City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Fond du Lac City Council. Our first item of business is roll call, done electronically, so I will declare a quorum present with all of us present. Next item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silent reflection. Please rise. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone. Next, we're going to move on to the consent agenda, which is going to finalize the proposed actions for the meeting. That's the list of claims dated August 31st, 2026, and B, the list of the August 26th, 2026 minutes. Is there any questions or discussion on the consent agenda? Seeing no questions or discussion, I'll entertain a motion at this time. I've got a motion by Ms. Brault and Ms. Luehring has a second. Thank you both. Any further discussion? Seeing none, let's vote. And that passes unanimously. Thanks everyone. Next on our agenda is audience comments, agenda and non-agenda items. The presenting officers shall limit the speaking time for non-agenda items to two minutes and items noticed on the agenda to five minutes. Ms. Hefter, do we have anyone wishing to speak? We do not. So that closes our audience comments, which means we can move on to action items. Action item A is an intoxicating liquor and Class A fermented malt license. And I'm, and, The corporation is Soprano Scott Inc. and Devander Singh is the agent name doing business as Sitco at 136 West Scott Street. And that is also the business address. And Ms. Hefter has that introduction for us.

Thank you, President Heisler. Mr. Singh has applied for a class A intoxicating liquor and class A fermented malt license for carryout sales at 136 West Scott Street. Background checks were done on the applicant and city staff and alcohol license committee recommend approval.

Thank you very much, Ms. Hefter. Questions from council for Ms. Hefter? Seeing no questions, I'll entertain a motion at this time. We got a motion by Mr. Biber and a second by Mr. Zimmerman. Thank you both. Any further discussion? Seeing none, let's vote. And that passes unanimously. Thanks everyone. Move on to action item B, which is the permit to sell fermented malt beverages on park property for Fondy Fall Toberfest. Fond du Lac Festivals Inc. is the entity and it's at Lakeside Park. On October 10th, 2026, Ms. Hefter once again has the introduction.

Thank you again. Fond du Lac Festivals is requesting self-fermented milk beverages on park property for Falltoberfest on October 10th at Lakeside Park, Oven Island. A special event application has been submitted and approved by city departments. City staff recommends approval with the condition that no carrions are permitted in the designated area.

Thank you very much, Ms. Hefter. Any questions for Ms. Hefter on this? Seeing no questions from council, I'll entertain a motion at this time. Mr. Zimmerman has the motion on the floor. Ms. Mayweather with the second. Thank you both. Any further discussion? Seeing none, please proceed to vote. And that passes unanimously. Thanks, everyone. We'll move on to action item C, which is ordinance amending chapter 556 of solid waste. And that would be article two, recycling to reflect recent changes to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources administrative code. And Mr. DeVries has that introduction for us.

Thank you, President Heisler. The ordinance before you today is an update to the existing ordinance regarding solid waste that includes recycling. Recently, the DNR made some changes to the state code and we follow that state code. That's what our ordinance is based on. The updates are based on properties that are non-residential. And basically they try to define what is required on-site for these types of properties as previously it was not defined. So we have just a few sentences in the ordinance to update and one of the things following pending approval of this would be once we get this ENACTED, WE'LL GET OUT NOTICES, PUBLIC NOTICES, SOCIAL MEDIA, THAT TYPE OF THING, TO MAKE SURE EVERYBODY'S AWARE OF IT, AND THAT'S THE WAY WE'D PROMOTE THE CHANGE TO MAKE SURE THE ORDINANCE IS BEING FOLLOWED. SO CITY STAFF RECOMMENDS APPROVAL, AND I'D BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS.

EXCELLENT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MR. DEVRIES. ANY QUESTIONS FOR MR. DEVRIES ON THIS? NOBODY'S IN THE QUEUE. EVERYBODY'S QUIET TONIGHT. I'LL TAKE A MOTION AT THIS TIME. Mr. Biber has a motion on the floor. Mr. Zimmerman has a second. Thank you both. Any further discussion on this? Seeing none, please proceed to vote. And that passes unanimously. Thanks, everyone. Thank you, Mr. DeVries. And Mr. Singh, at this point, because we're going to be wrapping up our action items, you are no longer needed to stay. You're welcome to, but you do not have to. Thank you, sir. And finally, our last action item is the resolution 9261, which is resolution changing, authorizing a challenge to the preliminary population estimate. Our community development director, Ms. Stowes, has that introduction for us tonight.

