Appleton District 6

Greetings District 6 Neighbors, Happy first snow day of the season to all who celebrate! (There might have been a few flurries earlier, but I’m counting this as the first snow day). The snow hasn’t interfered with leaf collection – I’ve seen both the vacuum trucks and other collection trucks in my neighborhood today. Stay warm, DPW folks! Note that the city has announced that there will be a bonus collection the week of November 24, so if you didn’t take advantage of the mild weather last weekend, it looks like you’ll have another decent weekend to finish up before the bonus collection. Last week was committee week, but it was unusual because of the special full council meeting for adoption of the 2026 budget and the cancellation of most of the Wednesday committee meetings because of the budget adoption meeting. The budget adoption meeting was the shortest in my time on the common council – less than twenty minutes. There were no amendments presented by council members, so the only ame...

My favorite from the fall photo contest Vote on the Parks and Rec FB Page   Greetings District 6 Neighbors, I bet I’m not alone in feeling like we skipped fall entirely and landed in the middle of winter. I walked out of the Heart of the Valley YMCA yesterday into a blast of wind that felt like mid-January. With the cold snap and the wind, it seems that all the trees dropped their leaves this week. We have one more pass of regularly scheduled leaf pickup (next week for most of us in Zone 2, with almost all of District 6 located in the vacuum zone). It does look like the weather will allow for the final “bonus round” the week of November 24. After that, we are responsible for getting rid of leaves and yard waste. Both yard waste sites take leaves and other yard waste free of charge. Hours are shown here – the Whitman site closes for the season November 27. Before I get into the business of the week, I need to make a correction to last week’s update. My husband, who I have suspected ...

Old School with Post-It Notes Greetings District 6 Neighbors, Although last week was officially a “fifth week” without scheduled council or committee meetings, it was not an off week for council members, as we were finishing our review of the proposed budget, submitting questions to department heads and reviewing questions submitted by our colleagues ahead of the budget workshop on November 1. “Budget Saturday” is officially a meeting of the Finance Committee, which must approve the budget before the full council votes on November 12. However, almost all alders choose to attend. The process of submitting questions to department heads in the weeks before the Budget Saturday has really streamlined the meeting, which had sometimes run into the evening in prior years. This year’s session ran from 8:00 a.m. until just before 3:00 p.m. We expect to see a few minor amendments to correct clerical errors, but I am not aware of any major amendments that any of my colleagues plan to submit. Most ...

  Greetings District 6 Neighbors, Waking up to rain and now watching the trees blow outside my “office” window reminds me that fall leaf collection for us in Zone 2 will start this week. The majority of us are in the vacuum zone (all but those folks in the area east of Oneida and east of Meade and north of Northland and south of Capitol) so will need to rake the leaves onto the terrace. Notes from the  Public Works Guide :  I need to clarify a statement about the budget from last week’s newsletter. The proposed city property tax increase of 1.6% would bring the TOTAL tax amount to $6.95 per $1000 of assessed value. Thank you to the sharp-eyed reader who pointed this out to me. Correcting another bit of misinformation floating around to those of you who live near or travel through the Richmond/Ridgeview intersection – the temporary signal at that intersection WILL be converted to a permanent traffic signal in 2026. The city has been awarded a grant from the Wisconsin Depar...