Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for July 14, 2026

July 19-25

 Greetings, District 6 Neighbors,

I hate to start with the weather report again, but it’s so hot! If you have to be outside, be careful and hydrate. The pools are open this afternoon and the library and transit center are designated as cooling shelters for those who don’t have air conditioning. I guess we will get a break starting next week.

While it’s a full council week on the calendar, we have several other meetings scheduled.

The Appleton Public Arts Committee met on Monday, July 13 because they did not have a quorum for their last scheduled meeting. The committee voted to approve the application of the Rotary Club of Appleton to install a Peace Pole in Ellen Kort Peace Park. The pole, which has peace messages in eight languages, and its installation would be funded by the Rotary Club and its partners.

They also approved installing the kinetic wind sculptures that used to be in front of City Center in Ellen Kort Peace Park along Water St. Those sculptures were removed for the Fox Commons project.

The Board of Zoning Appeals also met on Monday evening. They took up a request for a variance to construct an accessory building (greenhouse) that is six feet from the front property line along Hidden Acres Court. The zoning code prohibits buildings in what would be considered the front yard, but the unique layout of this property is such that there isn’t really a back yard. Staff was recommending approval of the variance.

The Appleton Redevelopment Authority meets at 8:30 on Wednesday, July 15th. They will receive a presentation from the Consultant, ABT Global, on the Appleton Redevelopment Readiness Initiative (ARRI). This is a HUD funded program that assists cities who receive transportation funding and who want to address housing needs in disadvantaged communities and who want technical assistance in one of the topic areas: land utilization, preservation, regulatory reform and coordination. I’ll be attending a meeting on this program tomorrow and will have more to report in the next update.

The Library Board will meet at 5:00 today, Tuesday, July 14. We’ll meet two new trustees - Mitesh Ajmera and Choua Schommer and new Materials Management Assistant Supervisor Megan Walters. Action items include the June bill register and the second quarter Friends report. They have funded over $34,000 in library projects this year.

We will also vote on the 2027 Outagamie Waupaca Library System (OWLS)-Appleton Public Library 2027 Resource Library Agreement and Service Agreements. There is a vote to approve closing the library on August 14 for the staff and trustee Strategic Planning Workshops.

Finally, we will receive the report of the personnel committee, including the director’s performance review, and minor updates to several policies. I had heard some concerns that the use of the Mary Beth Neinhaus room(s) were no longer going to be free for events that were free and open to the public, but that is not the case.

We have a couple of special committee meetings ahead of the council meeting tomorrow night to address a couple of time-sensitive issues.

The Municipal Service Committee will meet at 6:30 to vote on a contract award for pavement marking services (unfortunately the paint doesn’t last forever, and we have to do some of this every year) to Crowley Construction Corp. for $43,026.73 which includes $5,000 for unanticipated work. They will also vote on a long-term temporary occupancy permit for Il Bar coffee shop to have tables and chairs in the amenity strip on College Avenue. Information items include the customer service hours change at the Municipal Services Building. Starting Monday, July 20, the hours will be 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. to better align with customer needs and departmental operations. DPW start work early and most of the customer service demand is also early in the day. The hours at City Hall will remain the same – 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

The Utilities Committee will meet at 6:45 to vote on a contract award for real estate acquisition services associated with flood mitigation projects (JCG Land Services -$221,500). From the memo: “Because of the specialized nature of appraisal, acquisition, relocation assistance, and potential condemnation support under Wisconsin law, DPW elected to retain a consultant with demonstrated property acquisition experience.”

The Common Council meeting looks to be a long one. We are taking up three issues that have generated a great deal of community interest – the proposed renewal of the Truancy Ordinance, Resolution #9-R-26 - Resolution Establishing Public Oversight and Accountability Standards for Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) and Mass Surveillance Technologies submitted by Alder Van Zeeland and me, and several items related to the creation of a TID and the development agreement for the Thrivent property.

Before we get into the action items, Mayor Woodford has issued four proclamations:

• Parks & Recreation Month
• National Disability Awareness Month
• Houdini Day
• Children's Week

I am really sorry I missed the magicians at Houdini Plaza. I was afraid of the rain, but it held off. Children’s week is always full of fun events for families. More information here. I am sad that I usually have a council or committee meeting on the day of the children’s parade (July 22 at 6:00 kicking off at Houdini Plaza) because it’s so much fun to see the creative ideas that families have come up with for their entries. My grandchildren did get to contribute to the Building for Kids float when we visited a few weeks ago.

