Appleton Common Council Informal Organizational Meeting - April 16, 2024
Appleton Common Council Informal Organizational Meeting - April 16, 2024
The Appleton Common Council held an informal organizational meeting on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at 6:00 PM (Central) to discuss proposed changes to council rules, committee structures, and department names. No formal votes were taken; the meeting served as a discussion forum ahead of the formal organizational meeting scheduled for April 17, 2024.
Discussion Items
- Invocation Rule Change (Proposed by Alder Fenton): Alder Fenton proposed returning to an open invocation format (allowing alders to deliver a personal invocation up to two minutes, not related to any action item on the agenda). Alder Hartzheim expressed concern about the definition of invocation (calling on a higher power) and potential for political statements. Alder Meltzer supported restoring free speech and noted the template approach was unsatisfying. Alder Ferkas suggested limiting each alder to two invocations per year, and Alder Van Zieland proposed that if no one signs up, a template or moment of silence be used. The body generally coalesced around Fenton's proposal as amended by Ferkas and Van Zieland, with a two-minute time limit and no action-item content. Alder Alfheim favored a moment of silence as a fallback. Alder Hartzheim submitted three template options (including the existing "We Gather Together" and two others) for potential use. The consensus was to adopt Fenton's proposal with amendments, and to keep templates as optional resources.
- Pledge of Allegiance at Committee Meetings (Proposed by Alder Fenton): Alder Fenton proposed removing the requirement to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at committee meetings, citing repetition (up to three times on Wednesdays) and loss of meaning. Opponents (Alder Hartzheim, Alder Crowe, Alder Alfheim) argued it never loses meaning and that constituents support keeping it. Alder Schultz noted the pledge can be awkward in rooms without a flag. Alder Jones felt the rule was originally added to call out a specific alder, not in good faith. Several alders (Hayden, Sievers) acknowledged optics but supported removal. Alder Wolf suggested better pacing when reciting. Alder Hartzheim and Alder Crowe pushed to keep it. No clear consensus; will be voted on at formal meeting. Alder Alfheim suggested adding a flag to the back of the room.
- Dress Code (Proposed by Alder Hartzheim): Alder Hartzheim proposed a rule requiring business casual attire at meetings. Many alders opposed: Alder Jones worried about policing and privilege; Alder Crowe noted difficulty defining acceptable attire; Alder Meltzer raised concerns about medical needs and coming directly from work; Alder Alfheim noted cost and lack of access. Alder Van Zieland said constituents should judge. No support emerged; Alder Hartzheim still wants a vote.
- Council Meeting Start Time (Alder Wolf): Alder Wolf suggested moving council meetings from 7:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Several alders (Fenton, Hartzheim, Crowe, Van Zieland) opposed due to conflicts with work schedules and citizen availability. Alder Wolf withdrew the suggestion.
- Resolution Co-Sponsor Requirement (Alder Van Zieland): Alder Van Zieland raised the idea of requiring at least one co-sponsor for resolutions. Alder Hartzheim opposed as curtailing free speech; Alder Schultz noted it's good practice but not necessary; Alder Wolfe and Alder Meltzer expressed concerns about limiting representation. Alder Van Zieland dropped the idea.
- Summary Requirement for Resolutions (Alder Crowe): Alder Crowe proposed requiring all petitions and resolutions to include a summary statement. Some opposition (Alder Wolf) for very short resolutions. Alder Meltzer suggested specifying length. The body generally agreed to amend Rule 19 to change "may include a summary" to "shall include a summary." Will be voted on.
- Consolidation of Utilities Committee with Municipal Services (Resolution by Alder Doran): Alder Doran (absent) proposed merging the Utilities Committee into Municipal Services. Alder Hartzheim supported for efficiency; Alder Alfheim asked staff for input. Director Block and Utilities Director Chris noted that meetings are canceled when no agenda, so no time savings, and that standalone meetings provide transparency for complex utility issues. Alder Meltzer argued the committee does not waste time and consolidation would reduce public input. Alder Van Zieland read Alder Doran's comments and added that utilities serve beyond Appleton. Alder Jones warned that Municipal Services meetings are already long. Alder Heffernan asked if the proposal originated from constituents (it did not). The body appeared opposed.
- Department Name Changes:
- Community and Economic Development to Community Development (Director Holman): Proposed to simplify and reflect current structure (includes inspections, assessor). Alder Hartzheim feared losing economic development focus; Director Holman assured economic development remains a priority. No cost; brand update scheduled. Alder Meltzer supported as modern. Alder Van Zieland saw no issue. Will be voted on.
