The Notes: Week of October 19 - October 23, 2026

Oh, hello, Neighbors!  Happy Sunday of another Full Council Meeting Week.  Of course, there is a Wednesday evening council meeting.  But there is also one other meeting scheduled.  Read on for the details:

Tuesday, 10/20/2026

Library Board - Appleton Public Library Cornerstone Conference Room - 5pm  Board members will be asked to approve the library payments for September 2026, some small budget amendments, and the proposed library board meeting and library closure dates for 2027.  In information items, they will go over a city budget process update, an update on the library's strategic planning process, and information on several other library program offerings. 

Wednesday, 10/21/2026

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  As per usual, the mayor will start the meeting, this week with a presentation of the 2026 City Star Awards.  These are awards given to recognize city employees and citizens of the city for outstanding contributions to the community and city government.  Following that, there will be a public participation time which I expect will be vibrant as there are a few items on the agenda this week which are garnering some public attention.  Here are the two agenda items most likely to be separated from the consent agenda for further council discussion this week:

• From the Safety and Licensing Committee:  Resolution #14-R-26 regarding increased fines for unnecessary vehicle noise (meaning only "loud or excessive engine revving, tire squealing caused by friction with the roadway surface, or causing tires to throw stones or gravel while accelerating," and specifically not including loud mufflers or other after-market vehicle modifications to make them produce loud sounds) was amended in last week's committee meeting to reduce the proposed new fine amounts to "up to $500" for a first offense and "up to $1,000" for a subsequent offense.  There was some serious discussion during this committee meeting about how police are human beings -- meaning that officers issuing warnings or tickets for traffic offenses may see these fines as excessive and therefore may not write as many tickets for these offenses -- and how dramatically increased fines can be seen by the public as "the government just wants to get more money."  (For more information on some unintended consequences of dramatically increased monetary penalties for traffic violations, see here.)  These issues could lead to many more hours of city attorney work on these cases as many more could be court-contested.  While I agree that the current fines of $150 (first offense) and $250 (second offense) could use some increase to attempt to deter this sort of behavior, I fear the negative consequences as noted above.  I would prefer to see a small, incremental increase to somewhere in between the $150 currently in place and the $500 proposed.  And I am also concerned about the "up to" portion of the verbiage here.  This could mean that fines could be levied for the current $150 even if this resolution passes as currently amended.  That solves no problems.  We shall see how the discussion on this one continues with the full council.  But I am reticent to vote to approve this resolution as it currently stands due to the potential for it to do more harm than good (unless it's amended to lower the fines a bit more than the current "up to $500" mark).  What do you think?  
  
  
• Also from the Safety and Licensing Committee:  Resolution #16-R-26 limiting the use of Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) equipment in the city was also amended in last week's committee meeting.  See the proposed amended version here.  I am glad that this was amended as it was because the original resolution called for full restriction of use of ALPR in the city altogether (but for some specific carve outs as noted in the resolution).  This meant that it would apply to private citizens' usage as well as city or county government usage within the city limits.  The resolution as amended specifies that the city government will not use ALPRs (but for in the carve-out instances) but does not look to prohibit non-governmental use.  My concern with the resolution before the amendment was passed was that simple Ring and other private security camera systems are currently capable of being used to help solve neighborhood crimes and could be loosely interpreted as falling under the legal definition of an ALPR since your Ring camera or mine could easily (if directed towards the street) read and record the license plates of passing vehicles.  I well understand that private Ring cameras are not equivalent to ALPRs as we laymen understand them.  But a legal definition could be different from what we all believe.  This resolution as originally written could essentially prohibit the use of these cameras simply for that fact and I did not feel that this was advisable. 
  
  I am still not certain that I will vote to approve this resolution as amended because I know that the city government has gotten rid of any ALPR systems that were previously in place and has announced its intention not to pursue future usage of these systems until some strong guardrails are put in place for potential future usage (which would come through council action so your alderman would be well aware if that were the case).  As such, I do not believe that this resolution is needed.  But I understand that there is great public sentiment against these systems at this time and court cases determining whether these systems violate constitutional rights are still pending.  Please share with me your thoughts on this resolution and the proposed amended version.
  

There are of course some other items up for approval by the council.  But most seem to be an easy vote without much more discussion (besides what has already taken place in committee meetings) needed.  If you are aware of anything else about which you have feedback or comment for me, please let me know!

I also want to pass on a bit more information regarding the status of the city's 2025 audit (which was due in July 2026 but is still not completed) and the current status of the 2027 city budget (which was to be presented at the last common council meeting but was not "ready" at that time).  Late last week, the proposed budget was posted on the city website and shared electronically with the council.  Here is a link to that document which your alderman will be combing through in the next week on a protracted scheduled due to the delay in publishing.  The city's 2025 audit remains unfiled as there are some additional requirements due to the amount of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding received by the city in 2025 crossing a dollar threshold not crossed in earlier years.    

This is a very disconcerting time for the city as there are some serious concerns about the Finance Department leadership and staff which led to these delays.  Know that your alderman is asking tough questions of the mayor and city staff on this.  As was reported in last week's blog post, there will very likely be penalties incurred by the city for the much delayed audit.  The city government will have to "eat" this shortfall in 2027 state funding in some way or another.  But the exact penalty amount and whether there will be any potential for appeal relief from the state are really yet to be determined.  The city government will most likely have to make some budget concessions and tradeoffs -- more borrowing (not recommended) or usage of excess funds from 2026 (a potential) or 2027 (which cannot at all be determined as yet) -- for whatever shortage of funding is received due to an audit penalty assessment.  But it seems likely that Appleton will have to cross that bridge when we get there sometime after 2027 budget adoption as there are still unanswered questions on this.  

Please share with me any questions you might have on this or any other city government-related issue.  I am happy to share more insight on this with you should you have specific questions.

I hope you have a wonderful mid-October week.  Please join me back here for another alderman blog post next week!