Municipal Services Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay, are we ready? All right, it is 5.30. We'll call to order this meeting of the Safety and Licensing Committee for Wednesday, June 10th. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, thank you. Roll call membership. All members are present tonight except for Alder Jones, who is excused. I'm Chris Crote, chair of the committee and representative from District 14, and to my left is... Denise Fenton, District 6. Patrick Hayden, District 7. Josh Lambert, District 1. Great, thank you. So we have four or five members present, enough to conduct business. We have next on our agenda the meeting minutes from our previous meeting, which was held on... May 27th.

Move to approve.

Chair, I have a request. Okay, let's get a second on the minutes and then we can make any corrections or changes. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second to approve the minutes. Are there any corrections or changes?

Yes, can I please make one note on the minutes that While I voted to recommend approval for the balance of the agenda on the 527 meeting, which included item 26-0682, I abstained from that specific item at the 6326 council meeting.

Okay. All right. Any other corrections or changes to the minutes? All right.

All set, Clerk Molitor?

OK. All right, let's vote on the minutes as changed. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Any abstentions? 4-0. Minutes are approved. OK. We don't have any public hearings or appearances tonight, which usually we do, but not tonight. So that will go right into our action items. And so our remote participant did not join. OK. First action item is 26-0748. It's the operator license for Ryan Toppins. There is the application, the letter from the clerk's office, and the letter from the Appleton Police Department as attachments to this. Attorney Berwin, it appears this is one of those situations where the committee has very limited options due to statutory language. Is that accurate? Director 2 should be on.

That is my assessment as well. For practical purposes, Lieutenant Gooden's memo succinctly states the situation. He does not appear to be eligible based on conviction record, at least one of those being an exempt offense.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Does someone from the committee like to make a motion on the operator's license?

I'll move to deny.

Second. Motion and a second to deny. Any questions or comments? Not seeing any, okay. All those in favor of the denial signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? All right, four-zero. That will go as a recommendation to the full council to deny the operator license based on the information provided. Next on the agenda is 26-0758, which is the resolution I submitted, Resolution 7R26, to review the options for the truancy ordinance. Allow me a minute here to explain why I submitted this resolution. I know I had communicated that we would be bringing this back to the committee for some level of action, possibly no action, but some level of action at this committee meeting. There was a question about whether or not the Chair had the authority to place an action item on the agenda, so the resolution basically takes care of that. With that said, the resolution in summary is pretty basic. It basically says, therefore be it resolved, the Safety and Licensing Committee and Common Council shall review all options related to the existing truancy ordinance language, which has been on the book since we passed it, and the trial period and possibly take action on options presented by legal services, which was a memo drafted by Attorney Berwin and was part of our packet at the last meeting. So pretty simple resolution to get this back in front of us for potential action. I'm going to turn it over to Attorney Berwyn to explain where we go from here based on the resolution and the agenda that has been posted.

So mechanically, ultimately this ends up being an extremely simple set of circumstances in terms of what can be done. The committee is in the position to take action with regard to doing something or not doing something with the truancy ordinance notices proper regarding discussion and action on that item. So it can be done at this point. Mechanically, the form that would take under the current circumstances, it would come through the form of an amendment to the resolution, the be it resolved portion. That is, that would allow it to be continued through to the council and be considered and acted on by the whole council. The tricky part of the situation is that the way the code is written as it is, the ordinance or the section of the code does not simply cease to be effective at the end of this month. It is, the way it's worded, automatically repealed. So that ceases to be anything in the code at that time. there is, and I'm, this wasn't caught by anybody up until earlier today. There is no time for the ordinance to go all the way through and then come back in final form before the full council. Um, if it would need to do so, that does not necessarily cause a fatal problem to whatever action the committee may want to take because the, resolution could incorporate the language of the code section as it's written, inclusive of any amendments that the committee and council wanted to make. So all that is to say, we can go forward having the section of the code appear as the committee and council would want it to in the, be it resolved section is the way mechanically to address the situation. I do have copies of the, uh, that section of the code that I can share, um, for review and for, I have one for my own markup if that ends up being needed as well. Uh, So if that ends up being assistive to whatever discussion the committee wants to undertake, you have that. I have some of the other supporting documentation that was attached to prior agendas as well that I can distribute to the council members present as well.

