Representatives of the City of Delafield and the villages of Nashotah and Chenequa have reached a tenative agreement on a how a Lake Country Fire Department would be structured to serve the three communities.

According to the agreement, the consolidated department would have three fire stations; the existing ones in Chenequa, Nashotah and the City of Delafield.

There would be one fire chief and the operations of each station would be standardized, according to a list of goals and agreements adopted last week by the nine member committee made up of representatives from each community.

The committee agreed that volunteers would remain a "vital staff component" and existing employees of the Delafield and Lake Country departments would be hired into the consolidated department.

Paramedic service in the merged department was one of 11 items the committee unanimously agreed to at the Tuesday, May 13 meeting.

Members of the committee have acknowledged that reaching an agreement on how the three communities would share funding the department is crucial in determining whether a merger of the Delafield department into the Lake Country Department, which serves Chenequa and Nashotah, is feasble.

Any of the committee's recommendations will have to be approved by the governing bodies of the individual communities.

Arrowhead Union High School District - The Arrowhead School Board gave the go-ahead to the proposed land exchange agreement with the Village of Hartland over the connector road at the School Board meeting last night. 

In the proposal, the connector road, formally called Campus Drive, runs from Highways 16 and 83 and then intersects with County Highway K, near Monclair Road.  The Village of Hartland will transfer about three acres of land to AHS, and AHS will transfer a little over 2 acres to Hartland at the connection to County Highway K. 

Hartland approved the proposal at a village meeting about a week and a half ago.  It now has to be approved by the Lutheran High School Association of Greater Milwaukee which must notify Hartland on or before May 19, said Village of Hartland Administrator Wally Thiel. 

If the association approves the proposal, the next step would be a special meeting of the electorate where they would vote on the land transfer between Hartland and AHS.

Village of Hartland - Village officials say they would like to sit in on the discussions between the City of Delafield and the villages of Nashotah and Chenequa regarding possibily consolidating the City of Delafield fire department into the Lake Country Fire Department which serves Chenequa and Nashotah.

Hartland Village President David Lamerand said he had intended to attend a private meeting last week where elected chief executives of the City of Delafield and villages of Nashotah and Chenequa agreed to form a nine member committee to study the feasibility of expanding the Lake Country Fire Department to include the City of Delafield.

Lamerand said he missed the Wednesday meeting because of confusion over his scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. 

"We want to see what is on the table. We want to see what ideas they have and whether we can be of any help," Lamerand said.

Lamerand and Village Administrator Wally Thiel emphasized that no decision has been made whether the village would be interested in joining the consolidation department.

Thiel indicated there are a large number of variables and issues involved in the discussions that might determine whether the village would be interested in joining with the other communities.

The Village of Hartland provides ambulance service to the Village of Chenequa and the Town of Merton and has emergency response mutual aid agreements with communities along its borders including the City of Delafield and the Town of Delafield.

Delafield Mayor Ed McAleer and Nashotah Village President Rich Lartz said last week that if the merger negotiations were successful  the communities of Delafield, Chenequa and Nashotah would need at least a couple of years of experience operating a consolidated department before seeking new partners in the regional venture.