Weston could decide on its fire fee today
Two perspectives and an update on my reporting
The village of Weston today could decide on the implementation of a fire fee for Weston residents.
The village is considering a fee charged to residents and businesses (somewhere in the $50-60 range for residents, much higher for businesses) to make up for shortfalls in funding the village’s portion of SAFER Fire District (shared with Rib Mountain) as well as funding the village’s portion of a grant that will pay for nine new firefighters.
The village board voted to start looking into a fire fee in February, after it had approved going to referendum in June 2024 and approved the language in July 2024. Specific numbers were supposed to come to the board for final approval that next August. That never happened. (More on that below.)
Ahead of the meeting, The Wausonian wanted to run two letters to the editor. One from former board member Jim Pinsonneault, who has been critical of the village’s decision, and one from current board member Steve Cronin defending the fee.
Meanwhile The Wausonian did some reporting on the referendum that was approved but then never happened. That appears at the end.
Jim Pinsonneault - what happened to the referendum?
Dear Editor,
There was recently a presentation by the SAFER fire district to the residents of the Village of Weston, regarding a new fire tax. The information presented by the fire chief clearly displayed the need for additional staffing for the department. He illustrated how the call volume is much higher here than neighboring departments who have more firefighters to respond to calls. It was shown that the lack of staffing of the department is negatively impacting response times and effectiveness of the department. The ISO (Insurance Services Office) score for the SAFER district has been downgraded due to the limited capabilities of the department in its current state, causing increases in homeowners insurance for residents in the district. All of this is serious, and no one wants to be critical of either this Fire Chief, or the brave men and women, who work incredibly hard to come to our rescue in our time of need. Unfortunately, this situation requires significantly more attention than what our appointed leaders are giving it.
As a former board member myself, I seem to recall having a similar referendum conversation at a board meeting. So, I searched in the previous meeting minutes, and discovered that I was correct. In July of 2024, agenda item 35 was " A Resolution Approving Official Referendum Question Language for Exceeding the State of Wisconsin Levy Limits for the Purpose of Maintaining Current Fire Protection Staffing/Service"
https://westonwi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07152024-1649
The board at that time was still led by President Maloney, along with trustees Ermeling, Weiland, Hartinger, Cronin, Zeyghami and myself. If you go to the link, you will see Item 35 is a discussion about taking this issue to referendum.
If you scroll down to the minutes from the prior meeting on page 9, you will see the resolution to that item. The motion states, “Motion by Ermeling, second by Hartinger to approve Resolution 2024-016 – A Resolution Approving Official Referendum Question Language for Exceeding the State of Wisconsin Levy Limits for the Purpose of Maintaining Current Fire Protection Staffing/Services”
This was approved unanimously. Within that was a second motion which stated, “Motion by Cronin, second by Pinsonneault to amend and delay the resolution exceeding the State of Wisconsin levy limit for the purpose of maintaining current fire protection staffing/services until Spring Election 2025.”
This was also passed unanimously.
https://westonwi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08192024-1668
I believe the intent of the motion which was made, based on my recollection of the meeting, and replaying the video of it, was that the board asked that there be a referendum for this topic on the spring ballot. This would allow an opportunity for the residents of Weston to vote on what level of fire protective services they want, and if they are okay with paying more for the same or higher level of service. Nine months later, and it never made it on the ballot. In fact, the topic never even made it back on the agenda "in spring." It only resurfaced on a board agenda in July of 2025, certainly past the spring timeline indicated by the board last year, and definitely not a referendum question on the spring 2025 ballot as intended by action taken by the board in the summer of 2024.
