Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for January 26, 2026

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

I spent the very cold weekend thinking about what I might say about what is unfolding in our neighboring states. I hold a non-partisan office, and I have often responded to people questioning me about my personal view on a controversial national issue by saying that my opinion is irrelevant as the City of Appleton would never have any jurisdiction on said issue. I follow the news and of course I am affected by events.

I attended an event on Thursday evening where we heard from a woman from Afghanistan who came to the Fox Valley in 2022 after the Taliban regained power in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal. Every one of the up to 250 people who settled in the area is here legally, most under special immigrant visas (SIV) that allow people who worked with the United States government in Afghanistan for at least a year between 2001 and 2023 to receive lawful permanent residence (a green card). The vetting process for these visas is intense, sometimes taking as long as 600 days. Notwithstanding their status, we were told that the women our speaker works with at World Relief Wisconsin’s Fox Valley location are very much afraid that this status will not matter if the U.S. government want to remove them. Because of their work with the United States in Afghanistan, most of these people would immediately be subject to death if they were returned to that country.

On Saturday, I participated in a workshop hosted by faith communities that examined policing, incarceration and immigration from a spiritual perspective. I was asked to attend because one of the sessions focused on policing and incarceration at the local level. We heard the news about the shooting of Alex Pretti as we gathered to start the day’s sessions.

The events of the weekend and discussions I had have convinced me that what is happening around the country is a local issue. Federal agents in both of the killings in Minneapolis are preventing local law enforcement from investigation. The actions of the federal government are making cities less safe every day. Appleton police officers are required to wear their badges with their name and badge number while on duty. They wear body cameras which must be on during any interaction with the public. On the (thankfully rare) occasion that there is an officer involved shooting, the investigation is conducted by an outside law enforcement agency, and the officer is placed on leave until such investigation is complete. None of this is happening in these ICE-involved shootings. People who are in the U.S. legally – some of them U.S. citizens – are being taken from their cars, homes and places of work, including off-duty local police officers.

It is also clear to me that the mass deployment of ICE officers to Illinois, Minnesota and now Maine is not just for immigration enforcement. According to the Migration Policy Institute’s (link) figures (based on U.S. census data) from 2023, Minnesota ranks 25th in the number of undocumented people with around 100,000 people, or 0.7% of the U.S. total, and Maine ranks 46th with around 10,000 people, or 0.1% of the U.S. total. Wisconsin comes it at number 31, with about 69,000 undocumented people. 48,000 of those people have been in the United States more than 10 years. We have only seen the ICE surge in two of the states out of the 10 with the largest estimated undocumented population – California and Illinois. The choice of states for this crackdown seems political.

We may think that the surge is only aimed at large urban centers, but both of the targeted cities in Maine – Portland and Lewiston – are smaller than Appleton. I would guess that Milwaukee and Madison would see operations before Green Bay or Appleton, but none of this seems rational. Bottom line, I support the Appleton Police Department and if I see that actions of another government agency are keeping them from their duty to maintain the safety of our community, I will speak out and do everything in my power to ensure their ability to do their jobs.

If you are looking for ways to help those in our community who are fearful about what is going on, I would suggest checking with World Relief or Hope and Help Together. You can also contact your elected officials at the federal level.

This is a committee week for the Common Council, and we have a pretty full schedule. The Parks and Recreation, Community Development and Human Resources and Information Technology committees are not meeting, but it’s business as usual for the others.

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, January 26, 4:30 p.m.

The first item on the agenda is a resolution submitted at last week’s Common Council meeting by Alders Smith and Schultz that addresses parking on College Avenue. The full text is here:

When I first heard the City Clerk read it, I honestly almost fell out of my chair because I thought it was calling for the complete removal of parking on College Avenue. The next day when I had my regular meeting with the Director of Public Works, she showed me the actual text, and it appears to be only for the area between Drew Street and the College Avenue bridge to the east. Parking is currently only allowed in this area on Sunday mornings (8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) to accommodate the two churches on either side of College Avenue. I have communicated with the authors, who did work with the Traffic department and have also communicated with Memorial Presbyterian Church. The church was granted the exception in 2011 but has since acquired property for a second parking lot and, in a letter to Alder Smith, stated that it had no objections to eliminating the Sunday parking. I had discussed with Director Jungwirth the possibility of holding the resolution to obtain more information, but I am not sure that it will be necessary. I did travel that section on Sunday morning and did not see any cars parked there when I passed eastbound at about 8:45 or when I came back around noon.