Okay. Questions from committee members? Alder Fenton, go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. So, and I see our friends from the school district here, and I know at our last meeting we had talked about fourth quarter attendance data perhaps not being available until June the 19th, and I'm honestly not really comfortable taking action myself until i have seen the full year data and um clearly we've got a new wrinkle that attorney berwin just gave us but and i don't see any of that attached to the agenda so i'm my concern is given that it's summer what would be the um result of us holding this until we get that information.

Okay, I'm going to ask Attorney Berwin to comment on that. I think the important things to remember are the June 30th date kind of ends what's on the books. My hope was that we would be able to take some level of action before that date. We're obviously well into June now with one council meeting remaining this month. which I think adds to some level of challenge. So do you want to respond to Alder Fenton's comment?

I certainly can. As far as what happens, the way I see it, that's the likely outcome anyway, is we're going to pass that deadline before something is formally and fully amended. What will happen with what I've provided as a possible solution is a way, I don't want to say to get around that, but to achieve the same result without the extra mechanical aspects of it in terms of dealing with that. We're not in a school year, we're not in the school year at this point, so it's largely mood in terms of the enforceability of it, but what I'm suggesting would allow the committee and the council to take whatever action they believe is appropriate without having to necessarily worry about that specific deadline, and it becomes more about whether or not there's something in place for the next school year. Because if nothing's done, there would not be anything in place for the next school year anyway. This just allows you the opportunity to put something back in place should you desire to do so.

Okay, thank you.

Based on what already exists, I should say.

Thank you for that, and I agree with you, Alder Fenton, that I'd like to see the rest of the data before we act, but I also wanted to try to find a way to keep this moving ahead, keeping the deadline in mind, but also keeping our options open for, you know, simple thing would be to extend it for a short period of time to allow for that additional data to come in and then And so I is that an option for the committee Certainly the the code section could be amended however the committee and the council see fit so if that it would include a

changing the date to sometime later in the summer. It still would not change the fact that we're in the situation that we are with what can be done before it is effectively repealed, but it would be repealed and then put back in place with that date.

Yeah, because that would be my goal, would be to somehow find a way to extend this so that we can, A, have more time to finish this process, but B, get the last bit of data from the school year that everyone wants to get. Other questions or comments? Alder Herzheim, you had your hand up. 13 should be on. Go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. I'm trying to, when we keep talking about mechanics, I'm trying to actually understand the mechanics. My impression is that your resolution has been presented to this committee to even be able to speak about what can occur in this regard. Might there be, and might this be what Attorney Berman is saying, might there be another therefore be it resolved clause that would state something to the effect of due to the timing an extension is needed or something to that effect that could be amended into this resolution to allow both the talking about it, which is your resolution as it stands, and then the amendment, which is don't let the truancy ordinance completely lapse so we have to start from scratch. Am I understanding that correctly?

Attorney Berman, I don't want to speak for you, but I think the answer is yes.

I'm not entirely sure I understand what it.

Well, right now, we as a council and this committee cannot speak about this ordinance until this resolution is approved, correct? Because there really isn't anything on, there really isn't anything to be said because there isn't an action item without this.

Right, and that was one of my questions was we have the resolution which allows us to put it on the agenda for possible action. Can that happen tonight or does that need to happen at a future meeting?

Again, my expectation would be that this resolution could be amended to include something to the effect of extension just for the purposes of additional speech about this item.

That could be done. Okay, thank you, Attorney Berwin. Alder Lambrick, did you have your hand up?

Yeah, so I do definitely, I'm very interested, obviously, in the fourth quarter data. I am curious from my other council members and committee members about what they're hoping that additional data is going to show them that might change some of the perspective of what way we would like to move forward.

Okay, good question. I'll answer it from my perspective. I'd just like to see the complete package. I pretty much have enough, in my opinion, but I would like to see the rest of it just to make sure we have the complete body of work or the data set. Alder Fenton, did you want to comment on that?

