The Notes: Week of August 16 - August 20, 2021

Well, here we are, Neighbors... back in Full Council Week here in Appleton city government.  This week's is the last full council meeting scheduled for this month.  Next week's committee meetings will wrap up city government for August, 2021, and September meetings aren't scheduled to start again until 09/07/2021.  Even in city government, we are preparing to wrap up summer and moving on to post-Labor Day early autumn!  I'm already wondering where this summer has gone. 

But before we get to far ahead of ourselves, there's the business of the council meeting on Wednesday, 08/18/2021 (7pm).  Here are the highlights for your enjoyment:

• It's not something to enjoy... but we are back to presenting the city's COVID-19 reports in the "Business Presented by the Mayor" portion at the start of the full council meeting.  It's my every hope that this slight surge we are seeing (described as a Delta variant surge despite our not having clear test evidence to indicate which "version" of the virus is currently circulating) is a short-lived one, similar to what was experienced in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.  But as you all know, only time will tell. 
  
  
• There will be a public hearing and the council will take up the rezoning of a small portion of land that was just annexed into the city in District 13.  See the map below for the property's location. It is currently zoned Temporary Agricultural but the intent is to rezone it as R-1B Single Family Residential.  I've not heard from anyone why this rezoning should not move forward and will be voting for this rezoning at the council meeting... unless you have concerns.  If so, please do contact me.
  
  
  
  
  
• FINALLY -- drum roll, please! -- the change to our municipal code related to electrical work which can and cannot be performed by property owners will get back to the council floor for a vote.  This time, the change to the code has been amended to affirm that "utility-interactive" solar photovoltaic installations require a licensed electrical contractor but non-utility interactive solar power installations do not.  I wrote about this a few times before, most recently last week.  I am super-excited to finally vote this change through.  Now... cross your fingers nothing else holds this one up! ;)
  
  
• A few street reconstruction projects are on the table to be approved by the council.  One of them is for a section of Summit Street (from Prospect Avenue to Fourth Street) about which some neighbors there had expressed some concerns.  They were deeply concerned about their quaint neighborhood street losing many mature street terrace trees and some street square footage (narrowing of the street) in the reconstruction project.  Our Department of Public Works (DPW) and our City Forester deserve kudos for hearing their concerns and doing their best to address them with some changes to their original plans for the reconstruction.  The city is going to fix the water main breakages issue they've had along this street while doing their utmost to save and protect as many old-growth terrace trees along this street in the process.  It is heartening to hear how our city staff really do try to balance the needs of the community with the desires of the neighbors to save some trees in our Tree City!
  
  
• There were a number of meetings last week to discuss the amendment to two of the city's Tax Incremental Districts (TIDs) -- TID #3 and TID #12.  Through all of the meetings, the committee members hearing the rationale voted to approve the amendments.  I listened to all of the meetings and agree that the changes are not a detriment to the city and intend to vote to approve these changes.  The approval of a development agreement for the old Conway Hotel property (north of the Avenue Mall) is also on the table for approval.  I wrote a bit about that last week as well.  
  
  
• The resolution that three other aldermen and I submitted last week went through the Board of Health this past week... but did not emerge unscathed.  The Board essentially gutted the original resolution and amended it to have a completely new and different meaning than the original resolution presented.  As such, I can't vote for the resolution as amended.  It no longer says what the writers (including me) intended.  There will likely be some discussion on this and I will state my case as well.  But as it stands, I will not be voting to approve the amended resolution as it no longer calls anyone to action or does anything but pat the mayor and the health department on the back.  Please let me know if you have thoughts on the original resolution or the amended resolution.
  
  
• Interestingly, there will be a closed session of the council near the end of the meeting.  This will be the first time since I was elected to serve in which I will participate in a closed session.  Here's the exact verbiage from the agenda, stating what shall be undertaken during that time: 
  
  "The Common Council will go into closed session according to State Statute § 19.85(1)(e) for the purpose of deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session regarding the bluff site development and then reconvene into open session."
  
  More details on that will, I'm sure, be forthcoming!
  

The Library Board will also meet again this week, this time to hear an update on the building project from the architects (among some other agenda items).  That meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 08/17/2021, at 4:30pm.  If you are interested, I encourage you to tune in online (if you can't be at city hall at that time or want to watch it at a later date/time).  The links to view online meetings are available on this page. (Select the week or date of the meeting you wish to view.  If you are trying to view the meeting while it's in progress, refresh the page regularly at the meeting's start time to see when the Video column shows a link of "In Progress."  Otherwise, if watching at a later date/time, there should be a link in the Video column showing "Video" for the replay.)

As always, I'm available to answer your questions or hear your concerns.  Please feel free to call or text 920 570-2873 or email me.  Thanks for tuning in once again... I hope to see you here again next week!