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Residents press Salem Lakes board on Flock cameras and $1,600 ambulance lift-assist bill
Summary
Two residents used the public-comment period to urge the board to consider safety cameras and to ask why paramedic lift-assist fees rose to $1,600; the latter speaker said she could not find a public copy of Ordinance 2024-11-117 and asked for a response.
During public comments at a Village of Salem Lakes meeting, two residents raised public-safety and emergency-service billing concerns.
James Witke, a resident of Salem, spoke in favor of installing Flock public-safety cameras and said cameras could help with “missing kids, senior alerts” and other safety issues. “I think that it would be good for public safety,” Witke said during the public-comment period.
Carol Husnick, of Court Unit 19B in Salem, asked the board about an ordinance she identified as “2024‑11‑117,” which she said she had not been able to find a copy of. Husnick described a neighbor, age 96, who slipped and required a “lift assist” from paramedics; three weeks later the neighbor received a bill of $1,600. Husnick said she contacted nearby departments (Bristol, Pleasant Prairie, Somers, Twin Lakes) and reported that those departments typically do not charge for a lift assist or charge far less, and she asked the village how it justifies a $1,600 fee for a lift assist and whether Medicare covers non‑transport services.
Husnick asked the board directly: “How does Salem justify a charge of $1,600 to come out and get somebody off the floor? I would like an answer.” The transcript does not record a board response during public comment.
The village president moved the meeting onto agenda items after the public-comment period. The transcript records Husnick referencing Ordinance 2024‑11‑117 by number but does not include language of the ordinance in the record; the board did not provide a substantive reply on the ordinance in the public-comment portion of the meeting.