Agreed. I'm not willing... to take any action other than possibly just merely extending to sometime in the summer without seeing the complete, and I'd also like to hear some follow-up from the district about some of the open issues that we had, the points in the original resolution as it was passed last fall. Okay, Alder Hayden, go ahead.

Yeah, I think to Alder Landrick's point, I would like to get consistent about the reporting that we're getting back on these data points if we're looking to continue this in the next year because I would like it to be an apples to apples comparison as we kind of move through this process so that we're able to evaluate this and openly say whether or not it's successful or not and what direction the metrics are moving in as we kind of move forward.

Thank you, I appreciate that. the success metrics might be different for each person or the district or anyone. But again, I'd like to see the complete data set before we decide. But at this point, I'd simply look for options to keep things moving forward, but push this out a little ways. Alder Fenton, go ahead.

Yeah, so I did not mean to jump on you, Chair. So to Alder Hartzheim's point and suggestion, I would like to propose an amendment that says, and further be it resolved that, and I don't have the ordinance numbers with me, essentially be extended until, I would say, I have to look at the calendar, but... So we have the one meeting in July. Yeah, and we don't have a July 1st meeting, so sometime into July, because we want to be able to take action one way or another before school starts, I would think. So if someone can help me with dates on that, but... Sure, hold that.

I guess, was that a motion or not?

That is a motion to amend the resolution.

Do you have the sheet that...

Oh, okay.

Oh, I'm sorry. Yes.

Okay.

So let's take a motion on the resolution, and then we can amend it.

So I'll move to get it on the floor.

And I'll second. Okay. I think I can second my own. I don't think that's an issue.

I think that's fine.

Okay.

And now I would entertain a motion to amend to add and be it further resolved that... And attorney, you can help me with the ordinance number there that the term be extended to, and let me get to my calendar, I'm sorry. Point of order, Chair.

Sure. July 15th would be the only council meeting in July because July 1st would be canceled. Right, so we have one. Unless there would be a 29th, but there's no reason to have that called. Right, so. So if we wanted two council cycles, it would be August 5th.

And I think that's a fair date because that's before the start of the school year. And I was going to ask the school district to comment on that. Superintendent Arches, do you want to come up to the podium? Do you have the start date for the new school year, 26, 27? Oh, sorry.

September.

Okay, all right.

Approximately a month after.

Okay, so yeah, I just want to make sure we're not running too tight to the beginning of the school year, but yet we have enough time to finish this process that we've been on this for a while, this journey, to get information and evaluate the effectiveness of the ordinance.

It looks like Labor Day is the 7th of September this year.

Okay, so could you restate your amendment, and then let's get a second on it.

Let me get Let me get it up here. Okay, so change it to, and further be it resolved that, is it section 10-42? Yes. Be modified to have effective dates November 1st, 2025 through, and we said August the... August 5th is the first council meeting.

August 19th is the second council meeting in August.

Can we say August 19th?

I would maybe recommend we do a little earlier in case we have a refer back or something. August 5th. Okay.

So August 5th.

And I think that gives us ample time to review the rest of the data and have additional committee discussion. Alder Hartzheim, go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. Might there be a day or two after the 5th included because the night of the 5th is the actual meeting date?

Correct. Good point. Attorney Berwin?

Not to short circuit everything, but this will not really doing this will not change anything because even before this alteration to the code would take effect, the ordinance would already be repealed. So there really isn't much of a value add to doing this. We can still achieve, the committee and council can still achieve the same thing without, by including the language in there into the resolution or a new resolution when it comes through. there's no, at this point, way to keep it without there being some lapse. So there is a need to recreate. OK.

So yeah, basically reintroduce the language at a future meeting, but it could be part of the resolution today.

I don't know that it would need to be part of the resolution today because if there's nothing that's going to be done with it substantively, this does permit then that discussion to go on and continue. Okay. So there is still a value to the resolution and keeping that moving forward to allow something to come back.

Okay, great.

Thank you for clarifying that.

So I guess I should withdraw my motion to amend.

We didn't have a second on it. Right. I don't think we had a second amendment failed basically.

