Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for April 6, 2026

 

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

Could we possibly have a dull weather week? Mild temperatures and a little sunshine?

I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Easter or Passover and was able to spend some special time with family and friends. We finally got a little sunshine yesterday, so maybe the egg hunts could go on.

With regards to the ice storm last week, I’ve reached out to the Department of Public Service to find out if there are plans for a pickup of debris. There were trucks out in the days after the storm, but I imagine that the primary focus in those early hours was to remove limbs that blocked roadways or threatened power lines. I’ll share when I have more information.

When I wrote last week ahead of the council meeting, I neglected to note that we would be hearing from the winners of the Sidewalk Poetry Contest. I always enjoy hearing the selected poems read by the authors, and I’m sure they look forward to seeing their words gracing a city sidewalk.

The meeting itself was uneventful, with grammar being the reason for the sole item separated for individual discussion and voting. The text for the proposed state historical marker commemorating Harry Houdini had a pretty egregious extra comma, and Alder Hartzheim caught it. We amended the text, thus preventing grammarians from flinching at the sight of the finished marker. (Don’t get me started on using apostrophes to create plurals!)

As I noted in the correction to last week’s update, we voted to keep the next Common Council meeting on April 15^th rather than moving it to April 22^nd after the new council is seated. Traditionally, we have taken time at the meeting after the election to bid farewell to departing alders, and while we might not have any departures since everyone is running for re-election, it seems like a nice way to continue. It also has the advantage of eliminating what is often a long night for city directors, as the council meeting could follow the organizational meeting, which sometimes takes a while as we discuss any council rule changes and vote for council president and vice president.

The new council will be sworn in on April 21, followed by an informal organizational meeting, then we’ll have the formal organizational meeting on April 21. At that meeting, in addition to the business discussed above, we’ll get new committee assignments which would be effective for committee meetings held the week of April 27 and thereafter.

If you haven’t already voted, Election Day is tomorrow, April 7. Our polling place at the Scheig Center in Veterans Memorial (formerly Appleton Memorial) Park. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Although I’m unopposed in the city council race and all of our Outagamie County supervisors are unopposed, we still have the important Wisconsin Supreme Court election, the Appleton Area School District school board elections and the AASD referendum question on the ballot, so I would encourage you to get out and vote.

On to this week’s committee business:

Municipal Service Committee – Monday, April 6, 4:30 p.m.

We’ll start the meeting with design hearings for streets to be reconstructed in 2027:

· Bartell Drive (Prospect Ave to Pine St)

· Pine Street (Bartell Dr to Prospect Ave)

· Driscoll Street (Prospect Ave to RR Tracks/dead end)

· Commercial Street (Drew St to Union St)

· Roosevelt Street (Oneida St to Morrison St)

 

In keeping with our Complete Streets policy, most of these streets will be narrowed, saving some terrace trees, although some trees will be removed due to poor condition or encroachment on sidewalks or the street. Note that any terrace trees removed will be replaced. On-street parking will be removed from one side of the street on all of these projects, and sidewalks will be added along the streets where sidewalks do not currently exist. The city began sending letters to homeowners earlier and returned to having in-person information sessions. A few people attended the sessions and returned the questionnaires. The concerns most often mentioned were loss of parking, loss of terrace trees and questions relating to the need for sidewalks and assessments for sidewalks. I would expect that we would see some of these folks at the public hearing this afternoon.

 

The action items include approval of the replacement banners for College Avenue designed and provided by Appleton Downtown, Inc. These were already approved by the Appleton Public Arts Committee. We’ll also vote on the permit for dumpsters on Allen Street – south of the downtown YMCA – for the Appleton Downtown Farm market. The dumpsters were located there last year with no issues. Finally, we’ll vote on a contract (Van Ert Electric Company, Inc.  - $57,000) to provide after-hours emergency responses to electrical emergencies. The most frequent incidents are related to storms, vehicle crashes, and equipment failures affecting traffic signals and street lighting.

 

We’ll get the first look at some of the work from the Walker study of the city’s parking facilities. The document was not attached to the meeting agenda, but I had a chance to review it during my regular meeting with DPW. This phase is focused on making the ramps more visible at street level.

 

Finance Committee – Monday, April 6, 5:30 p.m.

 

The committee has several contracts for 2026 budgeted projects to approve:

·       2026 Appleton Wastewater Tunnel Painting Project (Howard Grote and Sons, Inc. - $199,484 with contingency).

·       Appleton Wastewater Treatment Plant M-K Tunnel Roofing Project (Crafts Inc. - $151,432 with contingency).

·       A change order for the contract with Kruczek Construction for Unit W-26 Sewer and Water Construction to add 200' of storm sewer and laterals on Oklahoma Street to alleviate drainage issue related to very active sump pump discharges - $40,000.

 

The city has reached agreement with Driftwood Hospitality, which manages the Hilton Paper Valley Hotel for management of the Fox Cities Exhibition Center and presents a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the approval of the Finance Committee and the Common Council. Per the memo: “The proposed MOU shifts the FCEC toward a performance-based, industry-aligned model that creates a long-term revenue source to protect the city’s capital asset, while creating strong incentives for the operator to increase bookings, enhance revenues, and improve overall facility performance.” Key provisions include a graduated revenue sharing plan (1% up to 6% of gross revenues) to be paid to the city to establish a capital fund for long-term facility needs, elimination of the payment in lieu of property taxes to the city and free-use day requirements, but outlining expectations of discounted rate for municipal room tax partners. If approved, the MOU would be the basis of a new management agreement.

