Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for the Week of April 8, 2024

Photo from WISN Milwaukee

Greetings and Happy Eclipse Day, District 6 Neighbors,

I’m watching the clouds roll in at basically the speed of the moon’s path across the sun, so I don’t know how much we will be able to see. Fun fact – I could have experienced several minutes of totality from the backyard of my former home in Hot Springs, Arkansas. That state and several others in the path of totality have declared states of emergency due to the influx of people coming to watch. I just envision Appleton’s Octoberfest across a whole swath of the country.

Here on Earth, the spring election took place in spite of the wet snow that caused many places in the city, including one of the polling locations, to lose power. The City Clerk’s office responded quickly, shifting to manual poll books and ballot processing. I want to congratulate incoming alders Martyn Smith (District 4) and Patti Heffernan (District 8) on joining the Common Council and Alder Croatt on retaining his position. The rest of the even numbered district were uncontested, including mine. The new council will be sworn in on Tuesday, April 16 at 5:00 p.m. in Houdini Plaza.

 The Common Council meeting last Wednesday was fairly uneventful. One of the bartending applications that had been recommended for approval by the Safety and Licensing Committee was referred back as the chair of that committee had missed the meeting. The committee had taken into account the applicant’s work toward his rehabilitation (the OWI in question was in 2019, and the applicant has undergone treatment since then) and the testimony of his employer, who wanted him to have the license in order to promote him, having referred to him as “an exemplary employee”  during the 2 ½ years he has worked there. I voted against the item being referred back because the provisional license will expire before the next Common Council meeting, making it impossible for the applicant to do his current job. There was robust discussion about the objection, but it did not meet the threshold to overrule; therefore, the application will be back before the Safety and Licensing Committee this week and before Council again on April 17.

We approved the Complete Streets documents unanimously, but as expected, Alders Hartzheim and Doran wanted a further discussion of equity as a component of the priority scoring for pedestrian upgrades. Traffic Engineer Lom detailed the components of equity, including households with no automobiles and youth and senior citizen population, in addition to race and income considerations. I believe it is absolutely valid to include these considerations along with the actual accident statistics in prioritizing projects. As a reminder, the priority projects are here:

We also voted on a number of budget amendments, including transferring the $2 million in ARPA funds for the library broadband project. Alder Doran was the sole nay vote.

In this week’s committee meetings:

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, April 8, 4:30 p.m.

The committee will be voting on a request from The Boldt Company for a street occupancy permit for the parking lane on College Avenue between Drew and Durkee Street, Drew St. between College and Kimball Alley and Kimball Alley between Drew and Durkee for construction of the new Trout Museum/Lawrence University project. Note that these permits require the company to pay lost parking meter revenue for the period that the meters are bagged.

They will also be voting to remove a two-hour parking restriction on Maple St. near St. Elizabeth Hospital.

The overnight parking resolution is back before the committee after being held three times. The Department of Public Works has submitted a memo stating that, in order to comply with DNR rules on street sweeping that ensure that there is no decrease in sediment removal that would risk the stormwater quality, DPW would have to adjust the street sweeping schedule in a manner that would reduce the schedule in neighborhoods that do not drain into a stormwater pond from every six weeks to every eight weeks. Otherwise, the schedule would require purchasing another street sweeper and adding a full-time operator (total cost $385,000 plus $90,000 annually including benefits). Enforcement would entail the purchase of an additional Parking Enforcement vehicle ($30,000) plus personnel costs of $165,000. Estimated revenue would be $108,000 to $219,000.

In information items, the committee will get a Bird Scooter report. The big news is that Bird has filed for bankruptcy protection. There is a restructuring agreement with creditors and the company is still operating, but they are in arrears with the City of Appleton for fees due and has not filed the required monthly reporting for the 2023 season. Staff is recommending that we do not enter into another agreement with Bird until restructuring is complete and an acceptable plan to manage the devices has been submitted to city staff. In my personal opinion this is not a great loss. My non-scientific observations have been that the scooters were used for recreation far more than transportation and the issues caused by improper parking, etc., have been greater than the benefits derived. I have ridden the scooters and they are fun, but not worth the trouble to staff and citizens.

The committee will also hear about an article from the Wisconsin Policy Forum about the quality of Wisconsin’s roads: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=36745d5a-cc16-4bb8-903e-166da501e563.pdf

Finance Committee – Monday, April 8, 5:30 p.m.

The committee has one action item – the request to approve the contract for repair and preventive maintenance to the Red and Yellow ramps. (Bergland Construction Company - $1,386,000 with contingency).

