Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for August 9, 2025

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

Just when we get out of the bad air quality days, we head into a couple of days with a heat advisory. Be careful with your outdoor chores and activities!

Other than the haze, we had great weather for Mile of Music. This is the first time I can remember that we didn’t have any performances cancelled for rain or storms. My Mile was a bit less ambitious this year because we had our granddaughters for the weekend, but it was nice to enjoy some of the Music Education programming with the little ones.

Before I get into council business, I want to let you know about a couple of opportunities to share your ideas about life in Appleton. The first is the 2025 Bicycle Friendly Community Survey. Appleton has been designated a Silver Bike Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists, one of seven in Wisconsin (Madison is the only Platinum community in the state). If you ride a bike around Appleton, I encourage you to complete the survey here.

In a different direction, the City of Appleton is working on a strategic parking plan and would like input from residents. The main focus is on the downtown area, but the study will look at parking all over the city. You can take the survey here.

Wednesday’s Common Council meeting was fairly uneventful despite there being two weeks of committee actions to consider. The mayor issues proclamations for Breastfeeding Awareness Month, Women’s Equality Day and Voting Rights Act Day (the Voting Rights Act was passed 60 years ago August 6th). Although there were a number of items separated for individual votes, it was because interested parties were attending the meeting, not because there was a lot of discussion about any of the items. The council passed the “parameter resolutions” for the city’s issuance of bonds that will allow city officials to best time the issue rather than having to go to the market on a specific council meeting day, particularly when markets are volatile as they are now.

Next week, we have an almost-full committee schedule, with only the Parks and Recreation Committee and the Fox Cities Transit Commission cancelling their meetings.

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, August 11, 4:30 p.m.

The committee has only two action items on the agenda, but I imagine that there will be a great deal of discussion on the Oklahoma St. reconstruction (between Mason St. and Richmond) design. Close to thirty residents attended the public hearing at the last Municipal Services Committee meeting and a number of them shared their concerns about the proposed design, which would narrow the street by six feet and allow on-street parking on only one side of the street (similar to the Morrison St. reconstruction now in progress). At the design hearing, there was a focus on the number of trees that would be removed for the project (32 trees in poor condition, 8 large trees due to proximity to street/sidewalks/driveways and 1 ash tree). Some residents also expressed concern over the narrowing of the street and the resulting loss of street parking on one side. There were also concerns about the length of time between residents being notified and the hearing and about the cost to homeowners of the sanitary laterals. I attended the Oklahoma St. block party on National Night Out Tuesday and got a chance to talk to several residents about their concerns, which also included the fact that West High School students take up a number of the street parking spots during school hours, despite having a large parking lot available on the campus. More of the people I talked to Tuesday evening seemed concerned about the narrowing of the street than the loss of trees, with a couple noting that they agreed with the City Forester’s assessment that a number of the trees were in bad condition. No one disputed that the street needed to be reconstructed – it’s not in great shape, and the water mains beneath the street date back to the 1920’s and 1930’s. I understand the residents’ concerns – Oklahoma St. is a beautiful street with mature trees and character homes, and it will take some time before the replacement trees form the same canopy that exists now.

The city’s Complete Streets policy enacted last year focuses on street design features that increase safety for all modes of transportation by reducing the speed of automobile traffic in residential neighborhoods. Narrowing streets, adding traffic calming circles and curb bump outs are all features that have been proven to slow traffic. Narrowing Oklahoma St. will save taxpayers an estimated $159,000 in construction costs and will also save thirteen trees. At this point I intend to vote for the design proposal, being open to some tweaks – perhaps extending the two-hour parking zone to keep West H.S. students from taking up so much of the street parking.

The other item before the committee is a request for a temporary dumpster for construction at 100 W. Lawrence St.

Finance Committee – Monday, August 11, 5:30 p.m.

The committee will take up the annual reimbursement request from Riverside Cemetery for maintenance of veterans’ graves ($6700) and vote on approving the special assessment policy for 2026.

We’ll also discuss and vote on the sole source contract with Nordon Business Environments for new workstations for the updated Community Development Department. ( $350,113) The sole source contract is requested because the vendor is the seller of the workstations that are used in other city departments and because of the vendor’s position as the provider for the US Communities Government Purchasing Alliance Contract, which guarantees the city the best pricing for these workstations.

The committee is voting on a contract for the Mead Pool Coating and ADA Upgrades project. (Cardinal Construction Co., Inc. - $454,458 with contingency. The remaining budget for this project after design was $309,560 and the lowest bid was over that due to increased material and labor costs (the specialty pool coating has more than doubled in cost since it was last applied), so the Facilities Department is also requesting a budget amendment to transfer $144,878 from the 2025 Parks Hardscape Project to the Mead Pool Project. This would require moving the planned Veterans Memorial Park parking lot repaving to the 2026 Capital Improvements Plan.

We’ll also vote on a budget amendment from 2024 excess funds for the purchase of a phosphorus analyzer for the Wastewater Treatment Plant ($19,845).

