The Notes: Week of September 21 - September 25, 2026

Hello, Neighbors!  It’s a Committee Meetings Week here again in City of Appleton government.  So, as per usual, you will find a summary of what to expect to hear about this week below:

Monday, 09/21/2026

Municipal Services Committee - 4:30pm  This committee will take up three items, one specific to District 13 neighborhoods (specifically those who use French Road again now that it’s open after the bridge rebuild).  First, they’ll look to approve the city’s acquisition (through purchasing) of some small pieces of property near the intersection of Badger Avenue, College Avenue, and Story Street.  This intersection will be reconstructed in the near future and some small slivers of private land are needed to best reconstruct the infrastructure/traffic signage in that area.  All property owners will go through a negotiation for these small pieces of property and will be offered a fair market value for the slivers of property.  

Second, they will take up a request from Appleton Downtown, Inc., (ADI) to allow free parking in the downtown ramps and for the on-street parking meters on Small Business Saturday (11/28/2026).  While I am not a fan of the city losing parking revenue which is needed to maintain the parking utility infrastructure, ADI has agreed to compensate the parking utility $1,600 for estimated lost revenue for the parking meters for that day.  I think I would like to see more from ADI for this as the total estimated lost revenue is $3,600 ($1,600 for the metered spaces and $2,000 for the ramp parking).  However, the city does not have a clear picture as of yet how much the actual lost revenue will be for the ramps.  So this year’s process (where users are provided a QR code to scan for the free parking) will allow for some more clear reporting in that regard. When we know more after this year, I expect the city to ask for a full reimbursement for the lost parking revenue.  

And third — the item most likely to affect many District 13 residents — is a request from the city’s traffic engineering department to change the city’s speed limit signage on French Road south of the reconstructed Highway 41 overpass.  There is a small stretch south of the bridge to just north of the intersection of French Road and CTH OO that is City of Appleton and the signage there has always been 45mph.  However, the stretch just south of there (just north of OO) is Town of Grand Chute and their traffic engineers changed the signage there from 45mph to 35mph when French Road reopened.  To create some consistency on this short stretch, the city engineers are recommending 35mph for this whole stretch.  I would prefer that the whole stretch be 45mph as it was before the construction project.  But the city can’t control what the Town of Grand Chute does and they are currently set on 35mph there.  My expectation is that if someone in District 13 had an "in" with someone in the traffic engineering department at the Town of Grand Chute, they might be convinced to change it back to 45mph.  But unless and until that happens, the city staff recommendation is that the whole length of roadway within the city limits be 35mph.  

Finance Committee - 5:30pm  These committee members have quite a few things on their agenda this week, namely two items related to public schools/the local school district.  

• A new "support" resolution regarding public school funding that truly does nothing is first.  Here's the resolution text calling for the city's council "support of" providing the amount of taxpayer dollars "attributable to the cost of private school vouchers" on property tax bills.  The resolution states that Mayor Woodford is in support of the printing of this information.  So... then why is it not already being done?  Who controls this?  And why, if it's not controlled by the city, is this even a resolution on the table for a City of Appleton Common Council vote?  If the aim is truly to make this happen, why is this resolution only an "in support of" measure?  Why does the resolution not specifically call for the city to immediately begin printing this information on city property tax bills instead of just "supporting" this process?  The answer, I believe, is because while this is being billed as "transparency" for taxpayers, it is really a weapon of warfare aimed to gin up opposition to the school voucher program in the state.  I do not intend to support this resolution for that reason.  If this is not a matter that the City of Appleton can control, then this "support" resolution is another do-nothing resolution.  And if it is truly a matter under the control of the city, then it should already be done and/or this resolution should be written in a manner that will require the city to do this.  Then the discussion on the resolution could be a true discussion on how much this endeavor will cost in time, effort, printing costs, etc., with action at it's core, not just "support."  As a side note: I find it amazing that the same aldermen in this city who would not support true action through a renewal of the truancy ordinance in the city's municipal code and indeed voted against it's renewal (not even for one more school year!) are now all about "support" of the political warfare over the state's school voucher system and taxpayer funding of a student's education not following the student wherever their parents choose to have them educated.  Which of these truly attempts to look out for the best interests of the students -- a truancy ordinance that seemed to be successful at least in last school year or a "support" resolution calling out the state per-pupil funding that is not going to public schools because the taxpayers' children are not attending public schools?  What are your thoughts on this?     
  
