Appleton Common Council District 6 Update, September 20, 2021

I’m a little late starting the update this week because it was marathon weekend. This is the first time in three years the Fox Cities Marathon has been held after being canceled in 2019 for a bad storm with lightning and last year due to COVID, and the first time I have participated. My distance running days are behind me, but I do a lot of racewalking, so I had high hopes for a good effort yesterday in the full marathon. Alas, the weather had other thoughts – I finished, but the heat ensured that I didn’t have the time I had hoped for.

It was definitely a busy weekend in Appleton. I stopped in at Rhythms of the World at the beginning of my trip through the Downtown Farm Market. I got to catch the Lawrence University Mariachi Ensemble (LUME), but there were so many groups that looked fun that I wish I could have stayed all morning.

Speaking of downtown, I know that many people are disappointed that Octoberfest and License to Cruise have been canceled for another year. Based on my e-mail, there is some misinformation about the reason for the cancelation. The city had already given the necessary permits and licenses; the organizers just did not have enough volunteers or food vendors they needed to put on the type of event they wanted.

https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/2021/09/13/appletons-octoberfest-license-cruise-canceled/8315578002/

Appleton Downtown is planning a smaller “Fall Fest” in conjunction with the Farm Market on Friday and Saturday, with live music by Unity the Band during the farm market, and bands at several of the bars downtown on Friday and Saturday evening. There is also a “Mocktoberfest” taking place at some of the downtown bars on Saturday evening.

On to the business of the city. At the council meeting on Wednesday, the mayor issued proclamations designating September 15 through October 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month.

We also received an in-person update from the teams at Skidmore Owings & Merrill and The Boldt Company, who will be the construction manager on the project. You can read the update and see the presentation from the links here:

https://apl.org/planning/content/library-building-project-update-september-2021

Interim Health Officer Jensen gave the COVID-19 update. Appleton is still at the VERY HIGH level of burden and trajectory of new cases – the levels are what they were back in January before the vaccines were widely available. Appleton was at 56.3% fully vaccinated and 68.6 % of vaccine-eligible residents.

I just got notice of a new testing site in the old Best Buy building on S. Kensington:

https://covid-19-appleton.hub.arcgis.com/pages/testing-site

Walkins are available. Outagamie County is still offering vaccine clinics at the Fox River Mall from 11:00 to 7:00 except for Wednesday and Sunday. Walk-ins allowed. Vaccines are available at the Outagamie County Public Health Division at 320 S. Walnut weekday from 9:00 to 3:00. Appointment at (920) 832-5100. No charge or ID required at either clinic.

As expected, the two items on the council agenda separated for individual consideration were the resolution in support of the resettlement of Afghan parolees in Appleton and the item concerning alderperson salaries.

There was lively discussion on the Afghan resettlement resolution, with everyone who spoke saying that they were in favor of these parolees (this term is used to indicate the absence of a visa rather than any legal status) being welcomed to the city. The vetting process is stringent for these and any individuals who will be settled from camps like Fort McCoy. The stated objections to the resolution were based on whether is it beyond the scope of the council to enact resolutions that don’t call for specific actions. My view is that the resolution can be the council’s way of expressing our official position on a subject, just as the mayor can issue a proclamation. Alderperson Meltzer introduced an amendment that makes the resolution clearer that we support city departments in their efforts. In the end, the resolution passed 11-2 (two alders were excused from the meeting). I happened to run into World Relief Fox Valley Director Tami McLaughlin downtown on Saturday. She expressed her gratitude to the Common Council for passing the resolution to make the policy of welcoming these individuals the official statement of the council.

The other item that was discussed was the salary for Common Council members. As you may recall, we are supposed to discuss this every year so that a salary can be determined for the next incoming council. Sitting council members may not vote on a salary that will be effective during their current term. The prior Human Resources Director did not put the item on the agenda in 2020, so when we considered it in February, we had the option to put a staggered salary schedule in place or to wait and adopt a salary effective in April of 2023. We chose to avoid the staggered salary schedule and make any change effective in 2023. At the Human Resources and Information Technology meeting, Alderperson Joe Martin proposed a salary of $10,125. That was passed 3-2 (I voted against) in the committee. When that proposal went to the full council, it was referred back to the HR/IT committee to be reconsidered in September. Much of the committee wanted to implement some kind of automatic cost of living increase, but we were advised that state law did not allow this, and we must consider it for every new term. I initially proposed a 5% increase, but others believed that it should be somewhat larger, so I proposed a salary of $7000 per year as a starting point for the discussion. I had also proposed larger salaries for the council president and vice-president since they have additional responsibilities such as presiding over council meetings in the mayor’s absence and responding to emails and other correspondence from people outside the city. The attorney advised that our rules did not allow for a salary differential for these positions. I was a bit confused by that as the Outagamie County Board and most of our neighboring communities pay the council or board president more. We eventually agreed on a salary of $6750 per year, an increase of $528.59 per year. I discussed my thoughts about the salary in the last newsletter, so I won’t rehash that here. I think we had a thoughtful discussion and arrived at a fair amount – about a $10 per week raise starting in April of 2023.















The full council passed the resolution 10-3, interestingly enough with Alderperson Martin, who had proposed the $10,125 salary in February, being one of the votes against.

The committee schedule this week is abbreviated, with a number of meetings being canceled due to a lack of action items.

·       The Redistricting Committee had its first meeting this afternoon. The meeting was a general discussion of the principles of drawing the ward and district boundaries and a look at the Outagamie County proposed supervisory districts. There seemed to be an agreement that Appleton would want to keep the same number of districts, although the ward boundaries will need to change to accommodate the new county supervisory boundaries. I’m attaching a preliminary map showing the population changes in each aldermanic district with the proposed Outagamie County supervisory district lines. District 6 lost 170 people between 2010 and 2020, and we were the smallest district in population to begin with. Based on this and the gains in the districts to the north, I would expect that we would get geographically larger to even out the population. The next meeting is next Monday, and I will attend that one as well and keep you posted. These are noticed meetings like any committee meeting and can be live streamed or viewed later.

·       Finance Committee – Monday, September 20, 5:30 p.m.

o   Approve development agreement for Apple Fields subdivision north of E. Glenhurst and east of N. Lightning Drive.

o   Award contract for transportation utility study to Ehlers/RA Smith consulting team in an amount not to exceed $72,187.

o   Award three year contract to CliftonLarsonAllen LLP to provide audit services for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 annual audits.

·       Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, September 20, 6:30 p.m.

o   Award Design, Engineering, and Permitting Services for the WE Energies Trail to KL Engineering for a contract amount of $134,912.58. This is a 1.6 mile off-road trail between Oneida St. and Woodland Park/Horizons Elementary School.

·       Board of Zoning Appeals – Monday, September 20, 7:00 p.m. – considering a variance to allow a fence higher than three feet in a front yard on Haymeadow St. The lot is not square, so much of the yard area is considered the front yard.

·       Joint Review Board – Wednesday, September 22, 10:00 a.m. – discussing the boundary changes in Tax Increment Districts 3 and 12.

·       Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, September 22, 4:30 p.m. – reviewing a request to waive the city’s repurchase rights to a property in the Northeast Business Park so that the owner may sell the property. The waiver is not transferrable and the city would retain the repurchase rights after the sale.

·       Muncipal Services Committee, City Plan Commission, Utilities Committee, Safety and Licensing Committee and Human Resources and Information Technology Committee meetings were all canceled for this week. 

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