What you may not know: Week of June 3

The Appleton Common Council will hold our regularly scheduled full council meeting on Wednesday night at 7 pm or following the conclusion of two committee meetings scheduled for the evening. Our agenda includes a pair of items of interest:

Renaming Alleys

In a previous update I mentioned that the Public Works Department and Appleton Historical Society were working together to rename several alleys in the city for a pair of reasons:

• To assist with wayfinding and provide alleys with clear identities.
• To honor and maintain the memories of prominent Appletonians.

Back in April the City Plan Commission discussed this item and held it for further input and research. On May 21 they took the item up again and voted to recommend approval of 21 alley names. The full list and map of the alleys' locations can be found in the first attachment on this page.

Council Vacancy

Alderman Keir Dvorachek, who had represented the city's 15th District for the last two years and was just re-elected in April, recently informed the city that he is no longer able to serve in his position and has resigned. On Wednesday there is an information item on our council agenda to discuss options for filling his seat.

In the past council has considered three options for dealing with seats vacated during an alderperson's term:

• Seeking applications and appointing someone to fulfill the remaining term.
• Holding a special election to allow the voters to choose a new representative.
• Leaving the seat vacant until it is due for re-election.

Given the amount of time remaining on the term (through spring 2021), the third option seems unreasonable. I suspect we'll discuss the merits of the others this week. In the past council arguments have often revolved around cost (holding a special election carries a not-insignificant expense). 

During my time on council we have appointed someone to fill a vacant seat (selecting then-candidate Polly Dalton to fill Kole Oswald's seat in District 8 for the final weeks of his term in 2014) and held a special election (the voters eventually selected Tim Trauger to replace Teege Metille in District 1 in 2013). In my opinion this specific situation, with 22 months remaining on the term, is more comparable to the latter event.

At any rate, during my time on council I have never supported efforts to appoint an alderperson: While I recognize we are empowered to do so, I don't feel it's appropriate for council to select a representative on behalf of voters we were not elected to represent. I intend to advocate for a special election at this time.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.