Good afternoon District 6 neighbors,
I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy our two day spring over the weekend. It looks like we won’t see 60 degrees again for a while.
If you did some yard work over the weekend, a reminder that spring yard waste pickup is going on through the second week of May. Pickup will be the day after your regular trash pickup.
And speaking of curbside pickup, I’ve gotten a few calls and e-mails about the bulk item collection policy that went into effect on April 1. The changes were outlined in the public works guide that was sent out a while back, but I’m going to post the content here as a reminder:
As I’ve written before, the move to only spring and summer large item collection was brought about by the need to change our leaf collection process to comply with the Department of Natural Resources standards and by the loss of the contractor which had been handling snow removal on sidewalks, etc. that are the responsibility of the city. By eliminating large item pickup in the fall and winter, we will have to hire extra seasonal employees (which is becoming more difficult) to handle the brush pickup that will be required after switching to vacuum leaf pickup and to perform snow removal. With increased tipping fees at the landfill and increased fuel costs, it became necessary to eliminate pickup of some items such as mattresses and construction materials. The Outagamie County Recycling and Solid Waste facility will take these items for a fee. Our neighbors have similar policies. Grand Chute does four large item pickups per year and does not accept construction materials, appliances, or electronics. Neenah does six pickups per year and residents must call the city to schedule. Punch cards can be obtained (5 items free, then $25 per card afterward). Menasha allows five large items per year using provided stickers – additional stickers are $15 each.
I understand that this can be frustrating, but the Department of Public Works spent almost a year trying to come up with the best solution to try to balance new requirements from the state with providing the best level of service to our residents without having to raise fees or eliminate a useful and popular service entirely.
If you have decided to take part in No Mow May, I’d like to suggest that you register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0uBEHgrm1h70K-lcWVNbDjN7tgszFI5GpsHvgYlr-3cG_fg/viewform?fbclid=IwAR3hv25e02e6WKorsSo_cR9K6SsB_ldoaTAfLQFbTBDYlsJ1kMMnMBCxHNA
 | Have you ever noticed that when you don't mow your lawn for a couple of weeks, a new plants pop up? These plants are often native to Wisconsin and great sources of food for bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Allowing lawns to grow by not mowing for a month leads to an increase the number and types of both pollinators and plants. By not mowing your lawn for the month of May, you can help the pollinators and plants right in your back (and front) yard. All responses are confidential and will be used for research purposes only. docs.google.com |
It’s not required, and the city does not keep track of registrations, but it helps the Pollenablers when it comes to planning for the future and applying for grants to keep the research sustainable. You can pick up signs ($5 suggested donation) at a number of local businesses, including McFleshmans, Acoca, Green Gecko, Tempest Coffee, Copper Rock, and Northside True Value. Displaying a sign lets your neighbors know why your lawn might be shaggy and the QR code will link to more information. It’s been exciting to see Appleton pointed out nationally (including the New York Times and The Weather Channel!) as the first city to declare No Mow May. We are getting letters from cities in Minnesota, Iowa and all over Wisconsin letting us know that we were used as a model for them.
On to regular council business. Newly elected and reelected alders were sworn in at a brief ceremony in Houdini Plaza last Tuesday evening, and then we had an informal organizational meeting where we discussed our council rules and changes that some alders were proposing to those rules. We had a formal organizational meeting on Wednesday evening to vote on those proposals and elect officers. Changes that proposed cutting back on the ability of both alders and citizens serving on boards and commissions were voted down, but a change to allow and alder to withdraw a resolution and a change to allow the earliest committee meetings to start at 4:00 p.m. rather than 4:30 to accommodate lengthy agendas were passed. Alder Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) was elected Common Council President and Alder Vered Meltzer (District 2) was elected Common Council Vice-President. I was elected by my colleagues to serve once again as the alder on the City Plan Commission.
The mayor presented his appointments to standing committees, boards, and commissions. I will be serving as chair of the Human Resources and Information Technology Committee again and am excited to be joining the Finance Committee. I will also be serving on the Board of Health for this council year.
In the regular Common Council meeting, we approved reappointments by the mayor of several citizens to various boards and commissions. I pointed this out because I think these folks who donate their time and expertise should be commended.
The only items separated for individual consideration were really done as examples to the new alders. New (but returning) Alder Croatt (District 14, which now encompasses some area formerly in District 6) wanted to make sure that Fire Chief Hansen got the opportunity to point out the savings that the city is going to recognize by taking delivery of a budgeted fire engine before price increase take effect and to discuss the reasons that a sole source contract is sometimes advantageous – in this case as Pierce Manufacturing is the foremost producer of the vehicles and is right down the road, which allows for ease of maintenance.
Two resolutions were submitted at the meeting. The first, by Alder Doran, would take $6 million of ARPA funds to be used to the remaining 4-inch water mains and some of the remaining 6-inch water mains (the standard since the 1980s). This resolution was referred to city staff. Appleton did have a record number of water main breaks in 2021, which we need to figure out how to address. However, I do have some concerns about this resolution. The first is that there were multiple opportunities for citizen input into the ARPA allocations, and based on that input, the second $8 million (the first 6.1 million was allocated in the prior budget to immediate COVID-related needs and the lead service line mitigation) was to be allocated as follows:
- $3,000,000 to affordable housing
- $1,500,000 to early childhood development
- $1,000,000 for local economic recovery
- $1,000,000 for social infrastructure, belonging and neighborhoods
- $1,000,000 for community wellness, mental health, and violence prevention
- $500,000 for arts, culture, and educational institutions
Taking $6 million of this would not allow us to make significant progress on any of these issues that the community felt were of high importance.
