An Introduction

At the end of February, All Things Appleton will be 6 months old. Although people in city government and the school district know who I am, most of my readers do not. I’ve wanted this page and website to be about the information I’m presenting and not revolve around me personally, but I am also aware that some people are curious who manages things here so perhaps now is a good time to introduce myself and give a little overview of what my purpose with this website is.

My name is Jessica Menn Anderson and I’m a third generation Appletonian. My general belief is that our society spends too much time fixated on what is happening on a global and national scale and not enough time focused on the things happening at a local level–even though we as individuals have a much greater ability to participate in and impact our local community than we do to influence things nationally.

The City of Appleton provides some good resources to help the public know what is happening in city government, but, as with many things, following everything and keeping up to date on what is going on can become overwhelming. A few years ago the idea came to me that someone could look through the meeting records which are already publicly available and present that information to the public in a more accessible way.

I pictured it as an endeavor I could start in a few years when my children were older, but, like many people, I found myself wanting to start new projects during the pandemic.

So here we are. In between working, educating my children, and spending time with my family, I review city and school district meeting agendas, listen to and recap meeting videos, draw attention to items I find interesting, and provide commentary when I feel it’s warranted. When I have questions about something that happens in a meeting or that I read in an agenda, I reach out to the city or school district for clarification. Mostly I just try to make the information that is already publicly available a little more accessible and easy to digest.

I have no ultimate plans for this site, and obviously the information I present is not comprehensive. There are only so many meetings I can listen to and recap. But I do view what I’m doing as my small way of being involved in the local community, and I hope that people continue to find value in the information I provide.