The Notes: Week of July 11 - July 15, 2022

Howdy, Neighbors!  Thanks for tuning in again this week.  We are back to our "regularly scheduled program" this week with Committee Meetings Week in City of Appleton government.  Some committees will have "extended holiday time" with meeting cancellations this week... but there are also quite a few committees back at it this week as well.  Here's your summary:

Monday, 07/11/2022

CEA Review Committee @ 4pm - This is one of those committees which meets infrequently... so this is their first meeting since April.  CEA stands for "Central Equipment Agency" and this committee reviews change requests for the City of Appleton fleet vehicles.  This week, they will vote to approve (or not) 

• the use of some reserve funds to upgrade a police crime scene vehicle, 
• a request to make a joint purchase with the Outagamie County Sheriff's Department for a new Mobile Command Center (MCC) which is expected to serve the departments at least through the next fifteen years, 
• requests for a couple of other minor changes to the police department fleet vehicles, and 
• a request for the purchase of a new mower to replace one which was extensively damaged in a recent accident in which a resident nearly killed a city employee who was operating the mower when she struck it with her vehicle.

Municipal Services Committee @ 4:30pm - This committee will review and potentially approve a contract with a design services company to perform a physical inspection and review the structural condition of the city's three parking ramps.  This contract would utilize the entire $40,000 in the city's parking utility budget for consulting services.  Committee members will also review and vote on whether to approve a memorandum of understanding between the city and the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce to "beautify" the city's green parking ramp.  In informational items (i.e. items which will not require a vote at this time), they will also review the status of a staff review of a resolution presented last month for the use of the terrace (the area between the street/curb and sidewalk) for public use for gardening and the like.  A memo from staff in this regard summarizes well my early concerns with this resolution: "... We will explore the potential benefits as well as any possible unintended consequences of the proposed changes.  Part of our review will also include any potential safety or maintenance concerns or conflicts with City use of and operations within the terrace area."  I look forward to the summary of the staff's review thus far.  If you have any thoughts or concerns regarding the residents' use of terraces for planting/gardening, please let me know!

Finance Committee @ 5:30pm - The Finance Committee meeting will begin with a presentation of the audit and executive summary for 2021 by Clifton Larsen, the city's contracted auditors.  After the presentation, the committee will vote to approve (or not)

• the replacement of a walk-in cooler/freezer at Reid Golf Course using carry-over revenue from the golf course's 2021 year,
• a construction bid for a sludge building addition for the water treatment plant and the order for construction of stormwater ponds for Lighting Drive/future Providence Avenue, and future Baldeagle Drive,
• miscellaneous contract amendments and budget amendments, 
• and a big one -- the reallocation of $2.9M from the "second raw water line" for the water utility (which was over-budgeted) to the 2022 Water Main Program.  This item is of significance as it will help the city address the issues brought up during recent discussions of the smaller-diameter water mains within the city.  I look forward to hearing more about how this dollar amount will help improve infrastructure issues in our city!  I'd love to know your thoughts/opinions in this regard.  Email me!

Parks and Recreation Committee @ 6:30pm - This meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items.

Tuesday, 07/12/2022

Fox Cities Transit Commission @ 3pm - This meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items.

Utilities Committee @ 4:30pm - Committee members will discuss and potentially approve the awarding of a couple of contracts and then proceed with discussion of with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) stormwater permit appendices and May 2022 water main breaks reporting. 

Wednesday, 07/13/2022  

Board of Health @ 7am - Board members get a reprieve from their early-morning meeting time with a cancellation of this week's meeting.

Appleton Redevelopment Authority @ 9am - This meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items.

City Plan Commission @ 3:30pm - Commission members will discuss a request to approve a special use permit for Midwestern Wheels (doing business as Avis Car Sales and Rentals and Budget Car and Truck Rentals) on East Wisconsin Avenue.  The applicant would like to expand the sales and display lot for this operation.  Staff reviewed and recommends this permit so I expect that there will be little, if any, disagreement from commission members on this issue.

Community and Economic Development Committee @ 4:30pm - This meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items.

Safety and Licensing Committee @ 5:30pm - There are numerous liquor license applications and temporary premise amendments up for approval by this committee.  Many of the latter are for Mile of Music celebrations in the city!  Mid-year reports from the fire department and the police department will also be presented to the committee members.  There will also be a brief discussion on the relatively new Traffic Safety Officer position in the city. 

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee @ 6:30pm - There are no action items on which these committee members will act.  However, there are some informational items to be discussed including a police officer hiring bonus program and a community service officer (CSO) bonus program to be offered.  

And that will wrap up discussions and voting for this week.  We are still in a bit of a "slow season" for city business (as is expected and usual).  But things will be starting to heat up a bit as we move into the city's budget discussion period (mid- to late autumn).  Stay tuned for more as the summer weeks wane... there's sure to be lots of library budget discussion and 2023 city budget/borrowing to be discussed in the near future.  In the meantime...

Have a wonderful summer week ahead.  I'll bring you more next week!