The Notes: Week of October 14 - October 18, 2024

Thanks for joining me here for another Full Council Week alderman blog post today, Neighbors.  The weather is definitely giving "stay indoors and watch football" vibes.  So thanks for taking a little time to read (between games?)!

The week will be a bit quiet as, besides the full council meeting, there are only one other meeting and a public hearing on the schedule.  Here is this week's rundown for you:

Tuesday, 10/15/2024  

Library Board - 4:30pm  After discussion on and potential approval of the latest bill register and a small budget amendment, these board members will look to approve the closure of the temporary library on 11/26/2024 in anticipation of the move back to the library building on Oneida Street.  The move back to the "new" library is expected to take the remainder of the year and the re-opening is expected sometime in early 2025 (dependent upon the status of the balance of the construction project).  What is not mentioned in all of this is what will occur when and if the total $12M in private funding/donations is not met before the "new" library project is to be completed.  The latest information on the Friends of the Appleton Public Library website states that $11.7M has thus far been collected.  While this is good news (progress from the last time I checked the status of this), they are still at least $300,000 short.  

Wednesday, 10/16/2024

City of Appleton 2025 Budget Listening Session - 3pm to 5pm  The mayor's proposed 2025 budget was released to the public a week or so ago.  Aldermen are taking this time (before Budget Saturday which is scheduled for 11/2/2024) to review the budget and ask city staff members questions on the proposed budget.  You can view the proposed here.  Here's the info on the public hearing sessions: 

The schedule for budget approval this year is as follows:

    Budget Saturday (Special Meeting of the Finance Committee) - Saturday, 11/02/2024 - 8am

    

    Budget Public Hearing (as detailed above) - Wednesday, 11/06/2024 - 6pm

    Budget Adoption (formal meeting of the full council) - Wednesday, 11/13/2024 - 6pm

If you have any questions or concerns on the 2025 budget, please let me know!  I'm happy to discuss anything budget-related with you.  This year's mayor's budget is quite straightforward without too many contentious items included so I expect few amendments or other controversy during the budget process. 

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm   This last week's committee meetings contained very few items of real controversy so it may be a relatively short full council meeting this week.  Here are the items most likely to be further discussed during this meeting:

• From the Municipal Services Committee: Four street reconstruction designs are up for approval after several public hearings and committee meetings regarding the proposed designs.  One street reconstruction in particular -- Bellaire Court -- is of concern to many living along that cul-de-sac.  Of greatest concern to them are the loss of old-growth trees, conditions of the neighborhood during construction (including garbage collection and accessibility), and the projected narrowing of the street.  Many trees are lost in street reconstruction throughout the city.  This is due to the fact that street construction by nature includes excavation which generally harms the root systems of larger old-growth trees.  This is unavoidable in most cases and the city forester and engineers make every attempt to save as many trees as possible during street reconstruction.  This is why most street reconstruction projects require a narrowing of the roadway -- to try to stay as far away from old-growth tree root systems so as to cause the least amount of damage to them.  So... essentially, you can't have one -- tree saving -- without the other -- roadway narrowing.  The other concerns about access to homes and garbage collection during road construction on a cul-de-sac are just not easy problems to solve.  It will be uncomfortable for those living along Bellaire Court for a period of time during reconstruction.  But the city intends to work with these homeowners to lessen the negative impacts of this reconstruction project as best as possible.  I respect the desires of the homeowners on this street; but I see the city working to make this process the least uncomfortable for them with the least tree loss as is possible while still providing them a whole newly reconstructed street which should last the homeowners and the city for decades.
  
  
• From the Safety and Licensing Committee:  Once again, the full council will face the decision on whether to grant a person with four OWIs (Operating While Intoxicated, the fourth being a felony) a bartender's license.  This item was sent back to this committee from the full council last week.  My opinion on this has been clear all along -- see here, here and here -- and I will not vote to approve this licensure.  The committee reconsidered their vote last week and out of the latest committee reconsideration came a vote (of 3 to 2) to deny the license.  (So two committee members still voted to allow the approval of this license!)  We shall see what the full council vote will be this week.  What are your thoughts? 
  
  
• From the Board of Health:  As I mentioned last week when the board took up the request to ban outdoors smoking from an entire downtown city block, I feel that this ban is a step too far for the city.  The proposal will simply push outdoors smoking to other downtown areas surrounding this block.  There will just be more smoking outside the Yellow Parking Ramp -- which is no fun when folks are exiting that ramp only to be greeted with clouds of smoke -- and perhaps across Washington Street to the entrances to some new residential buildings on the City Hall block, etc.  No matter the posited good intentions of working for the health of those who come to the library or transit center, this is government overreach in moving to take away or limit the freedoms of those smoking outdoors.  This proposal seems to me more like a veiled attempt to artificially engineer what types of people are "acceptable" on the block including the public library and the transit center -- "Smokers are not welcome here."  And I say this as someone who does not at all enjoy secondhand smoke exposure.  But this is outside where air is constantly circulating, not in inside building where there is limited air exchange.  Do you agree?  If not, why not?  I'd love to hear from you on this.      

Are there any items of concern for you in the above?  Do you have any other questions or need any other assistance on city-government-related issues?  If so, please do reach out to me and let me know! 

I'll be spending much of this week going through the second half of the upcoming year's proposed budget book.  (I'm halfway through!  Woo hoo!)  I'll share any items of concern or questions I have on the mayor's proposed 2025 budget in the weeks to come as we near Budget Saturday and the formal budget adoption meeting.  

Until then... thanks so much for tuning in again this week.  Have a great mid-October week and I'll "see" you again next week (I hope!).