Thank you. The City received an update from the Wisconsin Department of Administration with its annual preliminary population estimate. Based upon the information provided, the City staff have consulted our available data and would request authorization from the City Council to submit a challenge form with that additional evidence to to contradict the preliminary estimate which indicated that the city's total population has decreased by 598 persons, which is a decrease of 1.34% compared to its population since 2020. We referenced data on building permits issued, residential customers from the municipal water utility, as well as residential vacancy rates. And with that information, we do not believe that there's sufficient basis to determine that the population has decreased, given that we have seen increases across both building permits issued and the number of municipal water customers, as well as a consistently low vacancy rate. With that, there is a resolution included with the packet, and we would include that with the challenge application submitted to the Department of Administration.

Thank you very much, Ms. Stowes. Questions from council? I'll start with Ms. Brault tonight.

Thank you. Could you just tell us what would be the impact if we had this population change reflected where it shows that we had the decrease in population?

Sure. Most importantly, it affects the state revenue sharing calculations, and that can have direct impacts on funds that go into the general fund. It also goes into other calculations for things such as state grant funding, federal grant funding, because this is treated as the state's official population estimate once it is finalized. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms. Boll. Mr. Biber, the floor is yours. Thank you.

President Heisler, I just had a question. Where are we finding that? Where it's the same or a little bit bigger, or we lost some? Because it looks like there's more people than me.

Right. Given that our vacancy rates are consistently low, I just got recent data that shows that we are at 3.4 percent for our vacancy rate for multifamily dwellings in the city. We have seen an increase in that number of municipal water customers and we have seen 168 homes completed from 2020 through 2025. We would say that that data, when viewed altogether, supports that we haven't seen a decrease in population like this. I'm not sure of every data source that the Department of Administration is using, but based upon that local administrative data, I believe that we have sufficient basis. I know that at least the piece of information that they shared, based off of the number of homes that they had in their records that had been built is less than what we have in our records.

And you're thinking what they have right now at 44,000, whatever the count was I've seen on the signs, we think you have more or the same as your estimate?

It's difficult for us to give a precise estimate, and we wouldn't want to go to the full extent of conducting our own special census because that would be an extensive and expensive process, but we don't believe that the data available supports this decrease.

Thank you very much. to hear. Any other questions from Council? Just one for me, Ms. Stowes. Are there any consequences to doing this if it gets rejected?

No. And once we would get the decision from the Department of Administration, if they declined the challenge, then there would be that option of conducting a special census. But as I mentioned, that would be a step that we would not pursue to appeal that.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Great discussion. Any other questions from council? Seeing no other questions from council, I'll entertain a motion at this time. Motion by Mr. Beiber is on the floor, second by Ms. Mayweather. Thank you both. Any further discussion on this? Seeing none, please proceed to vote. And that passes unanimously. Thank you very much, Ms. Stokes. And with that, we're gonna move on to our presentation of input items tonight, which we are going to begin with the annual presentation by Destination Lake Winnebago Regent and its Executive Director, Craig Muller.

Good evening, President Heisler, city council members and city staff. As always, this is an incredible honor to address this group. As a quick reminder, Destination Lake Winnebago Region is our community's official visitors bureau. Until recently, we also served in this capacity for our neighbors in Waupon, but we're pleased to report that after a decade of helping that community gain recognition as an awesome destination, we've passed the torch to them and they are now lending their own local voice to their marketing message. I think the easiest way for folks to understand what a visitors bureau does is to think of our organization like a community's sales and marketing department. While it's true our primary objective is connecting with the traveling public and convincing them that they should bring their group, meeting, tournament, wedding, or reunion to Fond du Lac, we all know that a community must be a great place to live in order for it to be a great place to visit. Tourism is downstream of quality of life. Our call to action has always been, and always will be, let's create and promote vibrancy and fondi for residents and visitors alike. Here's a quick example of what I'm referring to. We recently stepped into the downtown district to create, market, and manage a new program called Third Thursdays on Main. We saw that the Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership organization was in a transitionary phase earlier this year. We're now in great hands with Brittany. And we felt we could assist the downtown businesses, shops, and restaurants by encouraging restaurants to get out and shop and dine locally. The response from the downtown community has been very enthusiastic. I'll ask Liz from my team to talk on this topic just a little bit more in a few moments. Let me close with some good news. We are funded exclusively by what's called a hotel tax. Why is that good news? It means no local taxes support the Visitors Bureau, meaning we will never come to this group looking for funding. Thank you for your attention. I'd like to introduce to you my team members, the folks that actually breathe life into our mission. We'll start with Lisa Pauley Lefebvre. Lisa is our vice president. She is now entering her 700th year with the Visitors Bureau. Lisa.

