part-time position effective immediately.
The village president said he would like for the employee relations group to investigate the matter further and secure letters, on advice from the village attorney.
The board’s approval of this measure led into discussion on commencing the hiring process for a new Police Chief.
“The word is out there, by whatever means,” Abraham noted. “I actually had a phone call, and then got a resume from an individual who came from Colorado and lives in Warrens.”
Terry Stamm asked to be part of the hiring committee after having served as police chief many years ago. Abraham said former Dunn County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Teitz forwarded several suggestions to the board via email for the hiring process, and indicated his willingness to participate in the hiring process.
Abraham noted the process will be long and detailed in order to “get it right.” He has asked employee relations and public safety to create checklists for what each group is looking for and the hiring process. No vote was taken to proceed with opening the hiring process.
The board also discussed the current attorney policy, with Abraham informing the board it might be best for all three contracted offices to have at least two attorneys – a primary and a secondary – to respond to village needs.
Right now, Chris Mayer of Schofield, Parent, Mayer and Huff is the primary attorney handling criminal prosecution for the police department and Jason Brasch is the village’s primary contact at Bakke Norman for municipal law with Terry Dunst as his backup. Allen Harvey provides guidance regarding ordinances.
Abraham would like to have one back-up attorney for both Mayer and Harvey to ensure the board’s legal needs are met as quickly as possible.
In other business, the board:
• Discussed introducing “Traffic Tamers” to the village. The program would pair village residents responsible for monitoring traffic after attending a short training on use of the RADAR speed tracking device. One person would operate the RADAR while the other would copy down vehicle information to forward to law enforcement for citations to be issued. The program is being used in Menomonie with some success.
• Heard a presentation from a representative of UW-Extension regarding Dunn County’s broadband service. He encouraged those present at the meeting to attend a community discussion at Boyceville’s Tiffany Creek Elementary School May 23 at 6 p.m.
• Heard a proposal from a village resident suggesting the use of two acres of land between the tree line on the northern border of the Village Park and interstate 94 for a pollinators garden.
• Heard a brief statement from a village resident chastising the board for “dropping the ball” on maintaining the police department and encouraging the board to get a new Police Chief in place as soon as possible.
