Wauwatosa committee reviews term sheet for proposed joint fire department with West Allis; no vote taken

Wauwatosa City’s Government Affairs Committee spent its meeting reviewing a proposed term sheet to form a joint fire department with the City of West Allis, but members stopped short of taking action and asked staff for more detail before returning the item in December. City Administrator James Archambault framed the proposal as an iterative process and said staff wanted committee feedback rather than an immediate vote.

The committee heard presentations on how the new entity would be structured, measured and financed. Chief Case outlined six initial performance metrics the joint department would track — call processing time, total response time, containment of fire spread, annual fire inspections, fire-related deaths and workplace injuries — saying those measures come from industry standards and accreditation processes. "We really look at the data," Chief Case said, adding the list will be refined as the departments harmonize their…