Forty-first.

Forty-one years.

Thank you, Craig. Hello. Much of my work happens behind the scenes. I oversee human resources, finances and IT, troubleshooting problems in-house whenever possible to keep this team moving. I also manage organizational filings and lead our annual financial audit and Form 990 process. I research software, tourism trends, and other topics that help us make informed decisions. I also support projects such as the Fond du Lac Loop and administer the customer relations and digital asset management programs. Grant writing is another important part of my role. I've successfully secured Wisconsin Department of Tourism funding through the Joint Effort Marketing and Ready, Set, Go grant programs. Since May of 2025, I've also served on the state's Joint Effort Marketing Committee, reviewing grant applications. Although I work mostly in the background, when you do see me publicly, I usually am helping out the farmer's market, I'll be in the information tent for this Saturday's Fondue Fest. And I have appointments to the city's Historic Preservation Commission and Downtown Architectural Review Board. Thank you.

Awesome. Thanks, Lisa. We appreciate that. Next up, we have Aaron Lund, our Director of Marketing.

Good evening. I've been with Destination Lake Winnebago Region for just over 17 years, which means both my title and job descriptions have changed quite a bit along the way. At its core, my job is pretty simple. I help to tell the story of the Lake Winnebago Region, and give people reasons to want to come experience it for themselves. Of course, there are a lot of moving pieces behind that. I oversee our social media channels and content calendar, create and coordinate digital marketing campaigns, manage content for our website and Travel Wisconsin, and serve as the in-house editor of our annual destination guide. I also coordinate our professional photography and video shoots throughout the region. That means finding the right locations, experiences, and people to capture so we have fresh, authentic content to use in our advertising, website, social media, publications, and other marketing. And then there's the part of my job that can be a little harder to put on a job description. I'm constantly looking for the story. What's happening this weekend? What's new? What would make someone stop scrolling? What experience do we have that people may not know about yet? Because today someone might discover Fond du Lac or the Lake Winnebago region from a 15-second video, an Instagram post, a photo of a Friday fish fry, or an event they didn't even know existed. So while the tools I use have changed tremendously over my 17 years here, the goal really hasn't. Keep our region visible, tell its stories, well and give people a reason to say, we should go there. Thank you.

Awesome. Thanks, Erin. Next up, we have Liz Eng, our Director of Community Engagement. Liz.

Thank you, Craig. Good evening, everyone. I've been with this organization for nine years, eight years as the Director of Group Tour Sales, leading a successful motorcoach group travel entity to Fond du Lac in the Lake Winnebago region, while expanding our ag tourism assets and partners, but most recently as the Director of Community Engagement. As someone who has experienced listening to business owners and collaborating with them, I'm happy to share that I have been instrumental in initiating, organizing, and launching a new event in downtown third Thursdays on Main. In that capacity, I've had the opportunity to work directly with more than 50 businesses in our downtown district, retailers, restaurants, and the service industry, with one common goal, to work together to create more energy, activity, and opportunity in downtown Fond du Lac. One of the first steps was establishing a unified and extended retail hours. Retailers are now open until 7 p.m. on third Thursdays, while restaurants, of course, are open much later. Each month, businesses offer specials and activities. Last month on Main Street Plaza, we were hopping with five chalk artists showcasing their artwork. We brought in DJs, offered children's activities, and created opportunities for people to participate in painting and other activities. And on September 17th, we're taking another step forward by adding an art walk. As of this afternoon, I'm happy to say we have 20 artists which will be featured through our downtown district with local businesses opening their doors to host these artists. But our vision doesn't stop there. Through this collaboration, we are working towards establishing downtown Fond du Lac as a regional shopping and dining destination, an asset that can help support tourism and encourage people from surrounding communities to visit, spend time here, and spend their dollars here. So I just want to personally invite all of you to come downtown next Thursday, September 17th, to support the businesses and their featured artists. Thank you.

Outstanding, thanks, Liz. Next up, we have Edith Rocio-Ferguson.

