Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for April 15, 2026

 

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

Happy Tax Day to those who celebrate (accountants, maybe?)

Apparently, Mother Nature ignored my request last week for boring weather. At least it’s warm (for a while) and it doesn’t appear that we are going to have a repeat of the April blizzard of 2018, which started eight years ago today.

We wind down the 2025-2026 council year this week, with our final meeting on tonight (Wednesday, April 15) However, the 2026-2027 council will be the same, with Alders Meltzer and Heffernan having won their elections. There hasn’t been a year with zero turnover in the council since 2019 when I was first elected, and my longer-serving colleagues don’t remember any years where there were no changes, either. I’ll refrain from my normal plea for more participation in local government. The re-elected alders will be sworn in on April 21 at 5:00 p.m. in Fox Commons. After the swearing in, we’ll hold an informal organizational meeting, where we will discuss any council rule changes that have been introduced. On Wednesday, April 22, we will have the formal organizational meeting, where we will elect the council president and vice-president, along with the alder who will sit on the City Plan Commission. If any council rule changes have been submitted, we will take the formal vote on them, along with the usual vote to cancel the council meeting that would normally happen on the week of July 4. The mayor will hand out committee assignments. When we voted to keep the council meeting on April 15, we opted to move the committee meetings to the week of the 27th so that they would meet with the new members. One exception is the Municipal Services Committee, which is meeting on its normal 4th Monday schedule – April 20 – because we will be voting on some street design projects which have already been noticed to residents.

The council meeting tonight will begin with the proclamation of Autism Acceptance Month. We’ll then vote on reappointments to the Board of Health, the Library Board and the ARA Exhibition Center Advisory Committee. After the news that Dr. Lee Vogel has decided to retire from some of her duties at Mosaic Family Health, I am pleased that she is staying on the Board of Health, where she has been a trusted medical advisor.

I expect that the item that will elicit the most discussion is Mayor Woodford’s recommendation of the purchase of the Meridian Rapid Defense Barrier System using $1,275,000 in interest from ARPA funds. The proposal was approved unanimously by the Finance Committee, but there has been some negative feedback from the public. Most of what I have read/heard has been the opinion that we could continue using city vehicles to block streets. The advantage of the barrier system over city vehicles would be the risk of expensive damage to those vehicles if they were struck either accidentally or deliberately. The Meridian barriers can also be moved easily if needed, allowing emergency medical personnel to enter a protected area and move an injured/ill person from the area. While it is a large investment, I believe that these barriers would basically last forever. Some of our neighboring communities (Neenah for one) have already acquired Meridian barriers, so there is opportunity to collaborate if one community was holding a particularly large event and needed additional units. One concern that I noted in the Finance Committee meeting was the issue of storage – we are already planning an expansion of the Municipal Services Building because they are outgrowing that space. Mayor Woodford indicated that if the purchase were approved, a comprehensive plan, including plans for storage, would be created. While I hate that we have to consider such a purchase, we see the risks in the news daily. Not all threats to the public are intentional – recently a runner was killed during a half-marathon in Florida when an impaired driver rolled through barriers and struck him.

We might also have some discussion about the special use permit for a year-round shelter facility located at 314 North Appleton Street (the former Mission Church) recommended for approval by the City Plan Commission. The Commission received an email from the owners of Rookies Sports Bar and Grill expressing reservations about a shelter at this location. While I understand their concern about some of the activities that already take place near the business, I do not understand how a shelter offering people a safe place to stay during severe weather is going to increase the negative effect on a nearby business.

Finally, there might be some discussion of the resolution asking the council to urge the state legislature to approve Ranked Choice Voting for local elections. If you are unfamiliar with Ranked Choice Voting, a description can be found here: https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV). There are varying opinions about RCV. It can certainly save money by eliminating primary elections in places that have many candidates running. (see partial rant about lack of participation in local elections above) However, as I noted last week, there have been bipartisan bills introduced in the Wisconsin legislature that would allow RCV, as well as a constitutional amendment that would ban it. I’m not against advocacy resolutions if they are related to an issue where our community has expressed strong interest, or if it is an issue where our citizens are being hurt by the policies of another level of government; however, I don’t believe it’s the case here.

I’ve heard questions from some of you about a pickup of debris from the recent ice storm. I’ve discussed this with DPW and they have determined that with spring yard waste which will start next week – that it won’t be possible to do an additional debris pickup. This means we would handle storm debris along with normal spring yard waste.  A reminder of the guidelines:

 If you have large limbs that you are unable to bundle or cut to appropriate length, let me know and I will see if we can work out a way to get it picked up.

Finally, on a bit of a personal note, I want to let you know that the upcoming term will be my last as the District 6 alderperson. At the end of this term, I will have served four full terms, plus the partial term from September 2019 through April 2020, and I think that there should be turnover in local government. Maybe if there were more open seats people would be less hesitant to run since incumbents often appear to have an advantage, especially in these lower profile local races.

I also believe that it’s time to take “retirement” a little more seriously – travel more and spend more time with our granddaughters, whose parents thus far have resisted our attempts to get them to move to the Midwest from Arkansas. Maybe we sent them too many blizzard photos.

For the next two years, I will continue to take being your alderperson very seriously. We are facing some important issues, not the least of which is what I am afraid is going to be a difficult budget cycle. We are going to have some tough decisions to make, and I want to continue to make sure that your interests are considered.

Have a great week!