Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for April 10, 2023

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

I hope that everyone who celebrates had a joyous Easter. Although my friends always remind me that in Wisconsin you can count on snow for Easter, the weather cooperated, and we had a beautiful day. It was a quiet one for us – church, followed by a nice hike at High Cliff and some much-needed down time. There is still a little snow in the shady spots, but I’m going out on a limb and declaring that spring is here. Speaking of spring… 

If you’re already hard at work on your spring yard work, the spring yard waste pickup starts next week. 

Just follow the guidelines from the public works guide: https://www.appleton.org/home/showpublisheddocument/24474/637818359009900000 

For the “haul-it-yourself”ers, the yard waste sites began summer hours on Friday, April 7. 

More public works news – bulky item pickup began for the season on April 3. Remember that we are limited to two items per pickup (on the non-recycling trash day). Please review the list of approved items: 

 Rates for disposal at the Outagamie County Recycling and Solid Waste site: 

https://www.recyclemoreoutagamie.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2023-OCRSW-Rate-Sheet.pdf 

If your items are usable, consider donating them to keep them out of the landfill. The Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity ReStore accepts donations of building materials, furniture, etc. You can drop off or they will pick up for a $25 fee that covers fuel and maintenance (one-to-two-week lead time). See their guidelines here:  

https://foxcitieshabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Donation-Acceptance-Guidelines-11-10-22.pdf 

If you’re looking for bargain items, the ReStore location in front of Costco (the east side location on College Avenue closed recently) is a great place to look. They often have brand new appliances with minor cosmetic issues. I recently bought a like new La-Z-Boy swivel rocker there for $25 to use as a reading chair. Unfortunately, the cats have pretty much taken it over, but it certainly LOOKS comfortable. 

The local Buy Nothing Facebook groups are also a wonderful place to donate items to your neighbors.  

And finally, if you took your Christmas tree to the yard waste site and got a “Tree for a Tree” coupon, those seedlings are available at the Glendale yard waste site during their regular hours. 

Moving to other city business, the Common Council met last Wednesday night. A couple of the poets selected to have their work engraved on sidewalks around the city read their poems. You can see the full list here: https://apl.org/congratulations-to-the-2023-sidewalk-poetry-winners/ 

The mayor made up for some previous meetings that were light on proclamations by issuing seven last week: 

• Golden Rule Day 
• Hemophilia Awareness Day 
• Earth Day  
• Arbor Day  
• Public Health Week  
• Library Week  
• Autism Acceptance Month 

 

We also took time to recognize Alder Maiyoua Thao at her last Common Council meeting. She chose not to run for re-election this year. I am sad to lose a colleague who was so warmly welcoming to me personally when I took office two-thirds of the way through a council term in 2019. She not only helped me figure out everything worked but welcomed me into her family by including me and other colleagues on many family occasions. I am sure she will continue to be involved with the community in other ways and I know we will remain friends. I look forward to working with the newly elected alder from District 7, Patrick Hayden. He and the re-elected alders from the odd districts (all the other incumbents ran unopposed) will be sworn in on Tuesday, April 18 at 5:15 p.m. in Houdini Plaza. 

 

We voted on a number of appointments and reappointments to city boards and commissions. I am grateful to all those who take the time to volunteer in these important roles for our community. 

 

There were a number of folks who came to speak to the council about the College Avenue reconfiguration project, with most being in favor of the project. Jennifer Stephany of Appleton Downtown, Inc. expressed the views of the member business community, many of whom are in favor, but with some concerns about the potential for reduced traffic affecting their businesses. 

 

The College Avenue project was separated out for individual consideration and voting, along with the Community Development Block Grant allocations, changes to the plat of homes on E. Pondview Court – basically changing these homes from a condominium development with shared community space to individually owned homes, rejection of all the bids on the 2023 water main project and the Memorandum of Understanding with Bird Rides, Inc. 

 

The CDBG grants were approved unanimously with no discussion, as were the changes for the homes on E. Pondview Ct. I expect that those were separated because interested parties attended the meeting. 

