Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I now call to order the Wednesday, 02/18/2026 meeting of the Appleton Common Council. Please rise for the invocation, which will be delivered by Alder Fenton.

Thank you. Good evening. This February marks the hundredth anniversary of what became Black History Month. How do we approach it in this very white place in a way that is meaningful rather than performative? We can take up space that isn't for us, but we also can't use that as an excuse to do nothing.

I'd intended to read a poem by Langston Hughes tonight, but the death of the reverend Jesse Jackson yesterday changed my plans. The New York Times obituary called him the nation's most influential black figure in the years between the civil rights crusades of the reverend doctor Martin Luther King junior and the election of Barack Obama. Mister Jackson picked up the mantle of doctor King after his assassination in 1968 and ran for president twice, long before mister Obama's election in 2008. He became a moral and political force in a racially ambiguous era when Jim Crow was still a vivid memory and black political power more an aspiration than a reality. In memory of reverend Jackson, excerpts from his 1984 speech to the Democratic National Convention after his presidential campaign gave rise to the Raybo coalition.

Leadership must heed the call of conscience, redemption, expansion, healing, and unity, for they are the key to achieving our mission. Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things. No generation can choose the age or circumstance in which it is born, but through leadership it can choose to make the age in which it was born an age of enlightenment, an age of jobs, and peace, and justice. Only leadership, that intangible combination of gifts, the discipline, information, circumstance, courage, timing, will, and divine inspiration can lead us out of the crisis in which we find ourselves.

Leadership can mitigate the misery of our nation. Leadership can part the waters and lead our nation in the direction of the promised land. Leadership can lift the boats stuck at the bottom. Our flag is red, white, and blue, but our nation is a rainbow red, yellow, brown, black, and white, and we're all precious in God's sight. America is like a blanket, not like a blanket, one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size.

America is more like a quilt, many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread. The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the Native American, the small farmer, the business person, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay, and the disabled make up the American quilt. Even in our fractured state, all of us count and fit somewhere. We have proven that we can survive without each other, but we have not proven that we can win and make progress without each other. We must come together. He finishes the speech. Our time has come. Our time has come. Suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith.

In the end, faith will not disappoint. Our time has come. Our faith, hope, and dreams will prevail. Our time has come. Weeping has endured for nights, but now joy cometh in the morning. Our time has come. No grave can hold our body down. Our time has come. No lie can live forever. Our time has come. We must leave racial battleground and come to economic common ground and moral higher ground. America, our time has come. We come from disgrace to amazing grace. Our time has come. Give me your tired, give me your poor, your huddled masses who yearn to breathe free, And come November, there will be a change because our time has come.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to That's awkward. Okay, that's less awkward for me. All right. Thank you.

Roll call of Alders.

All are represented with the exception of Alderspans Van Zeeland and Heffernan who are excused. Alderspans Jones is joining us virtually. Right.

Roll call of officers and department heads.

All our rep

Okay. I need a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting. We have a motion and a second to approve. Is there any discussion of the minutes? Hearing none, please cast your votes. Alder Jones votes passes 13 to zero. The minutes have been approved. All right. On to business presented by the mayor. A couple of proclamations to bring to your attention, recognizing Black History Month in the city of Appleton and also Career and Technical Education Month in Appleton.

Text of both of those is included in your materials. All right. We come now to a time of public participation. We have no members of the public signed up to speak. I'll just check and see. Is there anyone who'd like to speak on an item that appears on the agenda? Right. Hearing none. We will close public participation we have no public hearings no special resolutions we will establish the order of the day. Alder Hartzheim.

Thank you, chair under municipal services, 20 Six-one Hundred 7 parking on College Avenue.

Any others? All right. Seeing none, we'll take up the item from municipal services. This is item 20 six-one 107, Resolution 1R26, Removal of Street Parking on College Avenue. We have a motion and a second to approve. We'll open the floor for discussion. Alder Hartzheim.

Thank you, Chair. The only reason I separated this is to recognize the work of staff in this regard and how it essentially amended this resolution to note that there were only a couple blocks along College Avenue that this applies to. Thank you.

Any further discussion? All right, hearing none, we have a motion and a second to approve. Please cast your votes. Alder Jones, got you. That motion passes 13 to zero. The item has been approved. All right. That was it for separate votes. So you need a motion on the balance of the agenda. We have a motion and a second to approve.

