The Appleton Common Council met on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, beginning at 7:02 p.m. and adjourning at 8:02 p.m. in Council Chambers. Mayor Jake Woodford presided. Fifteen alderpersons were present, with Alderperson Jones appearing virtually, and all department heads were represented. The meeting included proclamations, recognition of advocacy groups, a property revaluation presentation, a failed resolution on Wisconsin Act 12, and creation of Appleton Conservancy Park.
Good evening. I now call to order the Wednesday, August 2nd meeting of the Appleton Common Council. Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alder Meltzer. We gather together to listen and share, learn and educate, and to be granted wisdom and grace as we move Appleton forward in the best interest of our community. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call of officers, excuse me, roll call of Alders. All are represented, and Alderperson Jones is appearing virtually. Okay. Roll call of officers and department heads. And all are represented. All right. We have a motion and a second to approve. Any discussion of the minutes. Hearing none, please cast your votes. Motion passes fifteen to zero. The minutes have been approved. All right, we'll move on now to business presented by the mayor. And before we get started with the items that are on the agenda, I'd like to make a brief statement. On Monday, August 1st, an incident involving a firearm occurred at Herb Park. The park and neighborhood were active and busy as it was a beautiful summer day. Thank you, Parks, Recreation and Facilities Management Department staff. Finally, to the Earth Park neighborhood. We appreciate your patience and support of our parks and public safety staff as they did their work and for the outpouring of support and encouragement many have provided following the incident. I also join you in the frustration and unease this incident has raised. Violence and the endangerment of our community are unacceptable in Appleton, and we will work within our power to ensure accountability for the alleged shooter and all those involved. Thanks to the resources and highly skilled personnel, our community has invested in an APD. This process is well underway with a suspect identified and apprehended on the very same evening the shooting occurred. Incidents like this often leave us with many questions and concerns. How can something like this happen in our community? What can we do to prevent it from happening again? What do acts of violence like these say about the place we call home? If in the city of Appleton we ever become so accustomed to violence and disorder that incidents such as Mondays fail to raise these questions or to arouse in us the outrage and disappointment and concern that so many of us are feeling right now, we will have lost something essential that makes Appleton the safe and special community that it is today. The City of Appleton will continue in our efforts across all city departments to ensure welcoming and safe community for all people. This will include ongoing investments in public safety personnel and technology, parks and recreation programming, public health and housing programs, and partnerships with area schools and community organizations. We must reaffirm and maintain our commitment to preserving the safety and well-being of our community, and we intend to do just that. The Appleton Police Department will continue to be our point of contact and our primary means of public communication regarding Monday's incident at ERB Park. I encourage members of the community to follow updates from APD should more information be requested or made available. Thank you. Next, I'd like to make note of a couple of proclamations. Again, coming up. The text of that proclamation has been shared in the materials for the meeting. And also recognizing Creative Economy Week, which is uh fitting given that we have uh mile of music kicking off uh tonight and running through the weekend here. Uh so very exciting time uh for our local creative economy, and and we're proud to recognize the importance that uh the arts play in our community and the quality of life in our community. All right, next, uh I have some recognitions that I'd like to share. Uh the council will be talking about some recognitions maybe uh uh in in their action items, but I'd like to share uh some uh recognitions related to uh shared revenue bill 245, which became uh Act 12. There was a great deal of advocacy on the part of uh many folks in our community, uh local governments across the state, uh, collaborations across different units of government, uh, which is unusual to see uh cities, municipalities, towns, counties working together in advocacy on an issue. Uh, but there has been, I think, uh, some unsung advocacy that I'd like to recognize, and that is on the part of local organizations that that joined together in the in the advocacy efforts, recognizing the challenges that we face as local governments to fund the critical services that all of our residents rely on. Uh so uh with that, I'd like to uh first welcome up uh the representatives of the League of Women Voters from the City of Appleton for your recognition. So uh deeply appreciate the work of the league in learning about this issue and uh then helping members and members of the community understand the importance of reform to local government funding. So deeply appreciate the work of the league and thank you for your partnership on this legislation.