The Notes: Week of January 10 - January 14, 2022

All right, neighbors... get ready!  After a few weeks of inaction through the holiday season, we are now back in earnest with City of Appleton government proceedings.  This week -- 2022's first Committee Week!-- there are six committee meetings scheduled to be held and five meetings which have been cancelled for lack of agenda items.  The cancellations include:

• Municipal Services Committee, 
• Parks and Recreation Committee,
• Fox Cities Transit Commission,
• Appleton Redevelopment Authority, and
• Human Resources and Information Technology Committee

The agenda items for the meetings that will be held this week are summarized below.

Finance Committee - Monday, 01/10/2022, 5:30pm:  These committee members will take up 1) a "relocation order" for a permanent easement for city water main construction on portions of some private property on Firelane 1, 2) a "relocation order" for the city acquisition of small portions of the corners of some private lots for sidewalk construction and traffic signal at the corners of Appleton and Franklin Streets and Appleton and Washington Streets, 3) the approval of some accounting transactions to record the receipt of state grant funds and county funds related to the city's COVID-19 vaccine clinic operations, 4) the potential approval of a ~$484,000 contract for the construction of the Telulah Park Pickball Complex (which will be paid for in full by a generous individual donation of $500,000 to the city for this project), and finally, 5) the request to award a contract for consulting services (not implementation) for the city's branding study... to the tune of $88,840.  The latter is of particular interest as the bidder who will potentially be awarded this contract is a company based in Appleton and was the third-ranked choice of the staff who reviewed all of the proposals.  I know I will be very interested to hear how the recommendation process moved along and what more information the mayor's staff can provide to make this firm appeal enough to this committee and the full council for approval.

Utilities Committee - Tuesday, 01/11/2022, 5pm:  I'm excited about the first item on the agenda for this committee as it will no doubt add to the quality of life for many city residents!  This committee will be asked to approve the Department of Public Works (DPW) plan for the $1M of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars for the replacement of private property lead/galvanized water service lines.  Property owners with lead/galvanized service lines to their properties will be notified that they have a year to contract to have the replacement of those water service lines completed and be given options as to how they would like to proceed to make this change.  If homeowners elect to be a part of the city's Water Utility System Construction Project (and why would they not?!), the replacement will be paid for by the ARPA funds allocation.  Only one other small contract recommendation wraps up the agenda for this committee meeting. 

Board of Health - Wednesday, 01/12/2022, 7am (!!!): In typical Board of Health fashion, 2022 begins for them in the early morning hours on Wednesday.  They will receive a COVID-19 update from the city's interim health director and be asked to review and approve a change to health department requirements and limitations relating to honey beekeeping in the city.  The current health department requirements and limitations do not allow for "nucleus colonies" which are used to replace failed queen bees of colonies.  The proposed changes will allow beekeepers to keep two such nucleus colonies.  While this no doubt directly affects only beekeepers within the city, this is a positive change that has, as far as I can tell, no downsides to it and can indirectly aid all city residents with the potential addition of many more positive pollinators. 

  
City Plan Commission - Wednesday, 01/12/2022, 3:30pm: The commission will entertain public comment and then discuss the approval of Special Use Permits for alcohol service at two properties in the city: a proposed restaurant at 1016 E Pacific Street and an amusement business (paint splatter room, airsoft target shooting, etc) at 2009/2011 N Richmond Street.  Commissioners will also be asked to approve some subdivision plats in the city and the dedication of land for a public right-of-way for Spartan Drive here in District 13.

Community and Economic Development Committee - Wednesday, 01/12/2022, 4:30pm: The development of a mixed-use project on the old site of the city's now-demolished Blue Ramp (adjacent to the old Conway Hotel  site and City Hall) in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District 11 will be discussed and is recommended by staff for committee approval.  The developer will purchase the land from the city and develop it.  The city assistance for this project amounts to the lesser of $2.16M or 18% of the tax increment value of the property as of 01/01/2025, but this is contingent upon and assuming that the property will be assessed at no less than $12M once development is complete.

Safety and Licensing Committee - Wednesday, 01/12/2022, 5:30pm: As per usual, committee Members will be asked to approve numerous liquor licenses for establishments throughout the city.  They will also discuss the approval of a 2022 contract with a company in Little Chute whose property requires Appleton Fire Department confined spaces fire services. 

And that will wrap up the first Committee Week in this new year.  All items approve this week will be brought forward to our very first Full Council Week next week so I will update you then on what the full council shall see in next week's blog post.  Until then, enjoy your week!  Let's hope the remainder of January 2022 treats us well and winter comes to a swift conclusion shortly thereafter.  (I'm a Wisconsin native... so I know that that's an unreasonable expectation.  But that doesn't mean we can't hope!)