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Record of Proceedings

Common Council Informal Organizational Meeting - April 21, 2026

Common Council — Tuesday, April 21, 2026
BodyAppleton, Wisconsin
SessionCommon Council
DateTuesday, April 21, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 47:07

Original source
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5:00

We are now in order.

5:03

This is the informal organizational meeting of the Apple and Common Council.

5:07

Today is Tuesday, April 21st, 2026.

5:12

Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

5:34

Roll call of Alders.

5:38

All are represented with the exception of Alder Person Jones, who is excused.

5:42

All right.

5:42

Roll call of officers and department heads.

5:45

None are represented except for Appleton Police Department.

5:51

All right.

5:56

Oh.

5:57

Thank you.

5:59

I just assumed.

6:00

Oh, yeah.

6:01

And with the exception of Alder Person.

6:05

Oh.

6:06

Who uh has not let anyone know that?

6:08

He's not is not here.

6:10

He's really.

6:12

All right.

6:13

Well, he's he's really taken the informality of the meeting to heart.

6:18

Uh and he might.

6:21

He might.

6:21

He might.

6:22

It's a nice afternoon.

6:23

So we are not.

6:26

So we'll we'll we'll see, but uh 630.

6:31

Yes.

6:33

Oh, we'll please.

6:34

Is it possible?

6:38

I unlocked the elevators, so if he can get in the building, he can get up the elevators.

6:44

Okay.

6:45

Okay.

6:46

All right.

6:46

We have we have verified the status of the elevators, which are operational.

6:51

The doors are open and unlocked.

6:53

This being an open public meeting.

6:55

Uh so we will eagerly await Alder Schultz's arrival, but in the meantime, we'll certainly note that he's excused by decree.

7:05

Uh all right.

7:08

Uh so we this is the informal meeting.

7:11

Uh, this is the first time that we don't have any new members, and so we're not going to do this sort of customary educational components that we ordinarily would, because uh none of you need orienting to the meeting.

7:29

Uh so we'll dispense with that.

7:32

And uh before we get Alder Schultz, we we have breaking news.

7:39

Alder Schultz is on his way.

7:42

So we will welcome him with open arms to the informal meeting when he gets here.

7:48

Running a bit behind is the report.

7:50

All right, good, good.

7:52

All right.

7:54

Uh yes.

7:54

I just I'm repeating it for the record so that you know.

7:58

Yes, he's he's he's on his way.

8:01

Five minutes.

8:02

Uh if we still had the bird scooters, he'd have been here.

8:06

All right.

8:07

Uh so we have uh we have our rules to go through, and uh tonight.

8:12

What we'll do uh before we take up the proposed changes, we're I just want to talk through kind of overall flow of the the process here.

8:22

Uh we're not gonna do the rule by rule.

8:26

I call them out and we describe them a bit.

8:29

Uh again, we don't have new people, so we don't we don't need to go through that dance.

8:33

So uh what we'll do is we'll just if if there's anything anybody wants to discuss, we'll just ask you to bring that up and uh we will we will go through it.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████51%
Public Engagement███████████████████████████████35%
Community Engagement████████9%
Public Safety████5%
Summary of Proceedings

Common Council Informal Organizational Meeting - April 21, 2026

This informal organizational meeting of the Appleton Common Council focused on proposed changes to the Rules of Council, particularly regarding invocations, and a review of the Code of Conduct. No votes were taken; all discussion was in preparation for the formal meeting the following evening.

Discussion Items

  • Proposed Rule Change (26-0499) – Invocation Language: Alder Heffernan proposed amending Rule 3 to require that when an invocation includes a prayer to a god, the council member must use "I" statements instead of "we" statements. Heffernan explained the request was personal, asking that prayers not be offered on behalf of the entire council. Attorney Barons advised that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014) prohibits government entities from regulating the content of religious speech, and that requiring "I" over "we" would be constitutionally problematic. Several alderpersons (Hartzheim, Hayden, Smith, Van Zieland, Schultz, Wolf, Meltzer) spoke in favor of maintaining the current practice, emphasizing mutual respect and the importance of upholding First Amendment protections. The consensus was to take the concern as informal guidance rather than codify a rule.
  • Copy Edit to Rule 18: Alder Lambricht noted a minor grammatical correction in Rule 18 regarding language about document distribution. The council agreed to make the change administratively.
  • Code of Conduct Review: Alder Croat suggested adding the phrase "all of our" to the final bullet point, changing it to "on behalf of all of our constituents." The council also agreed to add a period to that bullet. This amendment will be formally moved and voted on at the next formal meeting.

Key Outcomes

  • Alder Heffernan indicated she will not move the proposed invocation rule change at the formal meeting; the item will remain on the agenda but she will request withdrawal without objection.
  • The copy edit to Rule 18 (removing parentheses and adjusting formatting) will be implemented without a formal vote.
  • The Code of Conduct will be amended to include "all of our constituents" and a period in the final bullet point; a motion for this change will be made at the formal meeting on April 22, 2026.
  • No changes were proposed to Department & Committee Functions.
  • The meeting adjourned after a motion and second, with all members except Alder Jones present.

Meeting Transcript

We are now in order. This is the informal organizational meeting of the Apple and Common Council. Today is Tuesday, April 21st, 2026. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call of Alders. All are represented with the exception of Alder Person Jones, who is excused. All right. Roll call of officers and department heads. None are represented except for Appleton Police Department. All right. Oh. Thank you. I just assumed. Oh, yeah. And with the exception of Alder Person. Oh. Who uh has not let anyone know that? He's not is not here. He's really. All right. Well, he's he's really taken the informality of the meeting to heart. Uh and he might. He might. He might. It's a nice afternoon. So we are not. So we'll we'll we'll see, but uh 630. Yes. Oh, we'll please. Is it possible? I unlocked the elevators, so if he can get in the building, he can get up the elevators. Okay. Okay. All right. We have we have verified the status of the elevators, which are operational. The doors are open and unlocked. This being an open public meeting. Uh so we will eagerly await Alder Schultz's arrival, but in the meantime, we'll certainly note that he's excused by decree. Uh all right. Uh so we this is the informal meeting. Uh, this is the first time that we don't have any new members, and so we're not going to do this sort of customary educational components that we ordinarily would, because uh none of you need orienting to the meeting. Uh so we'll dispense with that. And uh before we get Alder Schultz, we we have breaking news. Alder Schultz is on his way. So we will welcome him with open arms to the informal meeting when he gets here. Running a bit behind is the report. All right, good, good. All right. Uh yes. I just I'm repeating it for the record so that you know.

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