These time change weeks never seem to get easier – was anyone else ready to go to bed at 7:00 last night? I know there are various bills floating around to either get rid of Daylight Saving Time or to keep it year-round. I’m grateful that we don’t have to deal with this at the city level – it seems that people are very passionate about their choices either way.
We continued our focus on the 2022 budget last week. On Wednesday there was a public hearing where 16 citizens gave their testimony about the budget. You can hear what they had to say here:
A number of those speakers were supporting measures to mitigate climate change, some of which will be proposed in the Climate Action Plan that will be issued by the Task Force on Climate Resiliency, Mitigation and Adaptation by the end of the year. The City of Appleton has been a leader in sustainability for some time. We achieved our goal of reducing electricity use by 25% by 2025 four years early and will continue that trend with the installation of the solar array on the roof of the Municipal Services Building. This project should save taxpayers $30,000 in utility costs per year. I had the opportunity to be part of a tour of the solar array given to State Representative Snodgrass and Lieutenant Governor Barnes by Directors Gazza and Vandehey last week. I hope that we can continue working with our state and federal officials on projects that will both help the city move to green energy AND save us money.
After the budget hearing, we moved to our regular Common Council meeting. After a meeting with no mayoral proclamations, there were four at this meeting:
- Appleton High Schools DECA Week
- Native American Heritage Month
- Runaway & Homeless Youth Prevention
- Small Business Saturday (personally excited to see this one back live and in-person)
In the COVID-19 update we heard that we are still in the VERY HIGH burden category and the HIGH transmission rate. It was good news to hear that the hospitalization and patients in intensive care fell a bit last week. Interim Health Officer Jensen didn’t have the specific numbers for breakthrough (post vaccination cases) but I noted from the state Department of Health Services that cases in unvaccinated people are almost 5 times those in vaccinated people, hospitalizations are close to 10 times those in unvaccinated people and deaths are 25 times those in vaccinated people. Testing, vaccines and boosters are available at clinic at 2411 S. Kensington Dr. (the former Best Buy store). For more information:
https://covid-19-appleton.hub.arcgis.com/pages/vaccine-site
During the rest of the meeting, we approved the ordinance establishing the legal definition of the new wards and aldermanic districts approved in the last meeting. Expect further information as we move closer to January when the new maps take effect. Some polling places are likely to change.
Among the items separated out for individual consideration was the extension of the lease for “The Collective” sculpture on E. College Avenue. This was held until the next meeting because the Public Arts Committee was considering extensions for two other works that morning, one of which will also have to be considered by the Parks and Recreation Committee today. The wish was to take all of these up together at the next Common Council meeting.
The resolution for the 2021 ARPA funds allocation was also separated and there was a lively debate over the allocation. Alderperson Doran made a motion to amend the resolution to remove the $2 million allocated to the library project for broadband, the $250,000 for short term community partner support (grants to non-profits) and $150,000 for consulting fees to aid in correctly administering and filing the necessary reports with the federal government for the ARPA funds. This motion failed 13-2 and the allocation for the current budget year was approved. I believe that the fund allocation reflects careful consideration of the needs of our community, including the input that was received in the two listening sessions that were held. They are being used within the parameters specified by the legislation – recovering lost revenue, broadband, and aid to the hardest hit populations. The funds for broadband and lead water line replacements reflect projects that were already in the five-year capital improvement budget, and should enable us to reduce borrowing for those projects.
As noted in the discussion of the committee agendas in the last update, the council approved moving funds from the Nelson River Crossing project to the Ellen Kort Peace Park Project during the sale of the Neenah Papers property and the transfer of the permits by the eventual new owner. Director Gassa noted that this was an ideal transfer because the Ellen Kort Peace Park Project has had the design completed and is “shovel ready.”
The agreement with MF Housing Partners for the Rise project in TIF 11 (N. Oneida St., E. Harris St. and N. Appleton St.) was also approved. This will add 43 housing units, 36 of which will be reserved for low-income tenants. I am happy that this development will mostly be two- and three-bedroom units suitable for families. The city will contribute approximately $600,000 in “pay as you go” TIF funds for the project.
The big item on the committee schedule this week will be the special session on Wednesday at 6:00 where we will vote to adopt the 2022 budget.
