MONROE — Fire Chief Dan Smits is qualified to serve in his position and the MERIT Center is owned by the City of Monroe.
Those were the conclusions announced by the Monroe Common Council’s Ad Hoc Fire Department Investigation Committee on Nov. 19, following more than three and a half hours of closed session meetings over the past month.
The committee will continue to explore areas of concern at the Monroe Fire Department during at least one more open session meeting, to be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5.
Chair Kelly Hermanson and committee members Brooke Bauman and Josh Binger, the latter participating by phone, returned to open session immediately following their latest closed session discussion and the committee’s findings were explained with the help of City Attorney Dan Bartholf.
“As a committee, we don’t actually have the authority, qualifications or the role to (decide whether or not to bring charges),” Hermanson said, but noted there was a process to go through for those who wished to file them.
Bartholf explained that charges would need to be specific, as opposed to a general issue to investigate, and would need to be filed by either the aggrieved party, the Police and Fire Commission or a member thereof. According to Wisconsin statute, he read, the aggrieved “must be adversely affected in some appreciable manner.”
Original complaints from Monroe firefighters included questioning the qualifications of Smits to serve as chief.
Bartholf affirmed that Smits was certified in many areas, including, Bartholf believed, taking a 400-hour course for Fire Officer 3. Smits also met all requirements of the city job description, Bartholf said, except one, which stated that he needed to complete certification on all firetrucks within 36 months of hire, April 2020.
Former city administrator Phil Rath had previously questioned the necessity of that requirement and was going to have it reviewed by the salary and personnel committee, something the ad hoc committee moved to do that night.
Salary and Personnel met Nov. 25. Committee member Richard Thoman said later that it was their consensus that the certification was not necessary.
“It sounds like most fire departments don’t even require it,” said Thoman.
“Dan Smits is not going to be driving a firetruck, nor should he be,” he said, since the chief’s job is to manage the situation. Smits also has his own vehicle.
Bartholf was part of an initial investigation into the firefighter complaints that took place earlier this year. He and Rath compiled a report that was delivered to Salary and Personnel in September. Rath resigned in October. That report contained many recommendations for improvement for both chiefs and firefighters, but found that requests from the firefighters for the chief and deputy chief’s resignation or termination were “unsubstantiated.”
Another point of contention for the firefighters, according to the report, was ownership of the MERIT Center, and the assumption was held that it was separate from the city. There was also a dispute over what items at the center were city-owned and which were owned by Monroe Volunteer Firefighters.
Bartholf said the MERIT Center was on land owned by the city, and funded by the city’s special revenue fund. He gave his legal opinion that the city owns and operates the MERIT Center. Things affixed to that property become part of that property and are included in that ownership, he said, but not movable property present there, such as a tractor. Bauman said they had talked about inventorying those items.
“Part of the reason for that is for insurance purposes. We want to make sure that it’s properly insured and that it’s accounted for,” she said, such as for property disposal or sale.
Donated items will also be discussed in upcoming meetings, something Bartholf noted would have implications for other city entities that receive donations.