 

There was a fair amount of discussion on the College Avenue Reconfiguration project. As I have noted before, I believe that the changes will benefit both the community AND the businesses downtown. I spend a fair amount of time downtown aside from council and committee meetings, and I think making it safer for pedestrians, quieter for people who want to enjoy a drink or a meal outdoors in nice weather and more accessible in general for people who don’t drive will be a good thing. There was some discussion about the specific metrics that would have to be met in order to retain the configuration after the 18-month pilot, but eventually the item passed 14-1. Alder Croatt was the Nay vote, but I think that his concerns were already addressed in the studies provided by city staff. We will have another vote when the bids are received for the work. 

 

We also voted unanimously to reject the bids for the water main project because they were over budget, but that project is already back on the agenda for this week’s Finance Committee meeting after modifications. 

 

There were three votes against the Bird Scooter item. Alder Meltzer cited safety concerns, particularly when the scooters are used by bar patrons who might be impaired. Alder Del Toro was expressing the concerns of his constituents near the Eagle Point community who are concerned with the scooters on the nearby trails. In all honesty, I don’t love the Bird Scooters. I see them left in a lot of places where they are annoying or even an eyesore. I think they are used more for entertainment than transportation. They drove me crazy on the sidewalks of College Avenue despite signs prohibiting them (and bikes and skateboards) there. However, Bird listened to our concerns at the committee meetings and put some changes in place that should help with improper parking and usage by minors. Since we changed the MOU to be only one year, I voted to approve them again. I think the bike lanes on College Avenue will really help to get them off the sidewalks and reduce the annoyance factor there. We did hear from some Lawrence students who find that scooters help them get to more places without cars, which is definitely a plus. 

 

In this week’s committee meetings – a full slate except for the Board of Health:  

 

Tax Payment Appeal Board – Monday, April 10, 4:00 p.m. 

 

The board is taking up one case today – where the taxpayer is asking for relief from the penalty because they did not receive the tax bill while they were away and having the mail forwarded. 

 

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, April 10, 4:30 p.m. 

 

There are only four action items on the agenda for this afternoon, but I expect that the discussion on the resolution to end No Mow May will take up the majority of the meeting. You may remember that it appeared on the agenda for the last meeting but was held to allow more discussion after many members of the public came to speak on the item. The resolution focuses on the fact that the study published by Professor (and now Alder) Del Toro in the fall of 2020 was contested by Dr. Zachary Portman, a scientist in Minnesota, on the basis of the identification of some of the bee species. The study was retracted by mutual agreement between the authors and the journal, with the authors tending to republish with additional data. Dr. Portman did NOT contest the increased numbers of pollinators found in unmown vs. mown lawns, so I believe that Alder Doran’s basis for submitting this resolution is faulty. The proponents and participants in No Mow May, both in the United Kingdom where it began, and here in Appleton also do not attribute the benefit to pollinators to the “long grass” mentioned in the resolution, but to wildflowers like dandelions and clover that are early spring bloomers. Waiting until later in the spring to mow allows those flowers to bloom. The study was actually only possible because of the first No Mow May in 2020, which of course did not use said study as its basis. I will be voting against this resolution when it comes to the full council, and I honestly don’t understand Alder Doran’s motives for submitting a resolution stopping a practice that harms no one and has brought much positive publicity to our city. 

 

Another item that has generated some discussion is the proposed consulting contract ($75,000) to evaluate the city’s enhanced crosswalk program. This would be paid for from excess fund balance allocated from the 2021 budget. It was actually originally intended for a city rebranding study ($450,000) but was reallocated to other projects. The contract proposal was amended last month to solicit alder input – we hear directly from our constituents about problem areas – and is back for approval today. Enhanced crosswalks can be anything from striping to raised crosswalks to the signals that we find in various places around town (a couple in our district are at Florida and Meade and W. Parkway and N. Richmond). I walk a lot all over town and I see a lot of places where it could be safer for pedestrians to cross. Northland/Richmond traffic circle, anyone?  

 

The committee will be voting on a contract ($50,480) for planning and design for parking ramp maintenance. I have heard some discussion advocating that the city sells the parking ramps because they are too expensive and don’t provide enough revenue. What are your thoughts on privatizing parking downtown? 

