The Notes: Week of August 17 - August 21, 2026

Hello, Neighbors!  Thanks for stopping in for another alderman blog post.  This week is a Full Council Meeting Week... but there are a few other meetings on tap this week as well.  Check out the rundown below for more information.

Tuesday, 08/18/2026

Library Board - Cornerstone Conference Room - Appleton Public Library - 5pm  This meeting will begin with the introduction of two new members -- a new trustee on the board and a new teen representative.  Then they will look to approve the July bills, a budget amendment for some donations to the library, an update to the purchasing policy (as a follow up to recent council activity that follows the same path of increasing the thresholds for purchases without competitive bidding), a new "lactating employees" policy, and a new board president and vice president (Jason Brozek and Bastia Looker).  Board members will also review several informational items including the 2nd quarter library statistics and the recruitment status report for library personnel. 

Wednesday, 08/19/2026

Appleton Redevelopment Authority - 8:30am  This meeting has been cancelled.   

Utilities Committee - Special Meeting - 5:30pm  Last week's planned Utilities Committee meeting was cancelled due to Election Day on their regular meeting day.  So this week before the full council meeting, they are holding this special meeting to discuss the items on that posted agenda.  The one action item for them is a potential contract approval for Utilities Department network system upgrades.  This is the result of a change of scope for a larger overall project and will add a projected ~$170k to an existing engineering contract.  Then, as mentioned last week, the committee will discuss an update of the progress on the city's Northland-Bellaire Flood Study.  Let me know if you see anything in the update that is of concern for you.      

Safety and Licensing Committee - Special Meeting - 6pm  Since this committee, too, cancelled their meeting last week, they are also cued up for a special meeting before the council meeting this week.  There are three demerit point appearance requests -- Pizzaria Pub for exceeding capacity, Glass Nickel Pizza for serving alcohol to a minor, and Deja Vu Martini Lounge also for serving alcohol to a minor.  Of the three, only Pizzaria Pub is near the demerit point threshold where any more violations could result in a license suspension.  

Then, as we have seen quite a bit of recently, there will be a debate and vote as to whether to allow an exemption for a shorter-than-the-called-out 45-day application deadline for a Special Events Permit.  This one is for a "Rally for Equality" event planned for Houdini Plaza.  This permit application did not just barely miss the 45-days-in-advance mark; it came in to city staff only 21 days prior to the planned event date.  I do not want anything to get in the way of First Amendment rights for folks in Appleton.  But these late applications are becoming an issue.  Why should the city apply any deadline if events continue to be allowed without meeting the prescribed deadline?  The deadline is in place (as I understand it) to allow time for proper city staff evaluation of planned large event to help ensure the overall safety of Appletonians and visitors.  But if the requested deadline is not working, perhaps the policy requiring it needs amending?  This will continue to be an interesting process as we move forward with more and more of these exception requests.  What are your thoughts?

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  Once the committees get their business taken care of, the full council can meet and vote on the same items as mentioned above and those items discussed last week.  The mayor starts things off with three proclamations and then the presentation of the 2026 Flag Day Parade awards.  The mayor will also give the council and public some information on the "final meeting" with Cat Coffell-Mutschler as the city's poet laureate.  

Then we move into the real voting business with the following items likely to get a bit more discussion.  In my view, there are really only two on that short list:

• From the Municipal Services Committee:  Last Monday, the day that this committee last met, BMO Harris Bank finally paid the amount due to the city on this year's invoice for twelve dedicated stalls in the city's red parking ramp.  (The payment was due in January.)  This committee voted to allow the bank these designated parking spaces only through the end of 2026 at which point the bank will need to work with the city's parking utility personnel to determine any next steps or a new plan for allowing the bank any future special parking privileges in the Red Ramp.  The current agreement was a long-standing "grandfathered" agreement which has in the past been paid for later and later each year rather than in a timely manner.  So I do not believe that it is wrong for the city to revoke this grandfathered special arrangement and work to establish one that better supports the city and taxpayers and other users of the Red Ramp.  What do you think?
  
  
• Also from the Municipal Services Committee: This committee voted last week to deny that self-planted weeds have First Amendment rights.  The committee recommended that the full council deny a long term temporary occupancy permit for weeds of excess height in a corner-lot terrace (between the sidewalk and the street) on Superior Street despite the homeowner's attempts to convince the committee that the city does not apply and follow municipal code uniformly and that these self-planted items deserve to live where they are out of conformity with the code's called out height restrictions and vision-corner requirements for street safety.  We shall see if the majority of the council agrees with that recommendation...!

• From the Finance Committee:  This committee (including your alderman) voted last week to recommend for approval a change in funding mechanism for the Central Equipment Agency (CEA).  This was mentioned in last week's blog post in which my concerns in this regard were laid out.  I remain concerned about the city departments having less budget "skin in the game" with this sort of funding policy.  But the mayor and bond experts made it clear at the committee meeting that departmental accountability will be heavily internal policy-driven and that the city's bond ratings will not be negatively impacted.  I fear that there will be no way to revert to the existing policy again once this rubicon is crossed.  But I do not see a better way forward at this time.  The short-term bonds issued for CEA purchases will be paid down in the city's debt reduction strategies and will require taxpayer funds that are not tied to levy limits (net new construction) to do so.  That is both a benefit for the city (meaning that this funding policy would loosen up some general funds in departmental budgets) and a concern for this alderman.  After all, the state's levy limits are there for a reason... so that taxpayers have a check/limit on how much the city can levy its property owners.  I remain heavily conflicted on this issue and appreciate any and all feedback from you in this regard!    

What are your thoughts on the items detailed above?  Is there anything there of grave concern for you?  Please share with me your feedback.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts. 

I wish you a lovely mid-August (HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?!) week.  Thank you for reading again this week!