The Notes: Week of September 6 - September 10, 2021
Happy Labor Day weekend, Neighbors. Thanks for joining me back here again for an overview of the week's happenings in Appleton city government.
Of course, our regular Monday meetings are cancelled due to the holiday. The Finance Committee and Parks and Recreation Committee will next meet in two weeks as those committee members enjoy the holiday off.
Members of the Fox Cities Transit Commission and the Utilities Committee, which usually meet on Tuesdays, will also get a long weekend break since their meetings area also cancelled for this week.
The Appleton Redevelopment Authority Exhibition Center Advisory Committee is the only public city meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 09/07/2021 (at 1pm). Since they haven't met since March, they will hear an update from a representative of the Red Lion Hotel Paper Valley (soon to be the Hilton Appleton Paper Valley) regarding the change from Red Lion to Hilton, the status of exhibition center bookings, and feedback from groups which have used the Fox Cities Exhibition Center (FCEC) for events. There will also be a presentation on the effects of COVID-19 on tourism (in general and specific to the Fox Valley) and a recap of the delicate balance of room tax and debt service for FCEC.
Then, bright and early on Wednesday morning (09/08/2021 at 7am), the Board of Health will meet. There are only two informational items on their agenda -- a COVID-19 update and a review of the noise variances (for events) that have been approved by the Health Department.
After a short lull in the excitement on Wednesday morning, the Appleton Redevelopment Authority (ARA) will meet (09/08/2021 at 9am). They last met in April, so at this meeting, they will elect a chairman and vice chairman and confirm future meetings information before moving on to discussions regarding the College Avenue North Neighborhood Plan. This committee will review a plan proposal from the contractor the city hired to manage the project, RDG, and announce the kick-off of the project with a new steering committee meeting (scheduled for 09/13/2021). The members of the steering committee and their contact information if you are interested in providing input on this project are as follows:
The ARA committee will also hear an update on the library design process and a recap of the same information about the Fox Cities Exhibition Center that was presented to the Exhibition Center Advisory Committee on Tuesday. They will also hear an update on the city's Business Enhancement Grants for façade improvements. Apparently, there is funding still available for businesses citywide so if you own a brick-and-mortar business in the city that's in need of a facelift, please let me know so I can get you in touch with the correct contacts for some potential grant money!
- City Plan Commission at 3:30pm: The commission will take up the potential rezoning of a parcel on South Schaefer Street near Calumet Street and request to approve the plat for Apple Fields right here in District 13:
- Community & Economic Development Committee at 4:30pm: This committee will hear about the process for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) for 2022. There is funding available here, too, and the city is asking for input on how to distribute it:
This committee will also take up a resolution that was presented at the last council meeting regarding Appleton's willingness to support the resettlement of Afghan refugees. While I thoroughly appreciate the sentiment of this resolution, it is another example of a resolution without any real legislative action. The resolution expresses what the people of Appleton already know and feel in the following two paragraphs:
The citizens of Appleton and the city's Community & Economic Development Department are of course ready to work with county, state, and federal departments and with World Relief Fox Valley to assist in any way possible with the resettlement of these refugees. I do not feel it necessary to virtue signal or pat ourselves on the back as a city or as alderman for what is sure to happen here. As reported by WFRV-Channel 5, World Relief Fox Valley is already ready to receive refugees here. NBC26 and Action 2 News have reports offering ways in which we can assist in the relocation of Afghani refugees as well. Most importantly, the World Relief Fox Valley website encourages in-person volunteers and private donations for this relocation effort. While I am grateful that this resolution brings public recognition of the gravity of this situation, I feel that there is nothing more to be done with this resolution than to receive and file it. I expect to express this at the committee meeting (as a council member but not a member of this committee) and hope that kindness will prevail and the backlash does not equal what was experienced with earlier resolutions that resembled this one. - Safety and Licensing Committee at 5:30pm: There is one liquor license application on the table for this meeting. But I expect the bulk of the meeting to be taken up by discussion of yet another resolution that was presented at last week's meeting of the full council. This proposed resolution takes up the issue of excessive vehicle noise. Again, I appreciate that this is an important issue in the city, most especially to those in the downtown/College Avenue area. However, I cannot support this resolution for two reasons:
- As Police Chief Thomas presents in a memo to the committee, this resolution points out two additional "definitions" of vehicle noise which are already covered under both Wisconsin law and City of Appleton ordinances, the resolution aims to prohibit noise in "light motor vehicles" but the state law already applies to all motor vehicles, and the prohibitions under this resolution are requested to be enforced under the incorrect section of the municipal code and
- This is, I feel, an example of a resolution which results in excess governance. We cannot possibly define every single noise that is an "excessive" noise. This is why we have very broad definitions of acceptable and unacceptable levels of noise already in place in our municipal code.
It is obvious that this is an issue that is bothersome to many and I have a great deal of empathy for those who are regularly annoyed by this issue. However, this resolution will not do what the authors want it to do; it will not get rid of the problem and is simply redundant of what's already codified in state and local laws. The solution lies elsewhere, perhaps in a change in the way that the College Avenue corridor is policed or...? I'm not certain the best solution or even if this problem can be completely solved. I just know that I cannot support this resolution (for the reasons detailed above) but will work with the police department and Chief Thomas to attempt to determine what might be next steps in attempting to resolve the issue. If you have any thoughts or ideas in this regard, please share them with me.
- Human Resources and Information Technology Committee at 6:30pm: After a request for an over-hire on a water plant instrumentation technician discussion, things will likely heat up a bit with a revisit of the discussion on City of Appleton alderman salaries. This hot topic was put on hold by the common council and referred back to the HR/IT Committee in early April, before I was sworn in as your alderman.
Back in March when this HR/IT committee was made up of a different slate of aldermen, they recommended to the full council that the city's alderman salary go from the current $6221.44/yr to $10,125/yr -- a whopping hike of nearly 63% -- in 2023. I was not yet elected at the time but I -- and many of you, no doubt! -- could see that this was an untenable. I understand the sentiment of those aldermen who feel that the job of alderman can be time-consuming; but it is public service after all.
I am not opposed to a raise in salary for these public service positions but the current ask is far too great. In this week's committee meeting, I will propose that the city implements a standard annual percentage raise that will automatically take place each December (the timing is critical so that all serving aldermen have the same salary each year and some do not receive more than others due to the timing of elections). With this sort of plan in place, there will be no instances in which a salary increase will be "missed" and there will not have to be annual contentious debates on elected representatives giving themselves huge raises. For this annual increase, I will propose that we either choose a nominal figure (such as 2%) or that we follow the federal government's Social Security Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) which varies year-to-year.
Some aldermen may argue that there is a need for a "catch up" amount since Appleton's per-alderman salary is lower than the salary paid to each of Green Bay's twelve aldermen. However, as you can see below, Appleton currently pays more per constituent to our aldermen than Green Bay does! Yes, serving in local government should be accessible to all those interested in serving. However, this job is not one that is "for profit" or could be misconstrued as a full-time equivalent position.
If you have any thoughts on this, please share them with me before Wednesday's meeting. What's decided at this committee meeting will again go to the full council the next week so there will be another opportunity for input then as well. But please do let me know what you think!
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