MONROE — The streets of Monroe have welcomed an unfamiliar face in the past two weeks as David Lothspeich took over as city administrator.

Lothspeich (pronounced ‘led-spike’) began working as administrator Nov. 2 but his transition to Monroe began Sept. 8 when the Common Council, with alderperson Brooke Bauman absent, voted unanimously to hire him.

He brings with him years of experience working in the field. After working four years as a community development director, Lothspeich began as a village administrator in Bannockburn, Illinois. He stayed there for eight years before becoming the village manager in Long Grove, Illinois where he served for 18 years.

With three of his five children out of high school, Lothspeich knew that moving on to a new position in a new location in the upcoming years was in the cards.

“I applied for Monroe because of where I was at in my career and [with] our family,” he said. “[It was] a very good opportunity.” 

Besides being a good next step for him and his family, Lothspeich was drawn to Monroe because he had always been interested in living in Wisconsin.

“Having lived in northeastern Illinois (Libertyville), Wisconsin has kind of been our backyard from the time that I was young to now with our family,” he said. “it’s always been a place that my wife and I have pointed to, that, ‘wouldn’t that be a nice place to go at some point?’”

For now, Lothspeich is preparing to move into a Lake Geneva home, cutting his commute time from two hours and twenty minutes to one hour and fifteen minutes.

He has been working in-office Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and from home Thursdays and Fridays.

Though he is only in-office three days a week, Lothspeich sticks with an open-door policy.

“My biggest thing is letting the community know that I am here to serve the community and I practice an open door policy, both in terms of meeting with people personally or over the phone.”

During his few weeks with the city, Lothspeich has already found Monroe to be both warm and welcoming.

“It’s a long drive but I don’t mind it because everybody here has just been so welcoming and supportive and just great to work with. They all want to help me to succeed and they’re all bringing me up to speed as quickly as they can.”

The contract

He will receive a gross annual salary of $120,000 with an annual review and adjustments being made as deemed necessary, according to the employment agreement signed between Lothspeich and City of Monroe representatives.

As part of the contract, Lothspeich will devote full efforts and time to city affairs and may not take up any other employment during his time with the city.

Within his first three months of employment, Lothspeich will provide the council with an outline of his plans, performance goals and objectives for his first year as city administrator.