The Notes: Week of November 21 - November 25, 2022

Happy Thanksgiving Week, District 13 Neighbors!  I wish you week full of peace and love!

Due to the holiday and the recent flurry of activity involving the 2023 city budget, this week -- normally a Committee Meetings Week -- will be a bit of a quiet one.  Members of the following committees have this week off:

• Parks and Recreation Committee
• Fox Cities Transit Commission
• Utilities Committee
• City Plan Commission
• Community and Economic Development Committee
• Safety and Licensing Committee
• Human Resources and Information Technologies Committee

What's left, you ask?  Well, here you go:

Monday, 11/21/2022

Municipal Services Committee - 4:30pm: Committee members will decide if a sidewalk closure of one year (until 11/01/2023) on Washington Street (behind City Hall, across from the Fox Cities Transit Center and the city's yellow parking ramp) for the construction project occurring there will be allowed.  They will also be asked to approve the city's 2023 fee schedule for the Department of Public Works and the city's downtown parking and meter bag policy revisions for 2023.  There is only one proposed fee increase on the fee schedule: monthly ramp permits to increase from $35 to $40. 

Then the committee is expected to go into a closed session for some discussion of the last item on the agenda: approval of the Outagamie County Northwest Landfill Expansion Agreement.  This one will be an interesting one for District 13 as the landfill expansion will open an active landfill cell nearer properties in our district.  I will attend this meeting (though I'm not a member of this committee) to represent the interests of our district.  I expect to hear, in the closed session, what the city will ask of the county to help to mitigate the effects that this nearer cell of the landfill might impose on our neighborhoods.  Is your property directly impacted by the existing landfill services?  Let me know what you think about this expansion.  

Finance Committee - 5:30pm:  Committee members will be asked to approve a bid for a project at the city's wastewater treatment plant that is $100,000 over budget due to inflation and lingering supply chain issues.  The additional $100,000 is expected to come from a budget transfer from another wastewater treatment plant project.  This is a major concern to me as our budget seems to continue to see shortfalls with too-high bids continuing to come in for our projects.  How and where will there be dollars to complete the now-shorted project?  These are the core issues that this city must deal with now and into the future -- paying for the needed projects in our infrastructure and utilities and paring down the "wants but not needs" in city government.  What are your thoughts? Please let me know.

The committee will also look to approve a recommendation for sole-sourcing the city's Geographic Information System (GIS) services from one vendor (rather than using the typical competitive bid process for these services).  There is much value in single sourcing in this instance and I expect this request to be approved.

Board of Zoning Appeals - 7:30pm:  As you likely know from previous blog posts, this board is a favorite of mine.  I'll be interested to hear how the members of this board deal with the one request currently on their agenda -- a request for a second ground sign (where only one is allowed) on a 25-acre parcel on Kensington Drive.  According to the agenda materials, Valley Packaging, the applicant, does have a legal alternative to their proposed signage requiring a zoning variance.  So... that makes this one a request which may not be approved by the board.  If you're interested in the discussion on this, tune in online with me to hear how this goes! 

And that's it for meetings this week.  Tuesday, 11/22/2022, brings a most exciting event in Appleton, though -- the Appleton Christmas Parade!  If you are unable to be downtown for the parade, tune in to watch it on Channel 5 (WFRV).   And if you are planning to attend in person Tuesday night, see the parade's Facebook page for all the information you need to get there, park, find curb seating, etc.  This year's parade theme is "Peace on Earth" and wouldn't we all benefit from more of that?

The balance of the week is for time with family and friends and, for some, more food than is necessary.  My prayer is that you are of the lucky ones to have all of those things.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!