10/26/2026
Long post warning-
Public statement from Chad & Desiree' Fires-
As most of the community knows, the last 12 months we have been working with the owners of 101 Monroe Street to assist them in completing the beautiful renovation of their historic building.
With our consent, the contractor utilized our parking lot for an office trailer, parking for contractors, dumpsters, deliveries, storage of materials & placement of a portable toilet.
The supervisor in charge for majority of the job was great at communicating with us. He was also a customer and supported our business. He offered to repair items on our building in exchange for our assistance with use of our property. Overall, our working relationship kept things running smoothly.
Unfortunately that supervisor was removed from the job and he was replaced by a man that initially seemed very helpful. He immediately began removing everything job related from our lot. He said he would have our lot cleaned up and repaired.
It took time, and some of the items still have not been completed, but the initial mess has been removed and the dirt part of our lot re-graded. The very large pot hole at our entrance was also eventually filled in.
Overall at the point of the apartments gaining occupancy, August 2026, we felt things were settling down. Unfortunately for us, we started feeling like we were expected to give more than we already had. Just before occupancy was received, the owners requested an agreement for use of space for a dumpster and 1 additional tenant parking. (We have a signed agreement for 6 parking spaces already in place since last fall). This was brought to us with short notice for a needed solution and we felt pressured to agree.
Once tenants started moving in, we immediately noticed them using the alley to move their belongings in. While that may seem trivial to most people, the alley is owned by 4 property owners, 3 of which own the majority of the free/walking space available. The space 101 Monroe owns is a small portion of the walkable space. On September 4, a tenant backed a U-haul into the opening of the alley, hitting and bending the support wire for the new utility pole and coming within 9 inches of the water line access.
After that incident, ourselves and the owners of 109 Monroe decided it was in our best interest to apply for a fence permit to prevent traveling through the alley. While we waited, we installed a temporary snow fence to slow foot traffic. Unfortunately this seemed to be just an obstacle for the owner, contractor and tenants to step over or around. The problem with the alley being utilized as a walkway is that the ground is uneven, there are utilities in this space, it is not maintained in the winter and overall is a liability for property owners.
Then on September 9, a concrete contractor came onsite to prepare to pour the patio at 111 Monroe. At that time we reached out to the owners and contractor for 101 Monroe to ask if they had figured out where their rain water would go once the concrete was poured. This was a concern of ours because the new gutters and downspout installed brings all of the rainwater off the roof, down 3 stories and shoots it out into the alley. The water was very clearly running out to our parking lot through the alley and washing out all of the sand where the patio was to be poured. (The patio was torn up for construction, we have never disputed it being reinstalled).
We were told by the owner of 101 Monroe “I think we'll be fine”, to which we responded that we will not. That water will hit the concrete and pool up, then search for the next lowest spot which will be our basement. We had to track down the village manager that day and ask for his assistance in stopping this concrete pour so that our property would not be damaged.
On the evening of September 9, we received an email from the attorney of 101 Monroe. In this email we were given demands to approve a 6” pipe to be placed under the concrete for potential future use. We were told to respond within 21 hours and failure to respond would waive all rights.
Thankfully our attorney was copied on this email and responded very quickly.
Our attorney requested that we contact an expert to come out and give a recommendation. We contacted the company she recommended and eventually received a recommendation. However, before all parties received the recommendation, the expert met with the owners of 101 Monroe on 9/23 and had an opposing opinion from what was originally shared with us, on what was happening and how to remedy it.
We were unaware that this meeting had taken place, but on the morning of 9/24 Chad received a text message from the site supervisor stating- “sounds like your “water management specialist” didn't do you any favors yesterday? Good luck with that and good luck with the way you treat people. Your lies and karma will come back yo you.” Chad responded “Your company has a lawsuit coming so keep running your mouth. I love how you check water issues in sunny weather. Get your fat ass out during the rain and see the real problem. I brought this water issue to you months ago and you chose to do nothing. Your company did nothing but take advantage of what we allowed you to use and always wanted more. I will see you and Ryan in court. Lol”
We also sent these messages to our attorney and she formally requested, through the attorney for 101 Monroe, that the supervisor no longer contact Chad directly.
Things remained relatively calm for the next couple of weeks, albeit conversations continued to be had via attorneys regarding the water issues.
Then on October 13 at 10:26am, Chad was leaving Callaghan's and as he pulled out of the exit heading towards Main St., he saw the site supervisor in front of the businesses on Monroe St. and he was yelling in Chad's direction. Chad rolled his window down and heard him yelling at him. Chad laughed and as the light turned green he started to turn right and that is when he heard the supervisor yell “your wife is a bitch” as he got into his car. Chad immediately made the turn and then turned right on School St. to come back around the block. As he was sitting at Water and Monroe, the supervisor was driving East on Monroe St and turned his car around to drive West and parked in front of the barber shop. Chad made his right turn and parked behind him. He got out of his vehicle and approached the site supervisor. He told him to roll his window down and run his mouth. Chad yelled at him and said you can say anything you want about me and my business but not my wife. Chad then reached into the car and smacked the hat backwards off of the supervisors head. At that time the supervisor had grabbed his phone and said he was recording for the cops and that Chad was going to go to jail.
Chad left the scene and started to drive home, then chose to drive to the police station to report directly to them about the incident. No one was there so he returned to the cafe and found Chief Niles had responded already. Chad admitted to Niles that he touched the other parties hat and he knew that was wrong. He asked Niles if he needed to arrest him and was willing to be taken in. Niles said that he was not arresting him at that time.
We have since found out that the attorney for 101 Monroe has forwarded information to the prosecutor, as well as someone has reached out to the Exponent to share the story as well.
Did Chad react properly? Absolutely not, he just reacted. This situation is just one more incident that feels very targeted towards us as property owners who have gone out of their way to be accommodating and helpful throughout the course of this renovation.
Anytime we try to stand up for our business, our property and our family we are painted as the “bad guys” and the as****es.
We love our community. We love giving back and supporting local. We are going to continue doing our best and learning from our mistakes.
Thank you to our community for showing up and supporting us through this journey.
**Disclaimer** this situation involves the property owners and contractor for 101 Monroe, NOT any of the businesses or tenants in that building
