The Common Council met 12/21/2022. They separated out for individual votes four items, three of which have already been recapped on this page:
- The Aquatic Fees and Charges Police
- Resolution 12-R-21 Elimination of Council Parking Passes
- The Environmental Health Fee Schedule Proposal
The remaining item of business that was separated out was a request to approve recommended funding of $15,000 for 2023 sponsorships for Appleton Downtown Inc (ADI) programs. The $15,000 covered City of Appleton sponsorship for various events including:
- Avenue of Ice
- Night Market
- Cultural Cuisine Walk
- The Farmers’ Market
- Downtown Creates Walk Events
- Light Up Appleton
- Small Business Saturday
The other three items that were separated out each resulted in a fair amount of discussion. This particular item did not garner much discussion. Following the debate and vote on the resolution regarding the $7,200 aldermanic parking pass benefit, Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) asked for this item to be separated out, using it as an opportunity to say that he thought ADI did incredibly important work for the city and he thought the amount the city government paid in sponsorships was low and could be increased given what ADI did for the community.
His full remarks were as follows:
Again, we’re talking about these relatively small amounts of money. We’re talking about a $15,000 approval for an incredible amount of work that Appleton Downtown Inc does to bring recognition to what this city offers to both its residents and visitors alike.
And you know, I’ve seen debates about whether we support some of the things that they do and whether we don’t support that. And I just think for this amount of money, I want this board to understand, or this Council to understand, and those in attendance to understand, how much ADI brings to this community and the cross pollination that ADI does to promote Appleton in general. And this is an incredibly important work that they do. And I think the dollar amount is vastly underfunded. I think we could support far more funding for what they bring to this community given their ROI on what they do for this community.
So I would strongly of course support this dollar amount and I would consider raising this amount as we look forward to future budgets and how we can support ADI and what they bring to this community.”
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1064885&GUID=23157F67-0079-435B-BD93-2236F2BF0F43
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