Village hires firm for fire chief search

The Village of Saukville last week announced that a Kewaskum-based consulting firm will replace longtime Fire Chief Gilly Schultz on an interim basis and lead the effort to find Schultz’s replacement.

Schultz notified the village in June he was stepping down, but his retirement was not announced until last week in a press release.

“With the announcement that long-term Fire Chief Gilly Schultz will be retiring in September of 2019 the (Village) Board determined that utilizing CSS (Community Security Solutions) to coordinate the hiring and recruitment process for chief would benefit the community by working in conjunction with the board in identifying and selecting the next Fire Department administrator,” the press release stated.

“The Village Board also voted to retain Community Security Solutions to provide interim fire chief duties beginning in September of 2019 until a permanent fire chief can be in place.”

Assistant Chief Jim Schlegel and his wife, Sue Schlegel, a 15-year fire department veteran, also announced in June they were leaving the department and have already left.

Jim Schlegel, 63, said he and his wife want to spend more time with family.

“I got 38 years in, 30 years as assistant chief,” he said. “It was just time.”

In addition, Maribeth Barbuch, formerly the department’s assistant chief of EMS, recently left the department. She also is a member of the Port Washington Fire Department.

Schultz said he and village officials had been talking about his retirement for about a year. His last day on the job is Sept. 9.

Schultz, 73, has been with the department for 44 years, 19 of those as chief. He said he will continue to operate his auto repair shop in Milwaukee.

With the shake-up at the top of the department, Village President Barb Dickmann said the decision was made to bring in CSS to look at department operations.

In a report released this week, CSS found fire department members “were proud of their service” and “ extremely dedicated.”

But it also found “major  fundamentals that need immediate attention.”

Those include a “perceived lack of consistent personnel management,” personnel policy development and training for administrative staff in personnel management and employment law.

“Many members perceived personnel are not managed effectively and there is a perception of inconsistent application of corrective action (discipline),” the report stated. 

“The majority were extremely concerned that the lack of personnel management, lack of fire and EMS policies and the lack of personnel/labor law training would bring members to a serious level of frustration,” the report said.

Asked if she was aware of problems within the department, Dickmann said, “We as elected officials don’t involve ourselves in day-to-day departmental operations, but you hear different things.

“It made me feel good that we could have a conversation with folks and learn about exactly what’s going on. Our objective of this whole thing is to have a high quality department. This is an opportunity for the village to enhance our fire protection.”

Dickmann praised Schultz for his years of service.

“Gilly is an awesome human being, and we’re very blessed to have him,” she said. “We’re very proud of the time Gilly served the community. He is assisting in the development of the transition plan.”

Schultz was paid $8,000 a year, plus additional pay for training and being on-call.

The village job posting for his replacement sets a total pay range of  $15,000 to $17,000 from the three categories.

CSS will be paid $30,000, plus expenses, to serve as fire chief and for the search for a new chief. Its contract runs from Aug. 13 through Dec. 13.

With the ongoing changes, Dickmann said, the village also is interested in talking with the City of Port Washington about the future of fire protection, including the possibility of a joint fire station. Port Washington is currently looking at locating a second fire station on its west side and has had conversations with Ozaukee County about where that might be located and whether it could be shared between the two entities.

Dickmann said a joint fire station with Port is “on the table,” with a potential location being the former Schanen farm property on Highway 33.

The site makes sense for both communities since it is situated between the railroad tracks in each community and could serve the east side of Saukville and the west side of Port Washington. The Saukville Fire Station is located on the west side of the village.

The Schanen farm is in the City of Port Washington and would be served by city water but is in Saukville’s sewer service area. It would be costly to extend sewer service to the site.

“We’re willing to sit down with Port and come up with an equitable agreement, but it would have to be beneficial to both communities,” she said.

Port Washington Mayor Marty Becker said this week he has written to Dickmann suggesting the two communities discuss future fire department operations.