And then, but that would lead me to want to, and I'm going to ask you to refer to the, to our friends with the district. If we could say holding it until our meeting of the 24th and asking if, the district would have ample time to have gotten that fourth quarter data and be prepared to report to us on some of the other things we talked about at our last meeting.

So you're saying hold the resolution until that meeting, act on the resolution. Attorney Berwyn, I just want to get clarity. Does that prevent us from having any discussion between now and then?

As a body?

in an open forum with the school district presenting information. I'm just trying to get clarity on what the best course of action is here. So, Alder Hartstein, while he's thinking of that, go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. I am questioning not Attorney Berwin personally, but I'm questioning the logic about not proceeding with Alder Fenton's proposed amendments because The amendment would be included and then reviewed with the council before the expiration date of the truancy ordinance.

Which is next Wednesday.

Correct. Point of order, and that would be to the attorney, don't the ordinances come out the next week after they are passed in council?

Correct, but you would not be making an ordinance change. You'd just be, well, you would be making an ordinance change.

I think we would, because what we pass in Council, one meeting, we see the ordinances the next meeting.

So my questioning, Attorney Berwin, is incorrect. I withdraw.

Okay. Point of information. Okay, Alder Hayden, go ahead.

I'm just trying to understand. So the idea is that we open it now and we can hold it. And because we've got it opened and it's in progress, that means as long as this is open, the ordinance can't lapse because we have something that's in progress.

It's going to lapse, but if we pass this resolution, it'll allow us to bring it back in some form, this or something else. on a future agenda?

This would preserve and allow the discussion, but it's not going to prevent it lapsing. It's just lapsing during the summer here when there wouldn't be any enforceability to it anyway.

So this resolution that we have before us is really just to keep our options open so that in the future we can discuss this when we have the data that we're requesting so that we're able to kind of continue this in the future. Precisely. Thank you.

All right, and I'm gonna give the district an opportunity to comment on this potential lapse period if there's an issue with that, but let's finish, Alder Lambert, go ahead.

just so that I'm understanding, we can pass this resolution tonight or we can recommend for approval. It could then go to the full council where we could have an open discussion as a full council about that and then would make the decision on whether at that time to either pass this resolution, but that would also give a full council opportunity to speak on this resolution and related topics, if I'm not mistaken.

Alder Fenton? I'm going to invoke Alder Lambrecht's predecessor with the doing committee, working committee before we get to council.

Yeah, I appreciate that. And actually, Alder Siebers, I think, is the one that first introduced this resolution. Right. Okay, so is everyone clear on the committee what our options are tonight? Okay. Attorney Berwin, go ahead.

To go back to the prior question, Chair, if there's going to be a discussion permitted on that, I think the proper way to do it would be to take it up as part of the consideration of the motion to approve the resolution. So to do that before there's a vote taken, if there's going to be public input provided for.

But I would leave that to the... Yep, and since they're here, I'd like to give them an opportunity to at least comment on, and we'll try to keep it on the resolution, of course, but the resolution is pretty all encompassing as far as the ordinance or the truancy language. So if committee members don't have any other questions, we'll turn it over to the school district for comment or anyone else that wants to comment. Thanks for coming, another meeting. Does anyone wanna speak on this? Okay. Teacher from Appleton East, I believe. Oh, sorry.

North.

North, I'm sorry. Somehow I thought your shirt was happening on Haviland East.

No, that's the... My name is Chad Endress.

I live on 3033 East Forest, 3rd District, I believe. I came to this committee last fall, last summer, also presented in front of the council, but last fall and summer, asking for the ordinance to be established.

If you could try to use the microphone, we'll try to capture this. Oh, I'm sorry.

