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Record of Proceedings

Monroe Common Council Meeting - August 17, 2026: Licenses, Stop Signs, and Comp Plan Amendment

Common Council & Commissions — Monday, August 17, 2026

BodyMonroe, Wisconsin

SessionCommon Council & Commissions

DateMonday, August 17, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 41:53

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:01

Okay, so it's 6 30.

0:03

We'll call to the city council meeting to order, and we'll stand for the pledge of allegiance, please.

0:28

First order businesses roll call, please.

0:30

Older gentlemen here, older true heart.

0:33

Here, older Wartonweiler.

0:34

Here.

0:35

Older Shaver.

0:36

Here, older Frankie.

0:37

Here.

0:38

Older McGuire.

0:39

Here, older Bestine.

0:40

Here, older Vokley.

0:42

Here.

0:42

An older motion.

0:44

Here.

0:47

Item E are there, or excuse me, D, any corrections to the August 3rd and 10th minute meetings.

0:56

Meaning minutes.

1:00

Hearing none, those will stand as written.

1:02

Item E presentations and petitions of petitions and communication.

1:06

And we have one order of business tonight.

1:10

The Monroe Chamber of Commerce has a presentation.

1:22

Thank you.

1:23

Thanks for having us tonight.

1:25

So we were just wanted to share with you what we've done over the past year and kind of looking forward to what we're going to be working on in the next year and some of our partnerships that we are doing with the city.

1:35

So just to bring um tell you a little bit about how we look at the mission of the chamber.

1:42

We look for promotion, promoting our businesses, offering them networking opportunities and then educational opportunities.

1:50

So currently we have 277 members.

1:53

In 2025, we had 21 new members come into the chamber, and as of today for 2026, we're already at 24 new members.

2:02

So our membership is on a really good up wet board trajectory.

2:06

And the thing that I'm really excited about is that we've had members just this year join us from Lena, Argyle, Freeport, Janesville, New Glaris, and Monroe.

2:15

So we've even kind of spread out of just the boundaries of Monroe, which I think that shows that they're they're seeing what we're putting out there.

2:23

So we're really happy about that.

2:28

We do our business after fives, our ribbon cuttings, just really promoting a lot of our businesses, working our social media numbers are really good.

2:37

We've had a lot of people that interact with us.

2:40

We have our ambassador program, and we currently have 25 ambassadors, and those are business leaders in the community.

2:47

They meet once a month, they come and do a business meeting and then they go out and they site visit for a business.

3:06

Um that program as well.

3:08

Over the last year, we had educational sessions for business business people on fraud marketing.

3:15

We had a half day AI summit and a couple new things that we added this last year that some of you participated in.

3:22

We had sessions where they uh when the elections were being held, where we had meet the council members, which gave the council city council members who were running for office a platform to get in front of the community, and that was community-wide.

3:34

That was not just for our business members.

3:36

Um, and then we also did one of those for the mayors.

3:39

So we had probably a hundred people turn up to each one of those and had a really good feedback about that.

3:47

And we also added um some fireside chats that we've been holding at the Y, and again, we partnered with the city Brittany and and Mayor Douglas did one, um, and then Joe Monroe and Ron Olson did one right before the referendum to talk about the new school.

4:00

And then the other big thing that we added this last year is our Derby event, our chamber derby, um, which we did on the day of the Kentucky Derby, and we raised about $6,500 for that for our first year, and have really heard I think it's gonna be a big event for us.

4:19

It was very well received.

4:21

Um, people came dressed to the nines, and um I talked to some people there that I didn't recognize.

4:27

There were some people, there were two couples from Rockford, and there were a group of girls from Madison.

4:32

I think there were six of them.

4:33

I'm sorry, from Appleton that had come to stay for the weekend.

4:37

So it seems like we might be getting some heads and beds for that event as well.

4:43

And then this year we did add um right now the way that we were staffed, is I'm part-time as the executive director.

4:50

We had a part-time events person, and we just added a third part-time person who's doing development, helping us raise money for sponsorships, getting more businesses involved, um, you know, just helping with our sustainability.

