The Appleton Common Council met Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers. Mayor Jake Woodford presided with 16 alderpersons present and all department heads represented. The meeting adjourned at 7:36 PM after approving numerous resolutions, ordinances, and committee action items.
Good evening. I now call to order the Wednesday, March 4th, 2026 meeting of the Appleton Common Council. We do not have an invocation tonight, so please rise for a moment of silence. Thank you. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God. Indivisible with liberty. Roll call of alders. All are represented. And roll call of officers and department heads. All are represented. All right. Thank you. Any discussion of the minutes. Hearing none, please cast your votes. Motion passes 15 to 0. The minutes have been approved. On the business presented by the mayor, I have one reappointment for you. This is 26-0226 for the Appleton Housing Reauthority or Housing Authority. Excuse me. We have a motion and a second to approve any discussion. Hearing none, please cast your votes. There it is. Motion passes 15 to 0. That reappointment has been approved. And uh thank you for reappro approving this reappointment. And we also thank Sergeant Chris Bees for continuing in his service with the housing authority. That's it for business presented by the mayor. So we come now to a time of public participation. At each meeting of the Common Council, the council sets aside 30 minutes for public participation. Public participation is limited to a maximum of five minutes per person. And we ask that you keep your comments concise and within the time limit. And we will take up the list. If if you miss this sign up, don't worry, I'll I'll double check before we close public participation. But we'll uh first take up those who've signed up ahead of time. Uh the first is Katie Olson. If you'd please state your name and address or your affiliation for the record. Thank you. Yes, I am uh Katie Olson. I live at 1720 West Reeve Street here in Appleton, and I am also the uh director of the nonprofit Esther. So good evening and thank you for your time tonight. Um I, as I said, I I work for Esther, uh, which is a nonprofit that brings together faith communities and neighbors to work for the common good. Um first I want to thank the Safety and Licensing Committee for hearing our appeal last week and for uh provisionally approving the permit request for uh the No Kings March on uh March 28th. Uh we appreciate the committee's thoughtful consideration and the opportunity to come before common council tonight. Um, since that meeting, our organizing team continued to work through our plans and the logistics of the event. Um, through those conversations, we realized that the original route, which ended in the courthouse parking lot, would require a large number of participants to gather in an open parking area. Um, so after further reflection, we felt that this could create unnecessary safety concerns and congestion. Um, so because of that, we uh worked with Sergeant Bees and Mayor Woodford to develop a revised route that would uh instead loop around College Avenue. Uh this route allows the march to remain moving rather than concentrating at people in one um congregated area, and it improves the visibility for the event while keeping participants in a more structured and predictable path.