Appleton Common Council Mock Meeting - March 2, 2026
Appleton Common Council Meeting (Training Simulation) - March 2, 2026
The meeting began as part of the Resident Leadership Academy, featuring presentations from Finance Director Jessica Owen on the city's budget constraints (property tax levy growth capped at net new construction, rising costs, ARPA fund usage) and from City Clerk Amy Molitor and Assistant City Attorney Darren Glad on their departments' roles. The latter portion of the meeting transitioned into a simulated Common Council session to consider a lease agreement for a Ferris wheel in Houdini Plaza with Fun in Appleton, Inc.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Elmer Fun (President, Fun in Appleton, Inc.) spoke in support, describing the proposed 72-foot Ferris wheel costing $800,000, with $6,000 annual rent for five years, and offering 10% of ride proceeds to the city for plaza upkeep. He argued it would attract visitors and generate revenue.
- John Park (apartment resident across from Houdini Plaza) opposed, calling the Ferris wheel an eyesore and a folly that would not attract sufficient ridership.
- Kristen Requay opposed, citing noise and light pollution for nearby residents, and cautioned against a six-year lease without renegotiation options.
- Christine Luke (downtown resident) expressed conditional support, suggesting the city add unique Appleton-themed compartments (e.g., Houdini or music festival ties), raised concerns about noise, lights, and safety given the drinking culture, and questioned the adequacy of the $6,000 annual lease.
- Anna Voster opposed on financial grounds, arguing long-term donor funding would dry up after initial excitement and that the community should be polled first.
- Karen Huber (downtown resident) opposed, stating Houdini Plaza is too small and proposed the bluff site instead; she also raised liability concerns.
- Jennifer Fisher chose not to speak.
Discussion Items
- Alder from District 5 supported the Ferris wheel, praising downtown vibrancy and noting that Mr. Fun would fund removal after six years.
- Alder from District 8 supported the concept but opposed the location, citing views from the newly renovated Zilke building and suggesting an alternate site.
- Alder from District 10 asked for a detailed business plan and sought clarity on liability; Assistant City Attorney Glad confirmed the agreement would require Fun in Appleton to procure adequate insurance naming the city as an additional insured.
- Alder from District 13 questioned deconstruction and site restoration costs; Glad noted the agreement would require restoration to original condition, but the $800,000 installation fee likely did not cover removal.
- Alder from District 9 opposed, citing congestion in Houdini Plaza (farmers market, Oktoberfest), safety concerns, lack of ridership projection, and the bluff site as a better alternative.
- Alder from District 6 strongly supported, arguing the city needs revenue and fun attractions, dismissing liability fears and urging approval.
- Alder from District 5 later proposed referring the item to the Parks and Recreation Committee to explore an alternate location (e.g., City Park) and negotiate a higher percentage (30% or more) of proceeds for the city.
Key Outcomes
- The council voted 7-2 to refer the lease agreement back to the Parks and Recreation Committee for further discussion on alternate sites, deconstruction costs, and lease terms.
- The motion passed after debate; the item was not approved as originally presented.
- The meeting adjourned after the vote, with no other council business discussed.
Meeting Transcript
So that's how we set that policy and a lot of our policy, most all of our policies really go through common council for approval. Yeah. So I brought some stats with me. This is great because I was asked last year and I didn't know these numbers. Um citywide. Our expenditures for purchase services, supplies, and materials account for 29% of our budget. And that's across all departments, all funds. Follow that up, personnel salary infringed, 38%. Each department will vary, but the money never a stupid question. Where do we get our money from? So we have lots of different places. Each department might be very a little bit. So property tax is one of them. That's about 33% of the citywide revenue that comes in is through the property tax. Um charges for services. So Valley Transit has the charges for riding the bus, the water utility, wastewater, there's the the charges for those services. Um an alcohol license, you go to the clerk's office, you need to pay for that. So a lot of our services have charges associated with it. Another another big um bucket is intergovernmental revenues. So we get funding from federal government, state government, um, even the county. So maybe sales tax, the county sales tax, we get a piece of that. So there's different funding from different places like that. Yeah. What are we doing? Longevity. So our department, I think I heard the mayor talk about retirements and attrition. Our department, I started in May of 2018. Yep. Yep. She asked about longevity of staff. So in our department, I started in May of 2018. There are currently two staff members who were here when I started. Most of our turnover is because of retirement. So we had a lot of staff who were here for a very long time. So we're working on replacing learning new positions. We have, I want to say there's a handful who are in the five to eight year range. Um, and then everybody else is less than five years. Um, it's honestly not something that's uncommon for municipalities and local governments right now where it's even hard to find anyone applying for the jobs right now because there's just that silver tsunami where we've just had so many retirements in the finance departments that this is one of the places we're struggling with. Trends as far as staffing. Okay, trends in finance. Um revenue really hasn't, I don't want to, it really hasn't changed that much. Local governments have their their property taxes and they have their state and federal aids and grant programs. Um, where it is coming in is maybe getting a little more creative with how we do things. So our revenues are staying flat, as with everything else, our costs are going up. Gas prices, utility prices, um, our vendors' costs are going up. So all of our costs are going up. So, how do we keep up with that? Um, one thing that we try not to do is cut service. We want everybody to maintain where we're at. So getting creative.
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