Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for February 20, 2022

Good afternoon District 6, 

I hope everyone has a chance to get out and enjoy some sunshine today after the wild snow squall ride on Friday night, because it looks like we’re back to winter tomorrow.  

Speaking of winter, I got a chance to go downtown Friday afternoon and look at the ice sculptures during Appleton Downtown, Inc.’s Avenue of Ice. There were a couple of repeats from last year but some pretty cool (pun intended?) new ones as well. I didn’t make it down to the river, where there were additional ice sculptures, but I did see some photos. Loved the eagles. 

Before I get into the Common Council meeting from last Wednesday, I wanted to give an update on Resolution #2-R-22 Improve Communication, Technology, and Pedestrian Safety. This was the resolution to allocate the $450,00 that had been earmarked for the brand study and implementation of the recommendations to come out of said study to more immediate needs such as rebuilding the city website, technology upgrades and funding for additional enhanced pedestrian crosswalks. After a great deal of discussion at the Finance Committee meeting on February 7, the resolution was held until March, at which time city staff is to come back with thoughts on the implementation of the resolution. As many people noted, the funds do not have to be spent immediately – these were surplus funds from the 2020 budget (after using the 75% to pay down debt per city policy) and the original allocation that included the brand study was first proposed back in July of 2021. 

At the council meeting, Mayor Woodford presented certificates of appreciation to former Interim Health Officer Sonja Jensen who is continuing as deputy to new Health Officer Sepers and to Finance Director Tony Saucerman who will be retiring next month. The mayor also presented, and the council approved the recommendation to promote Deputy Finance Director Jeri Ohman to the Finance Director position upon Director Saucerman’s retirement. I am always happy when we can promote talented people from within to fill positions vacated by retirement. We also approved the appointment of Christine Bruen to the Police and Fire Commission. Ms. Bruen has been an Assistant District Attorney for Outagamie County and is now in private practice at the J. Kippa Law firm. She also teaches Constitutional Law for the Police Academy at Fox Valley Technical College. 

Health Office Sepers gave his first COVID-19 update as our new Health Officer. The news was good as the number of cases in Appleton for the week ending February 7 was less than half the number from the week before. We moved back to the HIGH category from CRITICALLY HIGH and the number of hospitalizations (which lag behind the case numbers) dropped as well.  

 

When establishing the “Order of the Day” the two items separated out for individual consideration and votes were the request (Community and Economic Development Committee) to extend the time for the developer of the project at 513 W. College Avenue to reach the $1.7 million assessed project value until January 1, 2023. Supply chain issues and slower than normal leasing caused by the pandemic have led to the delay. The assessed value is $1.41 million at this point. More leases will increase the value and the developer is confident that this will be achieved by the new deadline. Director of Community and Economic Development Karen Harkness noted that this delay does not come with any additional cost to the city. 

The other item that was separated out was the request for a $65.98 credit on a water bill. The story is complicated, but was discussed so much in the Utilities Committee meeting and again at council because some members didn’t believe that the credit (out of a total bill of over $1600) should have been given. The circumstances were unusual – the landlord is requesting the credit and there was some confusion at committee as to whether a landlord can get AquaHawk monitoring for a rental property where the water bill is paid by the tenant (they can, as long as they have the account number and/or authorization from the tenant) and due to a delay in the mailed notification from the city about the large increase in water usage. The amount calculated was based on a formula set by the Public Service Commission and determined by the number of days between the time the notification was sent and when the leak was repaired. Some of my colleages felt that this was setting a bad precedent for other ratepayers, but my feeling was that if the Utilities Department staff recommended this small compromise then it was not a problem. This is another example of the benefit of using AquaHawk to monitor your water usage and send alerts when it exceeds the limits that you set: https://www.appleton.org/residents/water/customer-portal 

Another item of note was the Memorandum of Understanding with Bird Rides, Inc. for another pilot scooter program. As noted in the last update, there are some added restrictions on the scooters, along with a 10 cent per ride fee paid to the city (based on last year’s program would be about $2900) for administration and enforcement. 

In this week’s committee meetings:  

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, February 21, 4:30 p.m. 

