Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department has provided exceptional service and value to Muskego for 100 years. The need for change is not a criticism of that service. The challenge is whether the current staffing model can remain reliable as EMS demand, training requirements, and workforce expectations change.

In 2025, Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department responded to 1,826 EMS incidents. Demand is concentrated between approximately 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., which is the same period when volunteers and paid-on-call members are most often at work or otherwise unavailable. The study also found increasing dependence on a relatively small number of highly active responders, along with concerns about simultaneous calls, leadership succession and long-term staffing stability.

The proposed full-time personnel would be City of Muskego employees, not Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department employees. Recruiting and retaining qualified firefighters and EMS employees is increasingly challenging, with communities across Wisconsin competing for a limited pool of trained personnel. Municipal employment would allow the City to offer the Wisconsin Retirement System, health insurance, and other benefits that help make Muskego more competitive in attracting and retaining qualified firefighters and paramedics.

The study recommends a framework consisting of one full-time Fire Chief, 15 full-time personnel, and 36 part-time, paid-on-call staff to provide 24/7/365 coverage. The exact position mix, hiring sequence, schedules, station assignments, and deployment have not been finalized.

A transition committee made up of Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department representatives, City officials, public-safety professionals, subject-matter experts and other community stakeholders would make recommendations on those details. The intent is to make operational decisions with experienced input rather than have elected officials design a fire-service schedule on their own.

No. Sixteen employees are not enough to independently staff all stations or handle every fire, EMS call and simultaneous emergency. A fully career-staffed department would require at least 50 full-time employees. The 16 positions would establish a dependable municipal foundation that supplements the existing volunteer and paid-on-call system, which includes funding for 36 additional part-time/paid-on-call positions to help supplement the volunteer staff we currently rely on.

No. The City has no need or desire to dissolve Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department. The proposal is intended to supplement the department and fill gaps when volunteer and paid-on-call personnel are not consistently available. Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department’s members, experience and institutional knowledge would remain important throughout the transition and into the future.

No. That is not part of the current proposal. Hiring full-time municipal employees to supplement Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department does not, by itself, terminate the contract, dissolve Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department or transfer its assets.

A 1999 agreement between the City and Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department governs asset disposition if Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department ever ceases operating or becomes unable to fulfill its contractual responsibilities. If Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department voluntarily stops operating, or if it cannot provide the service required under the agreement, the agreement provides for its assets to transfer to the City at no cost. It also establishes a binding-arbitration process for disputes over adequate fire protection.

That agreement does not come into play merely because the City hires full-time personnel to supplement Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department. If the City eventually assumes the fire-service functions, the agreement requires the department to be named the Muskego/Tess Corners Fire Department.

The current expectation is to continue using the existing stations and renovate facilities as needed for full-time operations, including possible sleeping quarters, kitchens, showers, fitness space, offices, secure storage, technology and backup power. New fire stations are not part of the current operating proposal.

The levy request is based on the operating amount expected to be needed when the staffing plan is fully implemented. Because positions would be phased in, not all operating funds would be spent on wages in the first years. The current concept is to reserve a portion of those early-year funds for one-time facility, vehicle, equipment and transition costs.

The question is what that amount would actually provide. Even approximately $4.4 million would not create a fully staffed career department. Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department also cannot offer the same municipal benefit structure, including the Wisconsin Retirement System, that is important in a highly competitive Fire/EMS labor market.

Additional contract funding would not by itself resolve leadership succession, municipal accountability or the need for a stable long-term structure and would still require a referendum to fund. If increasing the Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department’s budget alone were a workable long-term solution, the City could pursue it. The study concluded that a phased municipal combination model is more sustainable.

Five to eight years is a planning horizon, not a requirement to delay needed changes. Volunteer and paid-on-call participation will be monitored throughout the process. If staffing declines faster than expected, or if a three- or four-year transition is safer and financially achievable, the plan may need to move faster. Fire/EMS service would be reevaluated at the end of the transition period.

Regional cooperation should remain an option, but Muskego does not currently operate a municipal Fire/EMS department that can be merged with another municipal department. Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department is an independent private organization serving the City under contract.

The immediate step is to establish a municipal staffing foundation. Once that exists, the City can more realistically evaluate shared staffing, joint operations or a regional department. Wisconsin’s Innovation Grant program gives priority to qualifying fire, emergency-service and public-safety transfers, but it requires a defined service transfer under a signed agreement and documented prior-year costs. A future regional arrangement could potentially qualify if all state requirements are met and if the Innovation Grant is still available.

The study included benchmarking of Wisconsin combination departments and reviewed the broader staffing challenges facing volunteer and combination systems. Direct coordination with surrounding departments will also be necessary during implementation because mutual aid and regional cooperation will continue to be important.

Not every nursing home, assisted-living facility or senior-housing property is tax-exempt. Eligibility depends on ownership, use and specific requirements in Wisconsin law. Qualifying nonprofit nursing homes, retirement homes and other benevolent housing may receive an exemption; taxable facilities pay property taxes like other taxable property. The local assessor administers exemption requests under state law—the City cannot simply choose to tax a property that legally qualifies for an exemption.

Property taxes are based primarily on property value, not the number of emergency calls generated by a property. The City will continue reviewing call data and the tax status of high-demand facilities, but potential revenue from legally exempt properties cannot be counted on to fund this plan.

Fire/EMS Transition Ad-Hoc Recommendation Committee

Citizen Members (4)

Dan Zidek (Committee Chairman)
Captain with the Milwaukee Fire Department 

Jim Case (Committee Vice-Chairman)
Fire Consultant (McMahon Associates)
Incident Management Specialist – Wisconsin Emergency Management
NIMS/Emergency Management Instructor
Former Fire Chief City of Wauwatosa (Retired)

Former Tess Corners Member

Michael Zyniecki
Former Milwaukee Fire Department Lieutenant (Retired after 25 years)
Former West Bend Fire Department
Former Town of Brookfield Fire Department
Former New Berlin Volunteer Fire Department 

Joel Poniewaz 
Village of Waukesha Fire Chief
Former City of New Berlin Lieutenant and Paramedic

Tess Corners Volunteer Fire Department Representatives (3)

Phil Dibb
TCVFD Member, Board Member

Tom Kasian
TCVFD Member, Board Member

Marty Rukavina
TCVFD Chief
Quality Assurance Specialist at Milwaukee County EMS

Muskego Police Department Representative (1)

Steve Westphal
Muskego Police Chief

Neighboring Community Fire Chief (1)

Jim Mayer
City of Franklin Fire Chief
Former Battalion Chief North Shore Fire Department

Former Assistant Fire Chief Tess Corners Fire Department