The Common Council met on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting covered a range of items including a heavily debated resolution on excessive vehicular noise data collection, approval of a special event, adoption of the Downtown Business Improvement District 2027 operating plan, a subdivision development agreement, and numerous consent agenda items. Key outcomes included the denial of the noise data collection resolution (1‑10‑2) and approval of the other separated items.
The council debated the resolution, which sought to evaluate methods for collecting and analyzing vehicular noise data. Both the Safety & Licensing Committee (5‑0) and the Board of Health (7‑0) had recommended denial.
Supporters (Alder Smith, resolution author) – Argued data collection (estimated $20,000–$30,000) would allow targeted enforcement, goal‑setting, experimentation, and objective tracking of noise reduction; clarified it is not about surveillance or ticketing via devices; noted current reliance on anecdote.
Opponents – Alder Fenton: resolution violates separation of powers; staff response already fulfills the request; passive data devices cannot identify specific vehicles and raise privacy concerns; resources would be better directed at person/property crimes. Alder Wolff: police already know problem areas; data may not improve enforcement; considered a building/sound‑barrier issue. Alder Firkus: more data does not change enforcement capacity; the city is already taking action (lane changes, increased citations, towing ordinance); characterized the debate as finger‑pointing; cost of officers ($100,000 each) vs. data devices. Alder Schultz: behavioral issue requiring state‑level demerit points for exhaust modifications; data collection has not yielded results in other projects. Alder Hartzheim: $20,000–$30,000 is significant; data collection is not simple; does not solve the enforcement capacity problem; separation of powers. Alder Meltzer: data will not deliver results; enforcement capacity is the real barrier; gathering data would be poor stewardship and could give false hope; encouraged using the 2027 budget process to increase APD resources. Alder Van Zeeland: her southern district has the lowest noise action rate; cannot support more downtown‑centric enforcement to the detriment of her constituents; suggested partnering with university experts or students for low‑cost data collection.
Staff Response – Health Officer Siepers explained the memo was prepared with high scientific rigor, addressing four methods using actual DOT contract cost data and legal analysis; noted that without a legal framework to use data for enforcement, collection alone is insufficient.
Mayor Woodford – Cautioned against binary thinking (nothing is done vs. nothing can be done); urged collaborative and realistic conversation; noted the vote is not the end of the issue.
The motion to approve the resolution (a notwithstanding vote) failed by a vote of 1‑10‑2 (only Alder Smith in favor; Alder Dougherty and Mayor Woodford abstained).
Approved 12‑0 (Mayor abstained) with no discussion.
Approved 10‑1‑2 (Alder Hartzheim nay; Mayor Woodford and Alder Hayden abstained).
Good evening. I now call to order the Wednesday, September Second, Two Thousand Twenty Six meeting of the Appleton Common Council. For tonight's invocation, please rise and join me in a moment of silence. All are represented. Moving along in our agenda. At each meeting, the common council reserves 30 minutes for members of the public to express their views on items which appear on our agenda. We have five people who signed up to speak, but rest assured if you didn't see the sign-up sheet on your way in. I'll make sure that everybody who'd like to has an opportunity to speak on an item that appears on the agenda. I'd also like to remind everybody that in this chamber we maintain decorum. And so as folks come up and address the council, I ask that members of the public refrain from speaking, clapping, uh audibly reacting to people as as they're speaking, regardless of their position on any matter. And I'd remind you that during public participation, we do not engage in dialogue between the members of the public addressing the body. And if if we have an answer for a question that comes up, staff will address that when the council takes up the action item that you're speaking on. So with that, we'll begin. The first person is John Gates. Welcome, John. Hello, my name is John Gates. Harris Street, just about a block off of Richmond Street. About the first third of my professional life, I was an opera singer in Germany. And I traveled a lot, and I developed many relationships that I still sustain. I also live in a long distance relationship with someone who also has traveled. And by virtue of this, I have many experiences with spending significant time in the center of cities, both large and small, because I've always wanted to be where I could walk. And I have never been brought to despair about noise until I came to Appleton. I lived in the middle of the city in Munich, Germany. I lived in a city about the size of Madison in Germany called München Glattbach. When I moved back to America, I moved to a small town in Texas, Nacadochis. And I lived right off of the main highway. I think it's 59. That's the main North South Highway in East Texas. The main drag going again east-west through the middle of the city. I lived two blocks north of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. A real, I mean, if that's not an entertainment district that's famous for noise, nothing is on Burgundy Street. And when I visit there, he lives on Shepard Avenue, a street that has four times the traffic volume of Richmond Street. My coffee. Not College Avenue. He said, What in the world is this? At one of these mob flash mob events in Appleton. I couldn't reach the police. I could only call a 9-1-1 number, so I just walked down the street to see what the police were doing about it. I ran into an officer who was what of course they're directing the traffic to leave, not giving citations, and in a very friendly way. There was a car that rode by with no hood with no exhaust, only flames coming out of the manifold. And I said, You're not gonna do anything about this. He said, people have a right to ride up and down College Avenue. And I thought that would be like me calling the police about a dog fighting ring next door, and them telling me, well, people have a right to have pets. So shortly after that, my younger brother, who had the highest ranking. Oh, 30 seconds. Thank you. No, keep going. You've got 30 seconds. Yep, go ahead. Had the highest ranking position in the police department in Columbia, South Carolina, an area of about a uh a million, just short of a million.