Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, I now call to order the Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 meeting of the Appleton Common Council. Please rise for the invocation, which will be delivered by Alder Stancilmartin.

Thank you, Chair. As many of you know, I am a student, and recently I've been spending a great deal of time studying the 1968 election for a paper that I've been writing. It was a year marked by war, by political division, social unrest, and a common feeling among many Americans that their institutions were failing them. Electeds and citizens alike sharply disagreed over the direction of their country, and constituents often questioned whether their leaders on the local, state, and federal level were even listening. Studying the late 60s reminds me that moments of uncertainty are not new. Democracy has always been tested by conflict and frustration. Yet through difficult times, communities endure because people continue to participate, to organize, to speak out, and to believe that a better future is worth striving for. A lesson that I, as a student, have learned from my studies is not that division is something to fear. In a society like ours, disagreements are inevitable. Rather, the lesson is that resilience matters. Progress is made when people remain engaged despite setbacks. Progress is made when they defend the principles of fairness and dignity. Progress is made when people refuse to give up on the institutions and the communities they call home. As we gather tonight to conduct our business, may we approach our discussions with humility and mutual respect. And as we begin Pride Month, we are reminded that many of the rights and opportunities enjoyed today by countless Appletonians were secured because ordinary people had the courage to be visible, to advocate for themselves, and to persevere in the face of adversity. The people who came before us are a testament to the strength and power of civic participation and engagement.

Thank you. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call of Alders.

All are represented with the exception of Alderpersons Firkus, Heffernan, and Jones, who are excused. Alderperson Crote is joining us virtually.

Thank you. Roll call of officers and department heads.

All are represented.

Okay. We 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 Crowe, we got you. Motion passes 12 to 0. The minutes have been approved. On a business presented by the Mayor, 26-0738, a recommendation for our next Parks and Recreation Director. I am pleased to recommend Tom Flick to serve as the next Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Appleton. Mr. Flick has more than 29 years of professional experience in parks, recreation, and facilities management. He served as the Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Appleton since 2015, and most recently as the Interim Director since January of 2026. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and is both a Certified Facilities Manager and a Certified Parks and Recreation Professional. Prior to joining the City of Appleton, he held several leadership positions in both the public and private sectors. His experience includes staff leadership and supervision, budgeting, parks and recreation planning, and facilities and construction project management. So it's my honor to make this recommendation to you this evening. And I'll also note that this recommendation comes after a competitive search process. We conducted our customary search for department head positions, sought applications, and held a competitive interviewing process. and I'm bringing forward this recommendation to all of you tonight. So I'm looking for a motion from the council. We have a motion and a second to approve. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, please cast your votes. All right, thank you. That motion passes 12 to zero. Congratulations, Director Flick. Ordinarily, I'd say something like, now the fun begins, but you've already been having fun, so forward to our continued work together. Congratulations. A number of proclamations to bring to your attention, texts of which are in your materials. CPR and AED Awareness Week, Gun Violence Awareness Day, Juneteenth Celebration Day, Make Music Day, Pollinator Week, Pride Month, Refugee Day, Scleroderma Awareness Month, and Wastewater Professionals Appreciation Day all being recognized this month. That concludes business presented by the Mayor, so we'll move on to public participation. At every meeting of the Common Council, the Council sets aside 30 minutes for members of the public to address items that appear on the agenda. We ask that you limit your time to five minutes or less, and I will help you keep track of time This evening we have one member of the public signed up to speak, so I'll invite Chelsea Strouch up to address the council. And if you would, please state your name and address for the record.

My name is Chelsea Strouch. I live at 1818 South Sanders Street here in Appleton, and I am trying to appeal my denial for my liquor license. I work at a gas station. As I stated the last time, I have not been in trouble in over 12 years. I'm a mom just trying to make a living, and it makes it really hard not having my license. So I would just like an opportunity and a second chance just to get my liquor license to be able to just do my job. That's all I have to say. Okay.

Thank you. All right. Are there any other members of the public who wish to speak on an item that appears on the agenda? All right. Hearing none, we will close public participation and We'll move along in our agenda. We have no public hearings this evening. We'll note that the special resolution would be taken up under consolidated action items. And at this point, we will establish the order of the day. We'll begin with Alder Lambrecht.

Thank you, Chair. Can I please have 26-0731, Resolution Creating and Approving Project Plan, as well as the Consolidated Action Item 260737. Can I also have Safety and Licensing 26- Hold on, hold on, hold on.

My bad. We'll get there. Hold on. The consolidated action item also includes the special resolution. All we would need, and I want to take care of the motion to hold first. So you, I believe you stated you would like to move to hold? 26-0737, that would be the consolidated action item. Correct, yes.

I move to hold that action item, TID 14, project plan resolution to future common council meeting when the tax incremental development agreement with Thrivent for financial Lutherans slash North Meadows Investment Limited is before the Common Council so that both items may be reviewed and acted upon at the same time. Okay, so we have a motion.

Is there a second? We'll just handle it verbally. All right, we have a motion and a second to hold. And any discussion on the motion to hold? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. That will be held until the council meeting when both items are ready to be discussed by the council. Thank you, Chair. Okay.

Now, go on. I have two additional, please, from safety and licensing, item 26-0700. Finding that one real quick here. That is the operator license for Chelsea Stotch. And then item 26-0682, the late liquor license renewals.

All right. Alder Hartzheim.

Thank you, Chair.

From Community... Oops, sorry. That was my bad.

So close. From Community Development, 26-0623, Resolution 5R26, please. All right.

Any further discussion, or excuse me, any further items? Alder Wolf.

From Human Resources Information Technology Committee 26-0716, requests for approval of the updates to the salary administration policy.

