Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for the Week of April 15, 2024

Photo From the Post-Crescent

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

I hope this tax day finds you not too unhappy.

We don’t have a terribly full Common Council agenda ahead of us this week – aside from a pretty full list of business presented by the mayor. There are seven proclamations:

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

We also have a presentation on the sidewalk poetry project and the presentation of the Housing Development Policy that was discussed in both the City Plan Commission and Community and Economic Development Committee meetings last week.

 

There will be a public hearing and associated action item regarding the requested rezoning of the parcel south of the roundabout at E. Midway and E. Plank Road. I expect that neighbors will be attending this meeting to speak as they did at the Plan Commission meeting. The developer spoke of the intent to build 25 senior condominiums on the parcel. While the land is zoned single family residential now (as was the standard when the property was annexed in 1985) the comprehensive plan has called for the parcel to be multi-family since the comprehensive plan for 2010-2030.

 

I expect that none of the other agenda items will provoke a great deal of discussion.

 

The items that I would have expected to result in more discussion were both held in committee. The bartender license that was recommended for approval in the Safety and Licensing Committee on March 27 and referred back by the Common Council on April 3 was held once again due to the applicant not being informed that the item would be appearing again.

 

The Municipal Services Committee held the resolution calling for overnight parking for thirty days. Based on the discussion at committee (which seemed heated at times and displayed the diverging interests of the downtown residents and those in more suburban areas) I don’t any more progress after a month. It seems that something really needs to happen here. We currently have parking ordinances that cannot be enforced with the existing personnel, so they are widely ignored, causing issues with snow removal and street sweeping, and frustration among neighbors. It is a fact that there is less off-street parking available close to downtown, with smaller driveways and single car garages being the norm, and with many older homes being turned into multi-family homes. The proposed solutions are expensive, and the representatives of districts where there is plenty of off-street parking are reluctant to vote spending that does not benefit their districts. I was honestly intrigued by a suggestion made by Alder Schultz that we initiate a pilot program in the neighborhoods most affected.

Before we get to the council meeting on Wednesday, Mayor Woodford, City Attorney Behrens and new and re-elected alders in the even districts (including me) will be sworn in on Tuesday at 5:00. The plan is that the event will take place in Houdini Plaza. If the rain gets here before the current forecast predicts, the ceremony will take place in City Hall. The public is invited.

At 6:00 we will hold an informal organizational meeting. This meeting acquaints the new alders with the committee functions and council rules and gives us a chance to review any proposed rule changes before we vote on them at the formal organizational meeting on Wednesday at 6:00 before the Common Council meeting at 7:00.

As of this writing, there have been a handful of rule changes proposed. I proposed going back to the original custom of allowing alders to give an invocation of their choosing, rather than having a set recitation: “We gather together to listen and share, learn and educate, and to be granted wisdom and grace as we move Appleton forward, in the best interest of our community.” The lack of enthusiasm for this recitation is evidenced by the fact that only two or three alders rotated delivering this invocation during the past year. I believe this rule change passed last year because some alders used their invocation time to air grievances or talk about actions before the council. For this reason, I have proposed that invocations be limited to about two minutes and that they not be related to any action item on the agenda.

 

I also proposed doing away with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance before each committee meeting. This is not out of a lack of patriotism, but because I have observed that during committee meetings where all the committee members are seated on the dais, the audio is lost as soon as we turn to face the flag, and anyone watching the livestream or the video basically hears mumbling and sees a row of backsides. Those who proposed this last year seemed to have the desire to point out anyone who doesn’t participate, either for religious or other conviction.

 

Alder Hartzheim has proposed adding two other recitations to the list of prewritten invocations, proposed a dress code for members of the Common Council which would prohibit t-shirts and hats or caps. The Common Council shared the city employee dress code for some years, but voted to eliminate it a few years back. I’ll also note that city employees maintain a “dress for your day” policy, which finds people dressing more casually on days they don’t have outside meetings, etc.

 

She has also proposed that we move from a secret ballot to an open vote when electing our council president and vice-president.

 

Alder Doran submitted a resolution a few weeks back calling for the dissolution of the Utilities Committee and the consolidation of its functions into the Municipal Services Committee. I have reached out to the Utilities Director and the Public Works Director for their opinions about this proposal.

 

Finally, staff has proposed changing the name of the Community and Economic Development Department to the Community Development Department to better align with the services provided by the department. (the Inspections Division and City Assessor have recently been absorbed into this department).

 

Mayor Woodford will make committee assignments for the upcoming council year at the organizational meeting, so we’ll all know what our committee week schedules will look like.

 

The Library Board will be meeting Tuesday afternoon before the council festivities begin (3:00 p.m.) Their action items include approving the bill register, a budget amendment and a summer internship for a high school student (to be funded by the Friends of Appleton Public Library.

 

Information items include the building project update (has anyone been downtown lately and seen that the structure for the big front windows is taking shape?), a hiring update and the Children’s Program update.

 

Don’t forget spring yard waste collection starts this week (I think I wrote incorrectly last week that it was starting then but did post the correct screen shot).

 

This weather gets me itching to plant flowers, but I remember that close to this date five years ago we had a pretty massive snowstorm, so I’ll have to settle for my nose itching with spring allergies!

 

Have a great week!

 

Denise