Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for October 23, 2023

Happy Rainy Monday District 6 Neighbors,

I admit that  I was doing other things (sending budget-related questions to city department heads) during most of the Packer game yesterday, but I passed through the living room (and heard my husband alternately cheering and groaning) enough to take note of the almost comeback. I’m still rooting for Jordan Love, but times are tough.

At the Common Council meeting last week, we had a number of items separated out for individual discussion and votes, including the item from Appleton Downtown, Inc. requesting free parking for Small Business Saturday, which was referred back to the Municipal Services Committee. The committee had voted unanimously to recommend the item for approval, but several alders (including myself) were interested in knowing what the potential lost revenue would be. I still think it’s a good idea for out downtown businesses.

The council voted 13-1-1 to award the $1 million ARPA grant to the Thompson Center on Lourdes. Alder Jones abstained as she sits on the board of TCOL, and Alder Doran voted nay. With the library board approving the sub-lease for the property on E. College and the contract for the move, the wheels are in motion for the library’s move to the new temporary location. We reaffirmed that the grant is for TCOL to do the work to make this space fit their needs. It is not part of the library project budget or part of the operating costs of the library.

There was a fair amount of discussion about the Lawe St. truck route study. The item had been amended at the first Municipal Services Committee meeting where it was discussed, adding a number of other requests for staff to study. The authors had expressed a desire to amend again, stating that they believed staff had provided all the information they needed. At the committee meeting, they requested that the committee just “receive and file” the item, meaning that it would just be indefinitely tabled. The committee chose to recommend it for denial as well. When it came back to us at council, it WAS amended to remove the additional study requests. I intended to vote for the resolution as amended since the work had been done, but the combination of my poor eyesight and our new voting tablets led me to hit the wrong button. I had to ask for a reconsideration to correct my vote, and the resolution passed 8-7.  I believe that the authors are not going to try again to have the truck route designation removed.

We approved unanimously the neighborhood grant to the Historic Central Neighborhood for improvements to the Columbus School playground. The labor will be performed by the Appleton Area School District. I welcome this partnership and look forward to a more welcoming play area with more green space.

We voted to approve the updates to the city attorney salary for the term starting in May 2024. There was an amendment proposed by Alder Doran to change the 2% increase in years 2,3 and 4 to 3%, but that failed, and the unamended resolution passed. A similar proposal for the mayor’s salary was not separated and thus passed with the “balance of the agenda”.  

Resolution #9-R-23, the resolution recognizing the importance of mental health and the impact of mental illness in Appleton once again generated a lot of discussion. It had been referred back to the Board of Health at the last council meeting because the meeting video had not been available to council members to view. At the second BOH meeting there was much more discussion, and the resolution was recommended for approval after being amended to note $1 million of ARPA funds allocated to “mental” health and to be specific on the organizations that would be sent a copy of the resolution. I was concerned about the amendment as I know that there is $1 million of ARPA funds that are to be awarded to “Community Wellness, Mental Health & Violence Prevention" so I proposed an amendment to clarify that language and to remove the language that would appear to indicate that the Common Council would be making the recommendations on how to award the grants. In the end the resolution passed 8-7. A number of alders believed that the resolution doesn’t do anything and that it actually undermines the work of mental health professionals, but I know we are in a mental health crisis in our community and in the country, so all action that increases awareness is important.

On this week’s committee agendas:

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, October 23, 4:30 p.m.

The committee will be taking up the request for free parking on Small Business Saturday as noted above. They’ll also be addressing a request for a permit for a holiday tree walk in conjunction with the Light Up Appleton event November 11^th  and 12^th. In addition, they’ll be reviewing an appeal of a denial of a driveway extension request, taking up a request for a small building move from Badger St. to W. Winnebago St. and discussing a new resolution (#11-R-23) that would allow overnight on-street parking with a permit. I expect this resolution to be referred to staff as there are a number of considerations – snow removal, leaf pickup, street cleaning, etc., that need to be addressed.

Finance Committee – Monday, October 23, 5:30 p.m.

We have one action item for this meeting- the approval of the development agreement for the Fourth Addition of Clearwater Creek. This is the final step after the rezoning and the plat approvals for this addition.

Information items include the 2024 Finance and Risk Management budgets.

Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, October 24, 2:50 p.m.

