The Common Council met on Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The meeting was called to order by the Chair, followed by an invocation delivered by Alder Stancil Martin reflecting on the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Roll call showed 14 alderpersons present (Alder Lambricht excused). The Council approved the minutes of the January 21, 2026 meeting (14-0). No members of the public signed up to speak during public participation.
The Council approved the balance of the agenda by a 14-0 vote, encompassing all items recommended for approval by committees, including:
The Council considered a request to authorize preliminary engineering for initial Northland-Bellaire Flood Study Improvements and Study Update #4, pulled for separate discussion.
Good evening. I now call to order the Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 meeting of the Appleton Common Council. Please rise for the invocation, which will be delivered by Alder Stanley. Stancil Martin. Thank you, Chair. On Monday, January 19th, I had the pleasure of attending the 35th annual Fox City's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration held at the chapel at my school at Lawrence at Lawrence University. Now I was there in my capacity as a student photographer. I was documenting the event, but I would often put my camera down and I would listen. I would listen to the beautiful melodies of the music that was performed and the laughter that came with the jokes that were cracked. I'd listen to the silence that came with the awe of watching the dancers perform and the roaring applause that followed Dr. Sam Coleman's keynote address. Dr. Sam Coleman serves as the assistant superintendent of the Oshka School District, and I want to use my invocation today to echo some of his words from his address. Dr. Coleman reminded us that Dr. King came to a difficult realization later in his life that simply being together does not guarantee justice. He warned that we could find ourselves integrating into what he called a burning house, a society still willing to tolerate inequality and neglect. And when asked what we are to do in such a moment, Dr. King's answer was simple yet demanding. We become the firemen. Today, as we gather in the space of public service and public trust, we are reminded that the work before us is not solitary and it is not abstract, it is collective, it is urgent, and it requires us to resist the comfort of standing by while believing someone else will act. Let us not mistake silence for neutrality or patience for progress. Let us remember that justice is sustained not by any one person but by communities willing to act together. May we enter our work today, mindful of the power of we, attentive to those uh most affected by our decisions, and committed to ensuring that opportunity, dignity, and care are not privileges but shared ideals at the foundation of our democratic experiment. And may we, in big ways and small, choose not to let the house burn. Thank you. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance of the United States. Roll call of Alders. All are represented with the exception of Alder Person Lambricht, who is excused. Okay, roll call of officers and department heads. All are represented. Okay. Oh cooperating. Anyone willing to make a motion? Okay, we have a motion from Walder Fenton. All right, we have a motion and a second to approve the minutes. Is there any discussion of the minutes? Hearing none, please cast your votes. Motion passes 14 to 0. The minutes have been approved. I have no business to present this evening. Uh we come now to a time of public participation. Uh we have the sign-in sheet here. Nobody from the public signed up to speak on an item that appears on the agenda. Just want to check and make sure is there anyone who would like to speak on an item that appears on the agenda. All right, hearing none, we will close public participation. We have no public hearings, no special resolutions. So we'll establish the order of the day.