The Notes: Week of December 12 - December 16, 2022

Well, neighbors, it's Committee Meetings Week once again and everyone is back at it.  There is only one cancellation for this week and that's the Appleton Redevelopment Authority.  

So, let's get started with your rundown of what to expect from all of the other city government committee meetings this week.

Monday, 12/12/2022 

Municipal Services Committee - 4:30pm  The Mackville Landfill (the city's long ago closed landfill) is the subject of a couple of items on this committee's agenda.  Committee members will be asked to approve two contracts for ongoing monitoring/maintenance of the landfill and for cap maintenance (lawn mowing, management of invasive species growth, and gravel road repairs) there.  There are also a couple of agenda items pertaining to Westwood Services (a surveying and engineering company) which I assume have something to do with the proposed reconstruction and building for a new Valley Transit center next to the library downtown.  The agenda states that there will be items which were not available at the time of the posting of the agenda distributed to committee members at the meeting.  So... when I know more, I will share it in a future blog post.

Finance Committee - 5:30pm  Aldermen Chris Croatt (District 14) and Chad Doran (District 15) and I presented a resolution at the full council meeting last week to remove council member parking passes from the common council budget ($7,200 for 2023) and move those budget dollars to the city's road construction/reconstruction budget.  The mayor referred this resolution to the Finance Committee who will take it up on Monday evening.  We three aldermen believe, as the resolution states, that this benefit is non-essential to aldermen in this city and that the cost to the taxpayer for this benefit is excessive.  Aldermen can park for free anywhere on city streets after meter hours (which is when the majority of city meetings are scheduled) and in many other available parking lots which surround City Hall.   Aldermen are not special and do not require any more special parking privileges than any other citizens.  So why should you, the city's taxpayers, be burdened with the $480/year/alderman cost of ramp parking passes? Please let me know your thoughts on this issue.  

Other items that this committee will discuss include a resolution to close the city's TIF District #6 (in the southeast corner of the city), a couple of contracts for more Appleton Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWWTP) building upgrades, a change to a contract for the city's 2022 private-side (taxpayer-owned) water line replacement program (as a result of more property owners taking advantage of this program in the city and getting rid of their potentially dangerous lead and galvanized water lines), and the request by the city's finance department to write off nearly $55k in accounts receivable and uncollected personal property taxes.  The latter is a regular request -- one that's made of this committee once a year -- and comes with the caveat that the city will not stop attempting to collect these amounts despite the write off on paper to make the books cleaner.  

Parks and Recreation Committee - 6:30pm  Members of this committee will be asked to approve a contract for the initial design services and master planning for Lundgaard Park.  This is a big step forward for another sure-to-be-excellent park in District 13!  There are also a number of 2023 rate tables up for approval by this committee.  These include slight rate increases for golf at Reid Golf Course, annual (now called "summer") and daily swim/pool passes, and "special event" pool fees (such as full-day or half-day rental of either Mead Pool or Erb Park Pool).  I didn't even know that the latter was possible!  How much fun would the private use of Erb Park Pool be for a family event?! 

Tuesday, 12/13/2022

Fox Cities Transit Commission - 3pm   Commission members will hear requests for some contracts for commissioning the remodeled Whitman Avenue Valley Transit facility and an in-vehicle networking system for all Valley Transit vehicles.  2023 agreements between Valley Transit and Outagamie, Winnebago, Calumet County, and for the Northern Winnebago Dial-A-Ride Service are also up for discussion and approval. 

Utilities Committee - 4:30pm   There are multiple contracts for stormwater consulting services up for renewal with the city and members of this committee would be the ones to review and initially approve these renewals. Two of these contracts involve areas of importance to District 13 -- the extension of Lightning Drive to the north and the increased urbanization surrounding French Road.  This committee will also review the city's October water main breaks report which shows approximately $62,300 in loss due to water main breaks in October alone.   

