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

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

After taking a day to recover from Mile of Music, where my focus on seeing as many bands as possible over the four-day festival leads my husband to declare it an endurance event, I’m ready to get back to work in the first full council week of August.

Honestly, aside from being what I believe is the most fun event in Appleton, Mile of Music fills me with pride, both as an alderperson and a citizen of Appleton. I am always amazed at how this event comes together, with 40 different venues, close to 700 performances and music education events by 200 different groups, with all the performances free of charge. I spend all four days downtown and almost never see or hear about any disturbances – the festival really does seem to be all about the music. It’s so exciting to hear almost every performer say that this is their favorite festival because Appleton is so welcoming. Mile of Music is unique in offering the Artist Care program which provides a whole range of services donated by local businesses – from medical and dental care to hair styling and even veterinary services. We truly live in a wonderful place.

We’ve had a bit of a break from council business, as last week was a “fifth week” with no committee or council meetings on the schedule, but we’re back to our normal schedule this week. We will have a special meeting of the Finance Committee right before the regular common council meeting on Wednesday in order to vote on issuing the General Obligation and Sewerage System Revenue Bonds. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, the estimated interest rate would be 3.84% and $4.44%, respectively. We will know the exact rate at the time of the meeting, but Baird tries to be conservative when giving us the estimate so I have no reason to believe that the rates would be higher.

We will also vote on a resolution authorizing emergency repairs to the Green Ramp. Apparently, a car struck one of the barrier panels on the sixth floor and damaged it significantly. The first phase of the repair would involve installation of a temporary engineered shoring system extending from level 6 down to ground level. This shoring system will be designed to hold the damaged panel, aid in removal of the panel, and provide a working surface for the replacement of the panel. There will be future work required to replace the panel.

Moving to the full council meeting, I don’t see too many items on the agenda that should result in a whole lot of discussion. The mayor will present a couple of proclamations:

·       Creative Economy Week

·       Breastfeeding Awareness Month

We’ll also be voting to approve the appointment of a new Public Works Director. Laura Jungwirth served most recently as Public Works Director for the City of Menasha. She has a broad range of experience – her resume is linked here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=d24c24c5-1f04-48c4-87db-99361ef7afb2.pdf

I look forward to working with her in my capacity as chair of the Municipal Services Committee.

I do expect there to be some discussion about the non-renewal of the liquor license for The Corner Pub. The item was referred back to Safety and Licensing at the last council meeting and we voted 3-2 to grant the owners an extension until August 15 to get the building back up to code and ready to reopen. I voted for the extension due to the extraordinary hardships the owners’ family has faced over that last year and due to the fact that no regular liquor licenses are available right now. If we failed to renew the regular license, the owners would have to apply for a reserve license when they get the repairs completed, at a cost of $10,000 versus the approximately $700 for a regular license. I am hopeful that the extension will pass the full council vote this week and allow the owners to keep their license as they have been working quite hard on the building and have appeared at each meeting. As I said in the committee meeting, we have voted unanimously several times to extend contract terms for developers and most recently for a firm purchasing land in the Southpoint Commerce Park due to economic conditions or other factors and I think we can grant some grace to a family-owned small business.

As always, you can read meeting minutes and agendas, and watch recorded or livestreamed meetings here:

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

This morning, I got to participate in a wonderful event at the Appleton Transit Center highlighting the $25 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant for the new transit center. Director Tom Perez,  Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs visited from Washington, D.C. to talk about the funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and about the new transit center as the hub of the neighborhood, along with the new library and the new housing developments completed and in progress. We then piled on a Valley Transit bus to Long Cheng for lunch. I even figured out how to put my bike on the bus for the ride.

Have a great week – I wish we had had this gorgeous weather for Mile of Music!

 

 

 

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