Here’s my third post on the 12.18.12 session.
Seeing a need to harmonize Whitewater’s municipal code with state statutes, Council restored the title of Police and Fire Commission to a citizen’s commission previously known as the Police Commission.
Years ago, I remarked how odd it was that Whitewater’s PFC never addressed fire department matters, name notwithstanding. (I was aware then, as I am now, that Whitewater’s local ordinances preserved an exemption against PFC oversight of the fire department.)
In an unrelated action, others saw this, too, and Lynn Binnie moved (I recall) to amend the local ordinance to refer to that body simply as a Police Commission. Doing so at the time reconciled name and day-to-day function. That’s practical.
I regret, though, that I never wrote more on this subject, these years since. At the time, I had a hunch – that’s all, really – that the ordinance’s total carve-out for oversight of the fire department was questionable under Wisconsin law. A hunch, though, amounts to nothing compared to a proper assessment. That proper assessment I have never attempted, much to my embarrassment, so much time having passed.
If Dr. Kidd and others now have questions about what is the right structure under law and policy, they’re easily as far ahead as anyone has been.
What to do? A few suggestions, the same I think as came out of the discussion following Dr. Kidd and Mr. Winship’s remarks:
1. Change the Title. Council took this step last night.
2. A Memorandum of the Law. What the law requires is the foundation for any discussion on this topic of PFC responsibilities. If Wisconsin law requires a change in responsibilities, then there’s no alternative but to change the practical PFC responsibilities to align them with state law. If there’s no requirement to change, then there’s still a policy question about what’s the best arrangement for the PFC.
To start, the city should prepare and post within a Council packet — sometime in 2013 when this matter is again addressed — a memorandum of law carefully stating the municipal administration’s legal assessment of what the PFC must do.
There should be enough time for all residents to view it.
3. Policy Discussions. Whether law requires a change to PFC responsibilities, or policy suggests it, still leaves Whitewater the opportunity for a new, negotiated framework with the fire department. Whitewater’s fire chief has declared his willingness to talk about the relationship between the PFC and department.
It’s far better to establish a new arrangement by consensus after the city has a memorandum of law from which to consider what must be done. This still leaves, apart from the law, what should be done.
There’s time for this, but it’s sensible than the city and department should complete this review and make any adjustments in 2013.
Next: Backyard Chickens.