Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for the Week of January 22, 2024

2023 Avenue of Ice (from ADI)

Greetings District 6 Neighbors, 

I’m excited today about some warmer weather – as I said to my husband when I got home from my exercise class today, being outside doesn’t hurt your face anymore. I even saw some kiddos having outside recess today! I do feel bad for the ice skaters and skiers – it seems that just when rinks and trails open, we’re likely to have a big thaw this week. 

The Common Council meeting last Wednesday turned out to be very short. Mayor Woodford was away, so Council President Van Zeeland presided over the meeting. I had anticipated quite a bit of discussion on Alder Doran’s resolution calling for a study of the parking facilities (note that original language including the potential sale or lease of parking assets was removed from the resolution at committee), but Alder Doran was excused from the meeting and Alder Hartzheim moved to hold the item until the next council meeting. I voted against the hold because the item has been extensively discussed at committee and I was ready to vote. As I noted last week, since confirming that the funding for this study would come from the $100,000 allocated in the 2024 budget for wayfinding signage and marketing. I don’t believe many people know how inexpensive parking is downtown – even in the ramps, where parking for up to four hours (other than event parking at the Red Ramp) is $3.00 and you can park all day for $6.00.  

Without that item, the rest of the agenda was approved without anything being separated for an individual vote. 

Committees are beginning to ramp up after a slower start to the year, although the City Plan Commission, Human Resources and Information Technology Committee and the Safety and Licensing Committee will not meet this week. 

Municipal Service Committee – Monday, January 22, 4:30 p.m. 

The committee will be voting on a request from The Boldt Company for a street occupancy permit to occupy three metered parking spaces on Washington St. in order to get construction vehicles for the Fox Commons project in and out. Parking will still be available on weekends in those spots.  

They will also be voting on the permit for the annual Avenue of Ice for the weekend of February 23. Fingers crossed that we have ice sculpture friendly weather that weekend! 

The other action items involve sole sourcing of city contracts. Remember that city policy is to get multiple bids for contracts, but there is an approval process if circumstances dictate that a single provider is the best for the job. The first action item contains a list of vendors where the City Traffic Section believes it is in the best interest of the city to be a single source of particular items of equipment. The second item is a specific sole source contract for parking ramp security services (Star Protection and Patrol - $57,000). Staff is basing this recommendation on the company’s record of excellent performance and customer service. 

 

Finance Committee – Monday, January 22, 5:30 p.m. 

 

The first item on the committee agenda is the resolution that was submitted by Alders Van Zeeland, Meltzer and me that would apply the Department of Energy, the Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) to a qualifying initiative in the library project. My hope is that this grant will close the budget gap on the geothermal heating and cooling for the library. Geothermal will result in significant operational cost savings for the library in addition to being the most sustainable heating and cooling method. Alder Hartzheim had moved to amend the original request to accept the grant to add a provision that it should be used for “existing energy efficient projects for the library.” The amendment failed at the time; those of us who voted nay felt that city staff should be able to evaluate the best uses for the funds before we committed them to a single project. After the evaluation, the library project does look to be the best use for these funds. Alder Van Zeeland reached out to Alder Hartzheim to co-sponsor this new resolution, but she declined.  

 

The committee will be voting on a contract recommendation for the 2024 water and sewer reconstruction (Kruczek Construction, Inc. - $2,989,994.96 including contingency). Unfortunately, the bids came in higher than the budget allocation for the sanitary sewer portion of the work, so the Department of Public Works is recommending some delays and reallocations. Quoting here about the delay which affects District 6:  

“ This item would delay the planned sewer and water reconstruction in the 1600 North block of Durkee Street adjacent to Einstein Middle School from 2024 until 2025. It would also delay the abandonment of the existing sanitary sewer under Einstein Middle School from 2024 until 2025. DPW Staff have determined that the risk of failure of the existing infrastructure is very unlikely to increase significantly if its service life is extended by one more year. Additionally, after 2024 budget development, DPW staff determined that the reconstruction of the 1600 block of Durkee Street sanitary sewer would provide the best opportunity in the near future to address concerns with condition of the sanitary sewer in the 1500 block of Durkee Street and will use this as an opportunity reconstruct the sanitary sewer in both blocks at the same time in 2025. This is expected to provide better economy of scale and less disruption to local residents and users. 2024 expense reductions, by account, would be:  

5431 (Wastewater Capital) ($95,664.66)  

5371 (Water Capital) ($202,118.15)” 

The other adjustment involves delaying consulting work on two projects until 2025. 

