Weston Municipal Center. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
WESTON, WI (WSAU) — The Village Administrators for both Weston and Rothschild have announced that they are in the early stages of examining a potential merger between the Everest Metro Police Department and Rothschild Police Department.
The discussions are nothing new for the area. Some nine years ago a similar move was voted down after lengthy discussions, but Rothschild Administrator Ryan VanDewalle says this time there appears to be a spirit of cooperation between the sides. “Right now we have a really great group of individuals in all the communities that are finding a strategic, dynamic, and optimistic approach to [a merger.] We also have the leaders in place who want to make impactful changes for the officers in a positive way.
“That’s not to say that leaders in the past have been bad, I’m not saying that at all,” continued VanDewalle. “But right now you have a group of really strong, sound advocates for this. You also have two Administrators that are newer at this, but we get along really well. I’m excited to see how we can continue to work together.”
VanDewalle has been in his position for about 18 months. Weston Administrator Jami Gebert was hired last August and worked under former Administrator Keith Donner until his retirement at the end of 2023. Neither were around the last time a merger was considered in 2013.
The latest attempt comes on the heels of EMPD Chief Clay Schulz’s pending retirement on February 1st. VanDeWalle said the department’s oversight Commission has agreed to hold off on hiring a new Chief while the discussions are in progress. He did say that he expects Rothschild Chief Jeremy Hunt to be a candidate to lead a new unified department.
Former EMPD Chief Daniel Vergin has been enlisted to lead the talks which will cover everything from the potential department’s leadership structure to what the squad cars and uniforms will look like. “Our officer groups have been discussing this with Vergin and so far it has been overwhelmingly optimistic. Each officer certainly has their questions like ‘how is this going to work? What is the squad car going to look like? What will our uniforms look like?’ but that’s to be expected.
“I think right now what you have is really health approaches from the officers and leaders. They’re [asking] ‘how can we make this work?’ you have excellent resources in both communities, now how can we make this a stronger, unified front for both communities?,” added VanDeWalle.
Details of the merger, which would require an intergovernmental agreement, are expected to be worked out over the next year. No timeline for a final decision has been established, though VanDeWalle did speculate that a combined department between the four communities would take on a new name and identity. He also said the new department could be headquartered near the Rothschild Village Hall, which is where their current PD is based.
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