Oh, thank you, Craig. Good evening, everyone. Yes, my name is Edith Rocio-Ferguson.

There we go.

And I have been with this team for over two years. Thank you for this opportunity to address you today. After more than 20 years in the tourism industry in Orlando, Florida, I'm proud to now promote Fond du Lac and our region as a place people want to visit, meet, and compete. My role focuses on meetings, conventions, reunions, sports tourism, and recently added, group travel. Just last month, we welcomed more than 50 meeting planners and showed them that Fond du Lac can deliver a first-class, unforgettable convention event. In sports tourism, in 2026 alone, we hosted 10,000 bowlers for a state championship. Special thanks to city council person Brad Zimmerman for his efforts in the bowling community. Thank you. This past summer, we also hosted more than 155 girls' fast-pitch softball teams from across the Midwest, and many are planning to return in 2027, so we're looking forward to that. We're also attracting motorcoach groups from across the U.S. and Canada, with seven tours in 2026, including a recent group that came all the way up from Kentucky to visit us here. I'm passionate about creating memorable experiences, whether it's a signature event or a customized itinerary. These visitors directly support our hotels, restaurants, and local businesses. So I'm so pleased to represent Fond du Lac and our partners who make this a region people remember and will want to return to.

Fantastic. Thanks, Edith. And finally, bringing us in for a landing will be Sam Verhagen, who is our marketing specialist. Sam.

Good evening. My role as a marketing specialist focuses on the digital and creative side of how we market Fond du Lac as a place to visit, explore, and spend time. I work across social media, digital advertising, graphic design, website content, video production, and promotional campaigns. I help take our marketing strategy and turn it into the content and creative pieces that people actually see and interact with, which is something I'm very passionate about. But beyond simply creating marketing materials, my job is to make sure the businesses, events, attractions, and experiences that make Fond du Lac unique are being seen by the right audiences. That visibility helps support local businesses and events, encourages people to explore more of the community, and gives visitors more reasons to spend their time here. Ultimately, my role is about taking the vibrancy that already exists in Fond du Lac and communicating it in a way that helps our community continue to thrive.

Thanks, Sam. Awesome job, ladies. I really appreciate it. That ends our prepared comments. We're, of course, happy to answer questions or address comments, but we'll close by saying thank you to you all up there and the city staff for what you do for this community.

Thank you very much, Mr. Molitor. Awesome job to you and your team. That was a great presentation. I'll open it up to council for questions, feedback, thoughts at this time. I'm going to go to Mr. Zimmerman first. You should have said something. You were mentioned. I mean...

Yeah, they beat me to the punch for once. I mean, I was gonna thank you guys for everything you guys have done for the bowling community in Fond du Lac. We've had Senior State, Women's State, and now the Open Championship was very highly successful. And now there's even rumors we might win the bid for the Youth Tournament, which is a large event that brings families from all over the country to Fond du Lac and Leadview Lane. So I've always appreciated how much you guys showcase Fond du Lac for what it is, and the pride you take in it. I assumed when I saw Craig in the hallway, I said, you're my favorite presentation. One, because you never ask for any money.

Never.

And two, it's always a great presentation. So I really appreciate your professionalism throughout this and I'm looking forward to, I still have one more left next year.

So thank you. That's great. Listen, the bowling thing is, it's our bread and butter. That's where we can really do a great job. And so I'll just say this to everybody. If you... are in a sport or a member of a church league or a business or an association or whatever you do that brings you joy or is part of your work, and you're a member of an association or a business that has a regular meeting or meetings, we would be very grateful if you would come to us and say, how can we get this group in this town? And I tell you what, whenever we do that, we've worked with Joe Moore on some of the groups that he's a member of. It always turns out well, and as Edith said so eloquently, that is so good for our business community and the folks that live here. So if you can point us in the direction of groups that could come to this community, we'd be honored to help you do that.

Thank you very much, Mr. Zimmerman. Thank you, Mr. Moeller. I'm going to go to Mr. Biber next.

Thank you, thanks for a great presentation, ladies and Craig. What do you find you guys, or is there a whale you're trying to shoot for, for our area, or something very challenging? That's very good with the bowling that they said, but is there something that you think will bring some really good stuff that you're trying for?

