The Notes: Week of July 8 - July 12, 2024

Hello again, Neighbors!  I hope your holiday weekend has been a good one.  We all somehow got through the immense rain storm and the flooding that came with it.  What an anomaly: That much rain in one fell swoop... on top of the already saturated grounds from this unique spring/summer weather we've had this year!  

Thank goodness the waters receded fairly rapidly and Appleton didn't experience the kind of flooding issue with a compromised dam that Manawa did.  But we all feel terribly for those who've experienced wet basements due to the brief, heavy downpour.  The mayor's office has recommended that those who have these issues contact 211 for information on the community resources available for remediation and assistance.  Please reach out to them if you are in need!

This week in city government, we are back to a Committee Meetings Week.  However, the following committees have cancelled their meetings this week due to lack of agenda items:

• Municipal Services Committee
  
• Fox Cities Transit Commission
• Utilities Committee
• Board of Health

To follow is what I suspect you'll hear about in the meetings that are scheduled for this week:

Monday, 07/08/2024

Finance Committee - 5:30pm  Committee members will hear a presentation by the city's auditor regarding the 2023 audit and executive summary before discussion of action items for the week.  There are two construction project agreements on the table -- one to approve a plat map and relocation order for a portion of the Olde Oneida Street bridge and one to approve an agreement that would allow the city to recoup funds from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) for the relocation of a water main near the state's I41/Ballard Road interchange.    

Parks and Recreation Committee - 6:15pm  Members of this committee will not need to vote on any action items this week as the agenda only lists information items to discuss -- the Parks and Recreation Department Mid-Year Report and the Reid Golf Course June 2024 financial report.     

Wednesday, 07/10/2024

City Plan Commission - 3:30pm  Commissioners will be asked to discuss and approve the final plat for a new subdivision near the intersection of Plank Road and Midway Road.  In an informational item, the commission will also hear about the city's proposed awarding of a contract for the updating of the city's Comprehensive Plan (to the tune of $375,000... which is, fortunately, less than the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation of $400,000 for this project).  

Community Development Committee - 4:30pm  This meeting will begin with a public hearing regarding the city's 2024 Annual Action Plan for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).  If you are interested and have questions or concerns regarding this year's plan, please attend this meeting and make your questions known.  Otherwise, please let me know and I can inquire for you on any questions you might have.  The plan will further be discussed in the informational items portion of this meeting.

This committee will also take up and look to approve

1. The awarding of the contract to update the city's Comprehensive Plan (as noted above in the City Plan Commission notes), 
2. The awarding of a contract to update and coordinate services for the city's Neighborhood Leadership Academy.  The ARPA funds allocated for this totaled $100,000 and the contract up for approval is for $80,000.  So... here's another under-budget item up for approval.   And, 
   
3. A request to approve an amendment to an offer to purchase for approximately 14 acres in the city's Southpoint Commerce Park.  This item may require that the committee go into a closed session (closed to the public to discuss real estate negotiations).  The buyer would like to extend the inspection date (time allotted for the buyer to inspect the property) in order to have more time to secure leases and procure materials to develop the property.  In exchange for the delay (of one year), the buyer will agree to pay $43,000 an acre instead of the originally agreed upon $41,000 an acre.  This seems like an acceptable agreement... but I do have concerns about a one-year delay in the development of that property in case another ready, willing, and able buyer comes into the picture and wants to develop the lands much more quickly.  What are your thoughts? 

Safety and Licensing Committee - 5:30pm  This committee will again discuss the non-renewal of a liquor license for Corner Pub on Mason Street.  In their last meeting, this item was held to allow the license holder time to complete some repairs to and inspections of her establishment to allow her to open her business and therefore actually use the liquor license for this establishment.  They will also revisit the denial of a liquor license for Mr Frogs (as was mentioned in this past blog post).  This latter one has taken a bit of a turn in that the license holder, since the last meeting of this committee, has withdrawn her license application.  

Other items up for discussion include

1. The renewal of a contract for the time clock/scheduling services for the Appleton Police Department (APD),
2. A number of new liquor licenses and renewals up for approval, 
3. A number of temporary premises amendments for liquor license holders to allow for liquor service during the city's upcoming Mile of Music festival, and
4. Some renewals of pet store licenses, cigarette/tobacco licenses, and salvage dealers licenses. 

In information items, there will also be a discussion of overtime hours for the Appleton Police Department thus far this year.   

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee - 6:30pm  The one action item on this meeting agenda is a request to use carryover 2023 funds budgeted (and a small amount of the 2024 Information Technology operations budget) for IT endpoint switches and uninterruptable power supplies (UPSs).  It disappointing that this project is coming in a bit over budget.  But the overage is only 2.3% ($6,000) of the total project ($256,000) and the project must be completed as some of the equipment to be replaced is 15 years old with an expected life of about 7 years.

And with that, another Committee Meetings Week will come to a close.  If you have any questions or concerns about anything noted above, please let me know.  This week's committee meetings items and those from the last Committee Meetings Week (noted here and here) will come up for full approval in next week's meeting of the full council.  So, if you have any comments or concerns about any of the items in the this and the last few weeks' blog posts, I would love to hear from you!  

I wish you all less rain in the coming week!  I hope you'll be back to read more from your alderman on this blog next week.