The Notes: Week of October 13 - October 17, 2025

Oh, hi there, Neighbors!  Welcome back for another alderman blog post!  This week is a Full Council Meeting Week so we will of course have a Wednesday night meeting.  There is also one other meeting this week.  Read on for more information!

Tuesday, 10/14/2025

Library Board - Appleton Public Library Cornerstone Conference Room - 5pm  Board members will look to approve the September bill register and some small October budget amendments.  There is also a two-year agreement (2026-28) with the Outagamie Winnebago Library System up for approval.  The board will also hear a hiring report, a budget process update, and updates on the Children's Program and Community Partnerships before they adjourn. 

Wednesday, 10/15/2025

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  The mayor's business portion of the agenda for this meeting includes an update from the city's Poet Laureate and six proclamations.  Then we move forward into the action items for the council.  The highlights are as follows:

• From the Municipal Services Committee:  Appleton Downtown, Inc. (ADI) has asked the city to allow no-charge parking on Small Business Saturday (Saturday, 11/29/2025) in both the meters street spaces and in the parking ramps.  In past years, there have been logistics issues which allowed for only the street parking spaces to go unenforced (therefore, free to patrons of downtown small businesses).  There have apparently been some advances in the technology at the parking ramps that will now make it possible for the city to allow free ramp parking on this day as well.  In exchange for all of this free parking on this date, ADI will contribute to the city a portion of the day's estimated parking revenue -- $1,600 of the estimated $3,600 -- to mitigate some of the city's projected parking revenue losses for the day.  Since the issues have apparently been worked out and there will be some contribution to the city for this, I am inclined to vote to approve this despite the loss of revenue in the parking utility.  The increased number of downtown visitors are likely to help the businesses there have a successful Small Business Saturday which can only be good for the greater good of the city.  Let me know if you disagree or have any questions or concerns with this.     
  
  
• Also from the Municipal Services Committee:  Despite the fact that the city anticipates incurring a more than $1.5M hike in the cost for reconstruction of the Olde Oneida Street bridge, an amendment to the State/Municipal Agreement for the project is recommended for approval.  When the initial state/municipal agreement was signed in May 2020, the total project cost was an estimated ~$2.5M and the state was slated to contribute ~$2M to it.  Since then, due to increased raw materials and labor costs, the total estimated project cost has increased to ~$4M.  The state is apparently disallowed from contributing any more than the original ~$2M... but at least the city can still take advantage of that amount to offset some of the expense.  It is just very disappointing that so much more will have to come from city taxpayer dollars. 
  
  
• From the Municipal Services Committee and the City Plan Commission: The initial street design -- including several stretches of 10' wide sidewalks/side paths (as street-side extensions of the Apple Creek Trailway) -- and the preliminary plat map for the new subdivision named Comet Ridge are up for approval.  This subdivision is east of Richmond Street, north of Crossing Meadows Lane, and west of Haymeadow Avenue.  It should be a great new addition to the city's north side, allowing the city to grow and providing more housing in this Fox Cities market which has been found to lack adequate housing.  At the Municipal Services Committee meeting last week, I did mention my concern that the city (read: taxpayer money) is currently responsible for all of the maintenance (including snow removal) on all of the 10' side path/sidewalks in the city. At what point in time will the city no longer be able to afford to carry this cost?  And what will be done at that point?  These questions were left unanswered at this time; but city staff did take the concerns into account and are looking into future plans in this regard.  
  
  
• From the Utilities Committee:  I do not like it.  But a 4% increase in the city's wastewater rate for 2026 is on the table for approval.  This utility has had some serious rate increases in the last few years:
  
  
  

  
  But the utility must be able to support itself.  So a rate increase is apparently needed to do that.  There seems to be no getting around it.  The 2026 4% proposed rate increase will result in a $6/quarter increase for the average residential customer.  What are your thoughts on this?    
  

  
  
• Also from the Utilities Committee:  After a drainage study of the Providence Trails subdivision was completed, there were three alternatives offered for solutions to some repeated flooding in this area (north of the Apple Creek Trail, mostly affecting homes along Fallcreek Lane).  The third alternative -- a mid-priced ($330,000) option that solves most but not all flooding issues in this area -- got the vote of recommendation from this committee and will come before the council this week for full approval.  I have been made aware that there are still some questions and other solutions to explore on this option.  So I would like this item to be sent back to committee for further discussion.  I hope to see that happen as I think that there may be an "in between the in-betweens" option that could solve more potential flooding issues that is yet to be explored.  
  
  
• And in one of the last items on the agenda, the newest ordinances in the city will be up for approval.  This week, the list of ordinances includes the new truancy ordinance for the city -- one that will be in effect for this current school year only and up for review by this council and the Safety and Licensing Committee to verify its usefulness.  I am grateful that this ordinance is to be approved and hope to see some positive results during this trial period so that it can be renewed for a longer period of enforcement.  We need, as a city, to do everything possible to show our youth that an education is something of value for them and for their community.  I have great hope that this will be a valuable additional tool to aid the school district in getting more truant students back to school.
  

What are your thoughts on the above items?  Is there anything else city-government-related that's of concern to you?  Please drop me a line to let me know!    

This week, I will be putting in questions to city staff regarding the mayor's proposed 2026 budget.  You can review the proposed budget here.  Please let me know if you have any questions that you would like me to pass along before the scheduled Budget Saturday (Monday, 11/01/2025). 

Until we meet here again next week... have a good one, y'all!  Thanks always for all of your questions, concerns, and feedback.