The Notes: Week of June 26 - June 30, 2023

Hello again, Neighbors!  Thanks for coming back once again to read about this week's city government happenings.  This week is again a Committee Meetings Week and we have plenty on the agendas about which to chat.  Today, I'll detail things as you've come to expect in these weekly postings and conclude this post with a little bit about the library project and last week's council vote to move the project ahead.  

Monday, 06/26/2023

Municipal Services Committee - 4:30pm  There's only one action item on the agenda for this committee: a request from the developer of the property at W Harris Street and N Oneida Street for a permanent street occupancy permit to place an awning above the sidewalk all along the corner entrance to the planned construction there.  The informational item entitled "College Avenue Lane Reconfiguration Project Update" is also on the agenda.  I plan to attend to hear more about the latter and will report to you any new information I hear. 

Finance Committee - 5:30pm  Committee members will take up a few interesting action items:

• The Department of Public Works (DPW) would like permission of the council to allow the city to apply for Safe Drinking Water Loans to assist with costs associated with replacement of private property lead water service lines.  These loans will require the city pay some upfront costs for the work before the loans are disbursed; but a percentage of the loans come with principle forgiveness.  The DPW proposes to only take loans if the principle is forgiven.  So this seems like a no-lose situation for Appleton taxpayers.  I will inquire if there are any hidden terms about which we should be concerned.  But I expect that this will be easily passed by this committee and sent to council for approval later in July.
• Committee members will be asked to reject the one bid that the city received for a resurfacing project at Miracle League Field in Memorial Park.  The one bid came in at nearly double the project budget -- $319,550 with a budget of $175,000.  Goodwill Industries has agreed to pay for the resurfacing up to the budgeted amount but the city is not prepared to foot the bill for the remainder.  So the suggestion at this time is to reject this bid and revise/rethink the project a bit, and send it back out for bid for project completion in spring of 2024. 
• Only one bid was received for the flooring replacement in the new location for the city's dance studio (in Northland Mall).  It is expected that the developer of the old location of the dance studio (City Center Mall) will be reimbursing the city for some of the costs for this flooring and some other construction projects required at this new dance studio location.  Between when the city will receive those reimbursements and now, the work needs to be completed.  As such, the city's Facilities Management Department is asking that this committee (and 2/3 of the full council later) approve a budget move to take $100,000 from a budgeted project for elevator replacement in City Hall and move it to a temporary budget holding place for 2023 Dance Studio Move and Construction. I'm concerned that it's not clearly noted what costs the City Center Developer (Dark Horse Development) will reimburse the city for and this one-bid project may be more than the city should pay for this project.  A memo requesting this budgetary move states that the dance studio construction items need to take place as soon as possible.  But I hate to do something that could be detrimental to taxpayers (due to only one bid being received) simply because we are in a hurry.  What are your thoughts?
• This committee will be asked to review a report from the last meeting of the Central Equipment Agency (CEA).  Here is what they talked about and approved when they last met. 

Parks and Recreation Committee - 6:15pm  This meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items. 

Tuesday, 06/27/2023

Fox Cities Transit Commission - 2:50pm  Commissioners will be asked to approve May 2023 payments, the purchase of six replacement bus shelters with solar lighting to the tune of $68,250, and an extension to an agreement with a security company for security services at the downtown transit center (with an hourly pay increase from $21.86/hour to $25.00/hour).  The latter two items come with memo statements that grant funds and currently budgeted dollars will pay for them.  But it should be noted that the May 2023 income statement shows that Valley Transit's revenues are lower and expenses are higher year-to-date than last year, resulting in a year-to-date net loss of over a half a million dollars.  

Utilities Committee - 4:30pm  This meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items. 

Wednesday, 06/28/2023

City Plan Commission - 3:30pm  There are four action items on the agenda for these commissioners:

• The potential rezoning of The Heritage property on South Heritage Woods Drive from "Planned Development Multifamily" to "Multifamily" to allow for future expansion of The Heritage (nursing care facilities) 
• On that same Heritage property, a request for a special use permit for growth of the facilities to include a new memory care unit and a future residential facility expansion
• The potential approval of a resolution creating a new Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) District (#13 in the Southpoint Commerce Park):  I am no fan of TIF Districts though I understand their purpose and why state law allows for their creation.  The plan document shows that proposed TIF #13 would be the city's third largest at >$53M in equalized value and would include ~$23M in estimated costs.  The proposed costs, though, include mostly infrastructure improvements with no development incentives/grants projected "at this time."  To me, this is an indication that the city would like to develop the infrastructure only in this TIF district and is not planning on supporting developers with taxpayer money to develop here.  And I support that -- as far as I can support any TIF district creation.  What are your thoughts in this regard?  Let me know! 
• The request to dedicate the lands needed for the public right-of-way (street intersections) of N Providence Avenue and E Baldeagle Drive along N Lightning Drive  (See map.) 

