Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for June 30, 2026
Apologies for the lack of a newsletter last week – we had both daughters and their families visiting and it was all kind of a blur. It did remind a couple of empty nesters about all the fun activities there are for children and families here in Appleton and the Fox Cities. In a week we visited the library for toddler and school age story time, took in the Downtown Farm Market, the Kiwanis Butterfly Festival at City Park, participated in Make Music Day (and found out that Mayor Woodford can sing!), played on the playground at Erb Park and swam at the Erb Park Pool, visited the Building for Kids and the History Museum at the Castle and went out for a Friday fish fry! I’m leaving Bay Beach out of the first list because Green Bay is not technically part of the Fox Cities, but it’s a must for a grandkid visit. I’m grateful that we had cool weather last week rather than the current conditions which give me (not pleasant) memories of Houston summers.
Per our usual custom, the Common Council voted during our April organizational meeting to cancel the first meeting of July. This is not just to give council members a vacation. City directors and other staff represent their departments at council and committee meetings, the city attorney’s office and the City Clerk staff and record the minutes of all meetings. A lot of staff members like to take vacation days around the Independence Day holiday, so it makes sense to allow those folks a break for this week. All committee actions from meetings from the weeks of June 22 and July 6 will appear on the July 15 Common Council Agenda.
In last week’s committee meetings:
Municipal Services Committee
The committee had no action items but held a design hearing for the planned 2028 reconstruction of Franklin Street from Division to Drew.
· Underground utilities to be improved in 2027
· New concrete pavement and curb&gutter – 39’ (face of curb to face of curb) · New concrete sidewalk constructed along both sides Franklin St, within the project limits · Existing bike lanes to be removed
· On-street parking to be incorporated along both sides, where feasible
· Curb extensions at intersections to provide traffic calming and improved pedestrian safety
· Existing traffic signal at Morrison St to be removed and replaced with 2-way stop control along Morrison St
· Streetscape elements to be incorporated, where feasible, following the City’s Downtown Streetscape Design Guide
Finance Committee
Thanks to Vice Chair Hartzheim for running the meeting in my absence. The committee voted to recommend approval of an exterior caulking project for the police department. (Masonry Restoration, Inc. - $234,069 with contingency)
The committee also approved rejecting a bid for a mini storm sewer project as the single bid was well over the budgeted amount and there were concerns regarding unit bid prices relative to recently completed comparable projects. DPW intends to request that the budgeted funds ($250,000) be carried over to 2027 and to rebid the project with a revised scope and/or construction phasing strategy intended to increase interest among potential bidders while still achieving DPW’s original project objectives.
The remaining items were related to the acceptance of the Department of Natural Resources Safe Drinking Water Loan Program loan with 50% principal forgiveness in the amount of $404,250 for replacement of private lead service lines in Appleton. The committee voted to accept the grant and to approve a related budget amendment and resolution to execute the agreement.
Parks and Recreation Committee
The committee voted to recommend approval of a request by U.S. Venture to use Jones Park for their charity golf tournament after party and to approve extending the alcohol sales hours at Houdini Plaza and Jones Park for Mile of Music. Music ends at 11:00 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, so they were requesting an extension until 10:45.
The committee also voted to recommend approval of a concept plan to further develop the Veterans Memorial area within Veterans Memorial Park. The Parks and Recreation Department has been working with local veterans’ groups and a consultant to expand the footprint and allow for additional memorials to be installed.
The discussion in previous meetings about Resolution #2-R-26, Vegetation Analysis and Data Informed Mowing Reduction Strategy brought to light an information gap about the Appleton Sustainability Advisory Panel (ASAP), a group of volunteer experts in a number of disciplines who meet to advise the council and city departments on sustainability and resiliency. I have noted a few times that the panel seems invisible because their meetings are not noticed in Granicus, they don’t take place in City Hall, so they are not recorded or streamed. After a few of us attended the last ASAP meeting, Parks and Recreation Committee Chair Van Zeeland proposed some changes to increase visibility for this group. Their meeting agendas and minutes will be included as information items on the Parks and Recreation Committee agenda. ASAP Minutes June 9
Project and Sustainability Manager Steve Schrage is also working to get content on the city’s sustainability page updated to include the current ASAP projects. Appleton Sustainability Advisory Panel
While I’m on the subject—If you have not completed the Sustainability Survey, it’s open until July 5. It took me less than five minutes. Please provide your input!
Fox Cities Transit Commission
The commission voted to approve the May 2026 payments and to approve a contract for wireless equipment and service with Cellcom ($15,000) for Valley Transit. Valley Transit had previously been on the city contract with Cellcom, but the city changed providers recently.
Safety and Licensing Committee
I did abandon my family to attend this important and LONG (2 hours and 42 minutes, to be exact) meeting as there were a number of important items on the agenda.
We heard a long presentation from the Appleton Area School district, including the end-of-year attendance figures for 2025-2026:
These numbers do show some improvement over previous years, but I have not made up my mind if the change is due to the truancy ordinance or a continuing result of the robust support measures that AASD adopted post pandemic. The committee voted to hold the resolution that merely states that we review all the options. The truancy ordinance expires today, and I trust that one of my colleagues will introduce a resolution that actually takes some action; either to amend the existing ordinance to extend the dates or to create a new ordinance altogether. The current resolution will be on the July 8 agenda.
We also voted to affirm the recommendation to terminate the City of Appleton’s contract with Flock and to request that they remove the cameras by the end of July. We are paid through the end of 2026; the recommendation is that no more payments be issued.
The committee voted to approve my recommendation to receive and file the resolution presented by Alder Wolff that would ban all automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology in Appleton. In my opinion, the resolution was moot because it referred repeatedly to Flock. In addition, banning ALL ALPR technology would severely limit the police department and even the parking utility. The receive and file action means no further action will be taken on this resolution while recommending to deny would leave it on the agenda for the next full council meeting.
The committee also voted to recommend approval of Resolution #9-R-26 Establishing Public Oversight and Accountability Standards for Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) and Mass Surveillance Technologies which I submitted with Alder Van Zeeland. This resolution does not ban ALPR technology, which we agree has great benefit for law enforcement. APD sent a press release today detailing how ALPR technology allowed them to solve a string of vandalism incidents across the city. However, after multiple incidents in which law enforcement personnel abused the technology, Alder Van Zeeland and I believe it is important that there are clear guidelines that should be followed in the acquisition and use of ALPR and other surveillance technologies to protect the rights of citizens while still allowing the use of a valuable law enforcement tool. This resolution was drafted with the input of the Appleton Police Department, the City Attorney’s office, the Office of the Mayor and input from concerned citizens. I am grateful to all the parties involved for their willingness to work with us to address a subject that is the source of great concern for many of our citizens.
I’ll close with a reminder that most fireworks (any that “leave the ground”) are illegal in the City of Appleton, in spite of the fact that you see them on the shelves of most of the big box stores and in tents all around. The police have to actually catch someone in the act to cite them, so I suspect we’ll continue to be kept awake and have our pets disturbed over the next few days. I would encourage people to attend one of the large professionally operated fireworks shows over the weekend, including the Festival Foods Fireworks in Veterans Memorial Park on Friday. Entertainment, food and activities start at 4:00, with fireworks at 9:45.
Have a great week and Happy Independence Day!
Denise
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