The Appleton Common Council met on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Jake Woodford at 7:01 PM and adjourned at 7:33 PM. The council approved a routine consent calendar, discussed and amended the text for a new Harry Houdini historic marker, and debated moving the second April council meeting date. Two resolutions were referred to committees.
The following items were approved unanimously (12-0, with 3 excused and the mayor abstaining) under a single motion for the balance of the agenda after the Houdini marker discussion:
Harry Houdini State Historic Marker Text Amendment
Moving the Second Common Council Meeting in April
Good evening. I now call to order the Wednesday, April 1st, 2026 meeting of the Appleton Common Council. Please rise for the invocation, which will be delivered by Alder Hartzheim. Thank you, Chair. As we gather here this evening, let us take a moment to recognize the changing of the seasons. Last week, through all of our digging out from our fun little record breaking winter storm, Elsa, we actually passed the vernal equinox. Yes, spring officially began, at least according to the calendar. Now the days are beginning to grow longer, the air softening, and signs of life are returning in ways both quiet and certain. Mark Twain must have been in Wisconsin when he wrote, in the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours. But there is a practical truth in that observation. Change is constant and conditions shift quickly in Midwest marches and Aprils and in life. And steady leadership requires adaptability and patience. Let this new season guide us in the work before us. May we approach our responsibilities with focus, fairness, and clear purpose, despite any quickly shifting conditions. May we listen carefully, speak thoughtfully, and act with integrity in every decision we make so that we can lead well through all of the changes we are bound to continually face. We ask God or whoever might be your higher power for steady judgment, patience, and respect for one another as we carry out our duties entrusted to us. Amen. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag. And to the God. Okay. Roll call of officers and department heads. All are represented. Right. In a motion to approve the minutes to the previous meeting. We have a motion and a second to approve. Is there any discussion of the minutes? Hearing none, please cast your votes. Motion passes 12 to 0. The minutes have been approved. All right, business presented by the mayor. We'll start with a fun one. This is 26 0315 presentation of the selected 2026 Sidewalk Poetry Poems. And to tell us about that is Peter Katar. Hello, everyone. My name is Peter Katarba. I'm the community partnership supervisor at the Appleton Public Library. I'm here to report that we've had another successful submission and selection process for Appleton Sidewalk Poetry Program. This year we received 114 poems, which our selection committee very carefully narrowed down to a list of 15 poems that were then presented to the community for community inputs. And from those 15 poems, our community spoke, and we've selected five to be stamped into our sidewalks. Our poets are here tonight, or most of the poets. If you want, you're welcome to come up now and we can line up to read the poems in a moment. But before we do, I want to say a few thank yous. Um, first, of course, a thank you to the community of Appleton for reading the words that are beneath their feet and for inviting those words to prompt thoughts and discussions. A thank you to our selection committee this year for their sincere stewardship of this program. Um, their thoughtful discussion around those 114 poems narrowed to 15 was really beautiful. Um then also thank you to all those who submitted poems this year. And with that, we'll present our selections. Hi, my name is Lana Thiel. I'm a school counselor at Appleton East and an Appleton resident for my whole life.