Yeah, I like the premise, the great white whale, right? What is that? You know, I've been saying for a little while now, yeah, listen, getting groups in this community, it's what we do. That's what we live to do. But I've been saying for a little while that I think this community needs to identify the next big thing. And what I'm talking about is not necessarily about a group, but an infrastructural addition to our community. We look around at our competitive set, and just real quickly, we'll talk about Appleton or Oshkosh, and we know that they have infrastructure there that helps them attract groups. I appreciate the question, Councilman Biber. For instance, Appleton has, or the Fox Valley, Fox Cities has the Champion Center, and it brings a lot of business to the community. We have been so lucky and so blessed to have our own blue Blue Line Family Ice Center forever and it has been one of the biggest generators of room nights for decades and decades. We now need to see if we can somehow add to that infrastructure because the Champion Center is taking business away. Oshkosh obviously has a downtown convention center. Communities are building out their infrastructure and I think it's time for us to put our heads together and figure out what I refer to as the next big thing. I think it would be important for tourism, but as you've heard me say a number of times throughout my career, Tourism is downstream from quality of life. If we were to add an asset like the Champion Center, that would help us not only attract visitors, it would be awesome for attracting new residents here and to help companies hire more people. So that is the whale right there. Thanks for asking that, Joe.

Hey, thanks for the good vision on that. I also like all the brochures that you guys do and put it out there for our community. So I appreciate that. Good job with that. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bimer. Ms. Luring, you're next.

I just want to say thank you for your presentation. And I have to agree with you. I think we need the next big thing. I think we need a major asset, you know, that draws people here to Fond du Lac. We do have Lakeside Park and we do have, you know, in the summers it's nice with the lighthouse and the rides. But I do agree, we need some infrastructure and a major asset to draw people here.

Thanks Angela for serving on my board. Others of you have served on my board in the past and I'm grateful for that. Listen, I've lived here 16 years. I would never ever want to change Fond du Lac. It is the sweetest community I've ever lived in. I like saying it's not my hometown but it is my daughter's hometown and that's even more important. So change is not what I'm advocating, but as a certain amount of evolution, I think is important. We've seen our downtown become so much more vibrant and attractive than it was when I came to town. We need to keep that momentum going region-wide.

Thank you both. Appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Lering. Without any further comments from council, I'll say thanks again to the Destination Lake Winnebago region team. We appreciate you guys, and thanks again for being here tonight. And with that, we're gonna move on to our next input item, which is the Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership Annual Plan. Executive Director Brittany Marklight, the floor is yours.

Thank you, President Keith Heisler, and thank you everyone for being here today, for all you do for the community to keep it running, going, and safe.

We just need you to talk into that mic a little bit for me, dear, so that everybody can hear you at home. Better?

Is it better? There we go. So much better. Ah, there we go.

Out of 10, would recommend. Good job.

Thank you. Do I need to restart all that?

No, it was perfect.

Okay.

Thank you. Not that important. Go ahead. Keep going. It's fine.

