Appleton District 6 Update for June 20, 2021
Good
afternoon District 6,
Happy Father’s
Day to all the dads and father figures out there! I send you greetings from
Little Rock, Arkansas, where I am staying with my daughter and son-in-law after
she had her first child – my second granddaughter. It was so good to travel to
be with them for the big day – actually the first time since Christmas of 2019
that I have seen them.
That
personal note is a perfect lead-in to the Common Council work that has
generated the most discussion – our consideration of keeping virtual
participation for alderpersons and members of the community. We had an informal
organizational meeting on Tuesday where we discussed the topic for over three
hours, eventually coming an agreement on both an ordinance change for the
municipal code and for changes to our internal Council rules. The original
policy for virtual attendance before the COVID emergency ordinance was very
limited – basically only an alderperson with a qualified disability could
participate virtually under limited circumstances with 24-hour written notice,
and that alderperson did not count toward a meeting quorum. After much
discussion, we agreed to modify the ordinance to allow remote participation by
any alderperson and to modify our Council rules to specify that 24 hours’
notice should be given to the mayor, the Council President and the City Clerk
for full council meetings and to the committee, commission or board chair for
those meetings. We agreed that those participating virtually would not be
allowed to participate in closed session meetings for security considerations
and that an alderperson participating remotely would not vote on matters that
depended on physical evidence or the demeanor of a witness (i.e. a license
revocation). We held a formal organizational meeting on Wednesday before the
Common Council meeting and voted for the municipal code changes during the
Common Council meeting. The public will be able to participate remotely in
meetings under the same protocols that were adopted during the COVID emergency
– by contacting the City Clerk by 3:00 p.m. on the day before the meeting in
question. Committee, commission and board chairs are expected to attend in
person or to make arrangements for the vice chair to run the meeting.
As part of
our discussion of remote participation, we looked at what would be required to
set up council chambers “the right way” for ongoing remote participation by
alderpersons and the public. The process we have been using during the pandemic
has some workarounds that are not optimal for a permanent process. We have the
big screen at the front of council chambers for the Zoom screen, blocking the
view of citizens in chambers. Because the screens in chambers are linked, they
all show the Zoom screen, instead of the vote counts, speaker queue, etc. as in
the past. Unless remote attendees use the software on their personal device (as
I did – and it worked great) the City Clerk has to count votes manually that
are normally entered into the system. The “back of the napkin” figure we got
was $50,000 to $75,000 to upgrade the room. We would hope that this would be an
allowable use for some of the federal funds the city will be receiving, but if
not, we would explore other options, including the capital budget for planned
upgrades to City Hall within the next couple of years. I am aware that even
federal funds are taxpayer dollars, but I believe that public access and the
ability of alderpersons to represent their constituents even if they cannot
attend a meeting in person is worth this relatively small one-time expenditure.
At the risk of sounding like a public radio pledge drive host, that amount is
between 67 cents and one dollar for each citizen of Appleton.
I am pleased
that we eventually worked this out. I believe that while none of us preferred
the times when everyone was participating via Zoom, we also managed to perform
our duties to the city and to our constituents while most of us attended
meetings virtually. As my colleague Alderperson Van Zeeland found when she
looked at attendance numbers going back to 2013, our attendance was actually
better during the recent period when we could attend virtually. I want to go on
record that I have not missed a meeting since being elected in September of
2019, although I once got stuck in traffic which made me four minutes late to a
Utilities Committee meeting in 2019 causing me to miss the entire agenda.
I was
surprised at how heated the whole discussion of this topic became, both in meetings
and on social media. I was also surprised that the most vigorous opponents of
any sort of virtual attendance option were two members who were not on the
Common Council during most of the time that many of us were attending virtually,
even before any discussion of the potential cost. I believe that my colleagues
are sincere in their desire to represent their constituents to the best of
their abilities, and I am certain that most of us will continue to attend the
vast majority of meetings in person. However, alderpersons are just like the
community we represent – most have full time jobs that may require them to
travel on occasion, some are parents who might have an occasional childcare
issue. In order to have a Common Council that represents the community we live
in, we need to make it possible for the widest variety of people to serve. I
believe the changes we adopted take an important step in that direction.
The rest of
the Common Council meeting was fairly uneventful. The mayor issued a
certificate of recognition for the outgoing president of Lawrence University,
Mark Burstein. There was a proclamation for Refugee Day, where the journey of
our colleague Maiyoua Thao from a child who came to the United States as a
refugee was noted. There was also a proclamation for Pollinator Week, which the
mayor presented at an event at the Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin.