- Parks, Recreation, Facilities Management to Park and Recreation (Director Gaza): Proposed to streamline name, matching the committee. Facilities Management becomes a division. Alder Crowe noted facilities management's importance but accepted it's internal. No cost. Supported.
- Committee Schedule Adjustments: Alder Schultz raised the possibility of reverting committee meeting times (e.g., Parks and Rec moved from 6:30 to 6:15 PM). Alder Van Zieland preferred reverting to previous times. Staff clarified that committee chairs can set times. Discussion deferred to committee meetings.
Key Outcomes
- Consensus to adopt Alder Fenton's invocation proposal as amended (two minutes, no action items, limit of two invocations per alder per year, template or moment of silence if none sign up). Will be formalized at April 17 meeting.
- Agreement to amend Rule 19 to require a summary on all petitions/resolutions. Will be voted on.
- Alder Wolf withdrew the 6:00 PM start time proposal.
- Alder Van Zieland withdrew the co-sponsor requirement idea.
- No consensus on Pledge of Allegiance or dress code; both will be voted on at the formal meeting.
- Opposition to consolidating Utilities Committee with Municipal Services; resolution likely to fail.
- Support for department name changes (Community Development and Park and Recreation).
- The formal organizational meeting will be held April 17, 2024, beginning at 7:00 PM, immediately followed by a regular council meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. I now uh informally call to order the informal organizational meeting of the common council. Uh it's Tuesday, April 16th, 2024. Uh well, it's not listed on the agenda per council rules, please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance. One nation under God. All right, roll call of Alders. And all are represented with the exception of Alderperson Doran, who is excused, and Alderperson Crowe will be joining us as soon as he is able. All right, thank you. Roll call of officers and department heads. All are represented. All right, terrific. Well, good evening. Uh thank you all for for hanging in there uh for the swearing in ceremony. I'm glad we could pull that off and um good to get together with all of you to start a new council year. Um just as we get going here, it's called the informal organizational meeting uh because this is our opportunity to have a discussion about rules, uh the council rules and potential changes that the council may want to make uh to their rules. For our new members of council, we operate under sort of two sets of rules to govern our meetings and help help manage the meetings. Uh we use Robert's rules of order. Which edition are we on? I don't remember. I've got one here. Twelve. Twelfth, twelfth edition. Uh so uh we we have reference copies available uh in uh the legal services office if if you need one. But uh we operate under two sets of rules for council meetings, uh parliamentary procedure, and then there are local council rules. Uh and that's that's also spelled out in Robert's rules of order, but that that's how uh we manage our meetings. So the rules of council really pertain to the details of managing meetings and and then legislative action that the council may take. And every year, every council uh uh uh around the the state at this time of year is having organizational meetings. Uh our formal meeting will be tomorrow night, but tonight is again just an opportunity for us to have a discussion. We're not gonna be taking any votes tonight, uh, so you'll have a chance to kind of get a sense of how things work and um you know ask questions along the way. Um for our new members and even returning members, nobody expects you to know everything or every nuance of parliamentary procedure or the council rules. We and I don't know them all either, so you know we when we bump into things that we need to sort out, it's okay. Um between all of us, we have I'd like to think some collective wisdom, and we tend to figure it out. So if you have questions along the way, uh please don't hesitate to ask, especially tonight uh because it's informal. I took my tie off, so um uh just just to celebrate the informality. But uh at any rate, we'll we'll get started and uh tonight. What what we'll try to do is uh use just sort of a casual discussion-based format. Um I don't know. Are the tech are we using the tablets for the queue? Let's do that. Um that'll help just to keep it organized. So on your tablets, you should see uh I think it's a speak button and uh vote motion. Yeah, so if you want to speak, just tap your speak button and uh again you can experiment along the way. Stakes are really low tonight. So, you know, just uh feel free to experiment and and test out the system. So we do have a couple of rule changes that were submitted ahead of time uh for the council's consideration. So what I'd like to do is get started with discussions of those rule rule changes that were brought forward ahead of time, and then we'll just do a page turn through the rules and and see if uh colleagues have anything they'd like to take up for discussion tonight. Um the goal of tonight is to get things ironed out here so that we have a nice clean, organized, good looking meeting tomorrow night um when all all the eyes of Appleton are on this body. Uh so we look so we look real good uh and we don't have prolonged debates unnecessarily. So we've seen that movie before, and uh we'd like to try to avoid that because we do have a council meeting right after the org meeting tomorrow night.
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