People watch the video. Okay, good? Yep. Asking for this ordinance to be established. My thought process is that I'm a high school teacher, I teach soul studies, I've seen the effects of COVID, I've seen the effects of the lack of an ordinance, and I felt that an ordinance would make everything that we currently do, trying to get kids to go to school, much more effective, that it's the magic pill that makes all the other stuff taste good, because they don't want to take the citation. And that's what I presented as my case last fall. And my hope was that out of the five to seven, eight, nine kids who are habitually truant that I have in my classes, that I would see an improvement if a citation was to be established. Now, the trial, I guess turned out to be exactly that, a trial. And so if I can share my data with my classes with this committee, I don't know how this matches with anybody else's or the district's data, but I've done my own compilation of data. First, I teach five classes, two civics. Civics class would be a ninth grade class, the basic class, basically everybody has to take civics. The third one is U.S. history. Now, U.S. history is the fascinating one because that's the one where typically your more motivated students will take AP U.S. History, the college balance. So this is the one that's become kind of notorious at high school level of kids not showing up, the habitual truants not being there. This would be the class where between five and seven of my students every year, again, three classes, sorry, three classes, five to seven do not show up and therefore inevitably fail. So with that going in, the citation, there was talk about it in the fall. It was established. And this is the data that I have. I have a total of 125 students. I'm gonna start with civics first. Two students that I had were already identified as habitually truant within the system. And the news there is not only did they show up, but one got a B and one got a C. And that's a pattern you're going to see here, is that when they start showing up, They pass, and hopefully they learn. So that's the freshman level. The US history, three classes, to me, the data was extraordinary. I have 15 kids marked as habitually truant before second semester. Two of them failed. The other 13 passed. Not only do they show up, but they also pass. Now there are micro stories to be told. Sometimes they show up two or three days and they'd say home two or three days. There's a lot of battles and I'm really simplifying everything. But the citation worked overwhelmingly in my classes. To me, I'm on the front line of this issue. So was this a fluke? What did I see? Is this just my class? Is it because I'm an extraordinary teacher or I'm lucky? What exactly am I looking at here? I went to my colleagues, again, this is Appleton North, ones that teach the same type of students, those who have the potential to be habitually truant, they said it's exactly the same thing. Now, some of them were under the impression that the citation is permanent. So as we're kind of figuring this out, we're starting to realize that we're gonna have to reach out to you so that you hear our voices. And if someone reaches out to you, a teacher within the district, I hope that they give a message of what happened with them personally. I think it was an extraordinary experiment that the Common Council did because there's always that question of how effective is the citation. And on a nationwide basis, the whole country should be looking at this and saying, my goodness, if this was an experiment, this showed exactly the value of the citation. And please note, One citation was actually issued. The other kids fell in line because they were afraid of the citation, so they went back at the other options, the other options that they were ignoring previously, and said, you know what, I might have to do that. Let me know more about that. How can I make that work? Or sometimes it lit a fire in those parents who didn't have that motivation, who now had that extra motivation. Thank you very much, council.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else from the school district? Or I'll allow others to. Miss Marta, welcome. Hi.

Stephanie Marta, attendance coordinator for the middle and high schools in the district. I did have a lot of comments prepared to share tonight, but I do think it makes more sense to save it for a future meeting. I would agree. Thank you. Yeah, and I wanted to let you all know that our district data team is currently working on pulling our data with school just ending last Friday. It takes a little bit of time, but we will have that ready and available for whenever the next meeting is. We were planning to have it ready for the June 17th meeting next week. However... it will be ready. If there's any specific data outside of what we were planning to share, if there's anything specific that the committee or the council wants, we'd love to know that too in advance just so we can make sure we prepare everything you guys want to have.

Okay, thank you. And I think, Alder Fenton, did you have a comment earlier about some open things that weren't addressed or... I think you went through the long list last time. One by one.

And yes, so I know there were some things that were still open. Thank you, Chair, by the way. And I know you gave us some progress. Thank you for that, because you addressed it point by point the way that I had read it from the ordinance or the resolution that passed last time. So I think that next time we talk, we'd like to get a further update on those points, because some of them I think are still open. I think the... the group that reports to the board, the formation of that group, there's a couple of things that are open that we talked about, and I would personally like to hear an update on some of those.

Okay, thank you. Some of the items on that list were not applicable because they hadn't happened or didn't need to happen, right? So you're not talking about those items, you're talking about things that needed to be further addressed, correct? Okay, Alder Hartzheim.

Sorry, was there anything outside of the attendance committee that hasn't been addressed? Go ahead.

No, go ahead. I'm looking.

Okay, okay.

I'm looking for my notes, so I apologize.