The only
item that was separated for individual consideration was the liquor license
renewal for Core’s Lounge on College Avenue (1350 W. College). There have been
numerous complaints from neighbors about loud music coming from this business
and neighbors testified both at the Safety and Licensing Committee and at
Common Council about the noise level. However, the police have responded
numerous times and have not been able to validate the claims of excessive
noise. At both meetings, it seemed that the options for the Common Council were
very limited – we could be subject to legal action for revoking a license
without documented grounds. In the end, the vote was to renew the license,
while reminding the neighbors that they could still request a revocation. I
abstained on this vote because I was aware of the legal issue, but still have
concerns about this business next to a residential area.
The Taskforce
on Resiliency, Climate Mitigation and Adaptation met Wednesday afternoon with the
consultant who is working with us on streamlining and prioritizing the recommendations
in the climate action plan. We will be working with the subcommittees for each
section over the next couple of weeks to eliminate redundancies across topics
and assign an action type, priority and responsibility for each proposed action.
In committee
meetings for the upcoming week:
Municipal
Services – Monday, June 21, 4:30 p.m.
· Alvin Street reconstruction: Alvin
Street, from Wisconsin Avenue to Marquette Street, be reconstructed with
asphalt pavement and concrete curb & gutter to a width of 31’ from back of
curb to back of curb, which is 2’ narrower than the existing street. Existing
parking provisions within the project limits will remain unchanged. Utility
work will take place in 2021; street reconstruction in 2022.
· Prohibition of pole buildings and
sheds constructed from shipping containers.
· Requiring solar electrical work to be
done by a licensed contractor.
· Information item – DPW has revised
the proposal regarding leaf, brush and bulky item pickup discussed in the last meeting:
New
Proposal:
Comparison of Proposals:
Finance
Committee – Monday, June 21, 5:30 p.m.
·
Presentation
of the 2020 audit report – the audit was “clean” with no deficiencies in
internal controls over financial reporting or controls found and no compliance
findings reported.
· Request to award the City of
Appleton's 2021 Appleton Wastewater Treatment Plant Painting project contract
to SDS Painting, Inc in the amount of $181,760 with a contingency of $6,740 for
a project total not to exceed $188,500.
· Request to approve the First Addition
to Broadway Hills Estates Development Agreement
· Resolution for a City of Appleton
Brand Study – I will be interested to see how the Finance Committee votes on
this; a request for proposal has been generated, but I will need to review this
more carefully before it comes to the full council to decide how I will vote.
· Resolution #5-R-21 Political
Signs on City Property – this would ban political signs on property leased from
the city as well as the current restriction on political signs on city
property. Based on the city attorney’s memo, this would be enforceable in the
lease contract and I believe it is a good idea.
· 2022
Special Assessment Policy –
Parks Recreation Committee – Monday,
June 21, 6:30 p.m.
· Request by the Trout Museum to use
Houdini Plaza for a private event August 27.
· Information items will include the
Reid Golf Course revenue report and the Erb and Mead pools update
Utilities
Committee – Tuesday, June 22, 5:00 p.m.
· City ordinance change to require commercial
properties to triple valve fire service or combination fire/domestic service
lines to ensure continuous water supply during a water main break or
discontinuance of service.
· Approval of the Electronic Compliance
Maintenance Annual Report (eCMAR) for 2020.
State of Wisconsin Code NR 208 mandates
an annual assessment of the wastewater utility. Requirements under NR 208 are
enforceable through the facility’s Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System permit. The 2020 eCMAR is required to be submitted to the Department of
Natural Resources (DNR) by June 30, 2021. After approval from the Utilities
Committee and Common Council, the 2020 eCMAR will be submitted to the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources. Each eCMAR category was letter graded (A, B,
C, D, or F) based on regulatory criteria. The categories are then combined, and
an overall treatment works grade point average was determined for 2020.
Responses are required for categories with grades at or below a “C” or for an
overall grade point average less than 3.0. The overall letter grade for the
2020 eCMAR is an A with a grade point average of 4.0. All the categorical
grades for the facility were graded as excellent or A.
City
Plan Commission – Wednesday, June 23, 3:30 p.m.
·
Rezoning
of the former VFW site on W. Packard from future one and two family to mixed
use. (there were multiple parcels with different zoning involved previously.
·
Rezoning
of the former Family Video location on E. Calument to General Commercial.
·
Rezoning
of undeveloped land on Coolidge Ct. to multi-family.
·
Special
use permit for alcohol sales and consumption at the new events center at
Riverheath.
Safety
and Licensing and Human Resources and Information Technology Committee meetings
are canceled due to lack of action items.
Have a great
week – I’ll be sorry to leave my daughters and their families but happy to get
out of this Arkansas heat and humidity. Leaving you with the little girls that
make travel, heat and humidity worthwhile.
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