The Notes: Week of March 14 - March 18, 2022

Hi, neighbors!  Are you ready for a very interesting Full Council Week?  There are a couple of non-council meetings but there are two -- count 'em, TWO -- council meetings scheduled for this week!  

Let's begin with the non-council meetings:

Library Board -- Tuesday, 03/15/2022, 4:30pm

The item of most interest on this meeting's agenda is the presentation of the Friends of Appleton Public Library capital campaign feasibility study.  The results of the study (which were released to the common council members last week) state that consultants believe that the community can be counted on for about $12M in private support for the building project.  While I am happy with this news because the city will be able to keep its promise to Appletonians of not exceeding the $28.4M maximum taxpayer investment in this project ($26.4M in the city's budget and $2M added American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds), I am also concerned about the timeline on this private fundraising campaign.  If it does indeed take 12-18 months for the Friends to collect these private funds from community donors (as noted in their press release which is quoted in this news report) and the project construction is to advance on the current timeline, there will be a need for taxpayer funds to be expended before private funds are collected. 

This is disconcerting to me especially since the city also just received the news that our grant application for $11M for the library project was rejected and we did not received those grant funds.  So... what is the plan should not enough private funds be collected and the project goes over-budget (including the anticipated $12M)?  This is a question that should concern all of us.  I promise to follow up on that as the library project moves forward.  Please let me know your thoughts in this regard. 

Utilities Committee -- Wednesday, 03/16/2022, 6:45pm

This committee did not meet during Committee Week last week so they are holding a quick meeting before the regular meeting of the full common council on Wednesday.  They will be discussing one action item (which will then proceed to the full council agenda) regarding levying special assessments for sanitary sewer and storm water laterals for a reconstruction project on Alvin, Durkee, Lawrence, Morrison, and Oneida Streets.  This agenda item is standard procedure prior to storm water and sewer construction projects. 

Full Common Council -- Wednesday, 03/16/2022, 7pm 

In a fantastic turn of events, this week's council meeting will not begin with a presentation of a COVID19 report for the city.  Early on in the agenda, though, the mayor will ask for the approval of some board appointments he's recommending.  Then the real meat of the council agenda will be brought forth...

There will be a public hearing on a Special Resolution calling for the construction of, and subsequent assessments for, the concrete pavement and driveway aprons for Amethyst Drive, Bluetopaz Drive, and Tiburon Lane here in District 13.  Neighbors owning property on those streets should have already received notice of the public hearing and the impending construction project.  If you have not, please contact me and I will get you the information you need in this regard. 

Nearly all of the items from last week's committee meetings have moved forward to the full council meeting agenda.  Of note are the following items for which I ask your feedback:

• From the Municipal Service Committee: Resolution #3-R-22 regarding No Mow May was amended in the committee meeting.  While the original resolution was to make No Mow May a permanent part of the City of Appleton municipal code and the maximum lawn heights allowed to be 12 inches throughout the city, the amended version will essentially allow a 2022-only renewal of the No Mow May initiative in the city.  Since my main concerns were those of longer maximum lawn heights -- I disagree with changing the residential maximum from 8 inches to 12 inches -- and the permanency of a municipal code change, I am satisfied, overall, with this amended version. 
  
  But I have heard quite a bit of feedback from District 13 neighbors (THANK YOU!) and I believe that there's about a 70/30 split in our neighborhoods between those who would prefer this initiative not to be renewed and those who appreciate the initiative as a feel-good attempt at helping the pollinator population in the city.  Those who have contacted me to explain why they are not in favor of continuing this initiative (about70% of the feedback I've received) are concerned about neighborhood disharmony, an increase in rodent populations in their neighborhoods, "lazy" property owners who abuse this policy, and the documented concerns of bee-friendly research which has found dandelions to be a sub-par food source for bees.  The latter is of real concern to me.  If we allow for the increase in dandelions in the city (which, based on the design of this initiative, will be the primary result), we could unwittingly be causing a degradation in the bee population.  If bees use dandelions over other, better food sources due to the fact that dandelions are more readily available, we could very well be causing a greater problem than that which this policy hopes to help solve!  
  
  I much prefer that the city use community communications methods to encourage the planting and growing of flowering trees and other early-flowering plants instead of allowing for longer lawns in the city every May.  But as yet, I am not certain as to how I plan to vote on the 2022-only renewal of No Mow May.  
  
  Please attend the council meeting and speak your mind on this matter in person or email me your thoughts (if you have not already!).  
  
