On Monday, April 5, 2021, the Village Board approved a Letter of Agreement between the Village of Pleasant Prairie and Mueller Communications (Mueller). The Milwaukee-based marketing and communication firm has significant experience working with municipalities on public education campaigns in advance of referendums. Mueller will assess public safety staffing options, propose the best possible solutions, facilitate public discussion, and prepare for a potential referendum in 2022.
Over the past several years, the Village Board and Staff have evaluated public safety staffing needs, particularly in Fire & Rescue. In 2018, the Fire Chief conducted an internal assessment of the Fire Department. In 2019, McGrath Consulting conducted a third-party review of Fire & Rescue, which provided staffing recommendations. In 2020, the Village Administrator and Fire Chief further evaluated staffing recommendations and provided guidance to the Village Board. Now that the Village has thoroughly studied the public safety staffing issue, Village Staff is prepared to engage the community.
"We know our public safety staffing needs and now need to know what the community will support," said Nathan Thiel, Village Administrator. "The Village plans to utilize Mueller's services to promote community engagement and education around the need for additional safety staff, and conduct research to bring a solution forward."
Mueller’s process consists of a three-phased approach:
- Phase One is a research and assessment phase that will collect data and develop an Options Assessment that outlines the Village's budget challenges and potential funding solutions.
- Phase Two will distribute an educational community survey to all Pleasant Prairie homes, informing residents about the public safety-related challenges and seek community feedback on available options to fund new safety personnel. The survey results will help Village Staff understand community perception and guide the Village's funding option.
- Phase Three focuses on educating the public on the referendum question. It is dependent on the community survey feedback, which will determine if the Village should move forward with a referendum.
Mueller quoted the first two phases in the three-phase process at approximately $19,000. The Village has sufficient funds in reserves due to a one-time 2020 project expense for referendum marketing that the Village did not use. Payment for Mueller’s services will utilize reserve funds through a 2021 budget amendment. This item supports Village Strategic Initiative Seven to develop financial strategies, including a referendum to support an increase in public safety staffing and Fire Station 3.