It’s sad that such a glorious first day of spring had to end with a disappointing Badger loss in the NCAA tournament. It seemed like they would pull it out until the very end.
The Common Council meeting last Wednesday focused on a couple of agenda items that were separated for individual consideration and votes.
The meeting began with the appointment of new city Finance Director Jeri Ohman to the Fox Cities Area Room Tax Commission (Appleton’s Finance Director always sits on this commission).
Ten members of the public spoke in favor of making No Mow May a permanent option for Appleton and one person spoke about the ARPA grants to non-profit organizations.
As expected, the No Mow May resolution – officially titled Resolution #3-R-22 regarding Municipal Code Chapter 12, Article III, Weeds and Wild Growth – which had been amended in committee to require annual approval, was amended back to the original language making the exception to the high grass/week ordinance for the month of May permanent. I offered another amendment reverting the language removing the difference in allowable vegetation height between developed and undeveloped property back to the original code (8 inches for developed property and 12 inches for undeveloped). Finally, Alder Firkus introduced an amendment making an exception for abandoned or unoccupied properties. With these amendments, city staff were satisfied that they would have the tools for addressing complaints about overgrown lawns while still allowing residents the freedom to participate in No Mow May, which peer-reviewed studies have shown to produce large differences in both the number and species diversity of pollinators. As I noted last week, the “noxious weed” ordinance still applies even during May, and the program is completely voluntary. The Pollenablers-Fox Cities group will once again be providing educational signage and probably some options to help with environmentally disposal of the grass clippings at the end of May. I was happy with the spirit of cooperation on the council, where we were able to reach a compromise to address the concerns of most of the parties.
The other item that resulted in a fair amount of discussion was Resolution #2-R-22 Improve Communication, Technology, and Pedestrian Safety. As you may recall, this resolution was to reallocate the funds (fund balance from 2020) that had been earmarked for a city branding study and implementation. The brand study resolution was held indefinitely after the recommended bidder withdrew their bid. I was never proponent of the brand study, though I was in favor of some of the goals, including a redesign of the city website. The resolution was amended at committee based on the recommendations of city staff to use $75,000 for consulting to evaluate the current enhanced crosswalk program and $60,000 Information Technology upgrades, holding the remaining $340,000 for recommendations from those studies. As the chair of the Human Resources and Information Technology committee, I met with new Information Technology Director Popp recently to review his evaluation of IT needs and the state of the department and I concur completely with the need for a network evaluation and potential upgrades, particularly in the area of security. We have all seen the reports of school systems and municipalities being attached by cyber-criminals and, particularly given the conflicts around the world, I believe it is important to reduce our risk wherever possible.
As I have been talking to people while campaigning for re-election, the subject of pedestrian and bike safety has come up a number of times. We have several places in the city that are pretty widely known hazards, and our city staff concurred that, given technology changes and changes in street design philosophy, the pedestrian safety is a wise investment. We were assured that recommendations would be incorporated into future street/sidewalk/crossing design. The resolution passed after an attempt to remove the pedestrian safety study was defeated.
The special session on Resolution #4-R-22, titled Clean Water & Treaty Rights, was canceled due to a failure to meet quorum requirements. There were some alders who were out of town, and I imagine others who chose, as I did, not to attend this meeting to debate a resolution that, while having some admirable goals regarding the land rights of indigenous peoples in Wisconsin, is simply not in the jurisdiction of the Appleton Common Council. The special session will be rescheduled at some point, but I hope that in the organizational meeting after the next council is seated, changes will be made to allow the authors of a resolution to withdraw it. We had a similar circumstance with a recently submitted resolution that, after further consultation with the City Attorney’s office, was determined to be unenforceable. The author could not withdraw it after it was introduced, so he had to move for denial of his own resolution.
In committee meetings this week:
Municipal Services Committee – Monday, March 21, 4:30 p.m.
There are a number of parking and stop/yield sign changes that will be considered, along with a request from a resident to have the snow removal charge waived.
The information items include a review of the Parking Utility Annual Report for 2021. With the reduction in monthly parking during COVID, the utility needed the ARPA allocation to meet expenses last year.
We will also review a possible redesign of Soldier’s Square and the Crosswalk Installation Evaluation Guidance flowchart.
There will also be a review of educational documents for the new large item collection policy that begins on April 4. I know that this policy change is unpopular with some, but it was really a financial necessity for the city. The Department of Natural Resources has notified us that the previous leaf collection policy is resulting in too much phosphorus from the leaves being placed in the street for collection leaching into the storm drains and therefore, the watershed, so the city has to invest in equipment to vacuum collect leaves from the terrace. We also lost the contractor who had previously done snow removal in areas where the city is responsible for this work and no other contractor bid for the job, so city employees will have to perform this work. Finally, the tipping fees at the Outagamie County landfill are constantly increasing, and once that landfill reaches capacity, we will have the added expense of hauling to Brown County. Something had to change – either charging for large item removal, which was very unpopular and probably logistically difficult, or eliminating it in the winter when the same city workers are performing snow removal and reducing the number and type of items or increasing the charge for garbage pickup. Many charitable organizations will pick up items that are in good enough condition to donate.
