Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for December 11, 2023
Greetings District 6 Neighbors,
The holidays are upon us, ready or not! We’re already midway through Hanukkah - Chag Sameach to all who celebrate – and we have just two weeks until Christmas. My kitchen is very busy this time of year – my husband says that the “sugar dust” levels are dangerous.
Before we get into meeting minutes and agendas, I want to touch on a couple of things that have been generating some emails and social media comments and questions.
First – the City Park Christmas tree:
There have been a number of questions regarding the unlit tree. There was NOT a decision not to light the tree this year; rather, as it sometimes happens to us at home, the Department of Public Works discovered a number of non-working sets of lights this year. Unfortunately, these don’t seem to be the kind of lights we could just run down to Lowe’s and replace. DWP is working with the Parks and Recreation Department to get everything working and to have the tree decorated as soon as possible.
Second – the news about U.S. Venture’s plant to purchase and renovate the 222 Building as their new headquarters:
I’m sure that many of you have read the story in the Post-Crescent, which included both the company and Mayor Woodford’s statements.
Obviously, a project which will move 550 people to downtown Appleton is something we welcome, especially the news that the company has inquired about purchasing monthly parking permits in the city’s parking ramps. The work on the 222 Building will be extensive, and he company also has some plans to develop the surface parking lots that are included in the planned purchase. The company plans to retain ownership of the eight acres on the bluff site and is “exploring options” for developing this site.
The discussion about what U.S. Venture will do downtown has been going on for many years. The negotiations were well underway when I was first elected to the Common Council in September of 2019. At the session where I was sworn in, we had a closed session on the subject that lasted over two hours (with my poor husband who had come to watch me be sworn in waiting outside chambers the whole time) Their original plan to build a new headquarters on the bluff site has clearly been changed due to business conditions (and likely COVID). I want to make it clear that no development agreement has been finalized and the city has not committed any funding for the new project. Any agreement would have to be approved by Council and I believe there is a general feeling among my colleagues that we would want some kind of commitment about the bluff site before moving on. The city did not provide any funding for the original proposal, but we have invested in infrastructure around the site, so there are definitely significant costs that we have incurred. However, U.S. Venture controls all the land (the demolition of the buildings on the bluff was a company project, not a city project) with the move of Mosaic to Fox Commons, and the city has limited control over what happens there.
I will remain open minded about any proposals that come to the council, but, while I welcome the investment in downtown and the effect that having 550 more people who would patronize our shops and restaurants there, I believe there are limits to what we should offer a multi-billion-dollar private company. I will continue to share news as we know more.
Moving on to normal council business, the meeting last week was fairly uneventful except for the closed session concerning U.S. Venture’s plans. I can’t write about the details, but essentially it was an opportunity to share the announcement with the council before it was made public. I understand that the company’s employees were informed of the project at about the same time.
Only a couple of items were separated for individual discussion and votes, but there was not a great deal of discussion on those. The Perkins St. reconstruction was separated so that Alder Schultz, the alder representing the area in question – could confirm some information about sidewalks. No members of the public were present to speak about either the Perkins St. reconstruction or the N. Morrison St. reconstruction. I’ve shared my views about the Morrison St. reconstruction, and while a number of people in the neighborhood have shared that they are against narrowing the street and adding the traffic calming circle at Lindbergh, I did not hear anything compelling enough to override the cost savings and what I think will be a safety enhancement. While the neighbors stated that there isn’t speeding on Morrison St., there was agreement that people tend to speed on Lindbergh, and the calming circle at that intersection should slow that traffic down.
Alder Doran did submit a resolution that was not unexpected. The resolution calls for city staff to… “prepare a request for proposals to develop a parking facility strategic plan, to include a study to assess the value and conditions of the city’s publicly-owned parking assets, to look at best management practices and options, including the sale or lease of parts or all of the parking utility, and to develop a downtown marketing and promotional campaign.” The resolution will be discussed at the Municipal Services Committee meeting this afternoon at 4:30. I would prefer for this item to be referred to city staff for their evaluation before voting on it. The Parking Utility is just that – a utility that operates to provide a service and is funded through payments for that service. The pandemic and the resulting change in the way people work has resulted in serious challenges to the parking utility, but news like the U.S. Venture proposal to move 550 people downtown is definitely a positive sign. It seems clear to me that a private entity would not want to provide the service at the same rates as a public utility – they need to make a profit in addition to allowing for maintenance and upgrades. The 2024 budget already provides funds for a marketing campaign and wayfinding signs for the parking ramps. Unless I hear overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I don’t see myself supporting this resolution.