5:03

So what are we doing going forward?

5:06

We're not adding any new events.

5:07

We're not looking to add any new events.

5:09

We just want to kind of keep enhancing the things that we're already doing.

5:12

I think we've kind of figured out how to work well with the city.

5:16

We also meet Brittany and I and Olivia and Jordan meet, try to meet on a monthly basis just to make sure that we're kind of staying in our lanes and enhancing what each other is doing, but not um doubling up on efforts.

5:28

And so that seems to be going well.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Procedural██████████████████████████████30%

Engineering And Infrastructure██████████████████18%

Zoning And Land Use██████████████████18%

Economic Development███████████████15%

Event Planning███████7%

Transportation Safety██████6%

Public Engagement██████6%

Summary of Proceedings

Monroe Common Council Meeting – August 17, 2026

The Monroe Common Council met on Monday, August 17, 2026, at 6:30 PM in City Hall Council Chambers. All nine alderpersons were present; Mayor Tom Miller was absent. The meeting covered consent agenda approvals, temporary liquor licenses for community events, installation of stop signs, special event permits, a certified survey map for Cheese Louise, adoption of a public participation plan for a comprehensive plan amendment, setting of public hearings, and purchase of a hydro excavator. All votes were unanimous (9-0) where taken.

Consent Calendar

Approved the minutes of August 3 and 10, 2026, as presented.
Approved the consent agenda (miscellaneous licenses and claims list) unanimously (9-0).

Public Comments & Testimony

No members of the public appeared to address the council.

Presentations

Monroe Chamber of Commerce Update: Marcey, Executive Director, reported that the Chamber now has 277 members, with 24 new members in 2026 (up from 21 in 2025). New members have joined from Lena, Argyle, Freeport, Janesville, New Glarus, and Monroe. The Chamber added a third part-time staff member for development and established a formal finance committee. Upcoming initiatives include an HR essentials workshop and alignment with the city's ten-year plan. No council action was taken.

Discussion Items

License Committee – Temporary Beer Gardens: Approved a temporary Class B premise extension with an outdoor beer garden for the Green County House (Cheese Days) and a temporary Class B fermented malt beverage license for the Monroe Lions Club (Green County Fall Nationals Tractor Pull). Both resolutions passed 9-0. Discussion confirmed the Green County House location is the same building as Bullets.
Public Safety Committee – Stop Signs on 4th Street: Approved a resolution authorizing installation of stop signs and stop bars at 4th Street & 22nd Avenue and 4th Street & 25th Avenue. The stop bar was explained as a white line. The signs are permanent, not just during construction. Passed 9-0.
Public Safety Committee – Special Events: Approved three special events: (1) Monroe Rural Fire District pancake breakfast on October 4, 2026 (7–11 AM); (2) Green County Fall Nationals Tractor & Truck Pull on September 12, 2026 (8 AM–midnight) at the fairgrounds; (3) Green County House Inc. Huber Bock Run on September 19, 2026 (12:30–1:45 PM) on 13th Street and 14th Avenue. Passed 9-0.
Plan Commission – Certified Survey Map for Cheese Louise: Approved combining four parcels (905 30th Street, 1001 30th Street, and two others) for an expansion of the cheese operation (smoking/packaging, not cheese making). Alder Wartenweiler asked about water usage; Administrator Rindy noted no wastewater impact. Passed 9-0.
Plan Commission – Comprehensive Plan Amendment Public Participation Procedures: Adopted a formal public participation plan for amendments to the City’s Comprehensive Plan, triggered by a request from Wisconsin Power & Light (now Alliant Energy) to rezone a parcel adjacent to their substation from residential to light industrial for a substation expansion. The resolution initiates a 30-day public comment period; the actual zoning change and comp plan amendment will be considered in September. Alders discussed the need for full public disclosure of the proposal (substation expansion and storage yard relocation). Passed 9-0.
Judiciary and Ordinance Review Committee: Set public hearings for September 8, 2026, on (1) an ordinance repealing and recreating Monroe City Zoning Code Section 5-2 regarding in-home daycare, and (2) an ordinance zoning text amendment for signs in the Historic Preservation Overlay (HP-O). No vote on the ordinances themselves; only hearing dates were set.
Board of Public Works – Hydro Excavator Purchase: Approved purchase of a trailer-mounted hydro excavator from MacQueen for $72,250, funded from the capital budget moderate depreciation account. The equipment will assist in identifying unknown service lines (especially lead) by using high-pressure water and vacuum to safely expose pipes. City staff noted potential savings of $850 per service line identified in-house versus by contractor. Passed 9-0.

