Quick Answer: The Price County Law Enforcement Committee recommended TUSA Consulting Services out of Missouri to lead a phased overhaul of the county radio system, starting with a study that should cost no more than $55,000. Sheriff Brian Schmidt and County Administrator Nick Drier also told the board that radio maintenance costs are jumping from $36,000 to $80,000 a year, and the sheriff’s office is spending roughly 7,000 minutes of employee time on open records requests so far in 2026.
The Price County Law Enforcement Committee met on the afternoon of Thursday, August 13, at a date moved up on purpose. Members wanted to get the sheriff’s radio project in front of the full county board before the summer slipped away.
Chairman Larry Palachuk called the roll. Jennifer Baratko, Robert Kopisch, Larry Palachuk, and Patricia Stephen were present. Dennis Wartko was excused.
What did the committee decide about the radio system?
Last updated: September 2026
We got a real education on what a radio upgrade actually involves. It is a lot more than buying new radios.
The sheriff’s office already put out an RFI and an RFP for what they call Phase 1 of the radio project. That phase is a study, not a purchase. The goal is simple: figure out what the county actually has, what is about to die, and what it should buy next.
Four companies bid on the study. The committee narrowed that to three, then two. County Board Chair Brian Ernst, Sheriff Brian Schmidt, Chief Deputy Robert Hahn, and Administrator Nick Drier did the interviews.
Who won the bid to study the radio system?
The review team recommended TUSA Consulting Services, based out of Missouri. The Executive Committee approved that recommendation the same morning.
The funding for Phase 1 comes out of the tower fund, and the resolution goes to the full county board next week. The winning bids for the study ran from about $39,000 to $49,000. The county committed to no more than $55,000.
Why bring in a consultant at all?
Because the county keeps the radios working with spare parts from eBay and Amazon. Eventually, that supply dries up.
Northway, the current vendor, has been great to work with. A broken radio knob might just get replaced for free. But the bigger problem is a maintenance contract that is about to triple.
How much is the maintenance going up?
The five-year contract is up. The county was paying $36,000 a year for maintenance. The renewal comes in at $80,000.
That was not a surprise. Officials knew it was coming five years ago. And new contracts never go back down. The consultants both recommended locking in a ten-year agreement during the RFP, which helps budgeting.
What does each phase of the project cost?
Phase 1 is the study. Phase 2 is writing the RFP, and that estimate ran between $45,000 and $60,000. Phase 3 is the general-contractor role, making sure the chosen equipment actually works across the county.
One company priced Phase 3 at around $100,000. The other pitched it at 1 to 5 percent of the total project.
How big is the whole project?
The full radio overhaul is likely a $2 million to $4 million project, per the meeting. That almost certainly means borrowing money.
Do not expect a levy spike this year. The county plans to borrow in 2028 or beyond. The switch-over could go live in early 2028, maybe late 2027 if things go well.
Why is the county picky about vendors?
Price County sits surrounded by eight other contiguous counties. Whatever system it buys has to talk to all of them.
Lane, Taylor, and Ashland counties are already on their own products. Nobody wants to drop in a Kenwood or Motorola and discover it does not work with the neighbors. That is exactly the kind of thing a consultant should catch before the county spends millions.
What did a public complaint about an investigator bring up?
The committee heard public comment from Brittany Volkman, a Medford resident. She asked that her words go into the minutes word for word.
Volkman handed over a formal citizen complaint and a sworn affidavit. She is requesting the felony prosecution of Investigator Dylan Schaller over his on-duty social media posts.
She pointed to a 1990s case where a deputy was removed over off-duty political speech, a decision that reached the 7th Circuit of Appeals in 1993. Her argument: if the department can purge a deputy for off-duty speech, it is bound to discipline an investigator for on-duty posts.
Volkman claimed Schaller shared a paragraph of an internal police intelligence meeting on his personal account and broadcast the name of an active victim in an armed interstate abduction. She also cited a narrative in a complaint that involved a wireless physical assault. No action was taken by the committee on the spot; the meeting moved on after her two minutes.
How is the sheriff’s office staffing shaking out?
Chief Deputy Hahn walked the committee through the roster. The department is short-handed right now, and hiring is a slow grind.
Dawson Howschild is in his third phase of field training. He should complete FTO in early September and be on the road by himself.
New hire Brandon Boggs is at the recruit academy in Rhinelander and doing well; he is one of the top students in his class. He should graduate early September and come back for FTO.
Is anybody else coming aboard?
The sheriff’s office is in the interview and background phase for a third full-time deputy. The hire would help close that staffing gap.
Humane Officer Mindy is swamped. She has fielded 224 animal-related calls for service so far this year. Deputy Calsevera is organizing a canine fundraiser coming up.
The rec officer has been pulling boat patrol hours to hit DNR requirements, even though he keeps getting pulled off patrol to fill shifts. The jail and kitchen inspections both passed, though the official reports have not come back.
Why is open records eating so much staff time?
The sheriff’s office is buried in open records requests, and it is not alone.
Deputy Hahn and Administrator Drier walked the committee through the numbers. In 2024 the county got 195 open records requests. Last year that jumped to 322. This year, to date, there have been 220, taking almost 7,000 minutes of records coordinator Annie Meyers’ time alone.
One request requires Annie to watch more than 21 hours of video and redact it before release. The department is swamped just getting through the queue.
Are some requests being denied on purpose?
Yes, and for cybersecurity reasons. One request asked for a full inventory of everything in the county server room.
Officials denied it. If someone knows every brand and model number, they have a better map of how to get in. There is also a real fear about releasing email address lists; one neighboring county that did so got hit with a cyber attack using those addresses.
How is the District Attorney’s office holding up?
District Attorney Alexis (reporting for her office) walked the committee through the caseload. The volume stayed high.
The office has about 250 cases still pending review, plus 230 filed and active cases. The DA carries 82 felonies and 109 misdemeanors. Assistant DA Ian Mickelson carries 10 felonies and 29 misdemeanors. That includes 14 felony OWI cases actively in the pipeline.
Roughly 50 cases were filed in the last 60 days as the office works the backlog down. The DA has been in the post about four months and plans to produce a regular written report for the committee.
When does the committee meet next?
The next Law Enforcement Committee meeting is set for Wednesday, September 3, at 9 a.m. It might be canceled if nothing pressing comes up.
There is one item likely to keep it on the calendar: a proposed pet-waste ordinance for county campgrounds. The idea came up after a Montana couple arrived at Silver Glade Campground and found around 30 piles of dog feces they had to clean up in the dark before setting up camp.
The county wants to tighten the ordinance so people who bring pets onto campsites have to bag and deposit the waste. The wording will likely go to a public hearing and run in the newspaper for 30 days before adoption.
See also: our guide to free camping in Wisconsin
See also: our guide to Price County public records
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