Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for August 7, 2023
Greetings District 6 Neighbors,
I write this while still a bit tired from being downtown at Mile of Music for the past four days. I hope many of you were able to check out at least part of the festival. We checked out some favorites from past Miles and discovered some new artists that we hope to see again. While I love the Americana and traditional rock groups that are Mile of Music staples, it’s really good to see increasing diversity in both the genres of music and the performers themselves. My husband and I decided that this was “The Year of the Cello”, as the instrument was an unexpected part of quite a few performances.
To be honest, one of the things that always thrills me most about the Mile is hearing the performers rave about Mile of Music and the City of Appleton. We welcome these artists with open arms, big crowds and many, many standing ovations. I heard one singer say during a Lawrence Chapel performance that they didn’t often perform to audiences that were actually paying attention.
Here's a story you might have missed about how this whole thing happens (the link COULD be paywalled – I think it’s subscriber-only story – apologies if you can’t access)
However, it’s Monday and back to work. At the Common Council meeting last week, the Mayor recognized two groups for their work advocating for the increase in shared revenue to municipalities in the state budget – the League of Women Voters and Appleton Concerned Taxpayers. Both groups let our state leaders know that it is important that the state commit to increasing the amount of income tax money – frozen since 2003 – that flows back to cities, towns and villages under the program that began in 1911 when Wisconsin instituted the progressive income tax. Shared revenue is not a handout from the state – it is part of an agreement between local and state government to allocate a portion of the taxes paid by citizens back to the communities where they live – communities which are very much restricted by the state in the ways that they can raise revenue to pay for public safety, infrastructure and city services.
The related resolution which I discussed in the last update failed 6-9. As I noted, I submitted the alternate resolution because I didn’t want an unqualified “thank you” to go out to specific state legislators (while leaving out others who represent Appleton). The NAY votes were a mixture of alders who never vote for that they call “feel-good” resolutions which do not take specific action and those who believe that Act 12, while increasing shared revenue, still contains provisions that benefit communities of different sizes unfairly and remove local control from cities, towns and villages.
No other items were separated for individual votes except one requesting reimbursement for the maintenance of veterans’ graves in St. Joseph Cemetery – this because the amount was not specified in the item. It was referred back to the Finance Committee for consideration this week.
We received a detailed briefing on the city-wide property revaluation from Assessor Matthew Tooke. I will write about it separately, but you can find detailed information here:
https://www.appleton.org/government/assessor-s-office/2023-revaluation-city-of-appleton
In this week’s committee meetings:
Municipal Services Committee – Monday, August 7, 4:30 p.m.
The committee will be getting an update on the Complete Streets study commissioned as part of a pedestrian safety resolution last year. Interviews were held with various city groups, including police and fire, Valley Transit, elected officials, city departments and the Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. The next steps will involve creating policy and getting feedback from the public.
They will also be reviewing a request from a homeowner to keep a four-foot fence and lilac bushes in the terrace. City staff has concerns about the height of the fence and the bushes since they are located in the vision triangle (at street corners).
There is a proposal to create a passenger loading zone on the south side of College Avenue (like the north side in front of the PAC) from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. This would allow bar patrons to more safely access ride-sharing services.
OB’s Brau Haus is requesting authorization for placing tables outside the restaurant, and The Boldt Corporation is requesting an occupancy permit for the construction site perimeter fencing at the library site until October 2024.
Finance Committee – Monday, August 7, 5:30 p.m.
We will be receiving a presentation from Baird on the 2023 General Obligation Bond sale. Baird is the company the city uses to handle the bond issuing process. We issue general obligation bonds as the borrowing tool for city projects other than utilities (those are water/sewer bonds).
The graphic below shows the breakdown and the interest rate. The days of issuing bonds at less than 2% are over, but the city’s excellent bond rating allows us to issue them at a very favorable 3.75%.
We are still on track to keep our debt service stable for the next 10 years and sharply decreasing after that.
The committee will also vote on the contract for the development of Lundgaard Park (Vinton Construction, $1,048,177.70 with contingency). The 2023 Capital Improvement Plan includes $2 million for Lundgaard Park. The remaining fund balance is allocated for engineering/design, geotechnical services, and construction administration. Work includes the construction of two pickleball courts, basketball court, playground, court lighting, fire department memorial plaza, interior walking paths, utilities, and landscaping. Construction is anticipated to be completed by June 2024.