There have been a few amendments submitted, although amendments could still be proposed during the meeting. Two of the amendments involve the parking passes that were added as part of alderpersons’ compensation in 2013. Alderperson Doran proposed eliminating the parking passes and transferring the $6300 to Information Technology for computer replacements. Honestly, I think this is more about making a show of sacrifice/frugality rather than the ultimate effect that $6300 will have on the IT budget. Alderperson Reed proposed an amendment transferring half of the budget for parking passes to the Common Council training and travel budget. The Common Council had a budget of $3800 (for 15 council members) as of 2018, when it was cut to the $400 it was last year. The budget is intended to partially reimburse alders for taking classes from the League of Wisconsin Municipalities or other organizations or for attending the League’s annual conference. I took the Local Government 101 class for $100 when I was first elected and found it invaluable. I believe it would have taken hours of city directors’ time to convey the information that was in that online class, and I think all new council members should try to participate. However, I think that taking away half of the parking passes sets up an undesirable situation of having to decide who gets a pass and who doesn’t. Right now, it appears that close to half of the alders said they don’t use their parking passes (full disclosure – I don’t use mine a ton during the summer when I ride my bike to meetings a lot, but I do use it in the winter, especially on really nasty days when I can use the walkway from the yellow ramp to City Hall) but we don’t know what the expectation would be for a new group. I plan to vote against both of these amendments unless I get some understanding of how this would be handled.
I proposed an amendment that would take $500 from the mayor’s office training and travel budget (currently proposed at $10,000) and add it to the council training and travel budget. This would make the council budget $900, allowing each of the seats that could potentially be held by a new person every year to attend the Local Government 101 class. If incumbents don’t need the class or new alders decide not to take it, then the remaining funds could be used to partially reimburse those who attended a conference. It will be interesting to see how this works out. I have a question in to the Human Resources Director about how parking passes are assigned to other city employees.
The last amendment seeks to take $2,000,000 from the capital improvement plan for the library, compensating for the ARPA funds allocation. I understand that the authors want to reduce the overall borrowing for the library by that amount, but I’m not really sure I understand how this would work as these are not funds budgeted in 2022; rather it’s part of the five-year plan for 2023. The five-year plans are not binding; we often end up moving a project based on funding or other conditions. I’ll have questions for the Finance Director about this amendment.
In other committee meetings this week:
Municipal Services Committee – Monday, November 8, 4:30 p.m.
- Presentation by BIRD regarding the scooter pilot program and review of the city survey
- Proposed change to increase the number of food trucks allowed downtown from 4 to 8 and to remove some of the restrictions about where they can operate.
- Developing a parklet policy – this was after the successful pilot program with the parklet on State St. I would love to see more of these, giving seating options downtown that are not associated with a particular restaurant.
- Changing the speed limit on Washington St. between Story and Bennett to 15 mph after a 6-month trial. This street is very narrow – more like an alley.
Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, November 8, 6:30 p.m.
- Proposed rate changes for Reid Golf Course
- Weekday 9-hole fee to increase $1 to $18.
- Business pass (includes a foursome for one tee time and two carts per day) to increase by $375 from $2625 to $3000.
- Request to install large letters reading “RISE” in Houdini Plaza (replacing the HOPE that has been installed there).
- Request to extend the lease on two sculptures in Jones Park and Vulcan Heritage Park for one year.
Board of Health – Wednesday, November 10, 7:00 a.m.
- Proposal for an East Central Weights and Measures Consortium – Neenah would need 35 days per year at $446 per day, starting 1/1/2022.
- Rate changes for certain weights and measures inspections.
City Plan Commission – Wednesday, November 10, 3:30 p.m.
- Special use permit for paint/craft studio with alcohol sales at 500 N. Morrison Dr.
- Rezoning of Spartan Dr. right-of-way annexation
- Extraterritorial approval of additional development in the area currently occupied by WG&R Furniture and REI in the Town of Grand Chute. Appleton has approval rights because it is in the three-mile zone.
Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, November 10, 4:30
- Amendments to the Community Development Block Grant policy – clarification of uses of program income
- Award of CDBG for 2022:
- Request for a one-month extension to the Planning Option Agreement with Merge, LLC. for the site of the former Blue Ramp. This firm already has an approved plan for the former Conway Hotel site. (possible closed session regarding the sale of the site).
Finally, you have a couple of opportunities to weigh in on the College North Neighborhood Plan – Tuesday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This is the neighborhood around the library. See the website for details: College North Neighborhood Plan.
As always, you can view council and committee agendas and see the minutes and videos of meetings here:
https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
Enjoy this beautiful weather – I think winter is waiting around the corner.
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