  
• From the Finance Committee: The now often-mentioned "funds diversion resolution" is now to the full council for amended approval.  The committee voted to move this resolution forward on exactly the recommendations of the mayor's office which were recapped here and include $75k in consulting fees for the city's "enhanced crosswalks" and $60k in consulting fees to review our city's IT security.  The latter, it turns out, is of relative importance as our new IT Director has found reason for some concern regarding the city's IT infrastructure.  As such, I'm inclined to approve this consulting fee expenditure.  However, the city's pedestrian crosswalks plan for the years past the current 5-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) does not, I feel, warrant a consultancy expenditure at this time.  While pedestrian safety is indeed of great importance, the city already has a plan in place for these crosswalks through the year 2026.  As such, I will argue strongly to remove that portion of this amended resolution. 
  
  Of concern in this regard as well are the remaining funds that had originally been allocated to the city's now-erroneously-killed-in-committee (I believe) branding project.  I am not certain what voting on this resolution as it is currently amended does with these funds and I would like to be certain that they are not committed exactly to the "categories" as they are today.  These include and are, according to this amended resolution, to be set aside as follows:
  
  
• $100,000 remaining on hold for the city's website re-design
  
• $150,000 remaining on hold for the city's enhanced crosswalks (this is excluding the proposed $75k of consultant's fees which makes it a total of $225,000!) 
  
• $90,000 remaining on hold for "technology upgrades" which, depending on the IT infrastructure consultant's findings may well be needed... and then some. 
  

I'd be interested in your feedback in this regard.  How would you like these funds saved/spent?  What concerns do you have regarding the proposed spending and the funds held for further use?  

• From the Community and Economic Development Committee: As I also mentioned last week, there are some American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds grant distributions to be approved by the full council.  My concern before the committee meeting last week was how these ARPA grant monies will be used by the non-profits to whom these funds are to be distributed. At the committee meeting, there was some chastising on the part of a committee member for my asking questions in this regard.  I always feel that, as your representative, I need to make it a point to tell you how your tax dollars (and in this case, how the federal funds that were allocated to the city for post-COVID recovery) are being spent.  This is a simple issue of transparency and I will not be assuaged in my efforts to be fully transparent with taxpayers in District 13 (and Appleton as a whole). 
  
  The city's Director of Community and Economic Development, Karen Harkness, did answer the questions I had with a simple matrix (also found below).  Take a look and let me know your thoughts on how this $250,000 is proposed to be distributed throughout the city.  These are funds which could have been used in a multitude of ways to help citizens of Appleton in these post-COVID times.  Are these ways acceptable to you?  
  
  
  

Besides the above three hot-button topics, I expect the regular full council meeting to go fairly smoothly.  I'm always interested in your thoughts on these matters and anything else that you are aware of through previous blog posts or news reports of the goings on in city government.  So please always feel free to reach out to me! 

And just when you thought the week's meetings (and this blog post!) were over.... there's a Special Session of the full Common Council this week.  This special session called by the mayor is a result of a resolution that was presented to the council during the last Full Council Week.  Since the resolution does not at all "fit" with any of the standing committees in City of Appleton government (and that should tell you something), the mayor elected to review this resolution in a "committee of the whole" session of the full council. 

"Committee of the Whole" essentially means that the full common council acts as it's own committee when business cannot be conducted in smaller standing committees.  For example, "committee of the whole" was used in early 2020 when city government needed to determine how to operate during the early days of COVID19.  

Full Common Council SPECIAL SESSION -- Thursday, 03/17/2022, 5:30pm 

Here (and below) is the full resolution as was presented: 

#4-R-22 RESOLUTION ON CLEAN WATER AND TREATY RIGHTS

Submitted by: Alderperson Meltzer – District 2, Alderperson Schultz – District 9, & Alderperson Wolff – District 12

Date: March 2, 2022 Referred To: Special Session of the Common Council

WHEREAS the Upper Mississippi watershed and the western Great Lakes, as well as the rights and sovereignty of Indigenous people, along with many historic cultural sites, are threatened by Enbridge Energy’s construction of Line 3, an expanded, rerouted, tar sands pipeline passing through northern Minnesota, and portions of Line 5, a reroute of an old, corroding crude oil pipeline that crosses many sensitive and vulnerable environmental and cultural areas in Northern Wisconsin, and threatens the safety and wellbeing of not just Northern Wisconsin but our entire state including Appleton; and

WHEREAS, Enbridge has a history of catastrophic oil spills in the upper midwest, including in in 1991 in Minnesota when 1.7 million gallons of oil spilled near the Prairie River, and in 2010 in Michigan when 1.1 million gallons of tar sands oil spilled into the Kalamazoo River; and,

WHEREAS, from 2002 to 2018, Enbridge and its joint ventures and subsidiaries reported 307 hazardous liquids incidents to federal regulators - one incident every 20 days on average - which released a total of 2.8 million gallons of hazardous liquids; and,

