The Bristol Village Board on Monday approved an intergovernmental agreement with Paddock Lake for Bristol Fire and Rescue to serve Paddock Lake for fire and emergency medical service.
The IGA was approved by the Bristol Village Board in a unanimous voice vote with all members present The agreement will start Jan. 1, 2026 and has a 10-year term.
Paddock Lake approved the IGA April 16 with a 5-0 vote with Trustees John Poole and Renee Brickner, abstaining. Brickner said she abstained because she is employed by the village of Bristol as village clerk. Poole has not responded to an email request for his reason for abstaining as of the time this story was published.
Salem Lakes and its predecessor Salem had provided fire protection and EMS to Paddock Lake for 65 years, a news release from Paddock Lake said.
“We’re really excited about this new partnership,” said Bristol Chief John Niederer at Monday’s meeting. “I think we have a good long-term contract.”
Said Randy Kerkman, village administrator: “We worked very hard … to try to get an agreement that worked for everyone.”
The Paddock Lake news release said the motivation for making the change was financial:
Recognizing that the original Fire and EMS service contract between Paddock Lake and Village of Salem Lakes had become heavily reliant on the Salem Lakes taxpayers for support of the Salem Lakes Fire and EMS operational budget, the Village of Salem Lakes Administration and Village Board requested that the current Fire and EMS service contract with Paddock Lake be renegotiated to reflect an annual increase of $393,277, increasing the Village of Paddock Lake’s annual service contract cost paid to Salem Lakes from the current $393,680 to $786,957, this was to take into account for an increase in EMS call volume by the Village of Paddock Lake.
“In the long term the proposed Salem Lakes IGA costs to the Village of Paddock Lake would have resulted in higher taxes to our residents and a possible request for a referendum,” said Paddock Lake Village President Alex Attiah in an email to westofthei.com.
The cost to Paddock Lake for the first year of service under the Bristol IGA will be $425,000 for 24-hour, full-time fire and advanced life support rescue services. The IGA calls for a 3 percent increase per year, said Tim Popanda, village administrator.
Paddock Lake will continue to be served by Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue for the balance of 2025.
Popanda said Paddock Lake performed a study of response times to the village from the Bristol Fire and Rescue station and Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue Station 2 in Salem and Station 1 in Trevor.
SLF/R Station 2 is staffed 12 hours a day. When it is not staffed, response to Paddock Lake is from Station 1 in Trevor.
In general, response times from Bristol were slower than from Station 2, but response time from Bristol was comparable or shorter than from Station 1. Here is a chart provided by Paddock Lake:
Niederer said his department will need to hire additional full-time staff to serve Paddock Lake. Exactly what hires might be needed will be determined during the budget setting process later this year, he added.
Bristol President Mike Farrell said the IGA represents an opportunity to more efficiently use the resources of Bristol Fire and Rescue.
“The agreement is good for both communities,” Farrell said after the meeting.
Attiah thanked Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue for its years of service to Paddock Lake.
“Thank you to the Village of Salem Lakes for years of Fire/EMS services and I look forward to a long term relationship with the Village of Bristol for Fire/EMS services,” Attiah said.