Awesome. Thank you, Maggie, if you want to go to the next slide. Thank you very much. All right, so we are the Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership. I wanted to start with our mission statement. I am newer to the organization. I just started in November, became executive director officially August 12th, August 13th, so very new to it. I'm still learning, but the mission statement helps me guide how we're going to run in the future and continue to run Amy's light a great foundation, and I'm really excited to continue in her footsteps. But the mission statement of the Downtown Fond du Lac partnership is to establish a diverse, prosperous, and healthy district that is a social, commercial, and cultural heart of the community. All right, so next slide, I'll talk about the bid assessment. We are hoping for no changes in the proposed bid. We are gonna keep it at the $2.60 per $1,000 in property value. The minimum would be $150 and the maximum would be $3,000. Due to this tax levy, I believe it's a tax levy, we are able to support our downtown district. We are gonna be able to continue the continuation of the building improvement grant program and continue the catalytic project program and other grant programs that we have in place that support both business and property owners. We acknowledge and extend our sincere gratitude to the city of Fond du Lac. We simply could not continue many of our initiatives without the support of the many city departments, including public works, community development, police, and fire. We appreciate the support and commitment city council has shown to the DFP and to the downtown district. So this is the breakdown of our budget. For the 2027 year, we are seeing an increase in both expenses and revenues. Last year, the reassessment of property values increased the bid amount, which is why you see an increase in the bid revenue for 2027. Our event revenue has also increased as the costs associated with putting on our events continue to rise. We have needed to increase some event fees to help offset those expenses. This year, we did not feel comfortable budgeting for the miscellaneous programs. In the past, this included gift certificate sales, general donations, and occasional merchandise sales. Since we have not seen consistent sales or donations in these areas, we felt it was more responsible not to rely on that revenue in the 2027 budget. On the expense side, office operations increased due to higher rent, general administrative costs, and accounting fees. Business development includes professional support related to small business startups, business retention, property development, and financial programs. You will see a small increase in this area for 2027 as we plan to invest a little more into supporting business startups and helping fill vacant storefronts throughout downtown. Marketing includes professional support for our website, social media, and individual business marketing. In 2027, we would like to put a stronger focus on helping market our downtown businesses, which is reflected in the crease in this line. Streetscape includes professional support related to public art, banners, holiday decorations, and other amenities within the public realm. The DFP purchases holiday lights and garland for Main Street and works with the city's Public Works Department on installation. Amy has done an amazing job over the years creating vibrant and welcoming spaces throughout downtown and we plan to continue building on that work in 2027. Special event expenses have also increased significantly. Many of our areas of our budget event-related costs have increased due to inflation. We've also taken on additional expenses related to the use of MBBs at our markets and hiring additional help to stage our plastic barricades. In past years, the City assisted with deploying those barricades. With changes to that process, we now have to hire someone to transport and stage them because the DFP does not currently own a truck. We are also borrowing a trailer from Mimi for the time being, but we anticipate needing to buy our own trailer in 2027. Overall, while both revenues and expenses are increasing, the 2027 budget reflects the estimated cost of operating the organization, producing safe and successful events, supporting our downtown businesses, and continuing to invest in a vibrant downtown Fond du Lac. Maybe you can go to the next slide, thank you. So we are part of a national Main Street program. There are 1,291 programs throughout the United States. So we are accredited in that organization. So we get a little extra support from other people who know what Main Streets need, how to produce them, how to keep running them. So we are a part of that and we are accredited. We did get Gold Tier accredited this year as well. So we are one of 35 Wisconsin Main Street programs. This program is a comprehensive vitalization program designed to promote the historic and economic redevelopment of traditional business districts.

We can go to the next slide, thank you.