WHEREAS, in June 2021, Enbridge employees were arrested and charged in human trafficking while working on Enbridge Line 3; and,

WHEREAS, on May 3, 2021, Mayor Woodford commemorated the lives of those missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and acknowledged that resource extraction is directly related to human trafficking;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Appleton support the rights of the Anishinaabe to hunt, fish and gather established by treaties, including their actions to protect the land and waters of the Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes watersheds on which those rights are practiced, by opposing the construction of Enbridge Lines 3 and 5.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Appleton call on all residents of Appleton to raise awareness about this important struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice by learning from Indigenous leaders, Native organizations and other organizations such as stopline3.org,narf.org, oilandwaterdontmix.org and to support water protection efforts in any way they can.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Appleton call upon the Wisconsin DNR to reject Enbridge’s permit application for the construction of Line 5 across so many vulnerable environmental and cultural areas in Northern Wisconsin.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Appleton call upon every elected leader at the local, state and federal level with the authority to stop the construction of Lines 3 and 5 to do so immediately.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Appleton hereby recommend that the city of Appleton reject any request for mutual aid by Enbridge Inc. for the purpose of constructing and operating Lines 3 and 5.

First, it is my belief that this resolution and resolutions like it have no place in City of Appleton government.  There is not even a standing committee to which the mayor could refer this resolution for discussion as it does not apply to the operations of the government of the City of Appleton.  City department heads will not be present at this special session as there is nothing in this resolution that applies to city policy, municipal code, or the core operations of the City of Appleton (think refuse pick-up, street construction/repair, snow removal).  This resolution, in my opinion, is a distraction for this common council from the things that truly matter on a city level to our citizens -- the core competencies of city government.  Of course, the environment of the Great Lakes region is of great concern to those of us living here.  But this city's governmental body is not the appropriate venue for the actions requested in this resolution.  

The resolution calls for the City of Appleton to outright oppose construction on two major pipelines in northern Wisconsin/Minnesota/Michigan which carry gas, diesel, jet fuel, and residential propane through Canada to Superior, Wisconsin (Enbridge Line 3) and from Superior through Michigan's Upper Peninsula (Enbridge Line 5, the Great Lakes Tunnel project).  Two resolutions nearly identical to this one were also recently presented in Madison (it passed) and Green Bay (it was defeated) city councils.  

This is, pure and simple, an advocacy resolution -- one with which a great many citizens of Appleton would take issue (see further explanation below).  Some of my colleagues on the council have presented similar advocacy resolutions (which are essentially "position statements" rather than the impetus for action on the part of city government) in the past and have done so through their personal beliefs that it is their purview as aldermen to "represent our constituents and elevate their voices."  I support every alderman's right to speak up for their constituents on any issue.  However, if the issue does not at all pertain to the activities of the city, a resolution to be debated in city government is not, I believe, the proper channel. 

As an alderman, I have advocated on behalf of parents and families in the Appleton Area School District through press releases, press conferences, and personal appearances... but I would not think to unnecessarily burden the Appleton Common Council with a resolution to change some policy within the school district.  This is really no different.  So, on its face, this resolution fails to get anything but my "nay" vote.

The above notwithstanding, I have looked further into the details of this resolution.  In it, there are many misleading accusations of the Enbridge Companies (human trafficking mentioned was not perpetrated by Enbridge employees as intimated, one oil spill specifically mentioned was not on an Enbridge pipeline) and an erroneous overstatement of a proclamation by Mayor Woodford (his proclamation did not at all mention resource extraction).  This resolution also only presents the negative impacts that fuel pipelines can cause.  It does not at all take into account the negative impacts of opposition to these pipelines.  There is inherent environmental risk in these ventures, it's true.  However, there are also deep financial and economic impacts of the lack of these pipelines as well. 

Countless jobs lost and infinitely higher prices of fuels and home heating are the other side of this coin.  This study on Line 5 alone shows the project as a creator of more than 1,000 construction-related jobs and $135M in economic impact to Wisconsin.  As the president of one tradesmen's union put it in a letter to common council members "Enbridge is proposing a reasonable route that minimizes the environmental dangers and damage, does not cross Native American lands, and includes safety backups and constant environmental monitoring, for a line the provides a vital fuel source.  The proposed route minimizes environmental intrusions as much as possible to achieve this end." 

That's two strikes against this resolution for me.  What are your thoughts?  I hope that this resolution is quickly defeated so that this council can get back to the real business of serving the citizens of Appleton right here in Appleton. 

Thanks so much for sticking it out until the end of this blog post, neighbors!  I hope that your week is full of sunshine (50's this week, perhaps?!) and that you will join me again for another blog post next week.