Key Outcomes

All nine resolutions on the agenda passed unanimously (9-0).
Public hearings were scheduled for September 8, 2026, on zoning changes for in-home daycare and historic preservation signs.
The next Common Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 (no meeting on August 31 due to Labor Day).
Alder Franke reported that Concerts on the Square were successful; Alder Thoman noted a chamber golf outing on Wednesday and praised the new high school; Alder Sheaffer encouraged viewing the TID/TIF presentation from the August 12 Plan Commission meeting.
Administrator Rindy reminded that there will be no meetings the week of August 31 and thanked poll workers for the recent election. City Clerk Wahl also thanked election workers.

Meeting Transcript

Okay, so it's 6 30. We'll call to the city council meeting to order, and we'll stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. First order businesses roll call, please. Older gentlemen here, older true heart. Here, older Wartonweiler. Here. Older Shaver. Here, older Frankie. Here. Older McGuire. Here, older Bestine. Here, older Vokley. Here. An older motion. Here. Item E are there, or excuse me, D, any corrections to the August 3rd and 10th minute meetings. Meaning minutes. Hearing none, those will stand as written. Item E presentations and petitions of petitions and communication. And we have one order of business tonight. The Monroe Chamber of Commerce has a presentation. Thank you. Thanks for having us tonight. So we were just wanted to share with you what we've done over the past year and kind of looking forward to what we're going to be working on in the next year and some of our partnerships that we are doing with the city. So just to bring um tell you a little bit about how we look at the mission of the chamber. We look for promotion, promoting our businesses, offering them networking opportunities and then educational opportunities. So currently we have 277 members. In 2025, we had 21 new members come into the chamber, and as of today for 2026, we're already at 24 new members. So our membership is on a really good up wet board trajectory. And the thing that I'm really excited about is that we've had members just this year join us from Lena, Argyle, Freeport, Janesville, New Glaris, and Monroe. So we've even kind of spread out of just the boundaries of Monroe, which I think that shows that they're they're seeing what we're putting out there. So we're really happy about that. We do our business after fives, our ribbon cuttings, just really promoting a lot of our businesses, working our social media numbers are really good. We've had a lot of people that interact with us. We have our ambassador program, and we currently have 25 ambassadors, and those are business leaders in the community. They meet once a month, they come and do a business meeting and then they go out and they site visit for a business. Um that program as well. Over the last year, we had educational sessions for business business people on fraud marketing. We had a half day AI summit and a couple new things that we added this last year that some of you participated in. We had sessions where they uh when the elections were being held, where we had meet the council members, which gave the council city council members who were running for office a platform to get in front of the community, and that was community-wide. That was not just for our business members. Um, and then we also did one of those for the mayors. So we had probably a hundred people turn up to each one of those and had a really good feedback about that. And we also added um some fireside chats that we've been holding at the Y, and again, we partnered with the city Brittany and and Mayor Douglas did one, um, and then Joe Monroe and Ron Olson did one right before the referendum to talk about the new school. And then the other big thing that we added this last year is our Derby event, our chamber derby, um, which we did on the day of the Kentucky Derby, and we raised about $6,500 for that for our first year, and have really heard I think it's gonna be a big event for us. It was very well received. Um, people came dressed to the nines, and um I talked to some people there that I didn't recognize. There were some people, there were two couples from Rockford, and there were a group of girls from Madison. I think there were six of them. I'm sorry, from Appleton that had come to stay for the weekend.

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