Since joining the Main Street of Wisconsin, there has been an overall private investment of $180 million since 2004 in the downtown district because of being a Wisconsin Main Street program. This is our business improvement district. We are 47 blocks, 214 properties, and 280 businesses. That 288 businesses does flex with businesses closing, moving, things like that, so that does flex a little bit, but we're around 280 most of the time. All right, so since 2004, in joining the Wisconsin Main Street program, the vacancy rate declined from 10.2% to 6.4%, so we're filling storefronts, which is great. There's been a $250,000 investment in capital investments just through the DFP. We've invested in public art, banners, holiday lighting, decorations. and other public art. We have had 19 annual events almost the last couple of years. We did do an annual review this year and we are gonna cut it down to about 14 events because we heard reviews from business owners that it was too many events. So we took that into consideration, did a severe event review and decided to cut some of the events. And then this last year, we've had 46 event days that bring in 80,000 people in attendees in downtown and have an estimated $8 million in impact economic impact through those events. Thank you, we can go, thank you. One of the big problems that we have is the building improvement grants. In the past, since 2004, we've been able to work alongside the city to administer these grants, and it continues to be a vital tool for revitalizing and rehabilitating properties throughout downtown Fond du Lac. Since 2004, 252 grants have been awarded, totaling approximately $1.5 million in grant funding. Those dollars have helped leverage more than $10 million in private investment into downtown properties. This program has made a tremendous impact on the appearance, vitality, and continued investment in our downtown district. We are incredibly grateful to the city for their continued support and partnership in making this program possible, and we hope to see this valuable investment in our downtown continue well into the future. So this, in the past year, 13 businesses have been awarded building improvement grants. Hopper Screen Printing was able to complete their project through the building improvement grant, and that's the before and after. It looks amazing, and it showcases their business really well, and that couldn't have been without the support of the city. We also offer new business grants and creative sign grants. In the past year, we were able to award five businesses with new business grants that help with startup costs to help get businesses off the ground. We were also able to award two businesses with creative sign grants, so it makes their business very visible from the street. We were able to provide three businesses with building security grants that help assist in the purchase of exterior surveillance camera systems in partnership with the Fond du Lac Police Department. Also new in 2025 was a security lighting grant that helps aid in the cost of securing lighting for businesses, making the exterior safer and more visible. Through the DFP, we also provide advocacy and education with the support of the Wisconsin Main Street community. In the past year, we were able to provide workshops and trainings that 24 constituents attended. Eight businesses were assisted with finance programs, social media audits, or design renderings, and eight instances of Wisconsin Main Street staff assisting our businesses one-on-one. Thank you, Maggie. And then in 2026, nine businesses have opened up so far. So please make sure you're coming downtown and checking them out and supporting them. We offer events to help get people in the doors to our downtown businesses. And it is one of our key pillars, which is promotions. Through this pillar, we host events that bring people into downtown Fond du Lac, encourage them to explore our businesses and create more foot traffic throughout the district. So far in 2026, every ticketed event has sold out with the exception of our beer and bourbon crawl. Even though that event did not sell out, we saw significant growth increasing from 94 tickets sold last year to 196 tickets this year, more than doubling the attendance. These events are not only about bringing people downtown for a day, they introduce attendees to our businesses and give them another reason to come back and experience downtown in the future. We also offer promotional events, which bring people in the doors to have a great time. It's themed around a certain event. So we had our Galentine's Day event, a downtown Derby Day event, which brings in a different demographic of people and brings new faces into our downtown stores. We also offer marketing toolkits to help support our business owners in these events. We provided branding, promotional ideas, and social media ideas. So it makes it very easy for the event to run successfully and efficiently for them. We also have market events like the Farmer's Market and the Fondue Fest. These two events brought in an estimated $7.4 million in economic impact, which are very important to the community. For marketing, we have started the Open Flag program to cohesively alert people when people are open. We are doing more Radio Plus interviews and marketing on there. We've also started a new newsletter this past couple of, I'd say we started about a couple months ago trying to get more of a newsletter going to showcase what we have going downtown, and we officially hired a new marketing Staff member who is going to take that on so we will having Bi-weekly emails with upcoming events downtown to make people aware of what's happening downtown and then we are definitely Marketing more on social media and we just started that what's happening in downtown Fond du Lac that showcases weekly. What is happening downtown? We wanna give a big thank you to all of the community and everybody who helps out the City of Fond du Lac Community Development, the City Clerk's Office, the City of Fond du Lac Fire Department, the City of Fond du Lac Police Department and Community Service Officers, City of Fond du Lac Public Works Department, the operations, we could not do this without you guys with the barricades, electrical for the banners and the holiday core and engineering for the road projects. We really couldn't do this without the support of the entire community and we really appreciate everything you all do to keep the downtown vibrant and especially to destination like Winnebago region. You guys are amazing. I've been very welcomed since taking on this role and there's been a lot of support and I really appreciate that because this is a whole new world and I couldn't have done it with each and every one of you. So I wanna thank you all so much for being here and for helping guide me through this new transition. Thank you.

All right, thank you very much. Great presentation. Ms. Luehring, I'm gonna start with you.

Okay, I just want to say thank you for your presentation, and welcome to your new role. Thank you. I know you've been in it for a little bit. I wanted to quick mention, so it's the 25th year anniversary of 9-11, and I just wanted to say that, well, first of all, there's Fondue Fest on the 12th, And then there's the anniversary. There's a 25-year celebration out at Lakeside Park on Oven Island by Operation Wisconsin. So on Friday, there's reading of names and music by Ray Ligon, Thomas Gabriel, Mason Meyer. There's a memorial stair climb. And then on Saturday, September 12th, there's country music on the lake by Wade Jennings. I just want to make sure people are aware of this because I haven't seen a lot of advertisements around about it. And then also on September 17th, we have third Thursdays on Maine. So I just wanted to mention that too. All right. Absolutely. Thank you.

This is Lurie. Ms. Brault, you're next.

Thank you. I just also wanted to take the opportunity to say welcome. Congratulations on this new position. I happened to run into your predecessor, Amy, yesterday, and she mentioned that this is a big week for Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership, and you had to give a presentation. So I'm sorry that we added this, but thank you for being here and sharing all that great information. Looking forward to seeing what you do next and what the next year brings for you. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Breault. Any other comments from council? Ms. Laughlin, I just want to really quickly echo what Ms. Breault said. We did not make this easy on you tonight at all. You have your biggest event of the year coming up on Saturday and you had to follow Craig and his team and they're incredible. So I mean, that was, either way, we're sorry. We will try better next time. We will make that happen for you easier next time. But I think it was trial by fire and I think you crushed it. So great job on your first presentation.