As noted above, we will take up a renewal of the truancy ordinance which expired on June 30. Alder Croatt, chair of the Safety and Licensing Committee, proposed a resolution by substitution which changed the open-ended resolution whereby the committee was exploring options to the resolution we will take up tomorrow, which would reinstate the truancy ordinance to be in effect from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2027. The wording says that “The effectiveness and administration of this Section will be evaluated periodically by the Common Council, or a subcommittee thereof, by taking into consideration expectations, data and related information…” I questioned the author at the committee meeting, and he stated that his intent was that the AASD would be asked to continue providing all the information that the resolution that created the ordinance last October requested. I voted against the amended resolution in committee, partly because we only had a couple of hours’ notice about the substituted resolution and partly because, while the information AASD did show an improvement in habitual truancy and chronic absenteeism, the decrease from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026 was less than the decrease from 2023-2024 and the data we received on the 30 “unreachable” students showed that there was really no success in getting them back in school. The months-long discussion really focused on those students. As I noted I the committee meeting, I think that AASD has done an amazing job in creating the supports that are used to encourage students to attend school and I would have really liked to have more time to see if they worked without the “stick” of an ordinance. I also still have concerns about the different effects that a truancy citation would have on students of various socioeconomic statuses or family support systems. I was reminded by a neighbor that there are families in the district that are fearful of any interaction with the court system and might be reluctant to appear in court if a citation was issued, regardless of the fact that the goal is to have attendance improve so that the citation would be dismissed. You can review the data presented to the committee by AASD here and here. I expect that the resolution will pass. I AM glad that the author and committee chose to implement another one-year trial to see if the trend continues before making this permanent.

I have written a lot about Resolution #9-R-26 Establishing Public Oversight and Accountability Standards for Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) and Mass Surveillance Technologies because I have basically spent the last six months working on it with Alder Van Zeeland. When the news first broke about the abuse of Flock data by the Menasha officer I immediately requested that Chief Olson brief the Safety and Licensing Committee on APD’s policies around the use of ALPR technology. APD presented at the next meeting and actually began to make some policy changes to tighten control and auditing. Over the next few months, studying ordinances from all over the country and meeting multiple times with APD, then with the City Attorney and the Mayor, where there were robust discussions and modifications from both sides, we submitted the resolution. It would allow the use of these technologies for legitimate law enforcement purposes but would require that the Council be provided with a detailed report describing the technology, purpose, cost, types of data collected, data handling practices, and safeguards related to the system’s use and the protection of individual civil rights before any trial/testing period or contract would be approved. This would apply to any mass surveillance or data collection technology using artificial intelligence.

While we voted to receive and file a resolution that simply called for the ban of all ALPR technology, I understand that there are several alders who intend to support a citizen-drafted ordinance that is being proposed for the City of Oshkosh. I do not see that this has been introduced or considered by the city council there. It is very detailed and clearly the product of much research and effort by the people involved. Alder Van Zeeland and I have reviewed the draft ordinance, along with a plain language guide and a companion document that includes an implementation guideline. Many of the provisions in the citizen drafted ordinance are included in R-9-26, including council review prior to any trial or purchase and reporting requirements. However, the citizen drafted ordinance proposes to dictate police policy. While the council has control of the police department budget and can enact requirements such as those in R-9-26 before approving funding, police department policy and procedures are under the jurisdiction of the police and fire commission. The citizen drafted ordinance also has very specific technology requirements which would be inappropriate for an environment that is changing so incredibly fast.

I hope my colleagues vote to approve this resolution as it would put these protections in place before the city moves to acquire technology to replace the Flock system that the committee also recommended that we discontinue. That will be a separate action item on the council agenda. Failure to pass the resolution before the council would open up the possibility of installing a different ALPR system without the safeguards in place.

Finally (making up for some of our 20-minute council meetings) we get to the Thrivent Development. First, from the Community Development Committee, we have the development agreement with North Meadows Investment Ltd. (this is the development arm of Thrivent). I wrote pretty extensively about this in last week’s update. As I wrote there, I struggled at the idea of tax increment financing for an area that is not blighted to a very successful company. However, having a financial interest gives the city influence on how the property is developed. As I said last week, the development on the north side of town has mostly been large homes on large lots. With the cost of building, it has become unprofitable to build the smaller “starter” homes in demand by young families. These two clauses in the development agreement helped me make my decision to support the creation of the TID and the development agreement.

The Developer plans to develop the Property with a mix of uses including commercial, retail, hospitality, office, and various residential uses (the “Development”), and public infrastructure as shown on the proposed Plat (the “Infrastructure” and together with the Development, the “Project”), as illustrated in Exhibit B. 

The Developer shall construct the Infrastructure pursuant to the engineering and planning documents included in the final plat submitted to the City of Appleton on June 12, 2026, as may be modified through the review and approval process.  The Developer shall use best efforts to commence construction of the Project by September 1, 2026 (the “Project Commencement Date”).   

I share the concerns I have heard about depriving the school district of tax revenue for the life of the TID while we can assume that the new homes will add to the number of children in the AASD. However, the land and improvements are assessed at about $2.8 million now, and the project is estimated to generate an increment of over $200 million by 2033. The current taxes on the property (much of it is exempt, but Thrivent does make a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT)) are about $212,000.

Also from the Community Development Committee is the Option Agreement with North Meadows Investment Ltd. for vacant property located near the northeast corner of future Evergreen Drive and Meade Street for a proposed future northside fire station site at a purchase price of $1.00.

The remaining items will be addressed as consolidated action items (from more than one committee) and items held at the last council meeting. They are the creation of the TID itself (note that the TID omits portions of the property where the project plan proposes larger homes on larger lots) and a budget amendment to transfer $395,500 for the purpose of acquiring property required for the extension of Evergreen Dr. DOT property would need to be purchased for intersection enhancements at Evergreen and Ballard. This property would become part of the right of way and belong to the city/county.

 

A very full agenda, indeed. I welcome your thoughts on all of these items.

Denise