The rest of the committee agenda is pretty straightforward – we will vote on conveying another small piece of property for utilities along the I-41 project and on contract renewals for cap maintenance at the old landfill (New Paradigm Companies, LLC - $33,000) and Materials Testing and Contaminated Soils (Westwood Infrastructure, Inc. - $100,000). We are required by state law to maintain the landfill site and to do materials testing for all road construction projects. The last item is to approve an occupancy permit for a replacement awning for Tennie’s Jewelry on College Avenue. The frame extends a bit over the sidewalk about a height of about 9 ½ feet and would be difficult to alter because it’s part of the building structure.

Finance Committee – Monday, January 26, 5:30 p.m.

It’s the beginning of the year, so we’re starting to see contracts for a lot of the work that was budgeted for 2026. We’ll be voting on a contract for professional services needed to complete the Wastewater Electrical Motor Control Centers (MCC) Replacement (Donohue and Associates - $399,668). This is a sole source contract because of Donohue’s work on previous phases of the project. Per the Utilities Department memo: “On large, multi-year infrastructure projects of this complexity, it is standard practice to retain a single engineering firm from initial design through final construction to ensure continuity, cost control, and risk management.” Donohue was selected through a competitive bidding process at the beginning of the project. We also have the contract for 2026 Water and Sewer Reconstruction (Kruczek Construction - $2,771,111 with contingency).

Another sole source contract on the agenda is for Caustic Chemical System Upgrade and Raw Water Lake Station Valve and Pump Replacement Projects (McMahon - $201,300 with contingency). The sole source justification relates to the company’s deep knowledge of the Appleton water treatment facility and their work with utilities across the Midwest.

The committee is being asked to approve the transfer of $520,595 in unused contingency funding from Phase 1 of the wastewater treatment plant Belt Filter Press Equipment Upgrades Project to Phase 2 of the project – both with Staab Construction. We will also be voting on the transfer of unused contingency funds from other DPW projects to the 2025 asphalt paving project to cover some project field adjustments ($$57,830.90 total).

We have a budget carryover request for unused funds from the 2025 Park ADA Improvements Project ($48,073) to the 2026 project and a request to award the 2026 contract to Milbach Construction Services Company ($90,530 with contingency).

The Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce has awarded Appleton a grant of $100,000 toward acoustic improvements in the Fox Cities Exhibition Center. You may have seen that the city and the Hilton Paper Valley Hotel agreed to extend the contract for managing the FCEC until May 1 to allow time to negotiate a new agreement.

Finally, we’ll officially vote on the budget amendment for the addition to the escrow account funded by Thrivent for work related to the development of their campus property.

Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, January 27, 2:50 p.m.

The commission will vote on the November and December 2025 bill payments and on a contract for fleet management software (RTA - $119,547 for the eight-year contract with the last three years being option years). Information items include the November 2025 financial report, ridership reports for November and December of 2025 4th quarter KPIs and a recruitment update.

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, January 27, 4:30 p.m.

The committee’s action items include a contract approval request for rehabilitation of the stormwater ponds serving the Southpoint Commerce Park and adjacent areas (McMahon Associates, Inc. - $67,371 with contingency). The work is to include:

· Removal of the existing K2B Pond outlet structure and installation of a new outlet structure to achieve an estimated 80.7 percent TSS reduction

· Installation of approximately 500 linear feet of 60-inch storm sewer extending west from K2B Pond to Quest Drive to reduce localized flooding along Quest Drive

· Installation of approximately 160 linear feet of 18-inch culvert beneath Plank Road for 100-year conveyance from K2B Pond to the K2A Pond

 

In an item of particular interest to parts of District 6 and our neighbors over in District 14, the committee is asked to approve preliminary engineering for the improvements recommended in the 2024D Northland Creek and Bellaire Watersheds Stormwater Evaluation performed after the July 2024 flooding. The study limits are approximately bounded by I-41 to the north, STH 441 to the east, Mason Street to the west, and Packard Street to the south.

