Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for March 20, 2023

As expected, the items separated for individual consideration and votes in last week’s Common Council meeting were the three contract awards from the Finance Committee. As noted in last week’s update, the bid for hardscape renovation came in over budget, so $150,000 from the roof replacement project was moved to this project. In discussions at the Finance Committee meeting and in the council meeting, we learned that the roof project is going to cost substantially more than $150,000 and that there isn’t great danger in moving this project to next year. This item passed unanimously. 

The 2023 concrete paving project, where paving for a portion of Amethyst Drive was moved out to 2024 along with some work on the Lightning Drive stream crossing and pond construction to save funds this year, was discussed and voted on separately. Some Tax Increment Financing funds were adjusted for the projects within TIF 11. Two homeowners on Amethyst Drive expressed concerns about moving the paving project, citing concerns about the dirt on the street, questions about the assessment if they had already installed concrete driveway aprons, and concerns that the assessment would be greater if the paving is done in 2024. Alders Hartzheim and Doran voted against the entire paving contract due to their concerns with the portion being moved to 2024. 

Similarly, the 2023 asphalt paving contract was modified to move the paving of a portion of Helen Street to 2024. As with the concrete project, Alders Hartzheim and Doran voted against the entire contract because of concerns about delaying that portion of the work. 

I am not sure how voting against ALL paving and reconstruction contracts addresses the budgetary issues that we are facing. I believe that city staff are acting responsibly by working to prioritize the work based on the funds available. Our colleagues continually try to raid the ARPA funds which have been allocated to affordable housing and other community problems caused or made worse by the COVID pandemic – not an ongoing solution to our inflation-driven budget issues. Other than trying to raid these funds or taking $5000 from the Common Council budget, I have not seen any proposals for addressing our infrastructure needs. 

Some of this week’s committee meetings promise to be lively. Here is the rundown: 

Fox Cities Area Room Tax Commission – Monday, March 20, 3:00 p.m. (Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, 213 S. Nicolet Rd., Grand Chute) 

The commission will be reviewing the status of room tax collections. Total receipts: $7,704,575.56 allocated as shown: 

CEA Review Committee – Monday, March 20, 3:30 p.m. 

The Central Equipment Agency is responsible for purchasing and maintaining vehicles and major mechanical equipment for all city departments except Valley Transit. Departments pay an allocation to CEA rather than purchasing equipment out of their individual budgets. The review committee meets when there is a need to take action related to those vehicles or equipment. Today we will be considering a request to upgrade a Facilities Management Department truck scheduled for replacement in 2024 (a 2012 model) with a four-wheel drive crew cab truck at an increase of $5000 in the projected cost. This would allow better winter driving, along with the ability to haul more equipment and supplies. There is also a request to keep the vehicle assigned to the Fire Chief for an extra 12-18 months because the replacement is delayed due to (you guessed it) supply chain issues. Reid Golf Course is requesting that a roller ($24,940.30) be added to the CEA inventory so that the golf course does not have to budget a lump sum for the replacement when that time comes. The Health Department is requesting a second vehicle from the CEA’s second use fleet  for the Public Health Nursing staff, citing the need for more travel due to increases in the number of TB cases in the city. The city is moving from a mileage reimbursement for personal vehicles to using fleet vehicles to city business as it is more cost effective. The Health Department budget for this year already has the funds for this usage. We will also address some seasonal use vehicle requests and a request to keep a tractor in the Stormwater fleet as a spare after it is replaced in 2024. 

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, March 20, 4:30 p.m. 

The committee will be voting to approve a change in the contract for bridge inspections to have the consultant prepare a rehabilitation report for the Lawe St. Bascule Bridge in order to qualify for Wisconsin Department of Transportation funding. This would add $11,400 to the contract.  

