The Notes: Week of October 5 - October 9, 2026

Well hello, Neighbors!  Thanks for tuning in this week for another Full Council Meeting Week alderman blog post.  As you might imagine (but contrary to many of the latest Full Council Meeting Weeks), there is only one meeting scheduled for the week.  Here's what you can expect:

Wednesday, 10/07/2026

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  The mayor starts things off with quite a few proclamations this week.  It seems that this autumn is a special month full of special weeks and days.  To follow a presentation of one of the proclamations (for Dysautonomia Awareness Month), the mayor will give a presentation on his proposed 2027 Executive Budget and Service Plan.  This means that Budget Saturday will be here for the council's enjoyment very soon!  

Then we will move forward with discussion and voting on all of the recent items that have come through recent committee meetings.  The items most likely to garner more discussion time are as follows:

• From the Municipal Services Committee:  There will likely be no further council discussion on this item; but it is of some importance to District 13 neighbors.  The recommendation up for approval is a change from 45mph to 35mph to align with the Town of Grand Chute's 35mph speed limit along the stretch of French Road south of the new bridge over Highway 41 to the intersection with CTH OO.  I wrote about this earlier and believe that consistency is correct here.  But don't get me wrong... I wish it were to continue to be 45mph for that whole stretch.  Unfortunately, not much can be done in City of Appleton government to sway the Town of Grand Chute traffic engineers.  
  
  
• From the Safety and Licensing Committee:  Yet another late Special Events Permit application is up for approval by the full council. This one is of particular issue to me as
       1) the event organizers put in a rental application for Houdini Plaza.  This application process clearly spells out that a Special Event Permit may be required to use Houdini Plaza for certain events and gives clear instructions for organizers to contact the City Clerk office and/or Parks and Recreation Customer Service department for information.  See here.  Despite this, this renter did not submit a timely special events permit.  Theirs was thirteen days late! and
       2) at this time, it is not clear whether the applicants are properly insured to hold the event or have yet submitted a proper Certificate of Insurance as required by city policy. 
  As such, I am uncertain about voting to allow this exception to the rules.  What are your thoughts in this regard?  
  
  
• Also from the Safety and Licensing Committee:  As I wrote about here, there is a "do nothing but spend precious city clerk time and other city resources to send a message to the state government" resolution up for approval.  I do not have any issue with advocacy on the part of common council members should they individually choose to be advocates.  But I do not believe that this resolution will go anywhere or do much to address the issues that the authors wish to have addressed.  And in exchange, it will cost time and effort.  I will not be voting to approve this resolution... unless you can share with me a compelling argument otherwise.
  
  
• From the City Plan Commission:  A package of numerous municipal code updates to allow for more development infill in the city are up for full council approval after passing easily through this commission.  At the commission meeting, I asked whether there were any potential unintended consequences that the staff could foresee that perhaps we council members could not.  None were noted; but of course we can't plan for what we don't expect.  I was assured, though, that the city staff and mayor's office would be on alert for any issues which might arise.  If any appear, they will be promptly dealt with through the same process through which these code changes were presented and (potentially) passed.  I'm satisfied that that is acceptable.  But I believe it will be important that city staff be on alert for any unexpected changes as a result of these proposed updates.  
  
  
• From the Finance Committee:  I appreciate the feedback I have received from many of you regarding a resolution "supporting" the addition of information on city property tax bills regarding the amount of taxpayer dollars attributable to the cost of private school vouchers as allowed by state law.  I want to be clear that my non-support of this resolution does not mean that I am against this printing of the data on tax bills.  It simply means that 1) this resolution is not an action resolution -- it is merely another advocacy resolution -- and 2) the resolution is not at all required as the process is already being undertaken administratively in City of Appleton government.  I do not believe this resolution or this action to be solely an act of "transparency."  Rather, I believe it to be fuel for anti-school voucher system rhetoric.  But we do not have to agree on whether the school voucher system as state law dictates is a good or bad thing in order to agree that the information can be shared with taxpayers on printed tax bills.  Either way... know that this resolution is not at all necessary as the action is already being undertaken by direction of the mayor.  
  
  
• Also from the Finance Committee:  The City of Appleton has, in the past, offered short-term line of credit borrowing to the Appleton Area School District (AASD).  This most recent request from AASD for another round of borrowing is recommended by this committee for full council approval.  The agreement should not be detrimental to the City as interest will be charged to offset any city expense for this school district borrowing and the City seems to have the proper cash flow to support this loan.  As such, I will support this request with a "yes" vote.  However... there are greater issues at stake for all of us as taxpayers in this school district.  So it will be important for us to all pay more attention to the fiscal problems arising under that school board and administration as their reserve fund dwindles (which is why they will need this short-term borrowing).  Let me know your thoughts on this borrowing. 
  

It seems that this will likely be a long council meeting.  But don't let that keep you from attending, listening in, and participating in your local government!  I would be happy to see you there -- or hear from you -- if you're concerned about anything above.

Until next time... have a great autumn week!  We'll "see" you here again soon!