Meeting Preview: Muskego Public Safety Committee Invites County To the Table

An impasse between the City of Muskego and Waukesha County over access to cell towers to enable the city to receive cellular 911 calls made in Muskego takes center stage at Wednesday night's Public Safety Committee meeting at

The city has maintained that its upgrade of emergency dispatch services enables it to better respond to wireless emergency calls, as they would not have to route through to the county first, perhaps saving as many as 87 seconds in response time.  The county has countered that its communications center (WCCC) can provide more staffing to respond, and that Muskego is 'bucking' the system. 

The county's refusal to release cell tower access to the city has prompted the city to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and County Executive Dan Vrakas has returned fire by saying the delays are not as high as the city has claimed, and that callers may experience busy signals if they call.

The committee had requested that both supervisors that represent Muskego, Dan Draeger and Peter Gundrum, and possibly Vrakas himself, attend their next meeting to answer questions. No word from Vrakas, but the county's director of emergency preparedness Richard Tuma will be present, along with Supervisor Draeger. The meeting takes place at 6pm at City Hall.