The Notes: Week of February 2 - February 6, 2026

Hello, Neighbors!  We've finally made it to February.  Congratulations to us!  

We start off this shortest (but always seemingly longest) month with a Full Council Meeting Week in City of Appleton government.  There was one other meeting on the calendar but it's been cancelled.  So all we've got to focus on this week is the council meeting.

Wednesday, 02/04/2026

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  Since the "Business Presented by the Mayor" portion of the agenda is blank at this time, we get right into the meat of things with items that were previously discussed last week in committee meetings.  Here are the most likely items to be further discussed on Wednesday evening:

• From the City Plan Commission:  Some properties surrounding Xavier Middle School that are currently zoned residential but are owned by the school are up for rezoning to Public Institutional.  The school system would like to combine these few residential plats into one and, by all accounts, make them into an overflow parking lot for the school property.  While the commission received feedback from neighbors of these properties, city plan commissioners stuck to the facts of the rezoning/lot combining issue and did recommend that the council approve the rezoning and combining of the properties. 
  
  The neighbors' concerns are primarily regarding increased traffic in their neighborhood due to vehicle parking there and the sounds and lights that come with that increased traffic.  Staff from the city's Community Development Department made it clear during this meeting at this one incidence of rezoning is in compliance with the city's current Comprehensive Plan; but future expansions of this -- the school attempting to continue to grow their physical presence in this residential neighborhood -- will likely not be acceptable according to the same Comprehensive Plan.  Staff also explained that converting these now-residential lots into an official parking area will require further planning, city staff reviews, and approvals by this commission and the common council.  So, neighbors would then be able to make their objections clear and the school system will have to comply with the city's municipal code sections referring to the sound and light screening requirements (like landscaping, fencing, etc) around the proposed parking area.  Hopefully that will clear up the neighborhood contention on this item.  So at this time, there seems no real reason for the full council not to approve the rezoning/lot combining.  
  
  
• From the Finance Committee:  The city has received a grant for $100,000 from the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau to aid in the acoustical improvements needed at the Fox Cities Exhibition Center (FCEC).  This committee approved the receipt of those funds into the city budget.  But the fact remains that the FCEC sound improvements are costly and will still require the full allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds already approved for the project.  What are your thoughts on spending all this additional money on the FCEC?  While I do not like having to spend this much on sound management at the already costly FCEC... I don't see that the city has much choice at this point.  And I'm grateful for the grant money to help offset the taxpayer expense.  The fact is that the FCEC has to be made into a more appealing facility, better suited than it currently is for large events.  It's just too bad that this wasn't managed on the front end of the initial construction of the facility.    
  
  
• From the Utilities Committee:  A fairly nebulous request was made in an action item for this committee -- "Request to Authorize Preliminary Engineering for Initial Northland-Bellaire Flood Study Improvements."  The committee recommended it for approval... but your alderman still had questions.  The action item and memo accompanying it did not clearly detail how much money would be spent on this initial authorization and from where in the budget these funds would come.    
  
  Here is the presentation that accompanied the request.  What do you think?  According to the presentation, we are looking at $22M of improvements with some budget carry over from 2025, some already approved 2026 funding, and proposed 2027 budget requests.  There was also mention made of a stormwater rate study to eventually be conducted.  The intent there is obviously to see whether some of this mitigation will be paid for on the backs of you and I, stormwater rate payers.  But none of that details how the city is expected to pay for the preliminary engineering as described in the action item.  When I posed this to the Department of Public Works (DPW) Director, I received the following emailed feedback:
  
  "Preliminary cost estimates were presented for the three phases of the proposed project; however, we did not discuss in detail how preliminary engineering would be funded. Staff anticipates utilizing the 2026 Stormwater Budget line item titled 'Design and Modeling for Flood Mitigation Projects' under Consulting Services in Business Unit 5230. As reflected on page 545 of the 2026 Budget, staff considers the $400,000 budget line to be more than sufficient to support the intended services.
  
  Following Common Council consideration of this item on February 4, the anticipated next steps include:
  
  
• Presentation of the engineering contract to the Utilities Committee for consideration (anticipated late February to early March).
• Initiation of the Stormwater Utility Rate Analysis throughout 2026, with findings to be presented to the Utilities and Finance Committees upon completion.
• Development of refined project cost estimates through the engineering analysis, which will be incorporated into the rate analysis. The balance between stormwater utility rates and overall project funding will determine the project timeline.
• Preparation of the 2027–2031 Stormwater Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which will further refine construction timing and project phasing for this project and any other stormwater projects.  Will be brought forward during the 2027 budget process."

I understand that this is an important item that needs to be addressed by the city.  And I understand that it will be costly to proceed with the mitigation required.  But I want every taxpayer in the city to clearly understand how the projects proposed will be funded at each step of the way.  I am prepared to vote to approve this preliminary step based on the additional information provided above.  But I still have concerns about how this entire project will eventually be funded and will keep my ear to the ground for you, District 13 Neighbors.

And that will most likely wrap things up for the council this week.  If you saw anything else in last week's blog post or above that was of concern to you, please let me know.  I look forward to your questions and feedback and am here to help.  

I wish you all a great first week of the new month... and hope for warmer temperatures for us all this week.  Be well.  "See" you next week!