Parks and Recreation Committee – Monday, April 8, 6:15 p.m.

The committee has one action item – approval of the contract for a new playground at Highview Park (Lee Recreation - $95,000, which was under the budgeted amount of $150,000).

Board of Health – Wednesday, April 10, 7:00 a.m.

The Board has one action item – the noise variance request for sanitary and storm sewer cured in place pipe (CIPP) on the following streets and easements during 2024.

 

 

1. Esmnt e/o Weimar Ct. – Weimar Ct. to 257’ e/o Weimar Ct.

2. Esmnt e/o Vine St. – Pacific St. to Peabody Park

3. Roemer Rd. – n/o Northland Av. to s/o Northland Av.

4. Rankin St. – 129’ n/o John St. to John St.

5. Esmnt s/o Prospect Ave. – Prospect Ave. to the Fox River

6. Opechee St. – 50’ se/o Pacific St. to Peabody St.

7. Jackson St. – Hoover Park to s/s Roeland Av.

8. Esmnt n/o Garden Ct – Garden Ct. to 236’ n/o Garden Ct

9. Esmnt s/o Oakcrest – Oakcrest Ct. to Lutz Park

 

From the memo:

 

Depending on the size and length of the pipe, the CIPP process can impact the sewer service to a business or resident from 8 to 24 hours for this project. The residents may hear sounds, intermittent throughout the project, related to heavy equipment such as a crane, boilers, air compressor, truck traffic and deliveries of materials. When installation of the CIPP is taking place, the boilers may run constant through the night.

There is an odor that is emitted in this CIPP process. The odor is from styrene, which is a component of the resin that cures the line. Styrene has a very distinct odor, for example, like the smell of latexes, paint or polyester resins. The city has been using this method of CIPP for many years, so I do not anticipate any problems from the odor.  

Information items include a presentation in the mental health information series, the respiratory virus surveillance and wastewater report, routine noise variances and, unfortunately, another dangerous dog declaration.

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, April 10, 3:30 p.m.

The commission will vote on a minor amendment to the special use permit for OB’s Brau Haus that would allow it to serve alcohol on a sidewalk café. As this is a minor change (less than 10% change in space usage), it can be approved by the plan commission without going to the Common Council. Staff is recommending approval.

We will also vote on the preliminary plat approval for the Lumbini Estates subdivision at E. Plank and E. Midway (this is on the north side of Midway; the rezoning at the last meeting was for a parcel on the south side). The subdivision calls for 27 single-family homes.

The information item is a presentation of the Housing Policy Development Guide from the Mayor’s Taskforce on Housing Development Policy. I was happy to have been an observer as the council liaison to the taskforce. It was really great to see stakeholders from groups whose goals don’t always align be able to reach agreement on a plan to help streamline the development of housing in our city. The guide is linked here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=d9cddce6-8b64-4808-9404-45d2ef245977.pdf

While much of the guide is related to process improvements, I am particularly excited about the focus area related to support of housing-related development along the Wisconsin Avenue corridor.

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, April 10, 5:30 p.m.

In addition to the normal license applications and renewals, the committee will once again take up the bartender license application discussed above. I would hope that they would once again take the applicant’s years of sobriety and good work record since the offenses noted on the application into account and recommend approval of the license.

They will also be voting on a request from the Fire Department to accept a $25,500 grant from the Firehouse Subs Foundation to pay for laryngoscopes.

There is also a request to approve an agreement between the State of Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs and the City of Appleton to provide personnel to a statewide urban search and rescue team. The city would be compensated for the time spent by the personnel involved, including training time.

Information items include the Fire Department Annual Report and the Directors’ reports, including an update from the City Clerk on ward changes required by the new state legislative districts.

Community and Economic Development Committee – Wednesday, April 10, 6:30 p.m.

The committee doesn’t have any action items this week, but there are two information items – the report of the Mayor’s Taskforce on Housing Development Policy discussed as an item for the City Plan Commission.

We’ll also be reviewing Requests for Proposals for the creation of a Neighborhood Leadership Academy (one of the projects we voted for use of ARPA funds) that would seek to make our neighborhoods stronger. The Community and Economic Development Department is looking for a consultant with expertise to carry out training sessions and engagement to make this program move forward.

The Utilities Committee, Human Resources and Information Technology Committee and Fox Cities Transit Commission will not be meeting this week due to lack of agenda items.

As always, you can keep up with all the happenings at City Hall by reviewing meeting minutes and agendas or watching meeting videos, either live or recorded here:

https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Have a great week!

 

Denise