Appleton District 6 Update, October 25, 2021

 My weather app tells me that we have likely seen the last of the 70-degree days (although my social media reminds me that we had a dusting of snow on this day a year ago), so I’d say we have settled into autumn. We’re coming off a beautiful Saturday, a Packer win and the Bucks shaking off whatever that was in Miami to get back to their winning ways.  

I’m getting to the home stretch in my review of the 2022 budget, headed into our “Budget Saturday” meeting this weekend, where we will review the entire budget in detail. You still have a chance to weigh in at the first listening session Wednesday 6:00 p.m. via Zoom. You can call  920-832-5814 to register.  

I was glad to be able to attend the League of Wisconsin Municipalities Annual Conference in Green Bay last week. There were a number of interesting sessions on the issues that face all cities, towns and villages in Wisconsin, and an opportunity to talk to mayors, council members and city staff from across the state. So many of us are facing the same problems of increasing costs of maintaining infrastructure and services without taking on debt when revenue sharing from the state and tax levies are flat. 

From the COVID-19 update – we are still in the VERY HIGH category based on the burden even though the increase has been relatively flat. You may have noted last week that the booster has been approved for everyone who got the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine regardless of age. Pfizer has requested approval of their vaccine for children ages 5-11 after studies have shown it to be safe and effective in that age group.  

The majority of the discussion in last week’s Common Council meeting involved two agenda items – redistricting and the allocation of the first half of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.  

If you recall, the mayor and city staff proposed to allocate about half of the ARPA funds ($6,891,841) with a budget amendment to the 2021 budget, and the remainder in the 2022 budget. The Finance committee voted 4-0 in their meeting to accept the allocation as presented by the mayor. A reminder of that proposal: 

 

 

 

Alderperson Reed, who had to leave the Finance Committee meeting before the vote was taken, referred this back to the Finance Committee and some alders agreed that there should be more discussion. I was present at the meeting, felt that it was discussed at length, and that Alderperson Reed participated in most of this discussion before leaving the meeting before the vote. I was also concerned that the full council will not vote on this amendment to the 2021 budget before Budget Saturday where we are going to discuss the 2022 budget and thus voted with some of my colleagues to object to the referral. Ultimately the objection failed, and the item will be discussed again in tonight’s Finance Committee meeting. 

The Redistricting Committee recommended Option E in their meeting last Monday. This was the option that was based on the original Option A that was approved by the committee but later found to violate the population deviation standards. I won’t show all the maps again – they are linked below in the council meeting minutes. Alderperson Smith moved to “amend by substitution” to approve Option F (based on the original Option D) instead. During the discussion, City Clerk Lynch gave us the figures for the number of people moved out of their current district by each plan: 

Option D – 27,433 or 36% 

Option E – 14,358 or 19% 

Option F – 19,354 or 25% 

 

I had asked that question in the first redistricting committee meeting where I saw that some of the options moved what seemed like a lot of people out of District 6, so I was glad to hear the answers. The Clerk’s office created all the options with regard to the principles of compactness, contiguity, and ideal population (number of people in each district) and adhered to the legal requirement that they cannot split census blocks, so Option E that has the least disruption seemed like the best choice. Eventually the motion was withdrawn, and Option E was approved.  

The principle requires that districts be drawn without regard to where current alderpersons reside, but we are human and are naturally going to prefer maps that do not displace us or move large areas of our current districts. In the option that was approved, every district will see some changes, and I personally am not excited to see the old Ward 17 moving out of District 6, but I believe that the process was fair, and that people had the opportunity to express their concerns. 

https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=M&ID=884422&GUID=271898DC-0636-4676-8D14-21068C7485F2 

The new maps will take effect in January as we also approved the ordinance to legally define the new wards. Since most of the wards were renumbered and some polling places (like ours!) will no longer be in their original districts, the city will be sending out communications to citizens in the weeks to come where the new wards and polling places will be explained. 

Moving on to the committee meeting this week, we have a full schedule leading up to Budget Saturday. 

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, October 25, 4:30 p.m. 

• Request for three groundwater monitoring wells on the Crescent Lofts (the old Post-Crescent building) site. 
• Extension of the permit for the use of four parking stalls during the development of 318 W. College Ave. 
• Extension of the stay of “The Collective” through April 2022. This is our friend the big sculpture at E. College and E. Catherine. I understood that it had been sold and was moving, so I have reached out to Sculpture Valley to get more details. I know there was a lot of controversy about this work when it first arrived, but I personally will miss it when it is gone, and I have talked to other who will as well. I’m OK with six more months but let me know if you have another opinion.

           

          The mask here is photoshopped because I cannot find the photo of the homemade mask that appeared on the sculpture early in the pandemic. 

Finance Committee – Monday, October 25, 5:30 p.m. 

• ARPA funds allocation (referred back from 10/11 meeting as noted above) 
• Budget amendment moving funds from the David & Rita Nelson River Crossing Project to Ellen Kort Peace Park. ($750,645) The design of the crossing project was stopped because Neenah Paper notified the city that it is selling the property. The new owner will have to approve the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Permit to include the new bridge crossing within their authorized basin of the Fox River. In order to continue progress on the park master plan, they request is to take the funds and start development of Ellen Kort Peace Park. . This project will connect Jones Park to the future David & Rita Nelson River Crossing bridge and the future trail boardwalk that will eventually stretch from Vulcan Heritage Park to Lutz Park/Appleton Yacht Club. 
• Moving $40,000 left from the Municipal Services Building roof project to the office reallocation project in the Municipal Services Building. 
• Information items include the 2022 Budgets for Risk Management, Legal Services and the Finance Department. 

Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, October 25, 6:30 p.m. 

• Public Hearing on the Lundgard Park Master Plan. You can see the presentation here: http://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=430a2d85-8bf8-4231-81c1-8acfc80584fa.pdf That firefighter themed playground! 

           

• Information items include the Reid Golf Course revenue and expense report for September and the Reid Golf Course and Parks and Recreation Department 2022 budgets. 

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, October 26, 5:00 p.m. 

• No action items, but information items include a discussion of the Monthly Reports for July, August, and September 2021: 
• Wastewater Treatment Plant Synopsis and Receiving Station Revenue Report 
• Water Treatment Facility Synopsis 
• Water Distribution and Meter Team Monthly Report – September 

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, October 27, 3:30 p.m. 

• Rezoning hearing and approval for the two areas approved for annexation in the last meeting – Lightning Drive for roadway right of way, and Zeigler-Mackville Road & EE at property owners’ request to connect to city services. 
• Annexation for right of way along Spartan Drive from Town of Grand Chute. 

Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, October 27, 4:30 p.m. 

• Development agreement with MF Housing Partners, LLC. for a 43-unit apartment project two blocks north of the library. 36 of the units would be designated for low-income housing, with rents restricted for 30 years. This project is within TIF District 11, and the developer is requesting 20% “pay as you go” TIF support for a total of $611,920. The estimated assessed value of the project on completion would be approximately $3.4 million.  

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, October 27, 5:30 p.m. 

• In addition to the usual license renewals, River Tyme Bistro has requested an extension of their license outdoors because their current patio is now unusable due to the instability of the ground underneath (they are right on the river). The recommendation was to deny the request because it would remove 10 parking spaces. I will be watching to see if there might be a way around this. Even with winter coming on, I wonder if something could be worked out even temporarily to enable people to use this space. 

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – cancelled this week