Viroqua Police Chief and Fire Chief miscommunication issues boil over at Public Safety Committee meeting

Jan. 24, 2025

This story was edited to add additional comments by Alderperson Willis at 10:00 a.m. on 1-25-2025

VIROQUA, Wis. – Issues about dispatching procedures and decision making about those procedures came to head this week when the Viroqua Fire Chief and Police Chief engaged in a somewhat heated back and forth at the Viroqua Public Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday.

Fire Chief Chad Buros began the discussion under the agenda item titled “Information regarding protocols on dispatching the Fire Department” by saying he was upset about not being included on a decision to change dispatching procedures by the Police Chief several months ago. Buros said traditionally all 911 calls have been handled by county dispatch and then sometimes handed off to the city dispatch after the call was underway. Buros said fire department staff noticed changes in the dispatching during calls several months ago and asked to have a meeting with the county dispatchers, Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson and Viroqua Mayor Justin Running.

“We had a meeting so we could figure out what the change was and what was happening,” said Buros. “At that time, I was made aware that changes had been made without my knowledge or approval for the process on how we would be paged for emergency calls, and what to expect.”

Buros said he still had concerns about the new process at that meeting but was willing to see if the new process would work. 

“I had my doubts, or my concerns, or whatever, of making the change,” said Buros. “But I thought, okay, let’s find let’s try it for three months and if things are at least the same, if not better, then great. We waited for three months. I feel that it’s not better, it’s not terrible, but it’s not the same.”

Buros explained that under the new procedure the Sheriff’s Office still takes the emergency call but then types the information into a real time electronic system (CAD – computer aided dispatch) that city dispatchers can see. The city dispatcher will then page out fire department personnel. Buros said most of the time that system works okay, but said the new system feels “clunky” and there are slight delays at times because the person doing the dispatching is not the person who actually took the call, and that could result in valuable information not getting relayed.

“The problem is you’ve got a middle person now at this point, and there’s time,” said Buros. “There’s definitely time lost in that. Not a lot of time, but there’s time lost. There’s emotion. There’s personal conversation, there’s sometimes they still have them on the phone.”

Buros said his intent with the discussion with the committee was to inform the committee about what had transpired and why he is going back to the previous process.

“I wanted to be transparent and let public safety (committee) know that this is how our dispatching was working,” said Buros. “We want to go back to that, and then what had transpired, or what we’d tried for three months the other way.”

Alderperson Steve Willis asked why the procedure got changed to begin with.

“It wasn’t me,” said Buros.

“There was a reason?” asked Willis.

“Apparently, yes,” said Buros

“Do you know who changed it?” asked Willis.

“Yes,” said Buros.

“Do you not want to say who changed it?” asked Willis.

“I would assume that the PD slash Rick (Police Chief Rick Niedfeldt) did,” said Buros.

“Was there a reason why that was changed?” asked Willis.

“It was brought up from the mayor and fire chief that there was a personnel issue with one of the dispatchers,” said Niedfeldt. “So, then they went to the county at that time. That dispatcher is no longer employed by us at this time. So, then we actually, from the deputies, the sheriff, we actually got one of their better dispatchers, and it’s been, you know, resolved. It came back to us (dispatch duties) because that personnel issue was no longer employed.”

City of Viroqua Dispatcher Annette Olson said part of the reason for the change was because the city and the county started using the exact same real time data system starting last April.

“Starting April 15 was our first date that we switched, and we are now using the same exact systems that they were,” said Olson. “So, whenever they’ve got (the county) someone answering and talking on the phone, they’re typing in that information, we see it instantly, what they’re doing, where they’re sending people. So that is when and where the change was made. It wasn’t made immediately after we started to give us a chance to get used to the system. But then once that change was made, that is when we start kicking in and dispatching. So, if the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department is taking a 911, call, they’re busy on the phone, talking and typing that information, and we can see it, and we can page for the first responders while they’re transferring that call to Tri-State (ambulance). And then we can step in if it’s something in the city of Viroqua.”

Buros said he has several examples of calls that have not gone as well and he feels they could have, and feels the old system worked better. But beyond that he has issues with how the change was made. 