The committee will also be voting to approve changes in the property tax value for 2021 and 2022 for a commercial property on N. Evergreen St. The owner contested the assessment and was denied by the Board of Review, subsequently filing a lawsuit. The city and property owner reached a settlement in mediation – the tax refund being requested is based on the new appraised value as a result of that settlement. The city’s portion is $9.167.64.
We’ll be hearing the mid-year reports from Facilities and Construction Management and Risk Management as information items, along with an update on the city’s ARPA funding.
Utilities Committee – Tuesday, August 8, 4:30 p.m.
The committee will be voting on awarding the contract for the “Clearwells and Lindbergh Standpipe Project” at the water treatment plant (McMahon & Associates, $40,010 with contingency). This is engineering work for repairs that are estimated at $350,000.
Information items include the 2022 Consumer Confidence Report for Appleton’s water quality https://www.appleton.org/home/showpublisheddocument/25357/638228520827730000
and the Appleton Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 Report.
City Plan Commission – Wednesday, August 9, 3:30 p.m.
The commission has a couple of items related to the Fourth Addition to the Clearwater Creek subdivision (north of W. Edgewood between Richmond and Meade). First there is re-zoning of land annexed to the city in 2004 from agricultural to single-family. There will be a public hearing and then we’ll take up the action item. After that, we have the actual approval of the preliminary plat.
The information item is the draft of changes to the zoning code – wireless facilities, dumpsters, drive-through facilities and off-street parking and loading.
Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, August 9, 4:30 p.m.
We’ll be voting on a couple of organizational chart changes – for the Department of Public Works and for Valley Transit. DPW is requesting a title change for the Traffic Engineer to City Traffic Engineer, which is how the position has been presented through the years anyway, and the replacement of a traffic engineering specialist with a second traffic engineer. Those positions would be retitled Professional
Engineer – Traffic / Traffic Engineer. The position would be a grade 9 or 11 depending upon licensure, up from the current specialist position at a grade 7. Current year salary would be offset by vacant salary dollars, with future budgets accounting for the upgrade. Given how important this seems to be to many members of the community, I will support the upgrade to the traffic department.
Valley Transit is looking to add a full-time Maintenance Utility position. Multiple part-time Maintenance Utility positions are currently vacant and Valley Transit mechanics have been required to perform some of these tasks, often requiring overtime. The position would be funded by the reduction in overtime and by vacant labor dollars for 2023 and 2024. For future years, the position would be 60% funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation and 40% from other funding sources.
Information items include the HR and IT budget mid-year reports and the Recruitment Status Report.
Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, August 9, 5:30 p.m.
In addition to the normal license applications and renewals, there is a hearing on the suspension of the alcohol license for the Speakeasy Ultra Lounge (August 14-23) for violations that took place in October of 2022. They pleaded no contest to having seminude dancers at an event and agreed to the 150 demerit points and temporary license suspension.
The agreement with Gold Cross to be the exclusive provider of ambulance service for Appleton is back at committee after being referred back at the last full council meeting. Alder Siebers had some questions about staffing that will hopefully be addressed here.
Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, August 9, 6:30 p.m.
The only action item for this meeting is Resolution #6-R-23 submitted by Alders Schultz, Meltzer and Del Toro which calls for broad ordinance changes to mandate bird safe glass in new buildings and retrofitting of existing buildings. While I am totally sympathetic to the cause as I know that millions of birds are killed each year from collisions with windows, our city attorney has reviewed the language in this resolution and found that the provisions violate state law in creating a locally specific building code. The ordinance adopted by the City of Madison in 2020 is part of that city’s zoning code, which would avoid the regulations regarding building codes. However, the Madison ordinance is facing a legal challenge that has gone to the Court of Appeals. The Legal Department advises waiting on the outcome there before pursuing such a code. I would prefer at this point to see the city work internally and with builders on an educational program that would seek voluntary measures to mitigate the harm before we adopt measures that could result in costly litigation.
We will also get the mid-year budget report from the Community and Economic Development Department as an information item.
More on the property revaluation to come in the next day or so. Have a great week!
Denise
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