Speaking of this week’s committee meetings, we start with the aforementioned Municipal Services Committee – Monday, December 11, 4:30 p.m.
In addition to the resolution above, the committee will once again be taking up the resolution to allow overnight street parking. I have heard comments from several of you, and city staff has provided a very detailed analysis (22 pages) with the recommendation that the committee and council hold this resolution pending further analysis with committee input. The analysis mentioned the obvious impacts to snow removal and trash and leaf collection even with an alternate side approach, but also brought up the need for extra staffing to maintain a permitting system if needed and for enforcement of signage as well.
The committee will also consider changes to the public works fee schedule – the fees that would increase are the street excavation fee, the tire disposal fee (from $5 to $12 to match Outagamie County), and garbage cart fees (the 35–40 gallon cart would go from 50 cents to 60 cents per week, the 60-65 gallon cart from $1 to $1.20 per week and the 90-95 gallon cart from $1.50 to $1.80 per week). I asked during the budget workshop if it would be an incentive to increase recycling to keep the fee on the small carts the same. My household found pretty early on that we did not fill up the 60-gallon container and replaced it with the small one. All you have to do is call 920-832-5580 and they will switch out the containers.
They are also being asked to approve a couple of contracts related to the closed landfill – the first for operations maintenance (SCS Engineers - $74,574) and the second for cap maintenance (New Paradigm Companies, LLC - $44,000) and several intersection control changes (mostly the addition of stop signs) around the city.
Finance Committee – Monday, December 11, 5:30 p.m.
The committee will be considering two more of Alder Doran’s resolutions. The first would take $25,000 in ARPA funds for (per the resolution) ten more Flock license plate reader cameras. We got a demonstration of the capability of these cameras a couple of weeks ago during a tour of the mobile command unit and they are impressive. We funded nineteen cameras in the 2024 budget after a trial of twenty-nine cameras was completed. APD also has access to a network of cameras in other communities. My concern here relates to the fact that the allocations for ARPA funds have been voted on in two different budgets and the resolution does not specify where funding would be reduced for this purpose. The resolution also fails to address the ongoing cost of the cameras which includes cloud storage, maintenance, etc. The contract for the nineteen cameras funded in the 2024 budget was $54,000. It seems clear that with the total contract, $25,000 would not pay for ten additional cameras.
The second resolution calls for changing the timing of the budget process to have the budget presented to council by the third week of September rather than the first week of October and for all departments to present a preliminary budget to the committees of jurisdiction during the second committee meeting of July. The resolution states that Appleton lags behind other communities in the state by as much as three weeks in the delivery of the executive budget, but Council President Van Zeeland has researched communities similar in size and governmental structure to Appleton and found that this is not necessarily the case:
I do have to make a concerted effort to get through the budget each year in the 3-4 weeks we have up until the budget workshop, but my colleagues who have full time jobs also seem to be able to get through it in the time allotted. My concern with compressing the timeline, especially in this time of changing costs, is that the information used to create the budget might not be accurate. We certainly saw in the past couple of years that, when we sought bids for projects, they came in over budget. I will be interested in hearing the staff input, but I am not terribly inclined to support this resolution.
The committee will also be voting on a “relocation order” to acquire land at the intersection of Linwood Ave. and College Ave. for the reconstruction of Linwood Ave., sidewalk construction and traffic signal modification.
We’ll be considering a change in the contingency amount for the lead and galvanized service line replacement project that will allow the replacement of those lines to thirty-three more homes.
We’re also being asked to approve a transfer of $244,000 of ARPA funds to the parking utility. The allocation of funds for COVID-19 response and lost revenue was approved in the 2022 budget process.
There are some budget amendments to record donations and insurance proceeds and a request to create a special revenue fund for upkeep of the Sexual Assault Survivors Monument at Ellen Kort Peace Park, funded by $39,808 left from the construction of the monument.
Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, December 11, 6:15 p.m.
The only action items on the agenda are fee schedule changes for Houdini Plaza and Jones Park. Houdini Plaza will cost $50 for local non-profits, $100 for national non-profits, $325 for a for-profit company and $500 for a private event. Jones Park fees will not change, but there are some changes to the rules, including that all events held at the park are to be considered special events and thus subject to those rules.
Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, December 12, 2:50 p.m.
The commission will vote to approve the October payments, the intermunicipal agreements for Dial-A-Ride services with Outagamie, Winnebago and Calumet counties, the City of Neenah and the Village of Fox Crossing, vote to approve the 2024-2025 grant agreement with Lutheran Social Services and certify the Valley Transit Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP).
