Hey there, Neighbors. Thanks for tuning in to the alderman blog again this week for a new post. This week is a Committee Meetings Week with a bit of a twist. This is also Budget Adoption Week… so there will be a Wednesday meeting of the full council to take up and vote on the mayor’s proposed 2027 budget. Due to this special meeting of the full council, several committees have taken this week off. The following committee meetings for this week are cancelled:
- Fox Cities Transit Commission
- Board of Health (Board members get the opportunity to sleep in this week!)
- Community Development Committee
- Safety and Licensing Committee
- Human Resources and Information Technology Committee
And below, for your reading pleasure, is the week’s rundown of those meetings which are scheduled:
Monday, 11/09/2026
Municipal Services Committee – 4:30pm This committee has only one action item to review this week — a request to approve parking changes required by a Planned Development (PD) Overlay District for the area, originally recorded in 2001. Since it was created, the Villas at Meade Pond development has been operating under this PD… except for a parking prohibition on one side of their street (Pondview Court) and its cul-de-sac. Now, due to some neighbor concerns for the free flow of emergency vehicle traffic on their street, city traffic engineers are requesting that the committee and council finally formally apply these PD-called out parking restrictions.
Finance Committee – 5:30pm This committee, too, has only one action item on their agenda. They are asked to allow for a change order on a contract for asphalt paving in the city. To allow for “additional inlets and inlet leads,” the contract would be amended to add $19,050 of work (using some from the contract contingency and using some carry over funds for the remainder). Also on the agenda is a rather nondescript information item entitled “Finance Directors Report.” We shall see what more we will hear from the city’s new Finance Director regarding the missed audit deadline, late budget documents, etc.
Parks and Recreation Committee – 6pm Approval of the proposed 2027 rate schedule for Reid Golf Course is the only action item on this committee’s agenda. Staff are asking that the committee and council approve some increases in rates for annual passes at the golf course. But there are no requests for increases in daily greens fees. You can review the changes proposed here.
Tuesday, 11/10/2026
Utilities Committee – 4:30pm It looks like a trend for the week: One action item per committee meeting. And this committee’s agenda holds true to it with only a request for the awarding of a contract for spot repairs, protruding taps, and mineral deposit removal throughout the city in the amount of $304,943. The amount budgeted for this work was $305,000. How much closer could a contract get to that budgeted amount?
Wednesday, 11/11/2026
Veterans Day
“What veterans have given our country is beyond our power to fully repay, yet today, we recognize our debt to their honor. And on this national holiday, our hearts are filled with respect and gratitude for the veterans of the United States of America.” – President George W Bush, Arlington National Cemetery, 11/11/2004
Library Board – Planning Committee – Appleton Public Library Cornerstone Conference Room – 9:30am This subcommittee of the full library board will meet only for one information item: Review and Discussion of Draft 2027-2031 Library Strategic Plan. The library has spent a great deal of money, effort, and time (all with a consultant) to come up with this strategic plan. So, please see it here and let me know your thoughts on the expected success of this process.
City Plan Commission – 3:30pm This commission’s meeting agenda spoils the “one action item” trend of this week with several public hearings and several related action items planned for discussion.
The first public hearing is regarding a request for rezoning of a property on Mason Street owned by St Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church. There is a residential duplex on this portion of the property owned by the church and they wish to portion that property off and sell it so that it continues to function as a residence. As such, they are in need of a rezoning of this property from Public Institution (PI) to Two-Family Residential (R2). After the public hearing, the commission will discuss and vote on this potential rezoning as their first action item.
The second public hearing is a carryover of the public hearing for suggested revisions to Municipal Code Chapter 17 Subdivisions which began at the last meeting of this commission. During that last meeting, a public speaker brought to light some changes still needed in City of Appleton code that will update it to current state standards (Wisconsin Act 68). City staff addressed these concerns and issues and the item is back up for discussion by the commission this week. Here is a summary of the updated amendments to the code now up for a vote as the second action item on this agenda.
The final public hearing for this meeting is one asking for public input on a proposed temporary (12-month) development moratorium in the city for “hyperscale data centers.” A resolution in this regard was recently presented by a few aldermen and was referred to city staff for preparation of the municipal code changes required to implement a moratorium. There is now a resulting new resolution needing approval by this commission and the council in order for a moratorium to be initiated. Following state law, the city prepared an engineer’s analysis of the need for further development guidelines for data centers of 20,000+ square feet. Also complying with state law, the proposed moratorium will (if approved) be valid for 12 months with an extension of 6 more months allowed through follow-up council action. During this time period, city staff are directed to prepare and present the development guidelines needed to spell out what can and can’t be done with any future proposed large-scale data centers in the city. Since this is a short-term thing and the city-specific guidelines will be worked on during that period of time, I can accept this proposal. What do you think about this? Send me your feedback! Note that advice in this regard states (in the staff memo) that the original resolution as written should be set aside (likely “received and filed” technically) since it does not comply with applicable law.
There is then just one action item that does not require a public hearing: a request to approve the final plat for the Canyon Ridge subdivision with one street renamed from the original pre-platting.
City of Appleton Common Council – Special Session for the Adoption of the 2027 Budget – 7pm As happens every year at this time, the council will hold a special session for the vote on the adoption of the mayor’s proposed budget. You may already know that this year’s budget process has been quite the confusing and difficult with many errors found along the way. (See here for more.) At the time of writing this blog post, your alderman is still quite concerned over the number of errors still showing in the published budget documents. There were four specific budget sections for which this alderman voted “no” on Budget Saturday. That was over a week ago! Unless those sections are corrected and the roll-up value of the city budget can be shown to be 100% accurate, I doubt that I will be able to vote to approve this budget. I fully understand the circumstances surrounding this year’s budget process. But the City of Appleton cannot afford to have an error-riddled budget approved… especially after hearing the news about the most recent issues surrounding the Crowley-led Milwaukee County budget discrepancy/error. Most important to me is that the information presented in this budget resolution be without a doubt spot-on correct. As such, I am in communication with the Finance Director and will move forward when more updated budget pages are published on the city’s website (under Budgets). I’m sure you’ll hear more about this in the very near future. But in the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions for me on the upcoming budget.
This special council session will end the scheduled meetings for the week.
Is there anything of concern to you in the above? Is there anything else city government-related that is weighing on you? Please reach out and let me know if so! I’m always happy to hear from you.
I wish you a great week ahead. Cross your fingers that the city budget gets corrected and republished in time for the budget adoption session!
