The Notes: Week of April 13 - April 17, 2026

Hello there, Neighbors.  Thanks for stopping in for another alderman blog post!  It's Full Council Meeting Week this week so there is, of course, a full council meeting on Wednesday evening.  Also this week is a Library Board meeting.  See below for more details on both.

Tuesday, 04/14/2026

Library Board - Appleton Public Library - 5pm  There are four action items for this board to take up at this meeting: 1) the March 2026 bill register for the library, 2) a 2026 budget amendment, 3) a request to carry over some unused funds from the 2025 budget into 2026, and 4) an amended city-employee general safety policy (to be adopted at the library).  Then in information items, board members will hear about National Library Week, a Speed Puzzle Contest (apparently to be offered at the library), and a community partnership update.  Unfortunately, there are few details on any information items on the posted agenda.  So if you want to learn more, you'll have to tune in for the meeting or attend it in person.  You can always check the library's website for more information on upcoming programs as well.   

Wednesday, 04/15/2026

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  This week's meeting of the full council will technically be of the outgoing council.  Since there was an election for all even-numbered districts' aldermen last week, there will be a "new" council after this week's meeting.  That's a bit misleading, though, because only two of the even-numbered districts in the city held a competitive alderman race -- Districts 4 and 8 -- and in both races, the incumbents won.  This means that the "old council" is made up of exactly the same members as the upcoming "new council."  Perhaps it's time for the city to implement term limits for council members so that more new folks run for these alderman positions.  What do you think? 

This last meeting of the "old council" will start off with the mayor's business - one proclamation for Autism Acceptance Month and one memo requesting numerous mayoral reappointments of citizens to boards/commissions. 

To follow will be all of the items that went through committee discussions last week.  The items most likely to garner further attention by the full council are as follows:

• From the Safety and Licensing Committee:  The resolution regarding the City of Appleton expressing support for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in municipal elections was recommended for denial by the four committee members present at the committee meeting last week.  As I mentioned last week (and at the committee meeting as well), I do not feel that this opinion -- acceptance of RCV -- is the majority opinion of the citizens of the City of Appleton.  So I cannot vote to approve a resolution that states that "the City of Appleton supports the implementation of ranked choice voting for all municipal elections."  To me, this vote is less about whether RCV is indeed a good choice for elections (which I do not believe it is) and more about approving this resolution would make this blanket statement that I do not believe to be true.  What are your thoughts?   
  
  
• From the City Plan Commission:  Commissioners last week voted to recommend approval of a special use permit for a new location for an emergency homeless shelter in the downtown area (on Appleton Street just north of College Avenue).  Should this be approved, the existing emergency shelter (St Joseph's on West Lawrence Street) would be relocated to this location.  While a neighboring business to the new location expressed reservations about this, the commission had no legal reason to deny the permit.  As such, I expect it to be approved by the full council as well.  I hope (and assume) that the shelter management will work closely with the neighbors of the new location and do everything possible to mitigate any concerns and issues that may arise. 
  
  
• From the Finance Committee:  This committee is recommending to the full council that the city engage with the management of the Fox Cities Exhibition Center (FCEC) in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will bring about a new management contract for the facility.  From all accounts, this will be a positive step forward for the FCEC and be beneficial for both parties (the city and the management company).  If everyone wins, how can this be denied?  I believe that it is definitely worth moving forward and carefully evaluating the results as we go.   
  
  
• Also from the Finance Committee:  Last week, the mayor brought forth a recommendation to this committee to use over $1M in American Rescue Plan Act interest funds to purchase a pedestrian protection "barrier system" (which includes barriers, trolleys/hand trucks to move them, and trailers to moving and storage of them) for the city's special events.  While I wish that the city would not have to be concerned about these sorts of things and that the city could retain these interest funds for other city expenditures to relieve some taxpayer burden, I also recognize that you can't put a price on the safety of citizens and visitors to the large events that the city hosts.  The world that we are now living in unfortunately poses these massive risks for crowd events.  If this purchase can help protect against major injuries and death due to vehicular access to crowds of people, then we have the duty to act in this way.  It's just a sad statement on the current political and community climate.  I am thankful that the city does not have to try to otherwise fit this greater-than-$1M expense into the operating budget (therefore sacrificing other infrastructure needs); but that's really the only "upside" (if that much can be said here) on this item.   
  

The other few items on the agenda will likely pass without much fanfare.  So that wraps up this week's synopsis.  

Do you have any feedback for me regarding any of the above items?  What about anything else city-government-related?  Please reach out to me and let me know.

I hope we all stay "high and dry" from all of the predicted incoming rain.  And... check your sump pumps (if you haven't already)!  (Side note: Does anyone ever know when a sump pump will just stop working?  So how does checking it stop it from failing?)

Have a great week!