This is something that falls under the responsibilities of the Village administrator. Was this intentional from the Village Administrator? Is she too involved in making Facebook videos, and posts for the village to bother with the fire department? Is the Village President more concerned with spending money on a 15 million dollar Kennedy park renovation than worrying about how to fund the fire department? Or is this simply an example of a complete breakdown in operations by making decisions and taking action outside of the board room? It couldn't have been forgotten about, because the next month the finance director had it on her 2024 "August department report "
The President and Administrator meet regularly to discuss business. Those meetings, the minutes, notes or agendas thereof, are never shared with any of the board members or the public. Clearly, things are getting lost in the shuffle here. Once again due to the can being kicked the taxpayer suffers. It is fair to question why this item was NOT brought forward by Administrator Jami Gebert and President Mark Maloney. Since the public is not aware of the private meetings held by these two leaders in Weston, it is fair to wonder. A referendum falls under the direct purview and action of the Village President, and the Village Administrator. This failure to bring forward something that was properly agendized, and discussed, and voted upon raises a large red flag. What else has Administrator Gebert and President Maloney chosen to not bring forward, even after a decision from the Board of Trustees? Without a doubt, things are getting lost here. Once again the can gets kicked. and the taxpayer suffers.
My opinion is that this was not simply negligent oversight, but rather done by design. Failing to put the referendum on the spring 2025 ballot prevented the taxpayers of Weston to have any say in how this plays out and their money is spent. It leaves no choice but to not fund the fire department fully, or to force a new Fire Tax onto everyone. A Fire Tax that will mathematically triple in four years, before year over year costs are even taken into consideration.
I would hope that if you are as unsatisfied with this failure in leadership as I am, that you would come to the Village of Weston board meeting on August 18,2025 at 6pm and share your thoughts about this with the board. Make your voice heard. I look forward to seeing you all there.
-Jim Pinsonneault
Former Village of Weston Trustee
Steve Cronin - people are mischaracterizing the fire fee
My name is Steve Cronin, I have had the privilege of sitting on Village of Weston Board of Trustees for a little over 3 years now. I have also had a seat at the table on the SAFER board of Directors during this same time and have prior experience in the Fire and EMS field. I also recently joined SAFER as a paid per call firefighter to help fight the staffing struggles the department faces.
Over the last few days there has been quite a bit of negative press on the fire fee that the Village of Weston is looking to implement. There are numerous incorrect statements being made by former Trustee Pinsonneault as well as the Wausau Pilot and Review. I’m hoping to help clear this up as I’ve received numerous calls over the last few days.
At the Village of Weston board meeting on July 15th of 2024 a resolution approving official referendum question language for exceeding the state of Wisconsin levy limits for the purpose of maintaining current fire protection staffing/services passed unanimously. This resolution only approved language in the event we decided to go to referendum. There was a second motion made by me and seconded by former trustee Pinsonneault himself to delay a decision on taking the approved language to referendum until spring this very same night.
Fast forward to February 17th, 2025, Board of Trustees meeting and you will find agenda item #46 -Discussion and/or action on SAFER Board of Directors discussion regarding potential Fire Fee. The minutes for this meeting can be found in the March Board of Trustees packet. The minutes show an intent to explore funding mechanisms other than a referendum. A motion was made by Zeyghami, and seconded by Weiland to have staff, along with SAFER, further explore the possible option and implementation of a Fire Fee. The vote was 5-0 with former trustee Pinsonneault also voting to move this motion forward. President Mark Maloney and Trustee Barb Ermeling did not attend this meeting. If Mr. Pinsonneault had such a problem with this, why vote in favor of exploring the Fire fee?
Former Trustee Pinsonneault claims that this item never resurfaced until July of 2025. That is wholly inaccurate, and the records don’t lie. Did trustee Pinsonneault simply forget that this discussion had occurred when he wrote his letter earlier this week in an obvious attempt to mislead the public and cast doubt on village leadership? Let’s also not forget that Jim Pinsonneault was re-elected as a trustee in April and then quit 2 weeks later on the constituents who chose to cast a ballot for him.
Since the inception of SAFER in 2014 the call volume has nearly doubled with minimal changes in staffing levels. The department has continuously been doing more with less and has struggled to attract part-time and paid-per-call firefighters which were heavily relied upon in the past, a trend that is being seen across the nation. Rising costs of everything from fuel to wages to supplies to health insurance costs has further escalated funding issues in recent years. The department has made attempts to find creative ways to stretch dollars further such as the recently created internship program, staff switching to a high deductible insurance program, taking on more interfacility transfers, applying for grants, contracting services for EMS with outlying rural areas, and more.