The commission with be approving the August and September payments. They will also be voting to approve contracts for consulting expenses to help with the grant applications in 2024 in hopes of acquiring funding for the new transit center. The consultant (SRF Consulting, $23,663) worked with Valley Transit on the last round of grant applications and on the master planning for the transit center and thus has familiarity with the needs of VT and the grant requirements. They will also be reviewing a proposed contract to purchase audiovisual equipment (Smart Spaces - $130,571) for the remodeled Whitman Ave. facility. VT has sufficient grant funding for the purchase. They will also be reviewing the August and September income statements.

 

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, October 24, 4:30 p.m.

The committee has no action items, but still has a full agenda of information items to review. They’ll be getting an update on the DuPont and 3M Multijurisdictional PFAS Settlement. There will be a discussion of the 2024 Utilities Department budget and the monthly reports for July, August and September. Water breaks are still just a bit over half the number at this point last year.

Appleton Redevelopment Authority (special meeting) – Wednesday, October 25, 9:00 a.m.

ARA will consider an amended offer to purchase property at 222 N. Oneida as part of the transit center project.

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, October 25, 3:30 p.m.

The one public hearing and associated action item is the request by Antojito’s Mexicanos to expand the restaurant and sidewalk café into the adjacent location at 206 E. College Ave.

Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, October 25, 4:30 p.m.

The committee is being asked to approve the new contract for Valley Transit drivers represented by the Teamsters Union. Basically, the raises will be 3%, 3% and 2.5% for the next three years.

We also have our annual review of alderperson salaries. Because of the staggered terms, the salary is generally set two years in advance. In 2022 (for the 2023 term) the salary increased from $6221.44 to $6750 per year. The last increase before this was for the 2020 term (1.5%) and before that there was a 2.5% increase for the 2018 term. I don’t plan to propose or vote for a raise for the next term given that the last one was pretty substantial. I’ve gone on record with my feeling that keeping the salaries very low creates barriers for people who don’t have job flexibility and other income, which makes the council less representative of the city.

The information item is the review of the Information Technology budget. Up until recently, IT departments generally purchased hardware and software packages, which were treated as capital expenditures. However, the trend now is toward “Software as a Service” (SaaS), where the support charges are annual expenses. This amounts to over $1 million for Appleton in the 2024 budget.

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, October 25, 5:30 p.m.

In addition to the normal license applications and renewal, the committee will be considering the recommendation for denial of an operator’s license (for selling alcohol at a convenience store) to a person with previous drug convictions. The police department has recommended denial.

Information items include the budgets for the City Clerk’s office, Police and Fire Departments, along with the directors’ reports for Police, Fire and the City Clerk. The City Clerk will be giving updates for the spring elections. The offices of mayor, city attorney and the even-numbered council districts will be up for election on April 2, 2024. There will be a primary on February 20 if there are more than two declared candidates for any office. Candidates can start collecting signatures on nomination papers on December 1 and must submit them with a declaration of candidacy by January 2. Mayor Woodford has already declared his intention to run for re-election.

Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, October 25, 6:30 p.m.

The committee will be holding a public hearing on the Community Development Block Grant funding for 2024. These are federal funds administered by the city which help with housing and economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income people. The purpose of the hearing is to hear citizen input on community needs for the uses of the funding. The committee will then vote on a couple of allocations - $50,000 to the Appleton Housing Authority and $40,000 to the Neighborhood Program, along with $100,000 for administrative costs borne by the City of Appleton. The remainder of the funding, estimated at $386,900, will be available first to city departments that work to meet community needs, and then to community partners.

2024 Budget

This week, the work of the council continues past the normal Wednesday committee meetings, as we have our budget workshop this Saturday, where all of the department heads will present their budget to the council, and we’ll have another opportunity to ask questions about the budget. This is technically a meeting of the Finance Committee which will vote to recommend approval of the budget before it goes to the full council for adoption on November 8. However, it is customary that the entire council attends the workshop. In recent years, we have really streamlined the process by submitting questions in writing ahead of the meeting. To this point there have been over 200 questions submitted and answered by the department heads. There will be another opportunity for public input on the budget with the public hearing on November 1 at 6:00 p.m. in council chambers.

I finished my review last week and submitted a number of questions to the department heads. Overall, I’m pleased that the mayor and city staff were able to maintain service levels without a tax rate increase, and that we are working toward reducing the amount of debt. As noted, the citywide property revaluation will increase taxes for some of us (myself included), but the millage rate actually decreased. We have implemented some fee increases (for inspections, site plan approvals, etc.) that will allow those fees to come closer to covering the costs associated with those services.