• A sole-source request for network equipment and services for the ongoing city utilities network improvement project is next.  While I dislike the use of sole sourcing as I believe it could lead to the city overpaying without competitive bidding, this one calls for a sole source to due to the some state agreements allowing for discounted pricing for municipalities and the quote came in within the existing city budget restraints. 
• A couple of other at- or under-budget contracts come next and then...
• A big request from the Appleton Area School District (AASD): to borrow up to $20M from the city in short-term for AASD's operational cash flow needs.  The structure of the loan from the city to the district "allows the District to borrow only the amounts needed and only for the periods during which the District experiences temporary cash flow requirements rather than borrowing the entire authorized amount at the outset."  The request is not for a long-term revolving door of borrowing and repayment but instead a short-term revolving note.  Amounts up to an aggregate of $20M can borrowed from the city any time before June 30, 2027, and must be paid back in full to the city with interest by November 1, 2027.  The interest rate prescribed is 2% over the average federal funds rate.  While all of this seems to be a good arrangement between municipal government organizations, I will be inquiring on the added costs and potential pitfalls that the city government might incur in this.  If it puts the city at risk, it will not be worth the offer to assist the school district.  So... let's see how this discussion plays out in this committee meeting!

Parks and Recreation Committee - 6pm  There are no action items up for votes from this committee.  Their agenda for this week's meeting contains only discussions on the following information items: 

• The minutes of two recent Appleton Sustainability Advisory Panel meetings
• The August 2026 Reid Golf Course financials 
• And an update on the renaming process for the park formerly known as Veterans Park.  The latest on this whole process is that we should expect "committee evaluation and public input" on a select list of potential new names at the committee's meeting on 10/14/2026, a full discussion and vote by the committee at the following committee meeting on 10/28/2026, a vote on the committee-selected and approved name by the full council in November, and the actual renaming of the park ceremony thereafter.  The wheels of park renaming apparently grind slowly, folks.  

Tuesday, 09/22/2026

Fox Cities Transit Commission - 2:50pm  This meeting has been cancelled.

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

Wednesday, 09/23/2026

Joint Review Board - Calumet and Winnebago Counties - 2pm  These board members will gather simply to review and discuss the annual reports on the city's Tax Incremental Districts (TID 7 and TID 13) that are within Calumet or Winnebago Counties.  Here is a summary of the report to be discussed by these board members at this meeting. 

City Plan Commission - 3:30pm  After a public hearing, there will be discussion and a commission vote on the potential rezoning of a newly annexed property.  It's one of these things where any property newly annexed to the city comes in with an Agriculture (AG) zoning automatically.  But this property on West Spencer Street is in an industrial area of the city with an industrial building currently occupying it and the request is to rezone it to "M2" which is General Industrial.   

Once that item is resolved, there will be another public hearing regarding several staff-recommended amendments to the city's municipal codes regarding manufactured homes, zoning and design requirements, accessory and junior dwelling unit requirements, etc.  This is a whole bundle of code updates that came from an in-depth staff review of the current code to bring it up-to-date and into alignment with the latest comprehensive plan for the city (Plan Appleton).  Here is a long memo detailing all of the proposed changes.  I see nothing egregious about these changes so I expect they will pass without much feedback.  But if you see anything here that concerns you, please let me know.

Then there's one small extraterritorial final plat approval (for a Town of Grand Chute one-street subdivision) on the agenda before the commission gets to taking up an earlier resolution that had been referred back to city staff.  This is the resolution calling for a moratorium on "hyperscale AI data centers" in the City of Appleton.  A memo from staff in the Community Development Department states the following: "The intent of moratorium ordinance is to ‘pause’ development of hyperscale data centers requiring a rezoning or land division while the City prepares and implements appropriate standards to better regulate this type of use and development. Currently, the Municipal Code lacks definitions, development standards, and regulations specific to data centers. Therefore, additional study is necessary to evaluate the potential impacts of data center development and to determine whether amendments to the Municipal Code may be warranted."  With this statement in mind (noting specifically that the current municipal code does not have any standards to apply to this sort of development/construction and that time is needed to develop and implement said standards) and the knowledge that the proposed moratorium to specifically be only 12 months long (only extendable for 6 more months if needed) and to be levied on only proposed data centers that are of that 20,000+ square foot size (nothing smaller than that), I have little issue with this moratorium request.  There will be some city staff legwork required (which usually means budget dollars) to put this in place per Wisconsin state law.  But other than that, I believe this to be prudent at this time.  What are your thoughts in this regard?  

Community Development Committee - 4:30pm  These committee members will host a public hearing for the notice of public funding available from the city (which is originally from the federal government) for the 2027 Program Year of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).  They will also have some discussion on the last year of the Neighbors in Action Workshops and the monthly report of the city's inspection division. 

Safety and Licensing Committee - 5:30pm  It could be another long meeting for this committee!  First, there are two new liquor license demerit point violation appearances: 

• Antojitos - one recent violation for dispensing alcohol to a minor and one for no licensed bartender on premises has caused their accumulated demerit points to reach the level of 200 points (where 200+ demerit points means their license is subject to revocation).  I will be interested to hear whether this will result in a revocation hearing for this license holder in the near future.
• Sai Ram - one recent violation for dispensing alcohol to a minor and one for no licensed bartender on premises has caused their accumulated demerit points to reach the level of 120 points (where 150 is the upper threshold for a license suspension).

