WAUPUN — The Waupun City Council discussed options for how to have a new house built on Maxon St to replace a house condemned and demolished two years ago.
This, among other items, was discussed at the most recent City Council meeting held Tuesday, June 9, 2026, which began at 6:02PM.
Before the meeting began, Mayor Rohn Bishop said that former mayor Bob Reinap’s wife, Melanie Reinap, was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer and asked members in attendence to keep her in their thoughts during the moment of silence.
First item on the agenda was the 2026-2027 City of Waupun Liquor and Fermented Malt Beverage Licenses. There were no comments from the public on the matter of the liquor licenses. The Council passed the item as presented unanimously.
Two resolutions were on the agenda.
First was Resolution Authorizing the Opening of a Lockbox Account for the Collection and Payment of Ambulance Bills. No questions or comments from the Council or department heads, passed unanimously.
Second was the Resolution for Approval of Changes to the City of Waupun Functional Classification System. Alderman Pete Kaczmarski asked City Administrator Kathy Schlieve to explain this motion. Schlieve said that the Department of Transporation has recently updated the requirements for maps so the City has to accept the changes to make sure the maps are in order. Passed unanimously.
The Council then moved onto board recommendations. There were two from the Board of Public Works.
First was for the asphalt paving contracts for W. Brown St to County Park Rd (near Badger Mini Storage), E Lincoln St from S. Madison St to railroad tracks, and the Sunset Ct from N. West St to the culdasack. Passed unanimously.
Second was a review of the budgets to raze and remove 26 N. Mill St., and plans for the planned parking lot layout. This is a property immediately to the north of National Exchange Bank that was recently foreclosed and would cost more to renovate than it’s worth, so the City determined it would be best to demolish the house and put in additional downtown parking.
The City received the following quotes from W&D Navis Budgets for work on the property.
Item #1 Environmental $650
Item #2 Raze and Remove former house $19,875
Item #3 Site work $8,910
Alderman Kaczmarski asked if the DPW had a timeline, Daane said it would likely be demolished this fall and paving of the new parking lot would be in the spring. The motion passed unanimously.
There were also only two action items.
First was the Staff Compensation Plan for Paid-On-Call Emergency Medical Services (EMS), which passed unanimously with no discussion.
Second was the list of License-Permit Applications, Expenses. This also passed unanimously with no discussion.
The last item on the agenda was a discussion-only item, related to the sale and development of 627 Maxon Street. This item was originally a sealed-bid sale tabled from the previous City Council meeting on May 26, as there was only one bid from residents who indicated they were unsure they wanted to move forward with it.
City Administrator Schlieve said that the single bid from the previous meeting was withdrawn since the last meeting. The original asking of $30,000 based on the cleanup cost of the property when the house was condemned.
The City has since reached out to some developers to see if there was any interest in building a new house on the property, in which developer Valido Homes had expressed interest under the proposed contingencies.
The City also reached out to Habitat for Humanity, but Schlieve noted it would be a 2027 project at the earliest and could be up to three years before any work might start. It would be constructed partially with volunteer labor but would be tax exempt as long as it’s under the program. Schlieve requested input from the Council about what direction to take.
Alderman Kaczmarski asked Alderman Matoushek about the five Habitat for Humanity houses in Juneau, to which Matoushek noted there was a slightly higher law enforcement presence to those properties, but not necessarily constant. Alderman Jason Westphal also noted they look nice enough.
Kaczmarski noted that Waupun has never had a Habitat for Humanity house built. Schlieve said it might be because Waupun is a split county community so the housing authorities from either county have not invested in Waupun. Schlieve noted that if they went in this direction, the property would not produce value this year, and they could not offer a timeline for when it would.
Alderwoman Bobbi Jo Kunz said the conditions in the developer plan would not be hard to complete, but she did not know enough about the Habitat for Humanity program to say if they would be able to.
Schlieve said there’s clauses to restrict how much money the Habitat for Humanity “homeowner” can take out on the Habitat for Humanity property.
Alderman Matoushek asked if there was a guarantee any developer would build within three years on the property. Alderman Dan Siebers said there’s never a guarantee, but that the housing market is hot so it should be fast with the right developer.
Alderman Westphal said he liked the idea of Habitat, but said he found it hard to pass up a developer that’s ready to start now and have it done by the end of this year.
Schlieve said they were originally asking for a minimum bid of $33,000 for neighboring residents first, but are now considering opening the bid process.
Alderman Ryan Meilke asked if the City could put on a percentage commission if a developer were to complete and sell a house on the property instead of buying the property before starting. Schlieve said they were discussing this sort of option with Fond du Lac county, but she has not seen that done before in Waupun.
Mayor Bishop said that if it’s sold to the developer it’s out of the City’s hands as far as land maintenance, paying taxes, and it will likely see a faster completion.
Alderman Siebers asked whether the proposal is on the condition a property is built. Schlieve said it’s contingent on occupancy by the end of 2026. City Attorney Dan VandeZande said that if the City sells it for $1 contingent that it actually meets the contingency and hits a minimum tax assessment, but recommended further discussion on that in closed session.
Schlieve said to think about other measures of success than just tax revenue, namely affordability for the future homeowner. The developer proposal they are looking at is contingent on the house having 2bed 2bath at about 1200-1300sqft and a two car garage.
Alderman Westphal asked if the sale was delayed whether anyone else would be able to hit the occupancy timeframe of 2026. Schlieve said that hopefully an offer will be on the table at the next meeting, and that construction would likely be a minimum of four months.
Westphal said he would like to take the current developer offer on the contingency since it would be completed sooner than later.
Attorney VandeZande said there’s no legal requirements for the sale process of this property in regards to open bidding. Alderman Kaczmarski asked if they could open up the bids but add a preference given to buyers who complete the new build before the end of the year. VandeZande said that they would need to discuss what happens if they miss the deadline, but that this wouldn’t be any different from other property development contingencies.
Schlieve said they did this on Taft and Seymour streets before and that every developed property met that requirement.
Westphal asked if they don’t meet the occupancy that they would owe the original asking price instead of the original $1 contingency.
Mayor Bishop noted that no action was needed tonight since it was discussion only, and they would discuss any new bids or questions at the next meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 6:32PM.