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee - 4:30pm  A reclassification of an administrative position in the Appleton Police Department (APD) is on the table for approval by this committee.  There is a proposed pay range increase involved with this change but no 2023 budgetary impact.  I will ask about future budget impacts of this move; but in general, I support the police chief's efforts to realign APD to maximize the department to best serve the citizens of Appleton.

Safety and Licensing Committee - 5:30pm  Another liquor license holder in the city is compelled to appear in front of this committee due to an excess of demerit points on their license.  It seems that Sushi Lover on W College Avenue had no licensed server on premises earlier this year which resulted in 40 demerit points added to the 120 demerit points already on record for this establishment.  It will be interesting to hear how this license holder will attempt to rectify the issues at this establishment before a license revocation occurs.   

Due to previous violations and a liquor license revocation (in April 2022) for Core's Lounge (also on W College Avenue), the police department is requesting that this committee also deny a new liquor license for this establishment, citing "no evidence showing the licensee's rehabilitation and fitness to engage in the licensed activity." 

After those two hot topics, the committee will move on to the view and potential approval of several liquor license renewals, changes of agent, and premises amendments and a request for the Appleton Fire Department to apply for a grant for EMS supplies. 

Community and Economic Development Committee - 6:30pm  This meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items. 

That wraps up the week of meetings in city government.  But many of you may have seen or have questions on last week's full council vote on the approval of bids for the Appleton Public Library project.  

Why I voted "no" on the approval of bids for the Appleton Public Library (APL) project:  As I stated many times during last week's full council meeting, I am in support of a library project and am pleased that bids this time came in much nearer budgeted levels.  However, I have some concerns that could not be answered or allayed at the council meeting which led to my voting "no" on the project moving forward.  Voting "no" did not sit well with me; but I believe that voting "yes" would have been even worse.

The spreadsheet below shows the project proposal and a "budgeted" total of $40.4M.  It's important to note that the dollars actually budgeted by the city for this project total $28.4M... which leaves a non-city-budgeted amount of $12M.

My largest and most pressing concern is this: It was presented and argued that the Friends of the Appleton Public Library ("Friends") had begun their private donor fundraising campaign and that in the thus far "soft" portion of the campaign, ~$8M in "pledges" had been garnered.  I applaud their efforts and the efforts of all those who will be choosing to put their private funds on the line for this public-private initiative to rehabilitate the APL!  But the fact remains that not one dollar had yet been actually donated ("pledged" does not always equal "donated") and ~$8M is not the $12M needed to meet the budget shown on the spreadsheet and expected as a total outlay for this project.  

Can the total from private donors reach the $12M mark?  I expect it can.  But that cannot be guaranteed at this time.  And approving the construction bids package without a contingency plan for making up the difference between the total $40.4M project budget and the sum of the city's committed $28.4M plus whatever dollars really are donated by private investors in the project seemed dangerous to me.  The balance, I fear, could fall upon Appleton taxpayers.  And I did not feel it appropriate to put you, the taxpayers, on the line should the fundraising efforts not total at least the $12M needed.  

I hope that we needn't be concerned about this.  Many other council members enthusiastically cheered on the efforts without worry that there is no contingency plan should the private fundraising efforts not come to the full $12M fruition.  All I wanted was a plan/agreement in place in the worst case scenario of a shortfall in private fundraising.  The rest of the council (except for Alderman Chad Doran of District 15) denied any requests for contingency planning and voted then and there to move the project forward (by a 13-2 vote).      

I was also very disappointed to discover that Appleton taxpayers are having to bear the financial hit of over $300,000 to the project architects for "redesign" after the bids for the initial grandiose plans for the library came in ~$14M over budget.  I argued that this was inappropriate spending, that the architects should have better steered city staff to a pared-back plan, that the mayor had made assurances to me that no additional costs (above a contracted percentage of the total build) would come from architectural "redesign," and that any such costs should not have been approved by the mayor and the city staff involved in the project without council approval beforehand.  But alas, the mayor and city staff had already agreed for the city to pay these "redesign" charges and council members had no choice but to vote in favor of the payments or risk legal challenges by the architectural firm.  

I also find it disturbing that Appleton taxpayers are meant to pay $450,000 in "fund raising campaign" costs when the privately run Friends group is and has been conducting the campaign to raise private funding for the project.  I understand that "it costs money to raise money."  However, that should mean that the fundraising campaign should pay for itself in raising the additional funding needed to conduct the campaign.  The goal of the campaign should be $12.5M if that is truly what's needed -- $12M plus the additional nearly half a million dollars in "fund raising campaign" costs.  Instead, you and I as taxpayers are on the hook to pay $450,000 towards these fundraising efforts instead of those dollars going towards the actual building/remodeling of the library.   

I do still hold the concern that this is a very large price tag on a building remodeling.  But I have no issue with supporting a public library and what it gives to a community.  It is just unfortunate that there are financing unknowns (and financial blunders/unnecessary expenses as detailed above) and that they could negatively impact Appleton taxpayers in the very near future.

I'm interested in your opinions on this and any other city goings on.  Please send me your feedback.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great week ahead.  Thanks again for tuning in.  Let's "meet" again next week!