I had some other logistical questions, which I raised to the Director of Public Works – basically, how much of the needed work would this allocation allow and how would the restrictions on spending ARPA funds determine how we could perform the work? My understanding is that the funds CAN be used for water projects but NOT for street projects, and we generally perform that work together. Director Vandehey replied that the department hopes to have a memo for the Utilities Committee at its May 10th or May 24th meeting. I look forward to seeing the responses.
The second resolution, introduced by Alder Schultz and Alder Del Toro, “calls for the immediate addition of a “Revitalization of Soldier's Square” project to the 5-year CIP and asks that the City move with reasonable speed to initiate an RFP process, once resolution is approved. It does NOT identify nor request any specific sources of funding for the project”
At the last Municipal Service Committee, we reviewed three options for modifying Soldier’s Square after the new YMCA parking garage is completed, ranging from one with few modifications and very little cost to the city that would remove no metered parking spaces, to one that would be more extensive and cost more, also removing eleven parking spots. I will attend the committee meeting today to hear the discussion even though I am no longer a member of the committee. I always feel a little odd when I am walking in that area, seeing our monuments looking like an afterthought in a parking lot and near a dumpster, but I think we need to look at what our priorities are. The businesses seem united in not wanting to lose a single parking spot, so there will be a lot to consider here.
In this week’s committee meetings:
Municipal Services Committee – Monday, April 25, 4:30 p.m.
- The Soldiers Square resolution will be discussed as noted above
- A request for a variance to allow a resident to extend a driveway and park an RV longer than allowed in the current code.
The committee will also elect a vice chair. Alder Siebers (District 1) is serving as chair this term.
Finance Committee – Monday, April 25, 5:30 p.m.
- Request to approve the resolution authorizing the mayor and the city clerk to execute an agreement to take a principal-forgiven loan through the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program for the lead service line replacement project.
- Award of contracts for budgeted sidewalk construction (Al Dix Concrete, Inc. - $368,000), miscellaneous concrete and street excavation repairs (Al Dix Concrete, Inc. - $462,850), Lead/Galvanized water service replacement (VanRite Plumbing, Inc. - $500,000)
- Request to approve Valley Transit table of organization to add a Safety and Compliance Specialist to comply with federal safety, training and reporting requirements. This will help to mitigate the lead time for having new drivers ready to work. Annual impact to the City of Appleton budget is expected to be about $7200. This will also appear on the HR/IT Committee agenda.
- Request to award the budgeted Ellen Kort Peace Trail project contract to Triple P Inc. d/b/a Peters Concrete Company ($464,131 with a 10% contingency of $46,413 for a project not to exceed $510,544). Unusual in these times that all the bids were below the budget amount.
In addition, the committee will approve the last CEA committee meeting minutes, elect a Vice Chair (Alder Brad Firkus – District 3 is serving as Finance Chair this term) and elect members of the Tax Appeal Board and the CEA Board. Information items will include the Green Tier Legacy Community report, which will also be presented in the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting. We can be proud that Appleton is a charter member of Green Tier Legacy Communities and of the progress the city has made on our sustainability initiatives.
Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, April 25, 6:30 p.m.
The only action item is to elect a Vice Chair. Alder Nate Wolff (District 12) is serving as Parks and Recreation Chair this term.
Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, April 26, 3:00 p.m.
The Commission will elect the chair and vice chair, review and approve the March payments and review a contract amendment request with Lamers Bus Lines for the operation of the downtown trolley.
Utilities Committee – Tuesday, April 26, 5:00 p.m.
The Utilities Committee also has the acceptance of the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program Grant of $505,000 for replacing lead service lines on its agenda this week, along with electing a Vice Chair. Alder Meltzer (District 2) will again chair the Utilities Committee this term.
Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, April 27, 4:30 p.m.
As with some other committees, the only action item is electing a Vice Chair. Alder Van Zeeland (District 5) was originally appointed chair of the committee, but I believe a scheduling conflict is going to change this. The committee will also hear a presentation by staff of the current development projects and opportunities in the City of Appleton.
Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, April 27, 5:30 p.m.
- Approval of continuing the natural hazard mitigation plans of Winnebago and Calumet County to be filed with Wisconsin Emergency Management and FEMA.
- Proposal by the Fire Department to replace the civilian Fire Protection Engineer position with a Public Education Specialist/Civilian Fire Inspector. The department has been unable to fill the Fire Protection Engineer position since a retirement in January. Some duties will be absorbed by the current Civilian Fire Inspector and the Battalion Chief of Fire Prevention and Public Education. Some of the public education duties of those positions will fall under the new position. There will be a salary savings due to the lower grade of the new position.
- Alcohol license renewals
The committee will also elect a Vice Chair. Alder Croatt (District 14) will serve as Safety and Licensing Chair this term. Information items include a report on the Police Department Traffic Safety Unit and Officer.
Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, April 27, 6:30 p.m.
The committee will take up the personnel changes in the Fire Department and Valley Transit discussed above in addition to a request to increase one part time position (.80) to full time and have that employee share duties as the administrative support assistant for the HR (80%) and IT (20%) Departments. The impact on the IT budget will be absorbed from a currently vacant position.
We will also elect a Vice Chair and hear updates on the IT Infrastructure, Systems, and Vulnerability Assessment.
The City Plan Commission meeting for this week has been canceled.
Have a great week!
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