 

The last item should be completely non-controversial – allowing tables and chairs in front of the new Legendairy Cookies ‘N Creamery located in the former Bagelicious location at 101 E. College Avenue. Their website says they will be opening soon at that location. 

 

Information items include the Inspections Division permit summary for March, the Parking Utility Revenue report for March, Appleton’s retaining our designation as a Tree City, USA for 2022 and some organizational realignments (discussed as an action item in Human Resources and Information Technology Committee) in the Department of Public Works and Department of Community and Economic Development.  

 

Finance Committee – Monday, April 10, 5:30 p.m. 

 

We will be voting on contracts for the Building A renovation project at the wastewater treatment plant (RJM Construction - $298,328) and mini storm sewer construction (M&E Construction - $200,000). Thankfully both of these bids came in under budget. 

 

The committee will also be taking up the rebid of the water main project for 2023 after the bid was modified to remove the replacement of water mains on Linwood Avenue between Brewster and Glendale. (Kruczek Construction, Inc. - $1,096,666) and approving the CEA Review Committee actions from the March 20 meeting. 

 

Information items include budget adjustments to record various contributions received by the Appleton Public Library. 

 

 

Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, April 10, 6:30 p.m. 

 

The only action items are approval of the Irish Fest to be held in Jones Park on September 15-16. New policy requires committee and council approval of ticketed special events. The committee will also vote on the new fee schedule for athletic facilities. Fees are generally increasing $5 per hour/$15 per day. There will also be an informational update on seasonal staffing. 

 

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, April 11, 4:30 p.m. 

 

The only action item is approval of the contract for sanitary and storm sewer cleaning and televising (Green Bay Pipe and TV, LLC - $266,500). 

 

Appleton Redevelopment Authority – Wednesday, April 12, 9:00 a.m. 

 

The group will vote on removing the term limit for members of the Exhibition Center Advisory Committee and to approve the appointment of two new members of that committee. 

 

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, April 12, 3:30 p.m. 

 

The commission will take up a special use permit for Mr. Frogs (409 W. College Ave.) to expand their outdoor patio area where alcohol is served. 

 

Library Board – Wednesday, April 12, 3:30 p.m. (at the library temporary location, 2411 S. Kensington) 

 

The board will be voting on updates to the collection development policy. They will review board of trustee bylaws updates as an information item. 

 

Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, April 12, 4:30 p.m. 

 

There are no action items, but the committee will be reviewing a presentation of the Appleton Housing overview and the proposed table of organization changes for the Department of Public Works and Community and Economic Development Departments. 

 

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, April 12, 5:30 p.m. 

 

Along with the normal license applications, the committee will be getting the 2022 Police Department Annual Report. 

 

 

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, April 12, 6:30 p.m. 

 

This could be my last meeting as chair of this committee. I requested the chair for this past year again because we started the last council year without permanent directors for either department and I wanted a full year with those positions filled, but Mayor Woodford will likely nominate someone else to be the chair for the coming year. I have enjoyed working with both Director Ratchman and Director Popp and have learned so much about both departments during the time I have served on HR/IT. 

 

The committee will be taking up the organizational changes for the Department of Public Works and Community and Economic Development Department as an action item. The first proposal is to have the Principal Planners in Community and Economic Development report to the Deputy Director (David Kress, recently promoted) rather than directly to the Director. The second proposal would move the Inspections Department from Public Works to Community and Economic Development. The realignment would consolidate all of the interfaces with private development and property within one department. The reorganization would be revenue neutral and would align with how other communities of our general size operate. 

 

In other news, Mayor Woodford has announced that he will be attending all of the state legislature Joint Finance Committee listening sessions on the state budget. Governor Evers has proposed increasing the revenue sharing to municipal governments. This shared revenue has steadily decreased while state tax receipts have steadily increased. In 2021, the shared revenue to municipal governments was less than it was in 1993, while state income tax receipts hit a record $9.28 billion. Because local governments are constrained by state law for their own tax levies, they are moving more and more to referendums to fund public safety and infrastructure. We saw our neighbors in Grand Chute pass such a referendum last year. Both parties have indicated that there may be some movement this year.  

 

Thank you for bearing with me for this very long update and have a great week!