The Notes: Week of August 8 - August 12, 2022

Hello, All!  Welcome back here for a new post on the happenings in City of Appleton government.  This week is Committee Meetings Week so I'll share a briefing of the highlights of the many meetings this week.  But first, two things:

1. A Reminder: This coming Tuesday is Partisan Primary Election Day in the city/state.  Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with what's on the ballot for you using this website.  While this is "only" a partisan primary, your vote will help determine which candidates will be on the ballot this coming fall.  So please take a moment to stop in at your local polling place and cast your partisan primary votes on Tuesday.
   
   
2. A Recap: The two main issues on last week's agenda for the full common council meeting were as follows:

• To allow/disallow city staff to pursue talks with the Trout Museum of Art regarding the potential of the museum relocating to the city's Ellen Kort Peace Park:  I voted along with the majority of councilmen on this to allow these discussions to move forward.  It's important to note that this was just a vote to talk further on this issue and not a vote to move ahead with the relocation of the museum as yet.  I think it's worth our time to talk a bit more about this before moving ahead or before "poo pooing" the idea without some further data/specs/etc.  
  
  
• To allow/disallow the inclusion of an advisory referendum on the city's fall election ballots regarding the legalization of marijuana in the state of Wisconsin:  I voted along with a minority of councilmen against allowing this referendum for all of the reasons I detailed in last week's blog post.  A majority of my fellow councilmen passed the initiative, however; so there will unfortunately be an expense to Appleton taxpayers for the inclusion of this question on the ballots in the fall.

Let me know your thoughts on these and any other issue that's been discussed here or that you'll read about below.  I'm always grateful to hear feedback from you.

And now onto the business of this week!  Here are highlights from each of this week's meetings in their scheduled order:

Monday, 08/08/2022

Municipal Services Committee - 4:30pm  Committee members will hear a request to add $20,000 to a contract for "geotechnical samples" of the bedrock for the Olde Oneida Street bridge over the power canal.  The DNR requires additional hazmat control for this testing/sampling and the result is the added $20k cost.  The committee will also review the latest BIRD eScooter report.  (Spoiler alert: There were 6 reported incidents and 4 reported accidents in July!) 

Finance Committee - 5:30pm  Committee members will be asked to approve a $6,100 payment to Riverside Cemetery for the maintenance of 610 military veterans gravesites and to approve a permanent sanitary sewer easement for the already-approved city sanitary sewer service to the expansion of the Holland Road landfill.

Parks and Recreation Committee - 6:30pm  Members of this committee will be asked to review and potentially approve a newly submitted resolution to create a City of Appleton Advisory Panel on Sustainability and Climate Resilience.  The proposal is that this panel will be made up of seven citizens of Appleton with professional experience in environmental/sustainability matters (to be appointed by the mayor) and these members and this panel will serve in unpaid advisory capacities only.  Under these terms, I see no issue with this resolution.  What do you think?

Tuesday, 08/09/2022

Library Board - Nominating Committee at 9:30am and Personnel and Policy Committee at 10am  The nominating committee will discuss the selection of nominees for the Library Board's president, vice president, and secretary.  The personnel and policy committee will discuss the library director's mid-year performance review and a couple of proposed changes to the library's table of organization. 

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

Utilities Committee - 4:30pm  This committee will look to approve some verbiage changes to the city's municipal code regarding "plumbing," to approve a number of contracts related to the city's water/sewer systems, and to approve and adopt the city's Stormwater Quality Management Plan dated March 2022.

Wednesday, 08/10/2022 

Board of Health - 7am  Even though they haven't met since June, this board is back at it with a bright-and-early meeting.  They will discuss a "dangerous animal determination," the request to approve a new fee schedule for the city's weights and measurements group, and an "emergent infectious disease report."  The current online agenda for this meeting does not, unfortunately, go into further details on any of these discussion points.  So if you are interested, set your alarms and tune in for this meeting!

Appleton Redevelopment Authority - 9am  It's been even longer since this group met... they last convened in March 2022!  The members of this authority will elect a chairman and vice chairman, designate a contact person, and hear updates on a) the Valley Transit Center analysis (I presume an analysis of what might be done in terms of improvement of that property), b) the library project, c) The College North Neighborhood Plan, and d) 222 N Oneida Street (which the agenda notes as "no changes.")

City Plan Commission - 3:30pm  Commissioners will discuss the approval of a special use permit for a car wash at 1000 W Northland Avenue (the former Shopko building on Northland).  City staff's review of the plans for that location provide no reason for the commission to deny this permit application.  

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

Safety and Licensing Committee - 5:30pm  This meeting is cancelled due to lack of agenda items.

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee - 6:30pm  This meeting is cancelled due to lack of agenda items.

And that's that... You're now up-to-date on the latest that's happening in your city government.  If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I'm at your service!  

I hope you have a wonderful second week of August.  See you back here next week for the next installment of your favorite blog!  (A girl can dream, can't she?!)