All right, any other items? All right, hearing none, we'll get started with the item from Safety and Licensing. I lost track of it here. Okay, this is 26-0700, Operator's License for Chelsea Strouch. Alder Hartzheim.

Thank you, Chair. I believe this came with a recommendation to deny, so would a motion to approve that be approval of the denial?

In this case, why don't we just treat this as an item notwithstanding, which will mean an aye vote would approve the license, an nay vote would deny the license. Is everybody clear on that? Okay, now this will be...

Pardon me, what motion would be needed at this point?

At this point, would a recommendation to deny be in order, Attorney Behrens? Okay.

Move to deny, please, Chair.

Okay, so we'll note that the motion is to deny. and we're looking for a second for that. That is the recommendation coming out of committee. And we do have a second for the motion to deny. We'll now open the floor for discussion. Oh, Alder Crote, go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. The reason why this came out of committee as a recommendation to deny, if you look at the packet, there's four documents. One is a recommendation from the Appleton Police Department, but there's another document from the attorney's office. Attorney Verwin wrote a memo on 511 outlining everything related to this. And really what it comes down to is the committee has very little options in this case. This is one of those where we cannot lawfully grant the license because of a statutory ineligibility. So that's why it came out of committee that way. I appreciate the applicant coming before the committee and before the council, but there was very little options for the committee, and that's why it came out the way it did.

All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we have a motion and a second to deny. Again, a notwithstanding vote, an aye vote would uphold the motion to deny and deny the license. All right, please cast your votes. All the votes aye. All right, that motion passes 12 to zero. The denial has been upheld. All right, sticking with the Safety and Licensing Committee. We're going to take up 26-0682, 2026, 2027, late alcohol license renewal applications, and looking for a motion. We have a motion and a second to approve. Open the floor for discussion. Any discussion? All right, hearing none, please cast your votes. All right, that motion passes 11-0, and Alder Lambrecht will note your abstention. All right. On next to the item from Community Development. This is item 26-0623, resolution 5R26, administrative fees for weed cutting and abatement services. We have a motion and a second to approve. Open the floor for discussion with Alder Hartzine.

Thank you, Chair. I just separated this item to thank the Community Development Department and the DPW, for answering all the questions that came to mind when I was going through this, and I very much appreciate the Community Development Committee for rehashing this and coming up with the amendments that came through. Thank you.

All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we have a motion and a second to approve. Please cast your votes. All the votes aye, and we're... Good, 12 to zero, that motion passes. Item has been approved. All right, next from Human Resources and Information Technology Committee 26-0716, request for approval of updates to the salary administration policy. We have a motion and a second to approve. Open the floor for discussion. Alder Wolf.

Thank you, Chair. I had a simple question about this and the language that was stricken from the actual document. I'm just curious as to why we eliminated the words diversity, equity and inclusion from our city values.

Director Ratchman.

Great. Thank you, Mayor. The reason that we're eliminating that or looking to strike that is, as we have gone through our strategic plan update, We've had our culture team working with employee focus groups about values. And so there's a lot of different values that that committee or that those focus groups have come up with. So some other examples were respect, service, teamwork, community focus, and stewardship. So we're not really looking to strike or eliminate those as values. It's just there's a more expansive list. So we'd want to list all of them or just know that it's our values in general.

All right, further discussion? All right, we have a motion and a second to approve. Please cast your votes. That motion passes 11 to one. Item has been approved. All right, that's it for separate votes. We 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. That motion passes 12-0. The balance of the agenda has been approved. The consolidated action items have been held. We have no items held. We need a motion on the ordinances. We have a motion and a second to approve any discussion on the ordinances. Hearing none, please cast your votes. That motion passes 12 to zero. Ordinances have been approved. License applications and communications referred to committees of jurisdiction. All right, resolutions submitted by elder persons referred to committees of jurisdiction. Have there been any resolutions submitted?

Yes, we have two resolutions submitted for tonight. The first is Resolution 7R26, and that's to review options for the truancy ordinance. This was submitted by Alderperson Crote, and the resolution summary states, the Safety and Licensing Committee and Common Council shall review all options for addressing the truancy ordinance and the trial period, which ends on June 30th, 2026. And the full text of this resolution will be found in the minutes.

Okay, thank you. That'll be referred to the Safety and Licensing Committee.

And then our second resolution is Resolution 8R26, Excessive Vehicular Noise Data Collection. This was submitted by Alderperson Smith, and the resolution summary states, Since excessive car and motorcycle noise downtown is a continued source of complaints from residents and businesses, and since no data exists as to the extent of the noise burden experienced by residents, this resolution directs the city to evaluate methods for collecting noise data and return with options, costs, and initial recommendations within 90 days. And the full text of that will be found in the minutes.

The resolution itself seeks to direct city staff to take action. I'm going to refer this to my office for further review before referral to committee. All right. Is there any other business? All right, hearing none. Did I, oh, Alder Hartzheim.

Just another quick reminder, please, Chair, of the very important 75th Flag Day Parade taking place on June 13th, stepping off at 2 p.m. on the new route on College Avenue. Thank you.

Right. Thank you very much. Look forward to seeing you all there.

Alder Wolf. Thank you, Chair. This is just a reminder of the third annual Appleton Promenade. meeting by the castle at 11 a.m. before the Flag Day Parade. And the paths will go down to Houdini Plaza in coordination with the farmer's market and the Flag Day Parade.

So I hope to see you all there. All right. Thank you. Any other business? All right. Hearing none, we did not use our closed session this evening. That's just noted on the agenda. So 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.

All right, we are adjourned. Thank you.