Any discussion on the balance? Hearing none, please cast your votes. Alder Jones, thank you. Alright. That motion passes 13 to zero. The balance of the agenda has been approved. We have no consolidated action items. No items held. Need a motion on the ordinances. We have a motion and a second to approve the ordinances. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, please cast your votes. Alder Jones, thank you. Motion passes 13 to zero. The ordinances have been approved.

License applications and communications referred to committees of jurisdiction. Thank you. Resolution submitted by all the persons referred to committees of jurisdiction. Have there been any resolutions submitted? There have not. Okay. Thank you. All right. Other business? Any other business?

Alder Lambrecht, you left some things around. I'm calling on you for other business. Good. Could you tell us about this?

Yes. So on each of your spots, there's some Japanese senbei, which is a Japanese rice cracker, either soy or curry flavored, and then some sweets as well of variety of flavors. The blue is soda pop flavored, just so you know. So it's a little weird. And then there's also yen. It turns out that they're quite plentiful, but also not very useful. And so I thought it'd be nice for a little momentum for everybody. So the trip was wonderful. This was to our sister city. Correct.

To Kanonji, Japan, as well as several other locations. And I had an opportunity to meet with both the mayor and four council members during my time there as well. So it was great exchange and sharing some ideas, and I look forward to our continued relationship.

Awesome. Thank you so much and we appreciate you representing Appleton. Alder Fenton.

Thank you. Much closer to home, I have treats on the end tables from our one of our newest College Avenue businesses. It's delicious treats from Appleton Bunt House, which is one of our newest businesses, a black owned business in honor of Black History Month.

Awesome. Thank you very much.

Everybody help themselves because I'm not taking them home.

Please do. And that goes for everybody. Yeah, thank you very much. Alder Schulz. Hold on there.

Too early. I'll burn another minute here. Just want to thank the colleagues who joined me at the Outagamet County Resource Recovery Center on Tuesday. Elders Lambert, Meltzer, Wolf, and I did a quick tour. If you haven't been there, would suggest you do that, see what that facility does for this community and others in the area. And I'm hopeful that we've taken away some good information and maybe incorporate some ideas to help push Appleton's progress in recycling and resource recovery forward. I just want to thank my fellow colleagues for joining me. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. All right. And I hate to prolong the meeting. I love a short meeting, but we're already past record setting pace.

Just want to take a moment to acknowledge something that I think many of us are recognizing and experiencing in our interactions right now, just generally. This is not a veiled commentary about anything happening specifically here. But there is a lot of agitation in the community and the world right now. And I've heard this from folks across every sector, every line of work. I just had a catch up with a friend who lives out of state.

And even there, he's dealing with things in his workplace. And so I think there's something in the air when it comes to just agitation, fuses shorter than they maybe ordinarily are. And I'm certainly experiencing that, too. My own fuse is shorter than it ordinarily is. And so I think as leaders in all of our respective roles, it's incumbent upon us to recognize that, recognize how people are feeling right now, and bear it in mind when we are interacting.

We have an opportunity to set an example for how we treat each other, how we engage, the kind of room that we make, even when we're being met with hostility or hostility is being brought to us when we're feeling our own frustration. We have an opportunity as as leaders in our roles. Even though we ourselves may be worn down and exhausted and feeling exactly I see a lot of nodding heads yes, we are. But we we have a a role to play in creating the kind of environment in our organization, in our community, that is respectful, that's kind, that's compassionate. And so I just wanted to call that out because I'm seeing it everywhere.

And I think we all are. So it just bears acknowledgment. And I think it's a reminder of the importance of our roles as leaders in the community to set a tone that is representative of the kind of place we want to be and the kind of leaders I know we want to be. So I just wanted to say that and to let you know you have a fellow traveler in me. And I'm feeling it too.

I feel worn down by it too, but undeterred because there's so much good happening in this community. So, so much good. So let's keep that good going. And as always, if you need to talk to somebody about what's going on, things you're dealing with, problems that you're dealing with in your neighborhoods, in your districts, please don't hesitate to reach out and have conversation with me. I'm happy to.

We're also happy to get anybody who needs it in the organization connected with resources, supportive resources, so that we can keep showing up and doing the important work we do every day. So I just want to acknowledge that. Hang in there. We got a little taste of spring. It'll be here before long. But in the meantime, hang in, keep going, and we'll close other business unless there's anything else. All right. With that, we need a motion to adjourn. We have a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. We are adjourned. Thank you, everybody. Have a good night. Take some treats.