Of interest in the information items is a memo regarding the carryover funding approved for consulting for the sustainability master plan. The Finance Director has determined that interest income can be used to fund this project rather than the borrowed funds from the Facilities 2024 budget.

Library Board (Finance Committee) – Tuesday, August 12, 3:00 p.m.

The budget committee will be reviewing the 2026 proposed library budget.

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, August 12, 4:30 p.m.

The committee’s sole action item is the awarding of the 2025 Root Control Contract to Duke’s Root Control, Inc. ($35,000). Information items are the May and June Water Main Break Reports.

Board of Health – Wednesday, August 13, 7:00 a.m.

The Board’s action items all involve updates or archives to policies or procedures:

• Child Passenger Safety Program Policy
• Child Passenger Safety Program Procedure
• Archive Child Passenger Seat Appointment Scheduling Procedure
• Archive Child Passenger Fitting Station Procedure
• Tuberculosis Screening Policy
• Tuberculin Skin Test Procedure

Information items include a presentation of the Appleton Community Health Assessment 2025 Report – presentation linked here and the full report here. There were some concerning (but not surprising) responses about housing, childcare and general affordability about living in Appleton.

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, August 13, 3:30 p.m.

The commission will vote on a change to the Certified Survey Map (CSM) to combine all the related parcels to create one lot for the new transit center. They will also vote on changes to the municipal zoning code chapter regarding signs – changing language to be content neutral and eliminating duplications found elsewhere in the Municipal Code.

Community Development Committee – Wednesday, August 13, 4:30 p.m.

The committee agenda contains no action items, but they will review the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Report and the July Inspections Summary Report as information items.

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, August 13, 5:30 p.m.

As was the case at our last meeting, the committee will start with demerit point violation appearances for five businesses – all convictions for selling alcohol to minors. At the last meeting all the businesses made an appearance to explain to the committee how the violation occurred and what measures they plan to take to prevent future violations. The police department offers free training for businesses to help them prevent violations.

We’ll then take up the usual license applications, including a number of temporary licenses for special events.

Information items include the Police Department Mid-Year report and several more alcohol license violation convictions – we would expect to have appearances from these establishments in the coming weeks.

The AASD Truancy Initiatives Update is also listed as an information item on the agenda, but I do not know if they plan to present to the committee again. I attended the listening session at the library Monday evening, hearing basically the same presentation we’ve seen at the Safety and Licensing Committee a couple of time, except that, for the first time, there was a slide that listed AASD’s recommended dispositions (penalties) associated with a truancy citation. These are from the state statute’s allowable dispositions.

The presentation also listed the dispositions they did NOT recommend, including shelter care that was the source of much of the concern prior to the truancy ordinance’s repeal in 2019.

 

Because we do not yet have an action item before the Safety and Licensing Committee or the full council, I don’t believe any action will be taken before school starts. I honestly do not know how I would vote on an ordinance at this point. I have talked extensively to one AASD teacher and would like to hear from others outside of the formal district presentations. When the listening session was proposed back in the spring, I asked that there be more than one and that it be at a time when parents and other affected parties could attend. So far there has just been one session, and it was on a weekday evening at 5:30. None of the presentations included any students. I plan to spend some time this week researching the truancy and absenteeism figures for other districts in the state, especially those in municipalities with a truancy ordinance, to find out what their process is and to see if they have seen improvements since COVID when school districts around the country started to have major attendance problems. I would love to hear from you, especially if you are a teacher or have children in the district.

While AASD administration insists that a truancy citation would be a last resort, only potentially issued to the 30 or so students they are unable to reach with any of the other supports, I expect that the threat of a citation would be part of the incentive structure. I also worry that a monetary penalty would disproportionately affect low-income students. The statistics are very clear about the long-term negative effects of failing to achieve a high school diploma, and it’s also clear that the AASD administration has implemented a number of measures to improve attendance, but I want to be very sure before I vote for a policy that was abandoned just a few years ago.

Again, I welcome your thoughts on this subject.

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, August 13, 6:30 p.m.

The committee will vote on the new three-year contract between the city and the firefighters’ union.

Key highlights of the proposed agreement include:

• Term: Three-year agreement covering 2026–2028.

• Wage Adjustments:

o 3.0% effective April 1, 2026

o 3.0% effective April 1, 2027

o 2.5% effective April 1, 2028

• Specialty Pay: Eliminates separate specialty pay, while retaining specialty assignments. • New Assignment: Establishes an EMS Shift Coordinator assignment (no increase to authorized staffing).

• Promotions: Updates promotional processes for Lieutenant and Driver Engineer classifications.

• Leave Benefits:

o Adjustments to sick leave accruals and maximum accrual limits

o Modifications to Paid Time Off (PTO) accrual structure

• Vacation Selection: Updates to the vacation selection process.

• Contract Language: Numerous updates to improve clarity, align with current practices, and correct grammar.

 

The committee will also vote on changes to the fringe benefits policy for non-represented employees.

Information items include the mid-year budget reports for the Information Technology and Human Resources departments, a memo outlining mental health resources available to city employees and the recruitment status report through July 31.

 

Have a great week!

Denise