This update is going to take longer and may have more typos than usual because I managed to lose a battle with my car door last weekends and have a big bandage on my left middle finger. We still had a great visit with my daughter, son-in-law, and baby Penelope. They all walked (or held court from a flag-bedecked stroller) in the Memorial Day parade with me last week as well.
I also had the opportunity to attend the groundbreaking on the Gulfstream expansion to their facility at the Appleton International Airport last Friday. The company estimates that 200 jobs will be added due to this expansion. https://www.postcrescent.com/story/money/companies/2022/06/02/gulfstream-expand-appleton-airport-paint-facility-create-200-new-jobs/7484229001/
Moving to council business from last week, the major topic was the resolution submitted by Alder Doran that would take $6 million of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds received by the city. We discussed this resolution in a special joint meeting of the Finance and Utilities committees immediately before the Common Council meeting on Wednesday. The resolution proposed to: “…reallocate $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the replacement of first, the remaining four-inch water mains in the city and then six inch water mains to match the eight inch standard throughout the remainder of the city…” At the committee meeting (Alder Doran was present as a member of the Utilities Committee) he immediately amended the resolution to simply transfer the funds to the Public Works Department to allocate to priority projects rather than focusing on specific water mains. My problem with this resolution is that it seeks to reverse the decisions made during the adoption of the 2022 budget and to ignore the input of the community that was the basis for making the decisions about how to allocate the ARPA funds. There were multiple listening sessions – I attended several of these – and citizens have had the opportunity to provide input via a program on the city’s website.
https://www.appleton.org/government/mayor-s-office/arpa
As I noted in the meeting, Alder Doran is to be commended for working on other ways to fund our infrastructure – he is the co-sponsor of the resolution that created the transportation utility study. However, outgoing Department of Public Works Director Paula Vandehey confirmed that the $6 million to be taken from the ARPA funds would pay for approximately one mile of street reconstruction. 1% of our water infrastructure – the amount that is the industry recommendation for annual replacement, would be 3.6 miles.
As a reminder, this is how the remaining ARPA funds were allocated in the budget that was approved last November.
As with other types of grants, the City of Appleton would not administer these funds directly, but rather would allocate them to organizations who have expertise and experience in the respective areas. The city would not be going into the child development business. Several community members spoke and emphasized the role of ARPA funds in dealing with the serious problems caused or made worse by the pandemic. While our water infrastructure needs to be addressed, I don’t believe that problem was exacerbated by the pandemic.
The first “bucket” of ARPA funds directly addressed COVID mitigation and the lead service line replacement, along with an allocation for broadband for the library project:
In somewhat of a surprise, Alder Meltzer introduced an amendment to the resolution that had been authored by Alder Wolff (Alder Wolff could not propose the amendment because he is not a member of either the Finance or Utilities Committee) that asked the State of Wisconsin for $12 million of the current budget surplus to fund Appleton’s water infrastructure. The amendment passed and the amended resolution was recommended for approval by the full council. None of us are laboring under the delusion that the state legislature is going to provide any funds to Appleton and some of our colleagues have chastised those who voted in favor for a “political gimmick” or for being unserious about the problem.
The bottom line is that we do have a problem with water and street infrastructure in Appleton, but I believe that the problem is not the result of the city behaving irresponsibly. Property tax revenue growth is constrained by state law and revenue sharing from the state has been flat since 2012, while state income tax receipts have tripled. Meanwhile, costs of materials and labor continue to rise. The state is going to show a surplus of $3.8 billion, along with $1.7 billion in the “rainy day fund”. There has also been no action to close the “dark store” loophole, which allows chain stores to underpay property taxes, shifting the burden to homeowners and renters.
Note that there will be another presentation on the transportation utility study at today’s Municipal Services Committee meeting. The initial presentation we received on a transportation utility indicated that homeowners and renters would actually pay less of their property taxes towards street and water/sewer infrastructure because a transportation utility would eliminate the wheel tax and have entities that benefit from infrastructure share in the cost. Right now, residential properties pay a greater portion of the cost relative to their use. There is some concern because of lawsuits filed against two municipalities who have instituted a transportation utility. However, the earliest Appleton would be able to implement a transportation utility fee would be 2024, so I hope that we will move forward with the study while watching what happens in court.
Once we got to the full council meeting, the mayor presented several proclamations:
- Pride Month
- CPR & AED Awareness Week
- Gun Violence Awareness Day
- Juneteenth Celebration
- Refugee Day
Mayor Woodford noted that the proclamation for Gun Violence Awareness Day had been prepared even before the latest mass shootings.
In the full council meeting, the water main resolution was separated for individual consideration, along with the resolution to add the Soldier’s Square project to the 5 Year Capital Improvement Program. We discussed Soldiers Square first, and the resolution failed. I reluctantly voted against it because it did not include any funding. However, in 2019 the council passed a resolution in support of the revitalization of Soldiers Square. I think that all the attention in the last few weeks has jump-started private fundraising efforts and I’m fairly confident that we will be able to go into the budget workshop prepared to take some action using private funds.
When we got to the water main resolution, there was a rehash of some of the points that had been discussed in the joint committee meeting, and the resolution was amended again to ask the state legislature for the entire $35.1 million required to replace all 4- and 6-inch water mains in the city. Again, we know that this isn’t going to happen, but we protected the funds allocated for housing and child development, etc., while hopefully making a statement to our state lawmakers that they are putting cities and their taxpayers in an impossible position.
In committee meetings this week:
Municipal Services Committee – Monday, June 6, 4:30 p.m.
The committee will be voting to approve some parking and traffic flow changes related to the Appleton Street reconstruction, parking changes on Driscoll and Lawe, and a request from Appleton Downtown, Inc. to place a dumpster without an enclosure in Jones Park for the summer events. Note that staff recommends denial of the waiver as it is deemed unfair to other businesses.
Information items include the transportation utility study as discussed above, a parking utility revenue report (up from last year but still not to pre-pandemic levels), the inspections summary, and a BIRD e-scooter report. Most complaints are about riding on College Ave. sidewalks and that they are generally unsafe. There were three accidents reported in May compared to 2 in April.
Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, June 6, 6:30 p.m.
No action items, but the committee will review the Reid Golf Course Revenue Report. Numbers are down from last year, but we had crazy weather in May, so that should turn around once we actually have more than a couple of nice days.
Utilities Committee – Tuesday, June 7, 5:00 p.m.
The committee will vote on a couple of contract amendments for ongoing projects and request approval of the Electronic Compliance Maintenance Annual Report (eCMAR) for 2021. The only deductions were due to a construction project in January and February. The water main break report still shows an increase in the number YTD over 2021.
Board of Health – Wednesday, June 8, 7:00 a.m.
No action items – information items on noise variance approvals and the 2022 first quarter report.
City Plan Commission – Wednesday, June 8, 3:30 p.m.
The public hearing and action item are to approve the special use permit for (yet another) car wash, this one with a self-service dog wash at 3200 E. Express Court (near S. Kensington and E. College). The Plan Commission and Common Council cannot really deny the permit just because there are multiple car washes in the immediate area, but it seems like the market might be saturated.
Information items include reviewing extraterritorial map changes due to incorporations by the Village of Fox Crossing and the Village of Greenville.
Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, June 8, 5:30 p.m.
Lots of license renewals will be considered. Special events include the Flag Day Parade on Saturday, June 11 at 2:00 p.m. Information is here: https://www.appleton.org/visitors/appleton-parades/flag-day-parade/about-flag-day-parade
Have a great week! Remember that you can always view meeting agendas, videos, and minutes here:
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