Okay, Alder Hartzheim, go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. I believe when Ms. Marta presented this to the council, there was going to be follow-up, and that was going to be included in minutes, and I don't remember ever seeing that included in minutes. So point by point, Was it included or did just the committee receive that? Because I don't believe I ever saw it.

Well, I think what happened, it was at the last meeting. It was going to be sent to the clerk to become part of the big packet of information.

Yes.

We don't have that big packet of information on our agenda tonight. Thank you. Okay, was that taken care of after the last meeting? Okay, so Clerk Molitor, do you have that document for a future agenda packet? Okay, does that answer the question?

Yes, thank you very much. That was specifically what I was looking for, and that can help us, guide us to what pieces were still outstanding.

And just to be clear, that is what I just passed out, that document.

Oh, the responses to each one of the, okay.

Yes, thank you for that.

Attorney Berwyn, thank you. You're welcome. So between now and a future meeting where we have this on the agenda, if there's something specific you're looking for, hopefully we can get that included. Or if you need more information, yeah, some of these responses are none or not applicable. So, okay. Any other questions for the school district on that? Not seeing any. Okay. Do you have anything else?

No.

Okay. Saving it for a future meeting? Yep. Okay. Anyone else from the school district want to speak? No? Okay. In the back row, did you want to speak? Okay. Come up to the podium, and if you could, give your name and address for the record.

My name is Michelle Pauley, 316 East Benton Drive. I guess I also had a prepared statement that I won't get into tonight, and I do appreciate some of the experience that the teacher shared earlier. My point, where I've always been coming from as I've attended meetings over the last several months and have reached out to council members and members of this committee, is the research. We have the data. We have research that's been done over decades on this issue. It's been done across the country and across school districts, across different populations. We have it. To assume that we are going to do the same thing that's already been done in many different places and expect a different outcome, I think, is presumptuous. Whether we extend the six months, whether we extend it a year, two years, the work has already been done. And there's always going to be stories about kids who do go to school because they want to avoid consequences. Absolutely, I was one of those kids. but it doesn't prove that the target group that this was supposed to address is who's benefiting from it. And when I went to the first listening sessions, the community was very concerned about this becoming punitive, about this being used as a threat, about kids being scared. And we heard the word fear tonight. We've heard the word consequences. And that was never supposed to be part of that. So I just wanted to remind the committee of that.

Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to speak? Clerk Molitor? Director Three, go ahead.

I do just want to say for the record that the packet of information that Attorney Berwin handed out was included on the 527 minutes. So if anyone is looking for it, it is under the information item from the AASD truancy ordinance discussion that was on the minutes. But I will also include it on tonight's minutes under this item.

Great. Thank you for clarifying that. Yep. The goal is to have as much information as possible presented to the committee and council when we do make the important votes down the road. Okay, who else had their hand up? Anyone?

Alder Lambrick, go ahead. So thank you all for being here and for offering to answer questions, asking what more data, what can we be doing to provide evidence to support our last speaker is expressing some of the concerns that have been kind of raised by the committee as a whole. And some of the articles which have been shared, things of that nature, I think support some of what was being talked about with regards to the evidence supporting or not the general sense of truancy as a ticket citation, right? What these articles don't necessarily get into is all the other interventions which have been built around and supporting those pieces for the students in the Appleton school districts. So I do think it would be very important for those who are gonna be speaking on behalf or in support of this, to be prepared to address some of those really concrete studies, right, where we know that youth justice involvement can do more harm than good for youth that are unlikely to engage in future delinquent behavior whose needs would be best met by different systems. There's an attendance work article that talks when truancy persists, it too often results in court referral, even though what happens in court typically does not help a student and family overcome the challenges that cause the absence in the first place. And even the council state governments state that an arrest, court involvement, and or system supervision for youth who are truant or commit other low-level offenses actually decreases their likelihood of attending schools and completing high school. So those are some of the articles that have been shared not only from the public with us, I know some of those come from articles that the school district has shared as well. And so I think it's gonna be really important as we continue this conversation to be able to address some of those concerns that the community is bringing up regarding those pieces. and particularly some of our most vulnerable students and what their needs are and whether or not this policy and how we move forward with it is also meeting their needs while also having what we've heard tonight is the benefit of encouraging students that maybe were not as encouraged otherwise to be attending school. So I think that would be something I would like to hear at a future conversation as we consider the future amendment.

