The Monroe Historic Preservation Commission met on May 13, 2026, at 1:00 PM in City Council Chambers. The commission elected officers, approved five downtown facade grant applications, received an update on a federal historic preservation survey grant, and discussed signage and building painting matters. All votes were unanimous except for the abstention of Commissioner Jordan Norby on most facade grant votes due to a conflict of interest.
City Administrator Rindy presented six facade grant applications recommended by the Main Street Monroe Design Committee. The grants are part of a matching program funded by Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district, with grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 (50% of project cost). Commissioner Jordan Norby stated he would abstain from voting on all facade grant applications due to a connection to the applicants.
Applications Approved:
Application Sent Back:
The combined value of all six applications (including the deferred one) exceeded $140,000 in requested grants, indicating strong program interest.
City Administrator Rindy reported that the city plans to apply for a 2027 grant from the Wisconsin Historical Society's Certified Local Government program. The no-match grant (up to $50,000) would fund an intensive survey of all properties in Monroe to identify historic resources and potentially expand the historic district or list properties. The survey includes public input events. The commission expressed support and noted that the city has never had such a survey.
I will go ahead and call the historic preservation meeting to order at 112. For roll call, we have Donna Baller, Mary Saudi, Jordan Orby, and Tom Mitchell. And at this point, I will open it up for nominations for commission chair. I nominate Jeff Malaches. I hit the wrong thing here. I I nominate Jeff Malacheski. I'll second. Are there any other nominations? All right, I'll go ahead and close nominations and I will roll call to elect Jeff as chair. Donald Baller. Mary Soddy. Yes. Jordan Norby. Aye. And Tom Mitchell. And then at this time, I will open up for nominations for vice chair. I nominate Jordan. I'll second. Are there any other nominations? No. I think people's calling. I'll close nominations and we'll take roll call to elect Jordan as vice chair. Mary Saudi. Yes. Jordan Orby? Yes. Tom Mitchell. And Donald Baller. Jordan, it's yours. All right. So we've got our first round of applications for the facade grant. So partnership between Main Street Monroe and the city using uh tax incremental finance district. So the previous application and everything had been uh reviewed through the necessary committees. So it's a matching grant, minimum five thousand, so a ten thousand dollar project all the way up to providing up to fifty thousand dollars. Um design our design committee reviewed. Um we've got a really nice group um, including somebody who's an architect, which at least for me really helped frame kind of the facade and how it can relate to the roof with with these types of projects. Um we did have more applications than this, but these were the ones that that we approved to to move on here. So I would imagine the ones that were not approved will come back um for the next quarter, and then I think we'll maybe have another uh three three to four. So I would say the the interest has has been really good. Um which one is first? Sorry, on the agenda. So there's no real particular order. Okay, just go through them. Okay. Perfect. Okay, so for the uh treats building, um, which is where the Monroe Antiques mall is on the north uh west corner. Um total project cost they've got at $66,000. So they're requesting $33,000 forty-six dollars. Um not anticipating the work to start until next spring, but working on replacing um a great number of windows. There's been some um windows on the north side of the building and on the east that face the square.