MONROE — Though the election is still nearly three months away, Monroe seems poised to make history. The city could elect its first female Mayor in the April 5 spring election, but that woman, Donna Douglas, doesn’t want to make a big deal out of her gender.
“I prefer not to be looked at by gender,” said Douglas, a current city council member who has held a host of volunteer and government related jobs in Monroe for decades. “I’ve always had the respect of men and women and I want to bring people together from all walks of life.”
Douglas is running unopposed for the post and there is no primary, according to Brittney Rindy, Monroe city clerk and treasurer. A number of candidates also have submitted the required paperwork to serve on the Monroe Common Council.
Those other candidates include: Lynne Hardy, Mary Jane Grenzow, Heidi Treuthardt, Michael Boyce, Christopher Schindler; and Richard Thoman. The local election landscape is more complicated than usual this time around, officials said.
“Normally there are five (alder) seats up in even years, but with the remaining term of Ald. (Brian) Doyle — filled by Ald. Chris Schindler recently — there is one position for a one-year term,” said Rindy. “The regular five seats are for a two-year term. The past practice has been that the top 5 vote elects get the two-year terms and the person in sixth place gets the one-year term.”
That essentially means, she said, that one of the candidates will not be elected. Further, Rindy said that Douglas is actually running for mayor and alderperson. If she were to win both, and chose to decline the council job, that still would leave a vacancy, which could later be appointed by the council.
In addition to her city council work, Douglas is currently executive director of the National Historic Cheesemaking Center/Green County Welcome Center, a post she has held for a decade.
She grew up in Monroe, but came of age farming as a dairy partner for 34 years in Decatur Township near Brodhead. Stepping out of her big-black pickup truck on Wednesday, she says she’s proud of her knowledge of different eras of dairy equipment; and the fact that she can “do just about anything on a dairy farm.”
Douglas never had children and thus, says she considers the Monroe and Green County communities “my family.” It’s a proud place she says that has so many features — modern YMCA, shopping, great schools, opportunities for recreation and the arts — that are typically found in much bigger cities.
If elected — there still could be write-in candidates — she will replace mayor Louis Armstrong who opted not to seek another term. Re-elected in 2020 for a two-year term, Armstrong was first elected in April of 2016 and is currently serving his fourth term as Mayor.
Douglas, who says she plans to have an office with an “open-door policy” in city hall, says the biggest issue facing Monroe is getting everyone to work together — citizens, volunteers, employees and all of the city’s department heads.
“More than we have in the past, we just need to come together on things,” she said. “We can be more unified than we have been in the past.”
In addition, to her council work, Douglas also served for nine years on the Green County Board of Supervisors. And she served for a decade as elected supervisor of the town of Decatur. She also spent 19 years as a commissioner on the Southwest Regional Planning Commission.
“Public service has been a way of life for me,” she said. “It’s in my blood.”
Rindy said write-in candidates for city offices have until April 1 to register to run.
Council meetings are at 6:30 p.m. every first and third Monday of each month. They are open to the public and also are available to watch live online.