Details of a plan for a proposed merger of the Wauwatosa and West Allis fire departments have been released for consideration, with terms including a 10-year initial phase and most costs split evenly between the neighboring cities.
Under the proposal's current terms, each city would retain ownership of firehouses but would begin sharing the cost of equipment maintenance and new purchases. The joint department would be governed as a "nonstock corporation," similar to a nonprofit, with a board made up of the two cities' mayors, council presidents and city administrators.
The plan also would create a joint fire commission with members appointed by the two mayors. The joint department would have the authority to set its own budget with annual increases limited to 4%. During the launch phase, the budget would increase 2.84% a year for the first five years, according to the cities' negotiated "term sheet."
Elected officials from each city will take up the term sheet at separate meetings scheduled for Nov. 11. West Allis could vote to move forward with the plan at its Common Council meeting, while in Wauwatosa, its Government Affairs Committee will consider recommending the terms for a vote of the full council when it meets Nov. 18.
The two cities, which have been in talks over a potential merger since January, have been moving swiftly toward a deal in recent months, though the upcoming votes would not yet finalize a merger. Information posted to West Allis' meeting website indicates that this next step would instruct city staffs to draft the paperwork and documentation that would underpin a department consolidation, which still would need to be approved by both councils at a later date.
West Allis posted the six-page text of the two cities' "initial term sheet" and "workplan" online over the weekend, and on Nov. 10, that document was added to Wauwatosa's meeting website, under a committee agenda item for "consideration of approval of an executive summary/term sheet describing a joint fire department formed by West Allis and Wauwatosa."
Tosa Forward News sought comment from Wauwatosa City Administrator James Archambo and Fire Chief Jim Case and will update this story upon receiving responses.
The Government Affairs Committee is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Nov. 11 at City Hall and online via Zoom.
Andrew Meindl, who represents District 1 on the Wauwatosa Common Council and has been a vocal critic of the merger, posted to social media over the weekend questioning why Tosa leaders had not yet released the term sheet for public inspection. He urged a delay of the upcoming vote to give the council and public more time to review the details, which he said did not yet answer some core questions.
"Whether someone supports or opposes the concept, the public (and alders for that matter) deserves more than 24 hours to understand a merger affecting emergency response and long-term budgeting," Meindl said in a post sharing the documents released by West Allis.
Wauwatosa, with about 50,000 residents, and West Allis, with about 60,000, are two of Wisconsin’s largest municipalities and the largest cities in Milwaukee County outside of the City of Milwaukee.
The concept of a fire department merger received a mostly positive reception from Wauwatosa council members in September when they voted to initiate formal negotiations with West Allis. That vote followed a consultant's study of the two departments that concluded a merger would bring significant benefits to both cities.
Some council members, however, identified several issues that would need to be resolved before moving forward. Those issues included how the joint department would be governed, how costs would be distributed between the two cities, whether the culture of the two departments could be blended, how Wauwatosa’s combined police and fire dispatch center would be affected and whether tax increases still would be necessary to maintain services at current levels.
The term sheet released before this week's meetings addresses in general terms several of those questions, including the proposed joint department's governance and funding structure.
The department would "have a board of directors to manage the business side of the entity and a separate board of fire commissioners to handle the normal duties of a police and fire commission," it says. The department would be required to maintain the two cities' current high standards for fire and EMS service. Equal cost sharing is "based upon the similarities of the two communities ... including existing budgets and calls for service."
After the initial 10-year launch period, either city would have the ability to terminate the agreement with a two-year notice. Otherwise, it would automatically renew every six years.
The terms also include assigning support services from the two cities various departments, such as human resources, legal services, finance and technical support. How to handle dispatch would still need to be worked out. Wauwatosa's current dispatch center handles calls for both its fire and police departments.
"A sub-committee of fire, dispatch, police, city administration, and outside technical experts will evaluate the existing dispatch process and make recommendations for future operations," the term sheet says. "A study will be conducted to recommend the best dispatch system(s) moving forward for the joint department, in conjunction with each municipality’s police department."
The two cities are pursuing a possible fire merger on a somewhat accelerated timeline in order to take advantage of a statewide “innovation” grant program that rewards municipal collaboration initiatives. The application deadline for that program's first round of grants is March 31, and Wauwatosa is hopeful that it would qualify for up to $21 million over five years.
Such grants could make a joint fire department even more financially advantageous for both municipalities, though the two cities can only apply for those grants after finalizing a merger. The term sheet suggests that a portion of the money from those grants would be placed in a new shared fund for future equipment purchases by the joint fire department.
Even without the innovation grants, the two cities would save an estimated $7 million in the first five years of a consolidated department, according to a consultant hired by the cities to study the proposal. Those savings would be realized largely by sharing top leadership positions and reducing administrative staff through attrition, or leaving vacancies unfilled.
A joint department also would give the cities greater flexibility to raise property taxes as needed to avoid fire service reductions. Department mergers are granted an exception to state tax levy limits. Without that flexibility, the Wauwatosa Fire Department currently faces the elimination of one firefighter position in the city's 2026 budget because of levy constraints.
- David Paulsen, a Tosa East Towne resident and editor of Tosa Forward News, has more than 25 years of experience as a professional journalist. He can be reached at editor@tosanews.com.