The initially recommended improvements consist of the following components:

· Veterans Memorial Park Pond South (VMPPS) Expansion

· Northland Avenue Storm Sewer Improvements and Inlet Capacity Enhancements East of Meade Street

· Local Sewer Improvements and Inlet Capacity Enhancements East of Meade Street and South of Northland Avenue.

The next steps would be to develop a contract scope of services for the work.

The following actions are anticipated for the remaining scope of work for the study contract:

· Continue the ongoing analysis within the study area through early 2026.

· Identify and present future study findings with potential additional future project recommendations within the study area.

· Provide project updates to the Utilities Committee approximately once per quarter.

· Finalize the Northland – Bellaire Drainage Study around mid-2026.

· Coordinate with the Finance Department on a planned Stormwater Utility Rate Study to support phasing and scheduling of recommended improvements along with other DPW Stormwater project priorities.

· Develop an updated 2027-2031 5-year Stormwater Capital Improvement Program reflecting stormwater project priorities, as well as a 10-year Preliminary Implementation Plan for anticipated future priorities.

 

Information items include the Water Supply Service Plan and the water main break reports for October and November of 2025.

 

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, January 28, 3:30 p.m.

 

It’s District 6 Week in another committee. The plan commission’s entire agenda – public hearing, rezoning request and certified survey map request – is related to property on N. Oneida St. and N. Morrison St. just south of Xavier Middle School. There are three vacant parcels (1.47 acres total) owned by Xavier that are currently zoned as R-1B Single-Family District. Xavier would like to change the zoning to P-I Public Institutional District. Homes on these parcels were demolished in 2011, 2012 and 2023. They are to be combined into one parcel, presumably for a future expansion of the campus. The staff report notes that staff would not support future rezoning of additional residential parcels to the south.

 

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, January 27, 5:30 p.m.

 

In what is becoming a normal part of our meetings, we have two alcohol license violation hearings – both for selling alcohol to minors. The Oneida BP has now received 120 demerit points in the last 24 months – at 150 points in 24 months the license is subject to suspension. For Missfits Tavern, it is a first violation with 80 points assessed. Attendance at these hearings has become better, but I would still like to see some kind of policy change – either additional points assessed for failure to appear at the hearing or maybe a reduction in demerit points for a first offense when the establishment appears and has taken steps to prevent future violations. We remind all the establishments that appear that the Police Department offers free training.

 

Action items include updates to the alcohol licensing policy – mostly clarifications and corrections based on the rename of the Community Development Department and updates to the special use permit policy. There was a section added that relates to the place-to-place transfer of a license and a section for surrender of a license. We’ll also see policy updates related to the schedule of deposits (fines) reflecting ordinance changes and enforcement practice changes since the last update.

 

There is an amendment to the memorandum of understanding for automatic assistance between the Appleton Fire Department and the Fox Crossing Fire Department. The changes appear to relate mostly to the boundaries in the agreement.

 

There are a couple of normal license applications and renewals before we get to the information items, which include a truancy update from AASD. Nothing was attached to the agenda, so I’ll have to report back in next week’s update.

 

As a result of my request last week to Chief Olson, APD is providing an update on Appleton’s Flock Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras. The presentation is https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=66f53913-a6a4-44a7-b90c-4e53dfbfbf65.pdf. I see a couple of items I’ll have questions about after the presentation.

 

Finally, we’ll review the focused traffic violations report for December of 2025.

You can still register for the Neighbors In Action Workshops – one or all.

 

As part of the process for creating a sustainability master plan for the City of Appleton, we’d like your input. There is a survey that will allow you to provide your input on needs, opportunities, issues and priorities for a more sustainable Appleton. You can complete the survey here. We’re hoping to get at least a 10% response, so please take a few minutes to share your thoughts. The sustainability website has some really great information about why we’re creating the plan, the methodology, etc. There is also the opportunity to participate as a member of the planning team. You can apply on the website: Appleton Sustainability Master Plan

 

Sorry for the loooonnng update. Have a great week!

Denise