Regional comparables to the department such as Marshfield, Merrill, Stevens Point, and Wausau show that SAFER is underfunded and understaffed. Call metrics show a staff that is getting increasingly burned out. A recent drop in the ISO rating in the village has caused homeowners insurance to increase significantly for many residents. This drop can be directly attributed to the staffing levels of the department.
Chief Finke has done a great job of stretching every dollar in the time I have been on this board. We cannot continue to kick this can down the road. While I can understand the frustration, I think we all expect that when a call for help is made, somebody answers it. Properly funding public safety is not an option, it’s a must.
Steve Cronin
Vice President- Village of Weston Board of Trustees
SAFER Board of Directors
What actually happened to the referendum?
Pinsonneault brought up a point about the referendum - it was approved, then it just never happened.
I reached out to village administrator Jami Gebert, who explained how the board in February chose to explore a fire fee.
That’s within the board’s prerogative in and of itself. But I had a follow-up question: If that didn’t happen until February, what happened to the referendum in the meantime?
The board approved the referendum’s language in July 2024 after having chosen to go to referendum in June 2024. According to the background material provided to the board in its July meeting:
Following presentation and discussion of the Future Funding Needs Memo prepared by SAFER Chief Finke, the determination at the June 17, 2024, meeting was to pursue Option #4 – Referendum.
In the meeting, Gebert told the board the language would come back to them one more time in August with final numbers. That never happened. Nor did the board ever vote to reconsider its decision.
And that matters, because the referendum language would have had to have been sent in prior to the February meeting to be included on the April ballot. State law requires referenda to be approved and sent to state officials at least 70 days prior to the referendum question appearing on the ballot. That would mean at least sometime in January. Here is the citation from the state’s Legislative Reference Bureau’s guide on referenda in Wisconsin:
The board must then file the ballot measure with the proper official in charge of preparing the ballots for that election no later than 70 days prior to the election at which the measure appears on the ballot. (19) This “70 days prior to election” requirement applies to all ballot measures that are to be submitted to a vote of the people. (20)
So by February, it would have been too late to submit the question to have it on the spring ballot. Meaning not holding a referendum was already decided, or de facto decided by not taking the action the board had voted for long before the board started discussing a fire fee instead.
I asked Gebert about this, since it didn’t seem like the will of the board was followed.
From your review of the meeting agendas & minutes, I don’t believe you’re missing anything. The direction has shifted as we have gone along – the Village has been discussing referendum for some time, plus last year we were discussing possible merger with Riverside. With budget last year and using some fund balance, we also discussed possibly delaying a year or two on referendum depending on a multitude of items (reevaluation, TID closure, shared revenue changes, etc.). I can see how that could cause confusion, but I think the conversation has just been evolving all this time.
It’s unclear, however, where that conversation “evolved.” I double-checked every board agenda, including the budget meetings, to search for anywhere that referendum might have been brought back up for reconsideration to be rescinded. No such item appears on any agenda between July 2024 and February 2025. Nothing comes up until the February meeting, where the board discusses looking into a fire fee. Even then, there is no agenda item rescinding the board’s actions.
Weston residents watching the July board meeting would have been under the impression that the village was planning a referendum. And those same members of the public who watched subsequent meetings wouldn’t have had any reason to suspect otherwise, save for the fact that the wording never came back to the board in August like staff said it would.
The board approved going to referendum, approved the language for said referendum, were supposed to have approved the final version of that question with updated numbers in August… and then it just disappeared.
And no one in Weston seems to be able to give us a reason why.
The village board meets at 6 pm Monday and the fire fee is on the agenda for possible approval.
Thanks for subscribing to The Wausonian! If you haven’t subscribed yet, check out the free and paid options below to help support local journalism:
During the 2/17 meeting Jessica Trautman says “…the board was leaning toward referendum but as discussions went on the thought is what if the referendum fails and we have to fee them anyway…”