Thank you very much. It's hard to follow that. Now I know next year, though.

Exactly. I do have one question for you before we wrap up. I was just curious if you could walk me through, because I know you said in your presentation you guys did an extensive event review. Yes. Talk about some events that are kind of sunsetting. Can you tell us a little bit about which events are no longer going to be?

Yeah, so we got a lot of reviews from the business owners that anything that was like a grab-and-go is not helping stimulate the economy in their business, so we got rid of those. So the cookie walk is going away, which is why we replaced it with Mary on Main, because we didn't want the Christmas event to go away, because that was a lot of the feedback I heard, that it doesn't feel like the holidays, doesn't feel like Christmas and the time, so I didn't want to completely get rid of that, so we brought up Mary on Main. So we're going to replace that with Mary on Main, which will be kids activities in the businesses where they would have to stay, do the activity moms, dads can shop. So that one's going to get replaced with that. The sweet stroll is getting taken away because that was a grab and go as well. Bags and Bucks, which was like our deer widow weekend. We had three events within three weeks. So it was a lot for the business owners to take on. So we got rid of that. We got rid of small business Saturday because that has not been successful. And we're going to do a small business campaign instead, marketing campaign November to December to replace that. And then I think we're combining the beer and bourbon curl in downtown Derby Day because they were separated, whereas now we're just going to combine them all on the same day.

Got it. All makes a lot of sense. Thank you very much. And thank you again to you and your team. We appreciate you being here.

Thank you very much.

All right, with that, I think that closes out our input items tonight. Once again, thank you to Destination Link Winnebago Region and the Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership for being here with their annual presentations. And at this point, we are going to adjourn to closed session. The reason for that would be deliberating or negotiating the purchase of public properties the investing of public funds or conducting other specified public business, wherever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session. The subject of that closed session is the purchase of a lot in the industrial park, which is exempt under Wisconsin State Statute 1985, sub one, sub E, sub one, sub E. And at this point, I will need a motion to go into closed session. We've got a motion from Mr. Zimmerman and a second by Ms. Brault. Thank you both for that.

And with that, we vote on the app or do we voice vote for that?

Okay, we can vote on the app. All right, thanks everyone. If you can vote on the app, I'd appreciate it. All right, thank you very much. We are adjourned to closed session at this point. Thanks again, everyone for coming. At this point, we are reconvening into open session immediately upon the conclusion of our closed session. And the next item on our agenda is Resolution 9260, which is a resolution authorizing an option on possible sale of land in the Fox Ridge Business Park. Ms. Stowes, our Community Development Director has that introduction for us.

Thank you. This is continuing the conversation of the initial presentation of the offer to purchase an approximately 25-acre parcel in the south side of the Fox Ridge Business Park. This offer has come from BLD Acquisitions LLC, doing business as Bryan Building Corporation. They have made an offer for approximately $35,001 per acre, totaling $856,380. The model for that land purchase is that Bryan Building is a design-build contractor that will work through the process with a prospective business that wants to locate in the park They will work with city staff to identify a suitable business that meets the restrictive covenants and zoning requirements as well as the needs of the industrial park. And once a suitable business has been identified, they will work with that business to do all of the site planning, building plans, permitting processes, construct the building once they have closed with the city on the land purchase, and then in most cases, they turn around and sell that property to the business that has been identified, or in a few cases, they've retained ownership of the land and leased it to that business. Based off of the purchase price and the conversations with the builder, including the positive feedback that we've received from other municipalities who have partnered with Bryan Building in their own industrial parks, city staff recommend approval of the proposed purchase price and request authorization to negotiate the terms of the offer to purchase agreement.

Excellent. Thank you very much, Ms. Stowes. And thanks everyone for a productive discussion. Are there any further questions from Ms. Stowes at this time? Seeing no further questions from Ms. Stowes, I will entertain a motion at this time. I've got a motion from Mr. Biber and a second from Ms. Mayweather. Thank you both. Any further discussion on this? Seeing none, please proceed to vote. And that passes unanimously. Thanks everyone. And that concludes our action items for this evening, which means all that's left on our agenda to do is I need a motion to adjourn. And Mr. Zimmerman gave me that motion. Second by Mr. Mullin. This is not debatable. Please proceed to vote. And that passes unanimously. We are adjourned. Thank you everyone.

Oh, I didn't know what that was.