Okay, thank you. Appreciate the input and additional information for the district to consider. Are there any other members of the public here tonight that would like to speak? Oh, okay. All right, we have a motion and a second. Oh, I'm sorry, Alder Hayden, I'm sorry.

No problem, Chair. One other request I have of the school district is when we get the data that is coming in a couple weeks, if it's possible, I know there are PII considerations, but when possible, could you include the raw data as possible? Because I know in the past few presentations, there's been a lot of roll-ups, a lot of percentages without us being able to see the numbers behind the numbers. So I would like to be able to see as much raw data as possible so we could I'll pivot it and kind of get the underlying numbers that support the percentages that are in the reports because the decks that you provide are great. They tell a great story, but I'd like to understand what the numbers are behind the numbers when that's possible.

Okay. Anything, any comment on that? Okay. All right. Any other questions, comments? All right, not seeing any. So on the resolution, we have a motion and a second to approve. All right, ready for a vote? All right. All those in favor of approving the resolution, which allows for us to continue this process and have a future discussion about it, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

Nay.

Okay, 3-1. Right? You're an aye? Okay. Okay, so that will go to the full City Council as a recommendation to approve the resolution, which would allow us to continue the discussion on the truancy ordinance at a future meeting in July, August timeframe. Okay, thanks again for coming. All right, we'll move on to 26-0781. Request to apply and accept a $425,000 COPS technology and equipment grant funds. Move to approve. Second. Motion and second to approve. Chief Olson, I'll turn this over to you, but I looked it up. So the DOJ term COPS is Community Oriented Policing Services. Director 1, okay.

Excuse me. So just a little information about this grant that we're applying for. As I know, all of you are aware that our officers, along with those from our neighboring agencies, face high-risk situations that jeopardize their safety. The essential tools required to effectively manage these scenarios are often expensive and difficult to acquire through standard budget channels. This project focuses on procuring one robotic device along with the initial training and maintenance designed to reduce the risks officers face when entering unfamiliar environments where they may encounter various hazards and or dangerous individuals. Through numerous service calls, we have recognized that our existing equipment has significant limitations and fails to adequately address the diverse challenges that we confront. Our current tools often struggle with connectivity and functionality, leading to frequent malfunctions. This situation forces us to deploy officers into unknown environments, exposing them to potential dangers. Moreover, the robotic equipment we seek would create a safer environment for individuals encountered during high-risk situations. By leveraging advanced technology instead of relying solely on canines or sending officers into uncertain areas, we can reduce the likelihood of using force. This shift would significantly enhance the safety of those we interact with. Our department intends to use the allocated funds to purchase a Boston Dynamics spot. Their equipment offers the highest level of advanced technology specifically designed for the high-risk applications being faced by officers. Through customizable payloads such as articulating arms, onboard cameras, and onboard communications, we can fully evaluate situations and minimize the safety risks to all who may be involved.

Okay.

That's all I have, unless you have additional questions.

Okay, we'll see if there's any questions. So the application shows no match funds. It says source of match general fund, but the match is zero, correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

Questions for Chief Olsen? Alder Lambert, go ahead. In your description, you gave a couple different payloads that could be utilized with that. Is there any current plans or future plans for lethal or less than lethal additions or payloads to be potentially utilized on such a robot?

Not that I'm aware of. We haven't had any discussions that I've been involved in that would suggest the device being used that way.

Thank you. Okay. Other questions, comments? Not seeing any. We have a motion and a second, correct? Okay. If there are no other comments or questions, we'll take a vote on accepting, applying and accepting the grant. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? 4-0. Okay. Next on the agenda is 26-0778, is the 26-27 late-late alcohol license renewal applications, contingent on approval from all departments by 12 p.m. on June 30, 2026. Move to approve. Second. Motion and second to approve. Clerk Molitor, can you please explain late-late?

