Town resident’s motions fail at annual meeting
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Delavan Town Board had its annual meeting April 15.
Resident George Huebner made three advisory motions, all of which failed, and each township department reported to the board.
Hueber moved to amend the town’s budget to add $10,000 toward the purchase of a new fire engine chassis for the fire department. Huebner said he had heard at a previous meeting that the department needed that amount to make the purchase, but it was not included in the budget.
Attorney Brian Wanasek said the motion was advisory only because it dealt with a very specific budget item. Supervisor Larry Malsch said the amount necessary for the purchase was actually $100,000. Supervisor Kim Jedlicka said the issue has not yet been decided upon because all of the relevant numbers related to interest rates are not available yet. She said she did not feel comfortable authorizing such a large purchase without knowing all the numbers.
Huebner’s second motion was to add a second comment section to all committee meeting agendas. Town board and Committee of the Whole meetings have two sections of comments – one for comments about agenda items and one for comments on any topic. Other committee agendas provide only the section that allows comments on agenda items.
Wanasek said this motion was advisory as well because it was not specifically statutory in nature. Huebner said he thought it would improve communication between town residents and the committees. Town Chairman Ryan Simons said the town already provides ample opportunity for residents to be heard.
Huebner then made a motion for the town to consider building its own school or withdrawing from the Delavan-Darien School District and merging with one or more of the other area districts that serve town residents. Wanasek said that motion would be advisory because the town board has no authority to create a new school district or change districts on its own. The motion died due to a lack of a second.
Police report
Police Chief Phil Smith submitted an annual report to the board.
The report began by detailing personnel changes that took place in 2013. A full-time officer was terminated in late 2012, and a replacement was found in early August of 2013 when part-time Officer Scott Runge was promoted to full-time status.
In early October, full-time Officer Jeremy Renz resigned to take a job with the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy. Full-time Officer Roger Clapper retired after 33 years of service on Dec. 31.
“That length of service is a record that will likely stand for a long time,”
Smith said in the report. “We will miss his cheerful smile and can-do attitude.”
Smith said the department lost three full-time officers in about a year from an 11-member department, and that has put a strain on the department. Smith said the vacancies have been filled with new talented recruits who will be the backbone of the department for the next generation of officers.
Part-time officers Philip Tucker, Kevin Conlon, Jason Swaney and Timothy Durkin were added to the department in 2013. The department handled 3,361 incidents in 2013 compared with 3,077 in 2012. The department made 1,830 arrests in 2013 compared to 2,257 in 2012. Traffic citations made up 1,334 of those arrests.
The number of traffic accidents in the township have increase in the past three years. There were 195 accidents reported in 2013 compared with 180 in 2012 and 159 in 2011. The 2011 figure was a reduction from the two previous years, which saw 198 accidents in 2010 and 213 in 2009. Sixty three of the accidents in 2013 were considered “property damage only,” the highest category. There was just one fatality in each year between 2010 and 2013 and none in 2009.
Smith concluded the report by saying it would probably be his last as he is considering retiring before the end of 2014. Smith has served the department for 29 years. Smith thanked all of his officers and friends.
“I consider you all to be family,” he wrote. “I consider it both an honor and a privilege to have served with you.”