Utilities Committee – Tuesday, December 12, 4:30 p.m.
The committee will vote on two stormwater consulting contracts: 2024A to Brown and Caldwell ($50,000) and 2024B to raSmith ($50,000).
They will also hear the 2024 Joint Chemical Consortium Quotation Awards. Appleton is part of a consortium with Neenah and Menasha to get a better deal on thirteen different water treatment chemicals.
Board of Health – Wednesday, December 13, 7:00 a.m.
The Board will be voting to approve the creation of the Community Resource Navigator within the Health Department. Council had earlier approved moving the Coordinated Entry Specialist from the Community and Economic Development department to the Health Department, housed in the Police Department. This position will help address the needs of individuals who are not engaging in criminal activity but need support to meet basic needs and secure shelter. Having the position housed in the Police Department will reduce the need of police officers to intervene in non-criminal calls, but still provide the fastest access for those in need of help. The position is expected to be funded by Community Development Block Grant dollars.
The Board will also be hearing about another dangerous animal declaration, approved noise variances and a respiratory virus reporting as information items.
City Plan Commission – Wednesday, December 13, 3:30 p.m.
I’ll be chairing this meeting in Mayor Woodford’s absence and luckily, it appears to be less contentious than the last one I chaired.
There will be a public hearing on the proposed rezoning of property at E. Wisconsin Ave. and N. Lawe St. from general commercial to neighborhood mixed use to accommodate potential redevelopment as multi-family housing. We will also take up the rezoning as an action item.
We will also be addressing a request to change the Certified Survey Map (CSM) for two parcels on N. Richmond St. to combine them into one lot and voting to approve the final plat for Southpoint Commerce Park Plat No. 4. (bounded by Eisenhower Drive, Midway Road, and Coop Road)
Finally, we’ll vote on the proposal to acquire and dedicate land within Southpoint Commerce Park for a public trail between Eisenhower Dr. and Coop Rd.
Human Resources and Information Technology Committee – Wednesday, December 13, 4:30 p.m.
We’ll be addressing a request from Community and Economic Development to overhire a real estate property lister position. The current property lister is retiring on January 26 and the department would like to have the new person in place by January 2, using the time for training and knowledge transfer. There will be no extra salary expense due to a vacancy in a position at the same grade level whose earliest start date is January 29.
The Community Resource Navigator position that will be taken up by the Board of Health will also be discussed by HR/IT and we’ll review a new Silica Safety Policy to be enacted for the Department of Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Facilities Management.
A number of information items include various policy changes for Human Resources.
Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, December 13, 5:30 p.m.
In addition to the usual license applications and renewals, the committee will be taking up policy changes regarding alcohol sales and fireworks sales. These are mostly for clarification, citing the relevant sections of state law, and timing of license renewals. For fireworks sales, these codify the existing city policy.
The committee will also vote on proposed changes to city towing fees. Both the regular and after-hours towing fees will increase $5, to $170 and $180 respectively.
Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, December 13, 6:30 p.m.
The committee will consider a request for a variance of the deed restriction and covenant within the Southpoint Commerce Park to allow an extension time for the owner of a parcel to build on the property before the city exercises its right to purchase. This is part of negotiations with the owner for the city to acquire a 30-foot right of way for a trail.
We will also be considering a request from Merge, LLC to extend the purchase date for the former Blue Ramp site. This would be the site of their second development. The first development is almost complete but has experienced delays due to interest rates, supply chain issues and labor shortages. Per the development agreement Merge was to acquire the Blue Ramp property by September 29, 2023. They are asking to extend the date until July 31, 2024 and city staff is recommending that we honor the request. They are still committed to Phase 2 of the project.
Another item on this full agenda is the request from Fox Commons Properties (the developer of the City Center space) for a “no build” easement between their property and the Blue Ramp site. Fox Commons is offering the city $40,000 for the easement, which will be credited to Merge, LLC when they purchase the site.
We will also vote on the allocation of Community Development Block Grant funds for the Community Resource Navigator position discussed above.
Finally, the city is being asked to provide a resolution of support for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) Community Development Institute (CDI) grant application being submitted by the developers of the Fox Commons project. They plan to create a public market, “The Fox Den” on the first level of Fox Commons.
If you made it this far, thank you. The committee agendas are all very full of items that have to be addressed by the end of the year since most won’t be meeting on Christmas week.
I will be away next week, missing my only Common Council meeting of the year as we’ll physically be on a plane and not able to even attend remotely. I’ll catch up next weekend and send out a brief end of year update.
Have a great week!
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