The Safety and Licensing Committee met 06/11/2025. Most of the meeting was taken up by an update from the Appleton Area School District on their request for the city to reinstate a truancy ordinance, but also discussed two other information items including recent alcohol license violation convictions and how the city’s new Special Events Policy is working.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
ALCOHOL LICENSE VIOLATION CONVICTIONS – Lindo Michoacan and the Walgreens at 700 W College Avenue were both convicted of having no licensed operator on the premises, and Foxtrot Saloon and Stucs Pizza were both convicted of selling alcohol to minors. The license holders for all of these establishments have received demerit points for the violations and will be asked to attend a future meeting of the Safety and Licensing Committee to discuss what changes they have made in their practices to prevent such violations from happening again.
All of these violations were the result of routine Appleton Police Department enforcement checks on establishments. City Clerk Kami Lynch told the committee that these checks all happen around the same time and violations end up going through the court system around the same time. She told the committee that there were quite a few violations and they would probably have to schedule appearances by the licensed holders before the committee so that they were staggered across the course of the summer.
SPECIAL EVENTS – At the first of the year, the city’s new Special Events Policy came into force. This new policy created one application deadline 45 days before an event for all events regardless of size, implemented a uniform $75 event application fee, and allowed the city to be reimbursed up to 25% of its costs to provide services to special events and to negotiate with large event organizers for reimbursement.
Clerk Lynch told the committee that, other than one special event planner missing the 45-day application deadline, the new policy had been working incredibly well. City staff was aware of when a lot of events were going to take place, and, since the 45-day application deadline was new, had made sure to remind organizers about the new requirement. The only negative feedback they had received so far was that the application was longer than it used to be because the city was asking for more information and addressing some safety items that had not previously been thought about or discussed in detail. She thought that filling out the application would become easier going forward as organizers became used to the new form.
The city was now tracking how much it spent on personnel and equipment providing services for events and was now invoicing event organizers for 25% of the city’s costs. She did not have any data on the exact charge amounts for events because events season was just starting.
The city had also negotiated service agreements with the organizers of large events with 10,000 or more expected attendees. Those included the Farmers Market, Mile of Music, Octoberfest, and License to Cruise, as well as one more unnamed event for which they were waiting on signatures. The purpose of those agreements was to try to make sure that the events were not unduly impacted by having to reimburse the city for 25% of the city’s costs. Clerk Lynch said that the final agreements did end up reimbursing the city for around 25% but might contain certain “in-kind contributions for the city that are reflected things that maybe we’ve done at no cost that we’re continuing to do. But otherwise it’s fairly equitable in terms of the agreements versus smaller events without agreements.”
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1284219&GUID=3F83EB61-2EA7-4B30-9BD1-71F96C71B882
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