Ordinance

  ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING CHARGES FOR FIRE CALLS

# 2019-01

It is hereby ordained by the Town Board of the Town of Shields, Dodge County, Wisconsin, as Follows;

Section 1. Authority: This ordinance is adopted pursuant to the authority granted town boards under s.60.55(2)(b), Wis. Stats. Which allows towns to recover the cost of fire calls and water fees made to property within the town. This includes fire calls and water fees made to real estate located within the Town and vehicles located on public roads within the Town. A fire call is any incident that is responded to by a fire department.

Section 2. Liability for Fire Protection Costs: The Town of Shields, Dodge County, Wisconsin, hereby imposes a charge for each fire call made within the limits of the Town of Shields. Such fee for the fire call is $500.00. The water fee from the city of Watertown or the city of Waterloo or both shall be added to the fire call bill.  If the call is to real estate located within the Town, the charges shall be imposed on all owners of the real estate to which the particular fire call is made. In the event that a fire call is not made to real estate located within the Town, but is instead made to a vehicle fire or accident located on a public road within the Town, the charges provided for under this ordinance shall be imposed on all owners of such vehicles.

Section 3. Payment of Fire Call Fee: The fire call charges provided for in this ordinance shall be paid in full to the Clerk of the Town of Shields no later than 60 days after the date of the particular fire call. The failure to pay the bill within 60 days will result in interest being charged at the rate of 1 ½ percent per month from the date of the bill. Those bills for fire calls to real estate, including interest, that remain outstanding for more than 90 days as of November 1 of any year shall become a lien against the real estate and shall be placed on the tax roll as a delinquent special charge under s.66.0627, Wis. Stat.

Section 4. Liability for Fire Calls from Fire Departments Other than Authorized Fire Departments: It is the policy of the Town of Shields to contract with the following fire departments: Watertown Fire Department and Waterloo Fire Department. Any property owner requesting fire protection directly from any fire department other than those listed above shall be responsible for the full costs billed to the town resulting from the fire call. This section shall not apply to the costs of any other department responding at the request of an authorized department under a mutual aid agreement.

Section 5. Severability: Should any section or provisions of this ordinance be declared invalid for any reason; such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance.

Section 6. Controlled Burns: No one shall burn or start a fire anywhere within the Town of Shields without first notifying at least one or more Town official, the Dodge County Sherriff’s Department at 920-386-3729-ext 4.  the Waterloo Fire Department (920-478-2535) if you are west of the Crawfish River or Watertown Fire Department (920-261-3610) if you are East of the Crawfish River, of that person’s intention to start a fire. Notification may be made by telephone and shall be made the same day that the person intends to start a fire.

Section 7. Penalties of a Controlled Burn: In the event a person does not make the required notifications as required by this ordinance for a controlled burn, they shall be charged $500, plus the water fee charge as stated in Section 2. In the event a person provided proper notifications as required, but the fire becomes uncontrollable, the person shall be charged $250 plus the water fee charge as stated in Section 2.

Section 8. Effective Date: This ordinance shall become effective upon adoption and publication or posting, as provided by law, pursuant to s.60.80, Wis. Stat.

Date Adopted: ____11-11-19______(see Clerk copy for signed copy)______

Town Chairman: _______________________________________________________

                                                (Neale R Jones)

Town Supervisor: ______________________________________________________

                                                (Ronald Johnson)

Town Supervisor: ______________________________________________________

                                                (Peter McFarland)

Attest-Town Clerk: _____________________________________________________

                                                (Susan Johnson)

Yay__6__        Nay__0__

Date Published & Effective: ____11-15-19__________________________________

Date Adopted by Shields Town Board-September 25, 2006 Ordinance 06-02

Date Adopted by Shields Town Board-December 11, 2006 Resolution 06-06

Date Adopted by Shields Town Board-September 9, 2019 Amendment Ordinance 2019-01