Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I now call to order the Wednesday, 02/04/2026 meeting of the Appleton Common Council. Please rise for the invocation, which will be delivered by Elder Stansel Martin.

Thank you, chair. On Monday, January 19, I had the pleasure of attending the thirty fifth annual Fox City's Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration held at the chapel at my school at Lawrence University. Now I was there in my capacity as a student photographer. I was documenting the event, but I would often put my camera down and I would listen to the beautiful melodies of the music that was performed and the laughter that came with the jokes that were cracked. I'd listen to the silence that came with the awe of watching the dancers perform and the roaring applause that followed Doctor. Sam Coleman's keynote address. Doctor. Sam Coleman serves as the assistant superintendent of the Oshkosh School District, and I wanted to use my invocation today to echo some of his words from his address. Doctor.

Coleman reminded us that Doctor. King came to a difficult realization later in his life, that simply being together does not guarantee justice. He warned that we could find ourselves integrating into what he called a burning house, a society still willing to tolerate inequality and neglect. And when asked what we are to do in such a moment, doctor King's answer was simple yet demanding. We become the fireman. Today, as we gather in this space of public service and public trust, we are reminded that the work before us is not solitary and it is not abstract. It is collective. It is urgent. And it requires us to resist the comfort of standing by while believing someone else will act. Let us not mistake silence for neutrality or patience for progress.

Let us remember that justice is sustained not by any one person but by communities willing to act together. May we enter our work today mindful of the power of we, attentive to those most affected by our decisions and committed to ensuring that opportunity, dignity, and care are not privileges but shared ideals at the foundation of our democratic experiment. And may we, in big ways and small, choose not to let the house burn. Thank you.

Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. Roll call of Alders.

All are represented with the exception of Aldergerson Lambrecht who is excused.

Roll call of officers and department heads.

All are represented.

Okay. Need a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting. Not cooperating. Anybody willing to make a motion? Okay, we have a motion from Alder Fenton.

All right. We have a motion and a second to approve the minutes. Is there any discussion of the minutes? Hearing none, please cast your votes. Motion passes 14 to zero. The minutes have been approved. I have no business to present this evening. We come now to a time of public participation. We have the sign in sheet here. Nobody from the public signed up to speak on an item that appears on the agenda.

Just want to check and make sure, is there anyone who would like to speak on an item that appears on the agenda? All right. Hearing none, we will close public participation. We have no public hearings, no special resolutions, so we'll establish the order of the day. Alder Hartzine.

Thank you, Chair from the Utilities Committee twenty six-one hundred sixteen, authorizing the engineering for the Northland Bel Air flood improvements.

Any others? All right. Hearing none, we will take up the item from utilities. This is item 20 six -one 116, request to authorize preliminary engineering for initial Northland Bel Air flood study improvements and study update number four. We have a motion and a second to approve.

Open the floor for discussion. Alder Hartzheim.

Thank you, Chair. I was unable to make the Utilities Committee meeting, so I watched the video, but then I had a follow-up question, and appreciate that Director Youngworth was able to quickly answer that for me. I want to make it clear that everyone here probably has already heard the answer to that question or seen it via email, but the general public was probably not made aware of it. I asked Director Youngworth where the funding for that particular authorization comes from because generally we see an item and then we see where it comes from out of the budget. And this one in particular was not very well delineated.

So her answer to that was that staff anticipates utilizing the 2026 stormwater budget item entitled design and modeling for flood mitigation projects under Consulting Services and Business Unit 5230. Again, I appreciate the DPW's honesty and openness in answering my questions in this regard. Just wanted to make that clear. Thank you.

Thank you. Alder Croak.

Thank you, mayor. I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this. It's been part of a process that was started back in July 2024. And then ultimately in November 2024, this body approved a study to be done on the watershed. First of all, I want to thank staff for embarking on that process and getting us to this point.

It's been a longer journey to get here. We have a lot more to go yet. This is the tonight, we have in front of us the next one of the next steps in that process. I do want to thank my constituents that are here tonight and also want to say that there's a lot more people that are following this item that aren't here tonight. So thanks for your patience, and thanks for coming, and thanks for coming to the committee meetings and listening to the updates last year.

I would highly recommend that everyone follow the recommendation of the Utilities Committee, which was a unanimous vote of approval on this. Yes, we're looking at a substantial investment in some infrastructure to the tune of an estimated $22,000,000 in three phases. But if you look at the information that was presented by the Public Works Department, both the director and deputy director presented information that shows basically a return on this investment, which I think needs to be highlighted. When you look at the one hundred year event, the potential for the amount of flooding in certain neighborhoods is right now at about over five feet. With the one, two, and three phases of the project, that can be reduced down to about a half a foot.

So substantial mitigation in storm water yes, an expensive project that everyone's going to have to pay for. Ratepayers are all of us included. But I think a good investment in infrastructure, including the expansion of the Veterans Memorial Park Pond, the infrastructure piping underneath Northland Avenue, and then neighborhood infrastructure within District 14. So very much appreciate the work of the Utilities Committee and the Chair and the staff for getting us to this point. Thanks.

Alder Meltzer.

Thank you. I don't want to repeat a lot of what Alder Crow has said, express my gratitude also to staff, to Director Youngworth, to Deputy Director Newburger for not just how smoothly the meeting, the Utilities Committee meeting went, but the extra work that they've been doing outside of the meeting to answer questions and do a lot of due diligence. And I'm really grateful for Alder Croats and his representation of his district to make sure that they are staying continually up to date about this process. His district was most heavily impacted by the most recent flood. I hope that we will all support this.

I think that we have a really great opportunity to get moving on this now. And certainly, delaying would be harmful to the city. Thank you.

Any further discussion? Hearing none, we have a motion and a second to approve. Please cast your votes. Motion passes 14 to zero. The item has been approved. Alright. So we will keep moving on that process. That is it for separate votes. So we need a motion on the balance of the agenda. Oh, it did that again.

All right. We have a motion from Alder Hartzheim, seconded by Alder Wolf. Any discussion on the balance of the agenda? Hearing none, please cast your votes. Motion passes 14 to zero. The balance of the agenda has been approved. We have no consolidated action items, no items held. Ordinances. We have a motion and a second to approve. Is there any discussion on the ordinances?

Hearing none, please cast your votes. Motion passes 14 to zero. Ordinances have been approved. License applications and communications referred to committees of jurisdiction. Resolution submitted by alder persons referred to committees of jurisdiction. Have there been any resolutions submitted?

There have not.

Right. Is there any other business? Alright. Hearing none, need a motion to adjourn. We have a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. The ayes have it. We are adjourned. Thank you everybody.