I can. The alcohol license renewals come in in batches. And so we sent the first batch. We statutorily have to send it by a certain time. And then as more come in, we do send them earlier than this in order to make sure we get them prepped. And this is the last batch that statutorily can come before and be renewed.

That's what I was going to ask you, if there was going to be a late, late, late.

Nope.

OK. Any questions at all? Comments? OK. All right. We'll take a vote. All those in favor of approving, we had a motion and a second, correct? Yep. OK. Approving 26-0778, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? 4-0. OK. All right. On to the rest here. Want to take them individually or take them up together?

I move to approve the balance of the agenda. Second.

Okay, so the balance of the agenda has been moved to approve. There is a second. That includes 26-0739, 26-0743, 26-0742, 26-0741, 26-0740, 26-0745, 26-0788, and that is the extent of the action items. Is there any one of those that someone would like separated out? Just checking, no, thank you. Okay. Not seeing any, so we can take a vote on that whole group. All those in favor of approving, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed? 4-0, they are all recommended for approval. That takes care of the action items. We'll move on to information items. There's special events listed. Alder, Hartzheim, I know what you're gonna say.

Thank you, Chair. Everyone in the room knows what I'm going to say. But for those riveted watching this video replay later this week, the City of Appleton's 75th Flag Day Parade is on Saturday, June 13th. It begins at 2 p.m. and it has a new route. So go to the city's website, look for information in that regard. But generally, it's the same route as the Christmas parade is always taken.

Thank you. Thank you for that. All right. Hopefully everyone can make it. Hopefully the weather's good. All right, that takes care of special events. We'll go to director's reports, which is under 26-0747. We have the city clerk listed with two updates, one on staffing and one on elections.

Thank you. So we, this Monday, we had our new administrative support specialist who's in charge of licensing, including all of these alcohol licenses that we've been improving. She started and already she's doing a fantastic job. So we're really glad to have her on board. Her name is Daniela Gordon. And then our favorite, we're coming up on another election again, August 11th, we do have the partisan primary. Just a reminder for everyone, the partisan primary, all of the parties are represented on the same ballot for this, but you're only allowed to vote in the primary for one of the parties. If you vote in multiple parties' primaries, your vote will not count. So just something really important for everyone to remember. um on a more procedural side of things um we do have the election inspector job opening open right now so we're recruiting more election inspectors that is open until june 28th so we've got about two more weeks left so if you guys know anyone who's interested um otherwise we're getting ready to send out absentee ballots those have to go out by june 25th And then in-person absentee voting is going to be starting on July 28th, which seems like a long way away, but really isn't when we get down to it.

Okay. Thank you. Good updates. Alder Hartzheim, go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. I would just like to state that being an election inspector is very easy. It's a little bit of a long day, but it's very easy and it's extremely rewarding. And the city does pay you for your work. So I would encourage folks to become an elections inspector for the city of Appleton.

Thank you for sharing that, appreciate it. Any questions for Clerk Mulliner?

Alder Lambert, go ahead. I did hear in the news about some mail-in ballots and things of that nature. Has anything changed within the primaries in Appleton for any mail-in ballots or any of the absentee ballots?

No, nothing has changed, especially regarding the law. We're still following all the procedures as usual. I believe a lot of the commentary lately has been on the USPS and just their ability to get ballots to people and to get ballots back to people. What I would recommend is that knowing that there have been more issues than there have in the past, that people request their ballots early. So that way, if there is an issue, getting the ballot to the voter in order to fill it out, we can rectify that in time to get another ballot sent out or for them to come in for in-person absentee voting. And then when you have that ballot, Get it back to us as soon as you can if you're using the mail. We also do have the absentee ballot drop box available in the alley, which that goes from the voter's hand into the drop box and then directly into our hand. So that's also a very safe way for people to return their ballots.

Thank you. All right. Any other questions or comments? Not seeing any, okay. We move on to Fire Chief. There's nothing listed. Thanks for coming, Chief Hanson. Police Chief, nothing listed. Chief Olson already gave an update on the grant, so it takes us all the way to number eight. Move to adjourn.

Second.

The motion is second to adjourn. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? 4-0, we are adjourned. Thank you.