Finance Committee – Monday, March 21, 5:30 p.m.
- The committee will be voting to deed excess land from lots purchased from the Village of Little Chute for road right of way back to the property owners, with the stipulation that those property owners would not be assessed for future street connections.
- Awarding a contract for hardscape upgrades for the wastewater treatment plant to Vinton Construction ($375,875).
- Budget amendments to record grants received in various areas.
- Funding for incentives for seasonal employees – details under the HR and IT Committee agenda
Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, March 21, 6:30 p.m.
There are no action items on the agenda, but this committee will also review the season employee incentives.
Board of Zoning Appeals – Monday, March 21, 7:30 p.m.
The board will be review two requests, one from a resident who wants build an addition on his home that would make the setback less than the required 20 feet, and from the contractor on the apartment complex being built behind City Center for dumpster enclosure that would be less than five feet from the property line.
Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, March 22, 3:00 p.m.
The commission will be approving February payments and the purchase of a support vehicle for Valley Transit. They will be reviewing the Financial Report and the Ridership Report for February.
Utilities Committee – Tuesday, March 22, 5:00 p.m.
The one action item is awarding the contract for sanitary and storm sewing cleaning and televising to Green Bay Pipe & TV, LLC. ($244,500).
The committee will be hearing reports on PFAS and water treatment facility source water, private lead service replacement grants and the water main break summary. The water main breaks are of concern as breaks are at the highest level in 22 years. The recommendation has been that we replace 6 miles of water main per year, but funding cannot support the street reconstruction required to replace 6 miles per year.
City Plan Commission – Wednesday, March 23, 3:30 p.m.
The commission will be voting on special use permits for restaurants with alcohol sales (the special use permit is required when the property is used as a restaurant for the first time – separate from the liquor license) for Tipsy Taco at 127 S. Memorial Dr., All Tied Up Floral Café at 324 East College Ave. and Area 509 at 1025 N. Badger Ave. (Area 509 is the brick and mortar restaurant opened by the owner of the Caribbean Taste food truck).
There is also a change to the zoning ordinance related to floodplains and a request to approve an Extraterritorial Plat for a subdivision in Grand Chute. Appleton has approval rights for development within three miles of our city limits.
Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, March 23, 4:30 p.m.
The committee will be voting to approve the sale of property in the Southpoint Commerce Park to Romenesko Developments, Inc. ($86,400).
There will also be a presentation from World Relief, Fox Valley on the Afghan refugee resettlement in the Fox Valley.
Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, March 23, 5:30 p.m.
In addition to a couple of liquor license applications, the committee will be getting reports from the city clerk on the spring elections, police chief and fire chief.
Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, March 23, 6:30 p.m.
We will be voting on a change to make a part time clerk position in the Department of Public Works a full-time position based on work demands. The budget difference will be covered by vacant Public Works salaries and reducing part time seasonal Public Works staff.
In order to better recruit summer staff for Parks and Recreation, HR has developed a recruitment/retention bonus program:
• Hiring Bonus - $100 (Must work through July 31st)
• Retention Bonus - $100 (Must work through August 26th)
• An increase of $1 per each hour worked on Friday, Saturday & Sunday
• Referral Bonus - $50 for each person referred and hired
• An increase of $1 per hour during the months of April, September, and October
To mitigate the cost, impact the department is reviewing ways to increase offsetting revenues and to reduce expenses. For any funding that cannot be offset, we will look to wage reserves for any remaining excess costs.
If you know a college student who would be interested in a summer Parks and Recreation job, this is a great opportunity!
As always, you can view meeting videos and review minutes and agendas here:
https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
In person early voting begins tomorrow, March 22 at City Hall on the 6th floor. Hours as follows:
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. March 22nd8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 23rd - March 25th8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 28th - March 30th8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. March 31st8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. April 1st
If you have an absentee ballot, you must mail it or take it to the 6th floor of City Hall to drop it off. After the ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, drop boxes are not allowed for the spring election. ON ELECTION DAY ONLY, you may drop your absentee ballot off at your polling place. Ours is the Scheig Center in Memorial Park, 1313 E. Witzke Blvd.
The ballot includes Common Council for even districts, including ours, the Appleton School Board, Outagamie County Board of Supervisors (we are in multiple county board districts, depending on your city ward) and some judgeships. Don’t forget to vote!
Have a great week!
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