“Annette did a good job of explaining how the new CAD (computer aided dispatch) system works,” said Buros. “And that’s all fine, but you did also hear her talk about who had discussed it, who made the change, and zero, the organization that it affects the most, was not involved at all. And when I make decisions and when I do things, it’s for our people and our response and our firefighters. We weren’t to the table at that. It wasn’t even really, other than me being very adamant or aggressive at that meeting I’d mentioned, that we called for to try and figure out what why, and what the change was, I really didn’t have a say in it. We didn’t have a say in it. So that is not the reason why I’m changing it. That’s why we said, let’s give it three months and see how it goes again. I’d stated it’s not terrible, but it is more clunky.”

Buros said he also wanted to get the issue to the committee to dispel rumors he has hard in the community about the changes.

“I don’t know if it’s true or not, because I hate rumors,” said Buros. “But this one did sting a little bit. I’ve heard more than once now that the word is out there, but the only reason that Chad from the local fire department is making this change is because he’s trying to close city dispatch and take away two dispatcher jobs. And I want this, and I don’t know if it’s true, and I don’t know where it’s coming from. Well, we could talk more about this, but that’s completely false. It has absolutely nothing to do with this decision, and it makes me sick to even hear that. And I hope to God, it’s not true. I hope it’s truly a rumor and someone’s twisted something that has no idea what they’re talking about. But I want my committee to know that. Because that is not how I work, and I’m completely disgusted by and I couldn’t sleep that night when I heard that. And I’ve heard it more than once, so again, just so you guys know about it, but that that’s what I’m hearing on the street, that that’s the reason why we’re trying to do this is far, far, far from the truth. I could care less. It has nothing to do, nothing to do with it. It’s about taking care of the community and the people that we serve, and taking care of our firefighters, men and women, and making sure we can do the best job we can do.”

Chief Niedfeldt said from the Police Department perspective the ability to use the real time communication system is a better system that can help relieve pressure on county dispatch that is often handling multiple calls at the same time.

“First of all, I strongly disagree with this.,” said Niedfeldt. “Our citizens pay taxes for our dispatch, and we have very capable dispatchers that are doing their job. I spoke with the sheriff actually, three times in the last two weeks. Sergeant Olson (County Dispatch Supervisor), in their words, Sergeant Olson and myself, actually, both our dispatchers, when seconds matter, in all their words says this is actually quicker. When somebody is on the phone with them, you’re seeing this CAD system. This is why we as a city bought this CAD system. We saw this live. The CAD system. People are getting paged out quicker. People are going to do not as much multitasking. For example, just as simple as today, there is an EMS call. There’s one dispatcher in the county. There is an EMS call in Readstown at 9:08 There is a house fire, structure fire in the city of Westby at 9:09. And then there’s a city EMS call. So, one dispatcher is doing all that, so when we can relieve the pressure, and or you have one dispatcher in there that might be doing, and actually, there was two traffic stops during that time too. So, when you have one dispatcher kind of helping out with the other 30,000 citizens in the county, if we can relieve that pressure, Bruce (Olson) absolutely loves this. Roy (Sheriff Torgerson) actually loves this.”

Buros said the real issue was the lack of communication with his department about the change.

“You need you to answer why you didn’t think it was important to talk to the fire chief about your grandiose idea,” said Buros.

“My grandiose idea?” asked Niedfeldt.

“Yes, I’m getting upset,” said Buros. “So, this isn’t about you or the police department and worried about budget and stuff like that. So my question is, when I came I gave you the respect to come and meet with you, to talk to you and tell you my plans, which you did not do in respect to me when you made the change. What did you do that afternoon, rather than calling me and talking to me about it more and talking about, you never talked to me about the stuff that you’ve got all ready to go for tonight to defend yourself. Why did you not have more conversations with me? Why did you go to the sheriff and try and convince him to tell me no, I don’t remember my phone ringing Rick to have conversations about this.”

