The commission created to review the Brown County 911 dispatch center after months of dispatchers publicly sharing concerns has recommended training, guidance and a zero-tolerance policy for “shame-training and/or bullying behavior.”
In April, Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach announced a 911 Study Commission to review the dispatch center. The review began with an independent firm conducting interviews with current center staff.
The firm’s findings were turned over to the commission, which met for the first and only time June 18 to discuss the findings.
The commission is made up of five members: former Public Safety Committee Chair and former Brown County Sheriff’s deputy Keith Deneys; current Public Safety Committee Chair Devon Coenen; current Public Safety Committee and board member Ross Toellner; former Public Safety Committee member and former Administration Committee Chair Rick Schadewald; and current board member Jim Pyle, who previously served on the Public Safety Committee.
The commission elected Schadewald as chair and Coenen as vice chair. The commission was in closed section for 2½ hours while it reviewed two reports and created a statement it will give to Streckenbach as a recommendation.
The statement says that “in order to improve the culture and working environment” in the center, the commission recommends Streckenbach hire Public Administration Associates, LLC, to assist in taking five actions:
“We believe that our employees are hardworking and dedicated people who want to make Brown County a good place to live and a safe place to live. In this report, it did clearly state that the 911 employees are a dedicated group,” Schadewald said. “And yet, as we all know, in police and in education, training, education, ability to improve and to get better is a keystone of any organization. And as such, we want to not only encourage it to the county executive, but we want the county executive and the administration to follow through on this training and education to make it a better place to work.”
The committee also directed the corporation counsel to make any necessary redactions to the reports so they can be released to the public. Director of Administration Chad Weininger said the reports will be released as soon as possible.
The study and recommendations follow months of concerns expressed by dispatchers about the state of the center. In March 2025, dispatcher Kirk Parker said staffing shortages were putting immense pressure on staff and a newly proposed schedule change at the time was raising stress.
Following Parker’s comments, dispatchers continued to show up at Brown County Board and committee meetings to express frustration at schedule and overtime changes, as well as management. At the March 18 Public Safety Committee, Jennifer Conley of De Pere said “mismanagement, gaslighting and [a] general feeling of being disposable” pushed her to resign after 19 years as a Brown County dispatcher.
Conley announced her resignation publicly at the meeting, saying the center was “being run on control, fear tactics and threats,” which had led to multiple tenured staff resigning.
Most recently, Brown County first responders sent a letter to the Brown County Board and Public Safety Committee urging “immediate and long-term solutions to ensure the safety of citizens, officers, and first responders.”
The letter said staffing shortages have “created excessive workloads, forced overtime, and unsafe conditions, increasing the risk of errors that could impact both responders and the public” and that “turnover has also risen significantly, including the loss of experienced staff, which adds further strain and reduces institutional knowledge.”
Dispatchers who attended the study commission meeting declined to comment but left visibly disappointed.
Vivian Barrett is the public safety reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at vmbarrett@usatodayco.com or (920) 431-8314.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Training, education recommended to improve Brown County 911 center
Reporting by Vivian Barrett, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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By Vivian Barrett, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
