A special meeting of the Monroe Common Council was called to order at 4:55 PM on Monday, August 10, 2026, in City Hall Council Chambers. The council considered one agenda item from the Public Safety Committee: a resolution establishing school zones, stop control, and parking restrictions in the vicinity of Northside Elementary and the new Monroe High Schools. The item had been tabled at the previous council meeting. After discussion, the council approved the resolution 7-0 and adjourned at 5:11 PM.
Staff background and recommendation: Administrator Rindy said staff from Public Works and Public Safety had discussed the proposal after it was tabled. Staff recommended conducting a traffic study before adopting a 15 mph all-day speed limit, noting that a school-zone sign with when-children-present enforcement cannot be paired with a permanent 15 mph speed limit. Rindy cited the 15 mph zone on 22nd Avenue as a precedent that followed a traffic study and cautioned about consistency with other school zones in the city.
Traffic and signage review: Al Gerber reviewed traffic patterns, school-zone flashing beacons, and parking configurations at other schools. Flashing beacons can be timed only for school hours, while the signs proposed for this area would not have flashing beacons. He also discussed reusing signs from the former high school at the new school.
Council discussion: Alder Mosher and other council members raised concerns about permanent 15 mph limits, enforcement, and the need for consistency across school zones. Council members noted that the proposed signage was ready to install before the school year, while a traffic study would take additional time. They agreed to proceed with the proposed signage and to consider a future study if needed. Alder Mosher said he was satisfied with the new information and that the council should act now.
Old high school zones: Discussion noted that signs from the old high school area were being relocated or removed; once signs are removed, tickets cannot be enforced in those zones. The council indicated that formal action may be needed later to clean up or rescind the old school-zone designations, and staff would bring recommendations to committee.
Approval of Resolution (7-0): The council voted 7-0 to approve the resolution establishing school zones, stop control, and parking restrictions near Northside Elementary and the new Monroe High Schools. Voting aye: Richard Thoman, Corinne Wartenweiler, Matt Sheaffer, Dylan McGuire, Christopher Vestin, Darlene Voelkli, and Dave Mosher. Noes: none. The vote record lists absent as Heidi Treuthardt and Craig Franke, and no abstentions. The minutes also list Tom Miller as absent at roll call but do not list him among absent voters; they also record Franke as the original seconder despite his absence at the vote.
Next steps: The approved signage is to be installed before the start of the school year. The council may conduct a traffic study later if needed.
Okay. We'll call the special meeting, the common council to order. Um start off with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice rural. Okay. Thank you. Roll call, please. Older Tolman. Here. Older true heart. Older Wartwiler? Here. Alder Schaefer. Here. Alder Frankie. Older McGuire. Here. Alder Vestine here. Older Vokley? Here. And older Mosher. Here. Okay, we do have a quorum. The one item on our meeting agenda tonight is public safety committee. We have a resolution establishing school zone, stop control, and parking restrictions in the vicinity of Northside Elementary and the new Monroe High Schools. That public safety committee needs to present that. Yeah, well, so I guess maybe administrator indeed. So this is an item that was tabled from last week's council meeting. So you're kind of resuming from that table discussion. Um that we had the proposed recommendation with the school zones and stop signs, but there was uh questions and discussion about if it could be 15 miles per hour all the time. Um I did include a memo with the agenda packet that um as the staff kind of discussed over the last week between public works and and public safety, um, some of the impacts and considerations to have. Um do you want me to just go forward with summarizing maybe that first? Okay. So some things to be concerned or considerate of if you do go 15 miles per hour speed limit all the time. That would then remove we could not have school zone signs also in place when you have a school zone sign, it's understood that enforcement of that is only when children are present. And so you're eliminating kind of the yellow flashing and and kind of more alerting that to be mindful of pedestrians are in the area. Um you would be going slower. It also can propose some challenges for enforcement. Um when and we would have to post that as typically residential and streets are the 25 miles per hour. Um, so you would want to make sure it's well known throughout that area. Um, and obviously while at some point it could become well known that to the people locally and that are going to the schools. I think there's gonna be a lot of alternative traffic in that area with people coming to sporting events or otherwise that would typically think, especially a wider street such as Chichis Maker Drive would be a 25 mile per hour if they're not looking for a 15 mile per hour sign that you would normally be looking at at that point. Um so that could could cost some more for enforcement or otherwise. We uh the one other time that we have done a 15 mile per hour, so something that's kind of recommended if you really wanted to go that route is we did on 22nd Avenue by SSM House. Um, they have a lot of consistent pedestrian traffic throughout all times of the day, weekends, and year round. Um, and they did request and do a traffic study. So if we were to do something like this, we would recommend that we would have to go that route for consistency. Um then uh also I guess a noteworthy thing is being mindful of a precedent. If you're doing this here, what do we do about our other school zones as well?