Sheriff Pitches Spillman To Beaver Dam PFC

3/8/17 – The Beaver Dam Police and Fire Commission last night heard a presentation from the Dodge County Sheriff about a switch to a new countywide computer system. The county is in the process of implementing a records management system that would link 17 local municipal law enforcement agencies together. Sheriff Dale Schmidt ran through the numbers last night reiterating his offer that the software for Spillman will be free to each municipal department however those departments will each have to pay a yearly maintenance fee of $280-per computer beginning in 2019 and a one-time training fee of $720-per officer this year. For the Beaver Dam Police Department, that translates to $26-thousand dollars for its 37 officers plus $14-thousand annually for its 51-computers. PFC Chair Jeff Komen says that is considerably higher than the $4300 total cost to be part of the failed New World computer system, which was put into place three years ago but has been plagued with issues. Komen says the city should not have to pick up the entire bill for full-time officers who work part time in other local jurisdictions and called on the sheriff to bill those smaller municipalities half the cost. Schmidt says the payment structure is non-negotiable. He says Spillman will replace two computer systems that Beaver Dam is using right now, not just New World for squad cars out in the field but also a Cisco system that manages department records back at the police station. The sheriff says for about $2000 more between now and 2019 the city of Beaver Dam gets top-of-the-line software. The PFC does not plan to take any action on the presentation and told the sheriff that the common council controls the purse strings. Komen told the police chief to proceed if he is happy with the contract but to advise the PFC of any decisions. The sheriff in the meantime will continue to work with the city attorney but he says the system is being build right now and the sooner police departments become part of the process the smoother the implementation will go.