The Notes: Week of September 30 - October 4, 2024

Happy Sunny Sunday, Neighbors!  Thanks for joining me again for another alderman blog post.  This week is a Full Council Week so there is, of course, one Wednesday meeting.  But there is also one special committee meeting for one action item before the full council considers it.  Here is what you can expect to hear about this week:

Wednesday, 10/02/2024    

Municipal Services Committee - Special Meeting - 6:45pm  Appleton Downtown, Inc. is asking the council to consider allowing free parking in the city on Small Business Saturday (the day after Black Friday) again this year.  Last year, they asked the same -- that there would be no enforcement of parking fees for on-street parking at meters and for ramp parking downtown -- but only the on-street free parking was allowed by the council.  I suspect the same will happen again this year since there is no logical way to allow free ramp parking for only one day.  (If someone decides to park in a downtown parking ramp for free on that Saturday but leaves his/her vehicle in the ramp after the day is over, there would be no way for that vehicle to leave the parking ramp again as a ramp ticket is required to exit city parking ramps.)

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  There will be a presentation of the Appleton Fire Department's Civilian Award and City Star Awards to start the mayor's portion of this week's full council meeting.  The mayor also has seven proclamations to present.  The last of the mayor's portion of the agenda is titled the "2025 Executive Budget and Service Plan."  This last item is where the mayor presents his proposed 2025 budget and gives the council and anyone else tuning into this meeting a summary of the proposed budget for the next year.  This marks the official start of the budget season for the City of Appleton.  

There will be a public hearing for the street vacation (the city handing over ownership of a portion of a street right-of-way to neighboring property owners) of a portion of North Sampson Street (which was proposed but never was built).  The vote on this street vacation will follow (and likely pass unanimously). 

Then we move on to the meat of the agenda and consider all action items which passed through committee meetings last week.  Here are the items most likely to be separated for further discussion by the full council:

• From the Municipal Services Committee:  After further consideration by this committee, we will again look to deny a variance request for a paved portion of the front yard of a property on Ballard Road.  This was mentioned here and here.  While I am not a big fan of a municipal government telling private property owners what they can and cannot do with their properties, there is municipal code that prohibits paving of front yards for a reason.  If aldermen disagree with this, the code should be changed instead of one-off variances being granted (or not granted) based on individual appeals.  What are your thoughts on this?
  
  
• From the Safety and Licensing Committee:  An applicant for a bartender's license who has four Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) convictions on her record, the fourth being a felony count, is requesting that this council approve her licensure to allow her to continue as a licensed bartender.  Without a bartender's license, she can still serve alcohol but must have someone else on staff while she serves who legally holds a bartender's license.  The committee approved her application based on... sympathy for her story, I guess.  No items showing rehabilitation (required to allow her a bartender's license after a felony conviction) were presented to this committee last week.  So, I do not believe that this license should be granted.  I empathize with this applicant.  However, there are standards to be upheld for this licensure for a reason -- for public safety.  I intend to vote to deny this license.  But what do you think?
  
  
• From the Human Resources and Information Technology Committee:  In a bit of a surprise last week, this committee voted unanimously to approve NO increase in alderman salary for those elected and serving after April 2026.  I believe that this is the right move and hope that the full council will vote in agreement with this.  I understand the arguments from some that aldermen should earn more money so as to not preclude anyone from considering running for and serving their neighbors.  However, taxpayers should not be saddled with an excess expense for quality service by one of their neighbors on the common council.  I hope that you agree.  But please let me know if you have other feedback for me in this regard. 
  

There are, of course, a few other items on the agenda for approval.  But those will likely not require further discussion beyond what was already had last week in committee meetings.  

I'd be so glad to hear from you regarding any questions or comments you might have on any of the above items or anything else of concern to you, Neighbors.  Please always feel free to contact me.  I hope that you have a great first week of October ahead.  (It's so hard to believe that it's already this far into the autumn season!)  Thanks again for tuning in and reading today!