No Decision Yet on Nasewaupee’s Split from Southern Door Fire Department

The Nasewaupee Town Board isn’t ready to make a decision yet on whether to split from the Southern Door Fire Department (SDFD) and start the town’s own department, but a nonbinding motion urging the board to do so was backed at the annual town meeting April 19.

The issue came up two days later, at the board’s April 21 meeting, when board members agreed to wait until this month before making a decision and sending a letter to the other three municipalities in the SDFD as to what Nasewaupee wants to do in the future for fire protection.

During the board’s May 19 meeting, town chair Steve Sullivan said, “We’re still studying it.”

The board did agree to hire a consultant for $2,500-$4,000 to appraise the department’s equipment, which would be a step for leaving the department. 

“There’s a lot of stuff they could do, too, if we did decide to leave,” Sullivan said.

During the May 2 board meeting, the board also selected the West & Dunn law firm based in Manitowoc County to provide legal advice, should it decide to leave the SDFD.

The SDFD’s operating agreement forming the department states that Nasewaupee would have the first option to purchase the pieces of equipment housed at the fire station in the town “at their then-fair-market value.”

Nasewaupee would be required to pay the remaining municipalities “an amount equal to the percentage of the then-fair-market value of the property contributed by the remaining municipalities.”

Sullivan said that would involve paying the other three municipalities about one-fourth of what the equipment Nasewaupee would hold on to would be worth.

The SDFD consists of the Village of Forestville and the towns of Nasewaupee, Clay Banks and Forestville, and each municipality has two members on the eight-person fire board that oversees the department. The SDFD is funded with a tax levy based on equalized value, with Nasewaupee covering more than two-thirds of the department’s budget.

Sullivan has suggested changes to reduce the town’s funding share and increase its representation on the fire board as alternatives to leaving the SDFD.