Salem doesn’t want to patrol Lilly Lake in 2017


Salem does not intend to patrol Lilly Lake in Wheatland in 2017 as it did this summer.

That was the recommendation of village staff and the consensus of the Town Board as well at a Salem special board meeting Monday.

This summer, Salem contracted  with Wheatland for water patrol of Lilly Lake, with Paddock Lake for water patrol of Paddock Lake and with Silver Lake for water patrol of Silver Lake. The contract with each municipality varied some, but the town receives revenue from fees paid by the municipalities and reimbursements from the state Department of Natural Resources.

Town administrator Patrick Casey said Lilly Lake was a little more removed from Salem than was ideal. Public safety Director David Shortess, who supervises water patrol, added that only a personal water craft was provided for patrol, parking became difficult and there was limited need for water patrol on Lilly Lake in his opinion.

“We were barely able to even write a citation,” Shortess said. Most of the citations that were written were for equipment problems.

Supervisor Dan Campion questioned continuing with the Paddock Lake contract, citing concerns with patrolling a lake in a neighboring municipality. But Casey said he felt Paddock Lake was a different situation, with it being essentially inside the town’s boundaries.

Silver Lake will not be an issue for 2017 since the village and Salem should be merged into a single municipality by then, if the current merger plan continues.

The board gave Casey direction to not include Lilly Lake water patrol in the 2017 budget.

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  1. robert walski says:

    no police should be patrolling little lake like this anyway just another money maker leave the fisherman alone wisconsin is becoming a place that no one want to fish anymore too much harassment these days

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