The Notes: Week of January 26 - January 30, 2026

Welcome to the last week of the coldest month of the year, Neighbors.  (At least we hope that this is the coldest that it will get, right?)

This week is a Committee Meetings Week in City of Appleton government.  So there are quite a few items on quite a few agendas about which to chat this week.  Check it out and -- as always -- let me know if you have any questions or concerns about anything you see here. 

Monday, 01/26/2026

Municipal Services Committee - 4:30pm  To get the ball rolling this week, this committee will start discussions on a new resolution which was presented last week by two aldermen (Schultz of District 9 and Smith of District 4).  The resolution calls for the removal of street parking along the downtown corridor of College Avenue.  I do not see how this resolution makes it past committee discussions for this first week as there is a lot to think about when requesting a complete change to a business corridor in the city's downtown.  We will, for certain, need to hear a lot from the city's Traffic Engineering folks about the potential impacts of a plan such as this.  I personally feel that this resolution may be an incremental move to try to eventually get downtown College Avenue closed to all motor vehicle traffic.  I have the feeling that this has been spurred on by a recent anti-noise movement from folks who reside there.  I don't believe that removal of parking along that corridor is a viable solution to their noise concerns.  And the business backlash it could incur will no doubt be great as patron parking for downtown College Avenue businesses is and has always been a point of contention.  What are your thoughts on this?  I know we District 13ers don't live right there in that area so we might not be the best judges of how things should be downtown.  But many of us do frequent downtown businesses and use this corridor for traversing the city.  So your opinions matter!

Other items on this committee's agenda include potential approvals of two renewable contracts (for landfill cap maintenance and for materials testing), the potential approval of a real estate contract to convey some street right-of-way property to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) for the state's I-41 project (along Northland Ave near 441), and the potential approval of a street right-of-way occupancy and sign permit to allow Tennies Jewelry on College Avenue downtown to replace their aging awing with new canvas (as it extends over the sidewalk which is street right-of-way territory).           

Finance Committee - 5:30pm  This committee will review and look to approve a slew of budget items and expenses as follows:

• A couple of "sole sourcing" contracts with engineering firms which have worked on earlier phases of some city projects but are now on tap to continue with the city for upcoming subsequent phases of the same projects.  
  
• A couple of transfers of unused budgeted funds from 2025 to 2026 for projects that are continuing in this new year.
  
• A budget amendment to allow the city to accept a grant for $100,000 for continued sound improvements at the Fox Cities Exhibition Center.
• And a budget amendment to allow the city to receive more funds from Thrivent for the cost agreement arrangement between them and the city.  

Parks and Recreation Committee - 6pm  This meeting has been cancelled. 

Tuesday, 01/27/2026

Fox Cities Transit Commission - 2:50pm  Commissioners will be asked to approve the November and December 2025 bill registers for Valley Transit and then potentially approve a 5-year contract (with an option for three more years) for fleet management software.  The 8-year total contract amount would be ~$120,000.  They'll then review the November 2025 financial reports, November and December ridership reports, and 4th quarter 2025 Key Performance Indicators (KPI) graphs and information. 

Utilities Committee - 4:30pm  First on this committee's agenda will be discussion and potential approval of a pond rehabilitation project design award of ~$67,000.  Next will be the potential approval of continued engineering for initial Northland-Bellaire Flood Study Improvements.  The initial improvements recommended include 1) expansion of a stormwater pond in Memorial Park, 2) Northland Avenue storm sewer improvements and inlet capacity enhancements east of Meade Street, and 3) local sewer improvements east of Meade Street and south of Northland Avenue.  Interestingly, the memo regarding this request notes that the Department of Public Works (DPW) will work with the Finance Department on a Stormwater Utility Rate Study to "support phasing and scheduling of recommended improvements."  I'm guessing you might know what that probably means.... 

Wednesday, 01/28/2026

City Plan Commission - 3:30pm  The commission will hold a public hearing and then entertain approval of a rezoning of some property owned by the Xavier school system.  The properties are currently zoned residential; but the school system would like to combine some lots and all of the properties in the requested combined area need to be zoned the same.  Their request is to rezone these properties to Public Institutional (PI) to allow for some expansion of the school grounds there on Oneida and Morrison Streets.  

Community Development Committee - 4:30pm  This meeting has been cancelled. 

Safety and Licensing Committee - 5:30pm  In the last scheduled meeting for the week, the members of this committee will hear from two liquor licensed establishments which have earned demerit points for dispensing liquor to minors.  Oneida BP now has 120 demerit points (where a maximum allowed before license suspension is 150).  Missfits Tavern now has 80 demerit points.  

The committee will then move on to discussion and potential approval of the following:

• Some relatively minor revisions of the city's Alcohol License Policy
• An update to the city's schedule of deposits for ordinance violations (the redlined version can be found here) 
  
• A couple of new/renewing liquor licenses
  

In the information portion of the agenda, a couple of interesting items are listed: "AASD Truancy Ordinance Update" and "Flock Safety Cameras Presentation."  If you are interested in either (or both!), please tune in for the online broadcast of this meeting (using this page to get the "In Progress" link to view a meeting that's currently in progress at City Hall) or stop in at City Hall to view these proceedings live.

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee - 6:30pm  This meeting has been cancelled. 

As I mentioned at the start of this blog post (and countless times in all of the previous alderman blog posts here), please reach out to me with your comments, concerns, feedback of any kind.  I'm always pleased to hear from you and want to know what concerns you in your city government. 

I hope you all stay as warm as is possible in these ungodly winter conditions.  Please join me here again next week for another alderman blog post.  Take care!