They will also be voting on the Memorandum of Understanding with Bird Rides, Inc. for the 2023 scooter program. This is the first year that the program would not be a pilot. After concerns were expressed, the term was changed from two years to one year and the per ride fee to the city has been increased from $.10 per ride to $.20 per ride. Bird will also initiate an ID check in an attempt to curb underage riders, but is reluctant to make this a permanent feature, citing concerns about those who do not have the kind of ID required. They have also enhanced the reporting they will provide. I personally would like to see more restrictions about where the vehicles can be left. Last year, there were new policies to discount the ride if the scooter was left in a designated parking place, but we still had a pretty high rate of them being parked inappropriately. 

The committee will take its first vote on the College Avenue Reconfiguration Project as a pilot project. Municipal Services and the full council will have another opportunity to vote when the contract for the restriping work comes for awarding. I believe that this project will have a beneficial effect on our downtown and I expect to see more businesses offering dining, etc., outdoors if the expected reduction in traffic and noise is realized. The cost is fairly low and there would now be the opportunity to reverse course if it proves to be unworkable. The work should be completed by early summer if approved so we should be able to see results this year. 

The Hilton Paper Valley has submitted a request to place tables and chairs in the amenity strip in front of the hotel for use by customers of the Starbucks location there. 

Finally, the item that will likely generate a crowd and some discussion. Alder Doran submitted a resolution that would restore the grass/weed height restrictions that were removed last year, thus ending No Mow May. The justification for this resolution was the retraction of the paper published by Professor (and now Alder) Israel Del Toro and Professor Relena Ribbons of Lawrence University after Dr. Zachary Portman of the University of Minnesota questioned the identification of some of the species cited in the paper. He also questioned the presence of some of the plant species cited in the study, saying that it was impossible or implausible to find these species in Wisconsin in May. I would never presume to question someone whose education and experience so far eclipses mine, but every year we find changes in the range of species due to climate change. The authors acted voluntarily with the editorial team to retract the paper in order to address some of these issues, with the intention of republishing. I am not a scientist – I participated in the study merely as a citizen volunteer who waved a net around and caught some bugs in volunteers’ unmown lawns and handed them over to the actual scientists. I read the paper and the article where Dr. Portman disputed the findings, but I do not have the background to make any statements about them. What I did note is that there seemed to be no issue with the counts themselves – the paper cited five times more pollinators in unmown lawns – it was the number of species that was at issue. I do have an issue with the wording of the resolution. It cites the retraction guidelines for the journal (PeerJ), including this: 

 

“Whereas the retraction guidelines for the journal note that a paper should be retracted if the findings are unreliable, or the result of fabrication or falsification…” 

Neither Dr. Portman nor the journal ever mentioned fabrication or falsification; I believe this language was added to the resolution simply to discredit the author who is now our council colleague. 

I would honestly prefer that we not even take up this resolution – my email has been overwhelmingly in favor of keeping No Mow May, which is completely voluntary, and I believe harms no one. Appleton has been recognized worldwide for our efforts to protect pollinators – we’ve been contacted by cities all over the country who are looking to do the same.  

We know that the dandelions and other flowering weeds that are available to the pollinators during this time are not the best source of food, but in very early spring they are often the only source. We also know that eliminating pesticide use and planting NATIVE flowering plants and shrubs is the best way to protect and encourage native pollinators, but if someone wants to help by simply not mowing down the weeds for a few weeks, they should be allowed to do so. I will be urging the members of the Municipal Services Committee to vote against this resolution, and I will vote against it if it reaches the full council.  

Finance Committee – Monday, March 20, 5:30 p.m. 

We will be taking up a couple of contract awards – for sidewalk construction to BMD Concrete Innovations ($293,000) and for Miscellaneous Concrete and Street Excavation Repairs to Al Dix Concrete, Inc.($473,850). 

We are being asked to reject all bids for the 2023 Water Main Reconstruction project as they were all well over the budgeted amount. City staff is planning to rework the bids to delay the water main reconstruction on Linwood Street (from Brewster to Glendale) since it is not related to street reconstruction.  

