The Notes: Week of November 7 - November 11, 2022

Welcome, Neighbors, to what we know as a Committee Meetings Week but what I will this week refer to as Mixed Bag Week.  It's a week of meetings, a civic duty, and of honor and remembrance.  Here's your weekly run-down of the important events and meetings for you:

Monday, 11/07/2022

Municipal Services Committee - 4:30pm:  The committee will take up an interesting issue in District 13 (on Glenhurst Lane) where a property owner's fence (built in 2016) was found to be encroaching upon a city-owned retention pond lot.  Instead of making the owners tear down the fence, the city would like to enter a ten-year lease agreement for the encroached upon land with the private property owner. This is a logical and thoughtful solution to this issue and I expect it will pass.  The committee will also take up approval of the proposed reconstruction plan for Linwood Avenue from College Avenue to Summit Street and could possibly go into closed session to review contract negotiations from the Landfill Siting Committee.  (I suspect the latter is regarding the closed Mackville landfill site.)

Finance Committee - 5:30pm:  Committee members will be asked to approve an over-bid of a remodeling project for the Appleton Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWWTP) using $60k of funds budgeted for another separate project for the AWWTP to cover the difference.  They will also be asked to approve an under-budget bid (surprise!) for an HVAC system upgrade at the AWWTP as well. 

Parks and Recreation Committee - 6:30pm:  The Jones Park Rental Policy and Fee Schedule is up for approval by this committee.  The policy revisions include verbiage that this committee will be asked to approve the use of Jones Park for private events and all fees have been increased due to the increased costs of labor, utilities, and cleaning.  Also regarding Jones Park, the committee will be asked to approve a roughly $50k contract to install the shade structures which were approved by the council months ago.  

The committee will also review and potentially review a revised park acquisition map for the city.  Due to the city's boundaries steadily growing to the north, there is a new acquisition target on the map north of Plamann Park (an Outagamie County Park).  And on that same note, there is a proposed revision to the city's fee-in-lieu-of-land schedule up for review.  Any new developments in the city are asked to provide land in any proposed subdivision for the purposes of adding new neighborhood park lands to the city.  The land requirements for these dedicated park lands are 798 square feet per single-family proposed dwelling unit and 667 square feet per multi-family proposed dwelling unit.  If, however, a developer cannot or will not set aside said square footage for parklands in his/her development, a fee-in-lieu-of-land is assessed on the development to help the city acquire park land.  The proposed fees (which have not been adjusted in Appleton since 2009) are as follows: $1,100 per single-family proposed dwelling unit and $925 per multi-family proposed dwelling unit.  I appreciate how this plan works to ensure that the city provides enough park land to satisfy the public's need for green space.  But I'm interested in exploring how often the fee-in-lieu-of-land is paid and what the current fees on this are before voting for this change.  What are your thoughts on this?

Tuesday, 11/08/2022

ELECTION DAY! - Polls Open 7am to 8pm: If you live in District 13, head to Faith Lutheran Church (3100 E Evergreen Drive) any time during open poll hours and cast your vote!  If you don't live in District 13 and don't already know where to vote, find your district polling place here.  Find out more about this election day from the Appleton City Clerk's office here.   

Library Board Personnel & Policy Committee - 10:30am:  This subcommittee of the Library Board will review, discuss, and look to approve the library director's 2022 performance review, the city's non-union employee compensation study (as it affects library staff as well), some small draft changes to the financial policy for the library, and an update on the library's proposed Naming Rights Policy.  

The following committees have cancelled their scheduled meetings for the remainder of Voting Day: 

• Fox Cities Transit Commission
• Utilities Committee

Wednesday, 11/09/2022

The following committees have cancelled their scheduled meetings for this date: 

• Board of Health
• Appleton Redevelopment Authority
• Human Resources and Information Technology Committee

City Plan Commission - 3:30pm:  There will be a public hearing followed by a commission discussion and vote on a Special Use Permit for a combined gas station and car wash at 1935 E Calumet Street.  Staff recommends the approval of said permit so it is likely that neighbors to this location will have a new Circle K/Holiday station in their neighborhood.

Community and Economic Development Committee - 4:30pm:  Committee members will take up discussions on the allocation of 2023/2024 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.  The as-yet-unapproved CDBG funds available in the 2023 budget equal $589,453.  Here are the recommendations for the spending of that funding in 2023.  Let me know your thoughts on these allocations.

Full Common Council - 6pm:  Now, as a regular reader of this blog I know you're asking yourself: "This is a Committee Meetings Week, right?  So why is the full common council meeting on Committee Meetings Week??"  Well... this week is an special exception for the adoption of the 2023 city budget. 

I wrote a bit about some budget information and concerns I have last week and the week before.  Thank you to those of you who have communicated with me in this regard since "budget season" began!  We are now in the 11th hour on the 2023 budget and this meeting is the last opportunity for aldermen to make amendments to the budget to help save taxpayers and serve this city as well as possible.  Amendment suggestions were collected all last week and are summarized in the agenda for this meeting.  From the fifteen aldermen who serve this city, there came three amendment suggestions -- two from Alderman Chad Doran from District 15 and one from your alderman.  All three amendments are meant to save Appleton property taxpayers a bit of money while still servicing the city appropriately in the city's core functions.  I am proposing an amendment which will perhaps not be terribly popular with city staff but which I hope will be found to balance the desires of city employees with the needs of Appleton taxpayers.  It aims to reduce the tax levy for the city for a grand total savings of $193,726.

Proposed Amendment Text: The 2023 across-the-board merit-based salary increase for non-represented employees of the City shall be reduced from 5% to 4% with the difference reducing the tax levy, resulting in a property tax increase of 6.19% (from the proposed 6.56% in Outagamie County), 3.42% (from from the proposed 3.79% in Calumet County), and 5.23% (from the proposed 5.6% in Winnebago County).  

Rationale: While the city’s over 640 full time staff and hundreds more seasonal and part time employees are invaluable in servicing the citizens of Appleton, it is important that city government balance employee salary increases with taxpayer increases. I believe that the City can properly compensate city employees to reward them for high quality service, allowing the City to retain our high quality employees, while at the same time recognizing and appreciating the additional tax burdens that all Appletonians are facing in 2023. This amendment is offered in compromise as a “meet in the middle” point between what benefits city staff and what benefits Appleton property taxpayers.

This proposed amendment, along with any others that may be "last-minute" presented in person at this meeting (not suggested and presented ahead of agenda preparation), will be discussed and debated by the full council.  If you have any other suggestions for amendments or changes which should be made to next year's budget before it's formal adoption this Wednesday night, please contact me to discuss it. 

Friday, 11/11/2022

Veterans Day:  While Memorial Day in May is a time to remember those who gave their lives in service to our country, Veterans Day is a day set aside to honor all those who serve or who have served this country in war or peace.  This day is for thanking and honoring service members -- dead or alive -- although it's largely intended to thank living veterans for their sacrifices.  There will be a flag raising ceremony at Veterans Park in Appleton at 8:30am on Friday.  Here are the details:

And that will wrap up this Mixed Bag Week, folks.  Thank you, as always, for reading and sending me feedback regarding what's shared on this blog.  I value all of your input!  

So... until next week... (unless I hear from you before then!)... have a great week!