Common Council notes for the week of June 13th

I want to start this week's update with a great big thank you to the Appleton Parade Committee and all the residents who turned out for the Flag Day Parade Saturday. It was an honor to participate with my council colleagues. It was exciting to see so many people along the route! 

Library Board

Tuesday 4:30 p.m. - The Library Board keeps off the council meeting week with the proposed adoption of a number of policies and plans. It will also take up a proposal to eliminate fines for overdue materials, joining several other "fine-free" libraries in the area. 

Informal Organizational Meeting

Tuesday 6:00 p.m. - The Common Council will have our second organizational meeting in two months Tuesday evening. This time to take up a proposal to allow remote participation by council members and to address a disparity between how Robert's Rules of Order and our own council rules differ on how to handle an amendment issue when an item is on the floor for discussion at meetings. 

The purpose of Tuesday's informal meeting is for us to have frank discussions about what our desires for these two items are. I've shared my concerns about allowing remote participation before  and do not plan to support allowing it.

Taskforce on Resiliency, Climate Mitigation and Adaptation

Wednesday 4:30 p.m. - The climate taskforce is holding it's regular meeting Wednesday afternoon. The agenda for the meeting mentions only a planning session and subcommittee assignments as topics for the meeting.

Formal Organizational Meeting

Wednesday 6:00 p.m. - The formal organizational meeting precedes our regular council meeting for the week. This meeting will be the formal vote on any proposed changes to the two items taken up on Tuesday. 

Common Council 

Wednesday 7:00 p.m. - There aren't a lot of noteworthy items on the council agenda for this week. 

One change that is up for approval is to allow gas station/convenience stores to hold a "Class A" liquor license, that would allow them to sell liquor. Currently the city's policy does not allow for gas stations to hold a "Class A" license, however that does not appear in the city's code. The Safety and Licensing Committee debated whether to change the city code or drop the ban from the policy. After research from staff, it was determined other surrounding municipalities allow gas stations to hold a "Class A" license to sell liquor. In prior S&L meetings, it was noted that there has not been demand from gas stations for this change. But to clean up the city's language and to be in line with neighboring communities, the recommendation before council is to allow gas stations to hold that license. 

An item pertaining to some significant changes in the department of public works is also on the agenda as an action item for Wednesday night. The proposal is to change leaf, brush and bulk waste collection. 

I wrote about those changes in last week's blog and will go more in-depth in another post later this week. After discussions at the municipal services and utilities committee meetings last week, the plan for this was for it to come back to those same committees again next week for further discussion. There were requests for the public works staff to bring more information for the committees before they make a recommendation on the item to council. 

This item is on the council agenda as an action item, but I am not sure if it was added by mistake or if it will just be referred back to committee. I don't believe we have the information we need yet to take a vote on these changes and I want to hear more feedback from residents before we vote on this as well.

Get In Touch

I am always available to answer questions at district15@appleton.org or (920) 419-1360. As always, agendas can be found on the agenda and meetings page of the city website. Meetings can be viewed live on the website or watched at a later date. Meetings are also open for anyone to attend in person.