 

We are also being asked to recommend approval of a change order to the contract for 2023 water line reconstruction. Additional concrete pavement was required on Franklin and Atlantic Streets and Capitol Drive. There were also some emergency repairs that were not covered in the original budget. Overall, $150,000 would come from the contingency in the contract and an additional $185,035.04 would come from unspent funds from another water project. 

 

There are several information items related to final payments on completed projects. We also have a report on the status of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) projects. All ARPA funds must be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026. I have linked the full memo here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=3ef48bd4-b0d0-4e8d-bd6b-db701cd2b550.pdf 

 

There are eight projects approaching the implementation phase, including the RISE affordable housing development on Oneida St., and five projects that are in the development phase, some of which will result in external grants. 

 

Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, January 22, 6:30 p.m. 

 

The fee schedules for Houdini Plaza and Jones Park are once again on the agenda after being referred back in the December 20 Common Council meeting. The committee will also be voting to recommend approval of the contract for design services for Lundgaard Park Phase II (ISG  - $71,500 with contingency). 

 

Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, January 23, 2:50 p.m. 

 

The commission will vote to approve payments for November and December of 2023 and will be voting on a contract to procure access and control technology for the Whitman Avenue facility from Faith Technologies, Inc. ($62,715.00) 

 

Information items include the financial report and the monthly ridership report. 

 

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, January 23, 2023, 4:30 p.m. 

 

The committee will be voting to recommend approval of a sole source contract for Aeration Process Upgrades (McMahon - $72,240 with contingency). Sole source is recommended here as the equipment recommendations McMahon provided as part of a 2023 consulting contract will be used as a springboard for the next phase of the design. 

 

They will also be voting on sole source contract for the purchase of Final Clarifier Tank Underdrain and Tank Drain Pumps, Pump Rail Guide Systems, and Miscellaneous Pump Fittings (I will be honest that I have to copy and paste some of these contract details directly from the memos and then watch the meeting videos to understand exactly what some of these items are.) (Quality Flow Systems - $94,460 with contingency). The sole source contract is based on there being only one provider of the items. 

 

Another contract to be voted on is the Clarifier Tank Underdrain and Tank Drain Rehabilitation (Sabel Mechanical – $51,073 with contingency). 

 

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

 

We’ll start the meeting with a public hearing to obtain citizen input on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding available for 2024 and a portion of the 2023 allocation that was relinquished by a recipient. 

We will then discuss and vote on the related action items – the allocation of the 2024 funding and the 2023 allocation discussed above. The CDBG Advisory Board has submitted these recommendations:  

 

The 2024 public service allocation portion ( $86,550) is being allocated to a joint program of the Appleton Health Department and the Appleton Police Department to fund a community resource navigator position. 

 

Information items include the annual updates to the Appleton Housing Affordability Report and the Housing Fee Report for 2022. We continue to see a fairly sizable percentage of Appleton residents classified as “housing burdened”, meaning that they spend more than 30% of their income on housing, particularly at income levels under $50,000 per year. This is pretty much in line with the rest of the surrounding communities, but something we need to always consider as we look at policies around the production of housing units in Appleton. 

 

That covers this week of committee agenda items. 

 

I made it all the way to the end of this update without mentioning the Packers – I’m sad but excited about the future. We can turn to getting the Bucks back to form and to cheering what is looking like an exciting season on the court for the Badgers. 

 

Don’t forget that the Appleton Public Library has the rescheduled grand opening of the new temporary library this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. (3000 E. College Avenue). 

You can still donate to the library building fund here: https://friendsofapl.org/donate-to-new-library/ 

 

 

Have a great week! 

Denise