Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for February 23, 2026

Photo From Appleton Downtown

Greetings, District 6 Neighbors,

I confess that I am writing this from sunny Phoenix, AZ where today’s high temperature is expected to equal a record. We planned this long weekend during the stretch of brutally cold weather around the first of the month and I’m certainly grateful to be here rather than in the Northeast (or even home) right now. Crossing our fingers that the weather doesn’t cause a big mess that affects our return home tomorrow.

Last week’s council meeting was brief as expected. The only item separated from the agenda was the parking change on College Avenue in front of Memorial Presbyterian Church – and that was only so that we could thank city staff, in particular the Traffic Engineer, for clarifying the resolution.

We have a full slate of committee meetings this week, with only the Parks and Recreation Committee canceling their meeting on Monday. A committee meeting is cancelled if there is no business that requires committee and council action – you’ll see the Parks and Recreation, Human Resources and Information Technology and Utilities committees canceling meetings more often than Municipal Services, Finance, and Safety and Licensing, where there are generally items that must be voted on at every council meeting.

Municipal Service Committee – Monday, February 23, 4:30 p.m.

The committee will be voting on several parking changes needed for street reconstruction (Alexander, Bell, Melrose and Lawe), and on making the all-way stop at Durkee St. and Florida Ave. permanent after a six-month trial. The change was made due to major traffic congestion around the schools during drop-off and pick-up times. Southbound drivers on Durkee St. were not able to make turns onto Florida Ave. and pedestrians were having difficulty crossing Florida Ave. There has been no negative feedback since the signs were installed, and traffic appears to have improved.

The committee will also vote on a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation relating to the DOT’s construction of a stormwater pond near the 441/41 interchange and the change of some drainage patterns and easements on city property.

Finance Committee – Monday, February 23, 5:30 p.m.

The committee will vote on accepting a $150,000 state grant for evaluation of the property behind the Performing Arts Center that was sold to the PAC last year. The agreement called for the city to apply for the grant which will pay for an environmental study of the site. The city will not be responsible for any additional remediation expenses based on the assessment.

We will also take up a change in the sequence of some water storage facility recoating projects. The Lindbergh standpipe recoating needs to be prioritized due to premature interior coating failure. Funds would be transferred from the Matthias tower project planned for 2026 to the Lindbergh project. ($54,038 at this time for engineering).

There is a vote for carrying over funds from the 2025 Anaerobic Digester Inspection, Maintenance, and Improvements Project at the wastewater treatment plant to the 2026 phase of the project ($503,234 total to Donohue).

The agenda also includes contracts for other 2026 budgeted projects:

• Alicia Park playground equipment (Lee Recreation, LLC - $130,000)
• Unit B-26 Asphalt Paving (Triple P Inc. dba Peters Concrete Company - $1,289,583.86 with contingency)
• Rockwell Automation/Allen Bradley Variable Frequency Drive equipment for the water treatment plant. These drives control the speed of the pumps that send water from the plant to the distribution system based on demand. (Werner Electric - $203,197). This is a sole-sourced contract as Werner is the local authorized dealer for this equipment.

Information items include the 2025 Facilities Construction Management Review – it’s an impressive list of completed projects.

Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, February 24, 2:50 p.m.

The Commission will vote on approving the January payments and on contracts for Data Management and Automatic Passenger Count systems (TransTrack Solutions Group - $671,742 for an eight-year data management contract and a one-time charge of $44,950 for the automatic passenger count certification) and on bus router and antenna upgrades (Baycom - $82,238 with contingency). Valley Transit receives federal funding for 80% of the cost and the remainder is from the VT operating budget.

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, February 24, 4:30 p.m.

The committee will vote on approving the engineering services contract for the Lindbergh Standpipe recoating discussed above. Information items include a memorandum of understanding between Riverview Gardens and the city for the installation of a stormwater pond on the property.

Library Board – Tuesday, February 24, 5:00 p.m.

The Board’s action items include the bill registers for December 2025 and January 2026, the 2025 Department of Public Instruction Library Annual Report and System Compliance Statement (basically a statistical report on library hours, items in the collection, programs, etc.) and approval of the Director’s 2026 performance goals.

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, February 25, 3:30 p.m.

The commission will hold a public hearing and vote on the related action item for the rezoning of property recently annexed from the Town of Grand Chute. Annexed property always comes into the city zoned as AG-Agricultural District. This rezoning will change most of the property to R-1B Single Family Residential District. Due to environmental conditions, part of the property will be zoned Shoreland-Wetland District and Shoreland District.

The commission will also vote on the preliminary plat for the Foxport subdivision in the Town of Grand Chute. Appleton has plat approval rights to land within three miles of the city limits. The proposed subdivision is just east of Lynndale Dr. and north of Grand Chute Blvd.

Community Development Committee – Wednesday, February 25, 4:30 p.m.

The committee will hold a public hearing and vote on the recommendation for community partner allocations of the estimated 2026 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The other action item is approval of text amendments to the building code to clarify water service and metering requirements for duplex dwellings. This will align Appleton’s code with the Public Service Commission and Wisconsin State Plumbing Code requirements.

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, February 25, 5:30 p.m.

In what has become a to-regular agenda item, the committee will hold two demerit point violation hearings relating to alcohol license violations.

We will also vote on the appeal of the automatic denial of a special event permit for the No Kings rally on March 28. This permit was filed 37 days before the event when policy requires them to be filed 45 days before the event. The committee and council have been lenient on this policy since the change effective in 2025. We have not seen the departmental recommendations but expect to hear them at the committee meeting.

We’ll take up a recommendation from the Appleton Police Department to create an ordinance authorizing law enforcement to impound vehicles used in reckless driving under Wisconsin state statute.

Finally, in a sign that winter will not last forever, we’ll take up McFleshman’s application for sales at the downtown farm market this summer.

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, February 25, 6:30 p.m.

Both of the committee’s action items relate to departmental reorganization requests. APD would like to move the Traffic Unit from the Patrol Caption – North/South to the Patrol Captain – Downtown.

The Utilities Department wishes to move two Instrumentation and Control Technicians from the Technical Services Manager’s supervision – one to the Water Operations Supervisor and one to the Wastewater Operations Supervisor, and to change the title of the Technical Services Manager to "Lab and Regulatory Compliance Manager.”

All of these changes are revenue-neutral.

Have a great week!

Denise