• Plan review services contract – awards large project plan review (normally done by the state but they are experiencing delays of 4 to 8 weeks compared to the 7 day average turnaround for the city Inspections Division) to McMahan and E-Plan Design. The city will not incur any charges for these reviews; the contractor would collect from the applicant. 
• Changes to non-metered off street and overnight parking policies for city employees. 
• Assessment for concrete pavement, driveway aprons and sidewalk construction for Amethyst Dr., Bluetopaz Dr. and Tiburon Lane. New subdivisions streets are asphalt – the assessments are applied when the new concrete streets are constructed. 
• Resolution #3-R-22 that modifies the city code to make No Mow May practices allowing lawns to grow longer until June 1 part of the code. The rules about “noxious weeds” will still apply.  
• Information items:  
• Review of process for possible redesign of Soldier’s Square 
• Review of Crosswalk Installation Evaluation Guidance Flowchart. I had requested this at the last meeting because I was not comfortable that I understood the process based on what was presented at that meeting. 
• Update on Transportation Utility study – appears that the study is still in the preliminary phase. 

Finance Committee – Monday, February 21, 5:30 p.m. 

• Award contract for budgeted concrete paving to Vinton Construction ($4,382,958 with a 2.5% contingency of $107,000 for a project total not to exceed $4,489,958.) 
• Award contract for budgeted water and sewer construction to Calnin & Goss, Inc ($1,380,182 with a 7.5% contingency of $103,514 for a project total not to exceed $1,483,695.) 
• Various claims to refund real estate or business personal property taxes – two requests recommended for approval and two for denial. 
• Budget amendment to record $120,000 grant from State Department of Health Services for public health workforce to support COVID-19 activities. 

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, February 22, 5:00 p.m. 

• Updates to Municipal Code to clarify changes to the Stormwater Management plan. 

The primary updates include:  

• Clarification of appropriate curve numbers to use for peak flow control and infiltration calculations  

• Requiring more complete submittals in electronic format, reducing paper files  

• Adding Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Total Phosphorus (TP) removal requirements per each reachshed of the Lower Fox River and Upper Fox/Wolf Rivers Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) 

• Approve the 2021 Stormwater Report to the Department of Natural Resources 
• Approve contract with Hsu Growing Supply for biosolids recycling ($247,000). 
• Approve contract for Native Landscape Management Contract to RES, Inc. ($192,385). 
• Approve Wetland Delineation Services contract to NES Ecological Services ($20,137). 

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, February 23, 3:30 p.m. 

• Dedication of 498 square feet at the corner of N. Appleton and W. Washington for the Appleton St. right of way in order to widen the street six feet. 

 

Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, February 23, 4:30 p.m. 

• City sponsorship of Appleton Downtown, Inc. events, including Small Business Saturday, the Farm Market, the Community Public Market and other downtown events ($15,000). 

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, February 23, 5:30 p.m. 

• Resolution #1-R-22 Intoxicated Bartender Ordinance – this item was held from the last meeting for more input from city staff. I have heard that it might be withdrawn. I believed when this was introduced that we had other ordinances that would address the issue, so I would not have any objection to a withdrawal. 
• Amendment of the automatic aid agreement between Appleton Fire Department and Neenah-Menasha Fire Department to cover fire only due to the discrepancy in medical service level of the two departments. The AFD upgraded medical service level from Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) to Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) in January 2021. NMFR continues to practice at the EMR level. Either agency can request assistance for fire and emergency medical response through a mutual aid request to their respective dispatch center. 
• Approve Appleton Fire Department participation in the statewide Urban Search and Rescue Team. 
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Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, February 23, 6:30 p.m. 

• Request to move the Pool Manager position to a higher pay grade based on the amount of responsibility for the position and the prevailing wages in the area. New pay range would be $15.56  $17.74 per hour. 
• Overhire request to allow the retiring benefits coordinator to stay on after retirement (May 2) to aid in the transition of the new coordinator. Cost - $6000 to be absorbed in current HR budget. 
• Change to Information Technology Department Table of Organization to reflect current IT terminology and to better define how the organization works – no financial impact: 
• Rename the current “Mainframe” organization to “Development”  
• Rename the current “Network” organization to “Operations” 
• Change the Software Engineer to report to the Lead Systems Analyst 

As always, you can view meeting videos and review meeting agendas and minutes here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx 

With the spring elections coming up on April 5, this is a reminder that our polling place has changed to the Scheig Center in Memorial Park, 1313 E. Witzke Blvd. Early voting (in-person absentee voting) will take place the two weeks before the election at City Hall – exact dates and times will be announced when they are established. I’m going to be talking to the City Clerk’s office about the possibility of evening or weekend early voting, but I am not sure that I will be successful. As of now, there will be no ballot drop boxes based on the last court ruling, so absentee ballots would have to be mailed in time to reach the clerk’s office by election day or dropped off at City Hall before election day or at the polling location on election day. You can request an absentee ballot at  https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/  If you have previously requested a ballot, as of now, you would not have to upload your photo ID again as it is on file.