Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for August 5, 2026
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| Outagamie St. photo from the Post-Crescent |
Greetings District 6 Neighbors,
It seems like while since I have written an “official” newsletter, though I’ve been trying to keep people updated on storm cleanup.
The city has created a special webpage to post news and links to resources, etc. during this time:
You have probably heard that the volunteer center has stopped asking for general volunteers as of yesterday; they are working with more specialized resources for the cleanup in Menasha and other hard-hit areas.
Sadly, there are scammers preying on both the victims of the storm and on generous people who want to help. If you want to donate, make sure that it is through a trusted organization. Volunteer Fox Cities is partnering with United Way Fox Cities
Closer to home, the Glendale yard waste site reverted to normal hours (Friday through Monday 8:00 to 5:00) as of Monday. The Whitman site will be open every day 8:00 to 5:00 through August 7, then revert to normal hours (Tuesday through Friday 8:00 to 5:00). Curbside collection in the hardest hit areas (west of Richmond and south of Northland) will begin August 10.
Please place all storm-related tree debris on the terrace by Sunday, August 9 prior to the collection. Crews will be making one pass through each neighborhood.
Preparation Guidelines
• Tree sections must be cut to 8 feet or shorter and no more than 12 inches in diameter.
• Smaller branches (up to 2 inches in diameter), twigs, and yard waste must be bundled or placed in lawn bags, each weighing less than 45 pounds.
For City of Appleton residents outside of the most affected area, crews will be removing City-owned terrace tree debris from ALL city streets in the coming weeks. Tree debris from private trees will not be collected curbside.
It seemed frivolous to proceed with my Mile of Music plans with the devastation in our community and our neighboring communities, but I and many others in the community did. I heard people who had homes damaged but were out listening to music (and volunteering!) as a respite. Mile of Music donated 5% of all their merchandise sales and a large part of their concession tips to storm relief and publicized giving opportunities to festival goers. At least one band actually went out and volunteered cleaning up in Menasha.
Mile of Music really makes my heart swell with civic pride. Hearing the artists at almost every show talk about how much they love coming to Appleton and how much they feel appreciated and taken care of here makes me feel like we are the city that can accomplish anything. We even had a Nashville-based artist write a song about us:
Famous (In Appleton) | YouTube Music (warning: mild swear word and a couple of beer references)
Back to business – it’s probably a good thing that last week was a “fifth” week where we don’t have scheduled meetings since power was out in City Hall and the Library for a day after the storm. We get back to our normal schedule on this full council week.
I did want to briefly note that last week the Joint Review Board consisting of representatives from Outagamie County, the Appleton Area School District, Fox Valley Technical College, the City of Appleton and a community member voted unanimously to approve the creation of Tax Increment District 14 for the Thrivent property.
The Library Board nominating committee met on Monday and nominated Jason Brozek for Board President and Bastia Looker for board vice president. These nominations will go to the full board for approval.
The Human Resources and Information Technology Committee will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. prior to the Common Council meeting this evening. Their last meeting was cancelled due to lack of a quorum. They will take up the organizational changes for the Utilities and Community Development departments discussed in the last newsletter.
The agenda for the Common Council meeting doesn’t show any proclamations, but the mayor will present a couple of nominations to the Library Board and the Appleton Redevelopment Authority for council approval. I expect he might give us an update on storm recovery efforts as well. Later in the agenda, we will vote on formally extending the state of emergency declared for the tornado for four weeks.
I expect the resolution supporting the Appleton Sustainability Advisory Panel (ASAP)’s vegetation analysis and mowing reduction strategy will be separated for discussion and voting. It was held back in June. In the meantime, Parks and Recreation Chair Van Zeeland acted to get the ASAP minutes listed as an information item on Parks and Recreation Committee agenda to give better visibility to the important work this all-volunteer group of experts is doing. There will be alders who will vote against this resolution because it “doesn’t do anything,” but I don’t have any objections to voting in support of what is a viable (and money saving) strategy.
We will also have more discussion about the truancy ordinance, which failed to be renewed after a 6-6 tie vote at the last meeting. One of the alders who was excused from the last meeting requested reconsideration of the item, which is allowed under our council rules. I have noted my reasons for not supporting renewal several times. I did not see an enormous improvement in attendance this past school year; rather just a continued improvement post-pandemic that I believe is more attributable to the excellent work by AASD in providing a multi-pronged system of supports to students who are not attending school regularly. I have also spoken recently to constituents who pointed out to me that chronic absenteeism and truancy are more prevalent among those communities who, even though they are law abiding, have a fear of the justice system and would be less likely to appear in court after a student is issued a ticket for truancy. While the desired result of a ticket would never be to impose financial or criminal penalties, failure to appear could result in penalties. I have also read a number of studies from experts that indicate at best mixed results from involving the justice system in school attendance.
Have a great week!
Denise
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