Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for October 20, 2026

 

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

I know I’m a bit late to the party for the Packers victory celebration, and I didn’t get to see the game because I was headed back from Texas where I attended my high school reunion over the weekend. I got off a plane in Chicago where I got to see the score on a bar television as I headed to baggage claim. As someone who grew up in the Houston area, it’s even more satisfying to see the Packers beat the Cowboys than the Bears.

This is a full council week, where the only other committee meeting is the Library Board today at 5:00 p.m. The Board will vote on the September bill register, on some budget amendments to record donations, the 2027 Library Board meeting dates, and the 2027 library closure dates – FYI assuming these are approved:

The Board will get some updates on the city budget process, the Outagamie Waupaca Library System (OWLS)/Nicolet Library System merger exploration, the City Star Awards, and the Friends’ Third Quarter Grant Report. (Link to the programs funded by the Friends of Appleton Public Library in the 3rd Quarter).

The President’s Report will include an update on the strategic planning process.

The full council meeting on Wednesday at 7:00 will begin with the presentation of the 2026 City Star awards. These awards are selected by a committee of city employees and were created as a way for employees to recognize co-workers in six different categories, along with a "Friend of the City" award.

I expect that we will have a large number of people speaking during public participation, mostly about Resolution #16-R-26 Limiting the Use of ALPR Cameras in the City of Appleton. As I noted last week, I had concerns that this resolution, submitted by Alder Stancil-Martin, prohibited even ALPR (Automated License Plate Reader) cameras privately owned and operated on private property. Several colleagues expressed concern about the problem of enforcing such a restriction. I moved to amend the resolution to apply only to city owned cameras and that amended resolution passed 3-1 at the Safety and Licensing Committee. The resolution has exceptions for uses such as parking enforcement, access control for parking lots and weigh stations. Passage of this resolution does not in my mind remove the need for Resolution #9-R-26 Establishing Public Oversight and Accountability Standards for Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) and Mass Surveillance Technologies. Even with ALPRs prohibited, I believe the city needs a procurement policy and transparency before the acquisition of ANY AI powered surveillance technology. That resolution is supposed to come back from staff with a Request for Proposals for expert analysis of some of the proposed “guardrail” language regarding ALPR and other surveillance technology. We might need some reworking depending on the outcome of the city ban on ALPR cameras.

We might also have some discussion on Resolution #14-R-26 Increasing Penalties for Unnecessary Noise. We referred this to the legal department at the September 23 Safety and Licensing Committee meeting after the Assistant City Attorney advised that the proposed minimum fine amounts ($1000 for a first offense and $2500 for second and succeeding offense) could result in many more trials, which would increase the cost to the city in Legal Department staff time. The resolution was amended to change the fines to “up to $500” for a first offense and “up to” second and succeeding offenses.

I plan to ask more questions about the receipt of a COPS Technology and Equipment Grant from the Department of Justice for the Appleton Police Department, which intends to purchase a Boston Dynamic robot dog (Spot), along with accessories and training for $425,000. No one from APD was present at the Safety and Licensing meeting to answer questions I had, such as why the price was so high, given what I researched about these devices and whether the application for the grant was specifically for this equipment. I think that the grant probably did require specification of the technology the department intended to buy. I voted against the item in committee pending answers to my questions. I honestly don’t think that a city our size has a need for this technology, which is often used to respond to hostage situations, armed standoffs, bomb squad situations, search and rescue operations, etc. Also, from what I read, this technology can be AI driven and autonomous, which would cause it to fall within the proposed standards of Resolution #14-R-26 and require a thorough 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.

As I noted last week, there was a delay in receiving the mayor’s proposed budget. The budget was finalized and available digitally on Thursday, October 16, eight days after the original planned date. I picked up my printed copy of the budget Monday on my way back home after my weekend trip and have begun my review. We will adhere to the originally planned schedule for the budget process. From the October 6 newsletter:

There are several opportunities to get more information and share your thoughts on the 2027 city budget.

• Mayor’s Budget Listening Session – Thursday, October 29, 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
• Public Budget Hearing – Wednesday, November 4, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Both sessions will be held in council chambers on the 6th floor of City Hall.

Budget Saturday will be held on October 31 this year (likely starting at 8:00 a.m.) This is officially a meeting of the Finance Committee, but all alders generally attend. Each department head will present their department’s budget to be voted on by the committee. This meeting is also open to the public. The full agenda should be available in the next couple of weeks.

Alders will be able to submit budget amendments until November 5.

The budget adoption will take place on November 11.

I have heard from some of you expressing your disappointment/displeasure with the delay in completing the audit, potentially resulting in a loss of some $300,000 in state transportation aids. I share those feelings. While the Finance Director and the mayor are ultimately responsible for the missed deadline, I do note that Director Messerschmidt started in March, when the audit should have already been substantially completed. The previous Director opted to leave the job but planned to stay in the department in another role, but subsequently resigned, taking that source of institutional knowledge. I have heard that we should not have allocated open salary dollars for consulting on the comprehensive assessment of Finance Department operations, including current business processes, staffing capacity and responsibilities, governance practices, and the Department’s utilization of the Tyler Munis Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in August. Clearly, we need to establish procedures that prevent something like this from ever happening again. With the turnover in the Finance Department in the past year, it is essential that these duties and procedures are documented so that the knowledge is not dependent on the personnel. I supported the proposal then (before I know about the penalty for the late audit) and I still do support the work. I also agree with the mayor that any loss from a penalty for the late audit should be recovered from carryover funds or another source, but should not be added to the bond issue for 2027. We almost always have a fund balance at the end of the year. By rule, 75% of any fund balance (after the 25% reserve for the next year’s debt service) is used to pay down long term debt, with the remainder available for carryover projects. I would hope that there would be sufficient fund balance to accommodate any cut in the transportation aid. The situation is unfortunate, and I trust that the measures taken will ensure that nothing like this happens again.

I will share more about the proposed 2027 budget as I work through it, but it’s essentially a status quo budget again. Look for a couple of extra newsletters with more details.

Early voting started today at City Hall. See the hours below:

Bring your approved ID.

You can call the City Clerk’s office at (920) 832-6447 if you need accommodations for early voting. They can set up curbside voting by appointment.

The last day to register to vote at the clerk’s office is October 30. You can also register on election day at your polling place.

For those who have absentee ballots, you should mail them ASAP given postal delays. There is a ballot drop box in the breezeway behind City Hall (where you would drop water bill payments and tax payments). The box is monitored and ballots are collected each day by personnel from the clerk’s office.

Our polling place in still at the Scheig Center in Veterans Memorial Park if you vote on Election Day. You can reach the Scheig Center off of E. Witzke Blvd. off of E. Capitol or N. Ballard.

Have a great week and GO BREWERS!

Denise