 

Finally, in a memo that points out the frightening reality facing community leaders, Mayor Woodford is asking the Finance Committee and the Common Council to authorize the purchase of a mobile anti-vehicle barrier system from Meridian Rapid Defense Group at a cost of $1,275,000 to be funded from the interest on ARPA fund balances, leaving $395,000 in the contingency fund.

We have seen multiple instances in recent months of casualties resulting from vehicles being driven into crowds, some accidental, like the runner who was killed during a race in Florida, and unfortunately, some deliberate, such as the Waukesha Christmas parade attack in 2021. Appleton has been using a combination of city trucks and barricades, but there are limitations to this method because they can be slow to deploy and to move in case of other emergencies, they leave gaps where vehicles cannot be placed and can detract from the experience of event attendees.

The city used some of this equipment on a trial basis recently and found that the equipment was easy to move and set up.

Appleton’s system would include 130 Archer 1200 barrier units; eight drop-deck trailers for transport; one beam gate and one rapid gate to facilitate secure access and exit for authorized vehicles, as well as the associated equipment necessary to place and recover barriers. Additional accessories include arrestor cables and ADA-compliant cable protectors to further secure high-speed approaches while maintaining ease of pedestrian access.

If the purchase is approved, the system should be in operation before the first farm market Saturday of this year.

It is a sad fact that we need to prepare for the possibility that someone would want to deliberately harm innocent bystanders, but it is nonetheless a fact that these events have increased in frequency. We are lucky that we have the funding to acquire the system and I plan to vote to approve it.

 

Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, April 6, 6:00 p.m.

 

The committee has one action item to consider – a resolution introduced last week by Alders Schultz, Meltzer, Stancil-Martin and Wolff that requests that the Appleton Sustainability Advisory Panel (ASAP) develop data-informed recommendations for mowing reduction, native planting, and invasive species control upon completion of the analysis. It also encourages incorporation of this work into the City’s forthcoming Sustainability Master Plan. When approached about becoming a co-sponsor of this resolution, I told the authors that didn’t think the resolution was necessary because it was something that could be incorporated into the sustainability master plan that is currently in process. I think that moving to native species and incorporating low and no-mow ground cover is an excellent idea, both for the environment and for reducing maintenance expenses for city owned parks and other properties, so I don’t have any objections to the resolution being passed. It doesn’t call for any spending or for any policies that would contradict existing city policy.

 

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, April 8, 3:30 p.m.

 

The Plan Commission will start with a public hearing on a special use permit for a year-round shelter facility located at 314 N. Appleton Street. The shelter would house up to 50 people on nights when the temperature is dangerously cold or hot, or for people recently released from a correctional or medical facility and are on a waiting list with another shelter. St. Joseph’s Parish would move the work that they’re doing with unhoused people at the church to the new facility. The church is not currently providing overnight shelter. City staff is recommending approval pending necessary updates.

 

The action items are the approval of the special use permit above and approval of the Glenmore Park subdivision final plan. The subdivision will be located northwest of Apple Creek Road and west of North French Road. The first phase calls for 83 single-family lots, plus outlots dedicated to stormwater ponds and an approximately 20-acre plot to be dedicated to the city for a future park.

 

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, April 8, 5:30 p.m.

 

Once again, we have multiple alcohol license demerit point hearings on the agenda, both for selling alcohol to a minor. The two hearing this week are for establishments (Newberry Mobil and Northland Amoco) that have multiple violations over a 24-month period, theoretically exceeding the number of points for a license suspension/forfeiture I’ll want to find out what will happen in this case. A first violation for selling to a minor is 80 points, but somehow does not count against the 24-month total.

 

The action items consist of three temporary alcohol licenses for special events and discussion of Resolution #3-R-26, which supports the implementation of ranked-choice voting for local elections. Ranked-choice voting has voters rank the candidates in preference from most favorite to least favorite. If one candidate has more than 50% of the first-place votes in the first round, they win immediately. If not, the candidate who receives the fewest first-place votes is eliminated. Then, the votes from those ballots which had their first choice eliminated get moved to their second-choice candidate. This elimination process repeats until one candidate gets more than 50% support.

 

While ranked choice voting would certainly save the city money – we would no longer have to hold primary elections for local offices, local elections are still governed by state statute. There have been multiple bipartisan bills that would introduce ranked choice voting in both local and state elections but there have also been attempts to amend the state constitution to totally ban ranked choice voting. While I am often supportive of resolutions asking another government entity for action where an issue directly affects the citizens of Appleton, I don’t believe asking the state to change the law will have any effect and am inclined not to support this resolution. I would advise advocates of ranked choice voting to contact their state legislators regarding this issue.

 

The Fox Cities Transit Commission, Utilities Committee, Board of Health, Community Development Committee and Human Resources and Information Technology Committee are not meeting this week.

 

Well, just as I finished an e-mail that starts by asking for some sunshine and mild temperatures, I see the wind blowing snow at a 45-plus degree angle out my window. Bah!

 

Have a great week!