The Notes: Week of August 18 - August 22, 2025

Hiya, Neighbors! Welcome back to the alderman blog for another Full Council Meeting Week post!

This week's council meeting should not be a long one but for one agenda item in particular that will likely take up much of the evening.  See below for your regular rundown on the meeting(s) scheduled for this week:

Tuesday, 08/19/2025  

Library Board - Appleton Public Library Cornerstone Conference Room - 5pm  In the only other scheduled meeting besides the full council meeting, the board will take up the following action items: 

• Potential approval of the July bill payments and cash flow statement
• Some 2025 minor budget amendments
• Potential approval of a limited-term part-time position of "Library Assistant - Technology, Learning, and Innovation" which would be funded wholly by a $20,000 grant
• 2026 Resource Library and Service agreements between Appleton Public Library and other libraries in our local system
• Potential approval of reports from the library board committees: Finance Committee (where the committee approved the proposed 2026 library budgets) and Nominating Committee (where the committee approved Bastia Looker as Library Board President and Jason Brozek as Library Board Vice President)

Wednesday, 08/20/2025

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  The mayor has no proclamations to present to start this meeting.  (Now that's a change of pace.)  But then the meat of the agenda will come up for discussion by all members of the council.  Here are the items you'll most likely hear about in further discussion:

•  From the Municipal Services Committee:  There will no doubt be lots and lots of folks who live on Oklahoma Street present and ready to speak at this meeting as the plan for the reconstruction of the street (mentioned earlier here and here) is up for discussion and potential approval by the full council.  At the committee meeting last week, the proverbial wheels fell off of this process as some committee members apparently want the same thing as the neighbors on that street: The Impossible. 
  
  The desire of the neighbors and some of those committee members would be to fully reconstruct the street (new underground utilities and new paving/curb/gutter) without any changes to its current design whatsoever.  They desire to save all of the trees lining the roadway, keep the street as wide as it is today, and continue to allow for parking on both sides of the street.  However, those things are not all mutually compatible as street reconstruction naturally damages and/or destroys the roots of large, mature trees.  A narrowing of the street is required to save the maximum number of them currently lining the street.  Over 30 of these trees have been deemed unhealthy by the City Forester and need to come down anyway due to their potential for harm to neighborhood should they fall on the street or surrounding homes.  A required narrowing of the street to help save healthy trees also means that there will not be street width enough for two lanes of traffic and parking on both sides of the street.  As such, there is little that can be done to satisfy all parties.  City staff's proposal to narrow the street and reduce parking to one side of the street should be approved.  It's the best option available as there is no possible way to make everyone happy here.
  
  However... the committee voted to amend the proposal numerous times and eventually came to a recommendation to the council to deny the reconstruction plan.  A denial by the full council would put this street reconstruction on hold for who knows how long and only prolong the time during which the aging underground utilities will continue to degrade, the pavement will continue to degrade, and the already dead/dying trees will remain unremoved and cause potential for damage to homes. 
  
  While I empathize with the neighbors as they grapple with the planned changes to their neighborhood, I also know that reconstruction of a street in the City of Appleton will have to last for at least 75 years (as that is how slowly the city is moving with limited budget dollars for infrastructure upkeep).  So, it needs to be done now in the safest, best way possible, which is what city staff presented in the first place as a plan.  I plan to vote to approve the original plan.  But who knows what else may come up in the full council discussions on this?!  What are your thoughts? 
  
  
• From the Safety and Licensing Committee:  There is a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Appleton Fire Department (AFD) and the Grand Chute Fire Department (GCFD) regarding joining forces on a program for annual fire inspections of mobile food trucks up for approval by the council.  Participating fire departments in the program will issue annual stickers (like the year stickers we get when we renew our vehicle license plates) to food trucks which have passed fire inspections by either of these departments, all in an effort to make these food trucks safer when they provide their offerings to those who frequent them.  Note that this is a separate program from ones aimed at food safety in food trucks as it's only fire safety being addressed here.
  
  
• From the Human Resources and Information Technology Committee:  As it was easily approved by this committee, a new three-year contract between the firefighters' union and the Appleton Fire Department (AFD) will likely be approved at this full council meeting.  The agreement has already been ratified by the union so it only requires city approval.  It looks to be a very fair and workable agreement to keep the city safe with high quality firefighters who are happy with their contract terms to continue to work for AFD.       

If I had to guess, the first item listed above is likely to be one most likely to take up a lot of council meeting time.  Other items on the agenda (listed above or not) will potentially be approved without much fanfare.  Is there anything above that concerns you?  Is there something else city-government-related that concerns you?  Please be sure to reach out and let me know!

Until next week's post, I wish you the best.  I look forward to hearing from any of you with thoughts, ideas, concerns on city government meeting items or anything else you're hearing about in your neighborhoods.  Thanks, as always, for tuning in!