Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for June 3, 2026

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

Happy last week of school to all the AASD students, faculty and staff and congratulations to all the seniors who received their diplomas over the past couple of weeks. I know the Xavier system other than high school finished up last week. 

Don’t forget to check out the Parks and Recreation Department for fun summer activities for kiddos of all ages, from the Playground Program happening all summer at parks throughout the city to summer sports camps, swimming lessons and Friday Fun for the littlest explorers. Find them all here: Appleton Parks and Recreation

This is a full council week, and with the cancellation of the Appleton Public Arts Committee meeting, that is the only meeting for the week.

We’ll start with the mayor’s recommendation to promote Deputy Director Tom Flick to Director. Tom has served as interim director since Dean Gazza’s retirement. He has been with the city since 2015.

Summer is a busy proclamation time, and we have a number for this week:

·       CPR & AED Awareness Week

·       Gun Violence Awareness Day

·       Juneteenth Celebration Day

·       Make Music Day

·       Pollinator Week

·       Pride Month

·       Refugee Day

·       Scleroderma Awareness Month

·       Wastewater Professionals Appreciation Day

The city will raise the Pride flag at 8:30 on June 12 on the Appleton Street side of City Hall. Every time there is an observation of a day/month celebrating a particular group, we hear pushback about singling out or elevating that group over everyone else. I personally think that it not about elevating any group, but about recognizing groups that have historically either been ignored or actually persecuted. The incident this week where someone took down and burned the pride flag at the Outagamie County building is a reminder that this kind of bigotry is still pervasive.

The items on this week’s agenda that might result in discussion and a separate vote are the increased fees for city personnel cutting tall grass and weeds on neglected private property and the special resolution which would create TIF District 14 encompassing the Wilden Portfolio Park development on the Thrivent property.

The fee increase, after being referred back to the Community Development Committee at the last council meeting, was approved 4-0 with Alder Jones excused from the meeting. The Inspections Division submitted a more detailed breakdown of the administrative fees, leading the body to amend the resolution to clarify that a $225.00 administrative fee plus the actual contractor fee for the work would be charged if a warrant is required. If no warrant is required, the fee would be $75.00.

A couple of items to note on the creation of TID #14:

·       This action creates the TID and sets the boundaries; any infrastructure funding or developer incentives must be approved individually by subsequent council action.

·       The TID is expected to fund these infrastructure projects:

·       The city is generally responsible for infrastructure for any new development; in this case over $60 million even leaving out the parks and trails.

·       While Appleton generally does not use TID financing for residential development, the Wilden project proposals include high-density multi-family housing and some Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects that the market is not delivering on its own.

There is a closed session on the agenda that might be used to discuss some negotiations related to this item.

I expect that we will see a resolution from Alder Croatt, chair of the Safety and Licensing Committee, related to the truancy ordinance that will sunset on June 30 if no action is taken.

If the weather hasn’t reminded you, heres’s another reminder that city pools open June 5 and the first Appleton Downtown Farm Market of the season is Saturday June 6. The first Heid Music summer concert is tomorrow evening at Jones Park.

Have a great week!