Neenah council approves municipal court fee increase and routine contract payments

The Neenah City Council approved changes to municipal court fees and signed off on a string of routine contract payments and final pay requests during its organizational meeting.

By unanimous or clearly recorded votes, the council approved ordinance 2026-04 (amending municipal court procedure) and resolution 2026-02, which raises the municipal court fee by $10 (from $38 to $48) to align with requirements in 2025 Wisconsin Act 113. Alderman Ericson presented the finance committee recommendations and led the motions.

On capital projects, the council approved pay request No. 3 (final) to Venton Construction of Two Rivers for $118,960.83 for work completed through Dec. 31, 2025 on a parks/shoreline project. Director Kading told the council that total project costs, including change orders, came to about $1,510,571 and that the city had budgeted $3 million in the CIP; grant support included a $1 million Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources award and a $100,000 NRDA grant. The council approved the Venton pay request.

The council also approved a final payment of $40,427 to Omniglass and Paint for a window and exterior door replacement at city hall and awarded contracts for pavement and sidewalk repairs and hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavement repair (the transcript records an HMA award amount that appears as $189,910.62 but the spoken formatting is unclear). Council members asked for clearer bid-to-final accounting on future public works memos.

Councilors emphasized that change orders and scope additions (including a northeast shoreline section added during construction) explained differences between initial bids and final totals.