Three Western Kenosha County municipalities are working toward funding 24/7 in-station rescue services for their communities.
The Twin Lakes Village Board, Randall Town Board and Wheatland Town Board met Tuesday at Twin Lakes Village Hall to hear a rough proposal from Twin Lakes Rescue Squad.
The rescue squad, a free standing entity, currently provides emergency medical service to all three municipalities.
Twin Lakes Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief Ron Redlin laid out the department’s proposal at the joint meeting.
“Our recommendation is relatively simple,” Redlin said. “We would like to create positions for full-time employment to recruit and hire EMTs to cover our communities on a 24-hour schedule. Our recommendation is to make them employees of the village of Twin Lakes so we can leverage the benefits package of the village and a competitive salary to recruit and retain strong quality candidates we couldn’t otherwise attract. We would like to also continue to use our volunteer and paid-on-call staff to supplement these full-time employees to strengthen our coverage for calls.”
That proposal would require seven hires from either inside or outside the department: six advanced EMT level/firefighters and a supervisor. The EMT/firefighters would work 24 hours on, 48 off. The supervisor would have a more conventional Monday-Friday, daytime schedule, with some exceptions. Starting salary would be $55,000-75,000 depending on licensure, certifications, and position. While the new full-time EMT/firefighters would be village of Twin Lakes employees, TL Rescue would retain ownership of its building and equipment, including its ambulances. Up keep and replacement of that equipment would continue to be paid for through donations and billing for services.
The rescue squad estimates the cost of the new personnel to be $800,000 to $1 million, Redlin said.
Currently the municipalities pay a retainer to TL Rescue: Twin Lakes $85,000 and Wheatland and Randall $60,000 each. That retainer would no longer be paid to TL Rescue. Instead, the municipalities would share the new personnel cost.
Just what that share of the new personnel cost each municipality should pay was still up in the air Tuesday.
Twin Lakes village President Howard Skinner proposed Twin Lakes pay 40 percent and Randall and Wheatland 30 percent each. Village officials pointed out that since the new EMT/firefighters would technically be Twin Lakes employees, that village would likely incur some additional costs beyond compensation.
But that proposal received some pushback from Randall town Chairwoman Paula Soderman, who made the argument that Twin Lakes is twice as large as Randall or Wheatland.
Whatever the share, all three municipalities face having to pass referendums to approve the additional spending.
After TL Rescue officials made the case that knowing the percentage would be key to developing materials explaining the need and impact for voters, members of all three boards agreed to discuss the matter at their next individual board meetings.
“How much is it going to cost me?” is likely to be the key question rescue and municipal officials will be asked before the referendum, Redlin said. TL Rescue is already working with a consultant to develop a strategy for getting the referendums approved. That will likely involve extensive public education efforts including explanatory materials, social media and meetings.
Said Soderman “For some it’s going to be an easy sell; for some it’s going to be a hard sell.”
If the proposal moves forward, the referendum would likely take place in April 2024. If implemented, the new personnel could start in January 2025.