Then they move on to yet another late application for a special event permit looking for an exemption to the 45-days-in-advance rule.  This one is for a "information fair" called "Hands Off Our Vote" proposed to be held in Houdini Plaza on 10/17/2026.  The application was received on 09/15/2026 which means that it was late by thirteen days.  This application process is in deep need of some fine-tuning by the city to disallow these sorts of seemingly purposefully late submissions.  If the event organizers had already put in an application for renting Houdini Plaza, there must have been some notification provided to them during the rental contract process that notified them of the need for a special events permit.  So it's a bit insulting to see that these organizers did not heed this information.  What is also telling to me is that this organization has yet to produce and submit an appropriate certificate of insurance for the event.

Then comes discussion on two new resolutions that were presented at the council meeting last week:

• Resolution 13-R-26 calls for the city to ask the state government to review state statutes so that local municipalities might be able to use state laws to crack down on "traffic noise."  This is another one of those resolutions which is merely a "statement" resolution.  If passed, it will actually do very little.  But for the writers of the resolution and those who are in their camp on reduction of "noise" in the city's downtown, this apparently feels like "action."  The Therefore Be It Resolved clauses of this resolution state that the city "requests" that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) look into the current rules and laws governing vehicle operations/operators and gives WisDOT eight (yes... eight!) specifics that they should look into so that they can make recommendations to the state legislature and the governor about how to change state laws to make it easier for local governments to punish drivers who create vehicle noise.  (That is pretty presumptuous, is it not?  Telling state government staff what they should look into and what they should do, in my opinion, would not be the best way to grease this wheel.) 
  
  The resolution would also cost the city (taxpayers) some money if passed as it directs the city clerk to transmit copies of the resolution to pretty much every state representative, the "chairs of appropriate committees," and "to encourage other Wisconsin municipalities experiencing similar concerns to consider supporting this request."  This last clause -- this added expense and work requested of the clerk's office -- is absolutely where I draw the line and cannot support this resolution.  It is once again a "do nothing" resolution that does not directly do anything in City of Appleton government except spend time and money. 
  
  I have no issue with advocacy by aldermen.  But I believe that that can and should be done outside of council business.  Individual City of Appleton aldermen (and groups of them if they cooperatively wish to work together) can personally put pressure on state representatives and the governor's office just as well or better than a paper copy of this resolution (telling them how to do their business!) sent to those same individuals in the state government. 
  
  What are your thoughts on this?
  
  
• Resolution 14-R-26 is actually a "do something" resolution that calls for some city government action!  The resolution summary is as follows: "No operator shall accelerate a motor vehicle in such a manner as to create unnecessary noise, including but not limited to loud or excessive engine revving, tire squealing caused by friction with the roadway surface, or causing tires to throw stones or gravel while accelerating. First offense forfeiture will be set to $1,000 and second and subsequent offense forfeiture will be set to $2,500." 
  
  Those are some pretty steep penalties.  So that is a concern for me.  I will be asking for confirmation from city staff what the current penalties for noise infractions are in the city for comparison.  I believe the largest fine potential for these "crimes" is currently $500.  (First offense: $100, second offense: $200, third offense: $500.) 
  
  The major problems with this for me are... what constitutes (and who decides) what "loud" is?  And will an excessive fine really curb this problem?  Can the "major offenders" even pay the amounts of the higher fines?  If not, what are the consequences to them?  Will this increase fine amount just mean that more folks will be begging the Appleton Police Department (APD) to divert more resources to "getting" the supposed noise makers so that they can be penalized with these excessive fines? 
  
  I'm not outright opposed to this resolution (especially since it actually does City of Appleton governmental work and doesn't cost the city resources just to "support" or "advise" some other governing body); but I'm not sure it will do what the writers of the resolution wish it to do.  What do you think?  Will this solve a problem for you?  Are there any negative "side-effects" that you can think of which might come with passing this resolution?  

To wrap up the action items for this committee, there are several liquor license agent changes, pet store license renewals, and temporary liquor licenses up for approval.  The meeting is expected to wrap up with a summary report of recent traffic stops (with a column calling out downtown corridor stops) and a new special report showing "directed patrol" stops on East College Avenue.  As you can see by this latter report, there are already a large number of APD resources being committed to the downtown area for "noise" with many stops already being made and citations being issued.  

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

Whew.  There is actually a lot going on this week!  So thanks for reading.  I sincerely hope you will reach out to me with any questions and concerns you might have regarding anything above or any other city government-related items. 

Have a great week!  Let "meet" back here again next week for another alderman blog post.  Ok?