I have seen some comments referring to “bad budget estimates” on these projects, and I just want to clarify that we vote on the budget in November, but staff starts working on them several months before. They use the best information at the time, and consult with contractors, to estimate the costs of the planned work. However, we have been in unprecedented times with the cost of raw materials, particularly cement, and with labor costs. As noted earlier in this update, I believe that our staff does a good job of prioritizing what we can do with the resources we have. 

We will also be voting on budget carryover items from 2022 to 2023 – these are generally funds budgeted in 2022 for projects that were delayed to 2023 or prolonged into 2023 – and on some budget amendments that mostly record additional grant funds received from various sources, but also additional wheel tax and room tax revenue and increased interest expense on the 2022 bonds and tax refunds and increased salary expenses in TIF #11. 

Board of Zoning Appeals – Monday, March 20, 7:30 p.m. 

I’ll be attending this meeting as one of the requests is for the proposed Chik-fil-A location in front of the Northland Mall. They are requesting to build a detached drive-through structure in what is considered the “front yard” of the property. The justification is preventing people who are parking to go into the building from having to drive across the drive through area. City staff is recommending the variance as this will be within the current parking lot of an area already zoned for commercial use. 

The board will also be voting on a request for a property owner who wants to build a swimming pool that would increase their lot coverage to over the allowed 40%. Staff has not recommended this variance as there is no hardship created by not allowing the variance and the lot is not unique. 

Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, March 21, 3:00 p.m. 

The commission will be approving payments from February and voting on a tire leasing contract with Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC ($31,533.06/year). 

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, March 21, 4:30 p.m. 

The committee will be voting on a contract for root control in sanitary sewers to Duke’s Root Control, Inc. ($25,000). They will also be voting on the purchase of a backup pump for the anaerobic digestors at the water treatment plant from Crane Engineering ($27.774). Three sole source contracts are also on the agenda – the first for the secondary clarifier algae sweep system for the water treatment plant from Ford Hall Company ($159,696), the second for engineering services for the Phase II Belt Filter Press Upgrades Project to McMahon ($186,300) and the third for engineering services for the 2023 Digester Piping and Heat Exchanger Replacement Project to McMahon ($98.095). City policy is that sole source contracts (which do not go out for competitive bidding) is allowed only if the service or product is unique, if there was inadequate competition for a particular product or service, if there are health or safety concerns, for continuity of design (with a prior project), if it’s an emergency procurement, if the purchase was in cooperation with another government, or other reasons specific to this contract. In these cases, the vendors have done prior work for the city and are uniquely qualified to provide the product or service. 

The committee will also be reviewing the monthly report – breaks are down from last year for February and YTD. 

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, March 22, 3:30 p.m. 

There are two items before the commission this week. The first involves a business in District 6. Classic Mechanics opened in the old Piggly Wiggly location at 520 E. Northland in mid-2022. They perform maintenance and restoration of classic automobiles now, but have applied for a special use permit (which is required to get an auto dealer’s license) to sell some cars on the premises. Staff is recommending that we grand the special use permit as the facility has plenty of room for parking. I was happy to see an empty building remodeled and used for what appears to be a thriving business, and I expect that there won’t be any issues from the business being granted this permit. 

The other item is a request from a property owner for the City of Appleton to annex 39.913 acres in the Town of Center at Ballard and Werner Rd. 

 

Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, March 22, 4:30 p.m. 

The committee will be voting on the recommendations of last week’s CDBG Advisory Board meeting to modify the grants based on a smaller than expected allocation from HUD. 

 

They will also be reviewing the City of Appleton Growth Report for 2022 as an information item. The summary is here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=73eedec9-8ee1-4d2a-9100-2e0d87f39da2.pdf 

And the full report is here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=533d739a-e9dd-4472-980e-2e6e32da184d.pdf 

The City of Appleton generally saw a slower growth rate than the rest of the Fox Cities, likely due to the lower availability of cheaper undeveloped land on the edges of the city. We are essentially locked in except to the north. 

The Parks and Recreation, Safety and Licensing and Human Resources and Information Technology Committee meetings are cancelled this week. 

Have a great week!