“I talked to the sheriff probably a week ago'” said Niedfeldt. “He said he was going to talk to Bruce Olson and get the information and see what it what he had to know. I talked to Bruce about it. He had his talk to his dispatchers. I didn’t go get the answer for how Roy’s stance was until, what, three o’clock this afternoon. So you can call the sheriff on that.”

“I will,” said Buros.

“This is about what your fire department feels works best for them,” said Buros. “I can see at times where it’s been easier on the county because they don’t have to have deal with as many calls. I mean, there’s all these pieces and parts. What I can tell you, it’s not the same. City dispatch is not the same as Vernon County Dispatch. Not saying it’s bad. I’m not being mean. I’m not gunning for jobs. There’s nothing to do with any of that stuff. This has to do with three months of taking a look at it, not just myself, and working through it. And we feel that it was better. And if you don’t like the word less clunky, come up with a better one for me. But I don’t feel it’s clean. I just don’t, and that’s what’s important to me, and that’s what’s important to the community, period.”

Alderman Wills asked if Viroqua was the municipality that had its own dispatch and had this kind of arrangement with the county.

Buros said some of these communication issues and concerns were discussed when the police department moved out their building where they shared space, and what they would do to the relationship between departments.

“A lot of changes happened,” said Buros. “And the county started doing more 911, calls, and the dispatching because of that. So this is like a history of change, or whatever, and all I can go back to is the fact that, pre three months ago, it didn’t seem as clunky. Seemed smoother. Maybe it’s change. Maybe it’s change that makes it feel clunky, beyond those other things that I talked about. So that’s why I make I’m making the decision that I want to move back to the county because we knew that was tried and true, and we’ll go back to what the city was doing. I’m not taking the city out of the equation, period and things like that. I’m not making those changes. It’s complicated.

“Why is this so complicated?” asked Willis. “It don’t this doesn’t make sense to me. Why you guys don’t talk to each other, especially about something like this, to be fair.”

“I think I can answer part of that,” said Committee Chair John Thompson. “It is that the decision was made in place without contacting Chad, and there was a meeting after Chad requested it.”

“I understand that,” said Willis. “I’m just saying we, at the very least, we should be able to communicate with each other. I would think. That’s all.”

“I don’t disagree,” said Buros.

Viroqua Mayor Justin Running, who is also a firefighter, explained his understanding of the situation following the meeting at the Sheriff’s Office.

“How I left that meeting, my understanding was the initial 911 call was going to be paged by the dispatcher that took the call,” said Running. “And you’re you’re agreeing with me, Rick, and that hasn’t happened since the meeting more than a couple of times. Now I bring that up because the reason why the sheriff and Rick at the time, and Sergeant Olson myself and the chief agreed that that was the right procedure. When you’re the individual taking the call of the emergency, you get a better sense of the emergency than reading it on the screen. So we all agreed at that particular meeting that that was a good policy. So to hear, Rick, and you talked to him at three o’clock today, and he has a different position on that, I will certainly follow up. But the last meeting I had, and the correspondence I had with the sheriff, was that he believed at the time that the person taking the 911 call should be the one dispatching it.”

Running also stated he had heard the same rumors regarding the Fire Chief and dispatch and wanted to make it clear he was behind the decision to go back to the previous dispatch process.

“So, that’s how it was going to work the last meeting that I was involved in regarding with everybody,” said Running. “So, and I’ve heard, to the Chiefs point, I’ve heard on this, some rumors that he’s going after people’s jobs regarding dispatch. And it’s frustrating to me, because that isn’t the case. It’s not the case at all. I’ve met with Annette numerous times and shared with her my opinion of the quality she does. I think Corinna is a tremendous dispatcher. It’s not that, it’s not that the Viroqua dispatch can’t handle it. It’s that the sheriff, at the time, the sheriff had agreed that the individual taking the 911 call should be the one that makes that dispatch, and that’s what the chief is going back to. And I agree and support that wholeheartedly.”

Sheriff Torgerson had been attending the meeting via ZOOM and chimed in at the end of the meeting stating “This is the sheriff. I have tuned into the entire meeting, and I am here to support the community, and I want to thank all of you for your service. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.”