Wednesday, 12/14/2022

Board of Health - 7am  At nearly the crack of dawn as per usual, this board will meet for the first time since October 2022.  The one main item on the agenda is a request from the city's Department of Public Works (DPW) for conditional noise variances for various road construction projects around the city.  They will also take up a new fee schedule proposal for "environmental services" by the city's Health Department... however, the proposal is not yet available as a link in the online publication of the agenda.  I suspect there are not extreme increases in the fees proposed.  But should that assumption not be correct, I will share more about this with you. 

City Plan Commission - 3:30pm  Commissioners have four requests on their agenda this week:

• For a rezoning of a property on North Oneida Street (from Commercial to Residential) to remodel it from a day care in the lower unit and residential above and return it to a two-family home with one unit on each level.
• For the city to "vacate" (which means that the city will give these small portions of property to the adjoining property owners) small slivers of property no longer needed for street and sidewalk right-of-way along the reconfigured s-curve of Appleton and Oneida Streets.  A map of the proposed areas to vacate can be found here. 
• To revise floodplain mapping for properties along Apple Creek (the northeast section) recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  The revision includes both some minor narrowing and widening of the floodway along the creek. Here is a map of the to-be-revised area:
  
  
  
• To approve a certified survey map which crosses plat boundaries in the area of the Lawrence University Banta Bowl.  

If any of these items interests you further or concern you, please let me know so that we can talk about it in more depth. 

Community and Economic Development Committee - 4:30pm  Appleton Downtown, Inc. (ADI) is asking members of this committee (and the full common council if this agenda item passes) to have the city sponsor some of ADI's 2023 events downtown.  This year's sponsorship request is for $15,000.  What are your thoughts on the city continuing to generously sponsor ADI's downtown Appleton events?  Let me know!  Committee members will also take up a request from the same developers of Eagle Point Senior Living for TIF District support for a third development in the Eagle Point area -- a 8-unit townhouse condominium project.  The agreement would cost the city about $525k but would create an estimated additional $4M in assessed value on the city's tax rolls when the project is complete.  

Safety and Licensing Committee - 5:30pm  After a period of time without meetings for lack of agenda items, this committee is back at it with multiple requests for liquor license renewals, secondhand jeweler/pawn broker license renewals, and a cigarette license application.  The committee will also review a request by the fire department to purchase a 2023 utility terrain vehicle (UTV) with state grant money.  This UTV would assist fire department personnel in responding to medical emergencies where a standard fire truck or other fire department vehicle would not be able to go -- on the city's trail system, in city parks, and in crowds during downtown events like Octoberfest and Mile of Music.  The grant monies will fully support this purchase so I see no reason not to approve.  

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee - 6:30pm  The HR/IT Committee rounds out the meetings week with one action item on their agenda.  They will take up a request to use a single provider for the digital storage of the Appleton Police Department's (APD's) body cam digital evidence.  The city currently stores this evidence both securely online (cloud-based) and on-site with two servers owned by the city.  As you can imagine, this multi-point storage costs a lot of time and resources to manage.  So moving to a single cloud-based server will, in the end, be much more efficient and cost effective for the city.  At $52k for an 18-month term, this is both expensive and... honestly, reasonable.  I believe that it's a wise move forward for the city.  What do you think?   

And that's that.  'Lots going on this week as we slide headlong into the Christmas holiday week.  Next week, there will be a meeting of the full council on Wednesday and then... Christmas! 

As always, I urge you to reach out to me with any questions or concerns about anything District 13 and City of Appleton government-related.  I know you've just received your property tax bills and that is, indeed, an item of concern.  As you likely know, I was not at all in favor of the average 6.6% increase in City of Appleton taxes.  I put forth and voted for a number of budget amendments which were ultimately not approved.  As such, the mayor's proposed budget passed without any amendments to attempt to keep tax increases at bay.  I am always fighting for fiscal responsibility and looking out for you, neighbors.  But at this time, I am in the minority on this common council.  Please send me any feedback you might have for me in this regard. 

Thanks for joining me here today and reading while you enjoy a Packer-game-free Sunday.  Have a great week and... until next Sunday... so long!