Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for the Week of September 22, 2024
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| Photo from Free-Pik.com |
Greetings District 6 Neighbors,
I’m getting a bit of an early start on the update this week – my original plan to go follow some friends around the Fox Cities Marathon course today was changed when the race was cancelled due to the threat of lightning and storms in the area. I know how disappointed those runners and walkers who have trained so hard for the race are, but the organizers have to put the safety of the participants and the many, many volunteers who make events like this possible. The logistics of closing streets all over the Fox Cities made it impossible to delay until the bad weather passed. I did the 10k yesterday in beautiful (but hot!) weather, and, as always, I’m so impressed with the organizers of this event that has been going on for 30-plus years.
Moving on to council business, the meeting last week was pretty short and uneventful as I expected. There was only one item separated for individual consideration – the contract for office walls and furniture for the two health department employees who are housed in the Police Department. Several of us had questioned the high quote for the contract (approximately $48k). We received a breakdown of the costs at a special Finance Committee meeting prior to the full council meeting, and, while the cost still seemed pretty high, the majority is for the modular walls, which are full height and have some soundproofing to maintain the privacy of the citizens who work with the coordinated entry team. The walls and furniture can be moved to other city departments if needed – the Health Department uses this setup, and the Parks and Recreation Department has an office remodel in their budget calling for the same type of modular walls and furnishings. With this information, we were able to approve the contract.
There was a resolution submitted by Alder Meltzer that would require alderpersons who have more than three unexcused absences to be stripped of their committee assignments. It was referred to the organizational meeting of the council – the meeting where the council votes on any council rule changes. The council rules are how we govern ourselves for those items not regulated by statute. Normally we just have one meeting in the spring after the new council members are seated, but we have the option to call another whenever a majority wishes. Being an alderperson is not a full-time job and most alders do have full time jobs, but we have opportunities to participate virtually, and just have to let the city clerk and/or committee chairs know when we have a conflict. Alder Croatt, for one, travels quite a bit for business, but still manages to attend most of the meetings virtually when he’s away. We occasionally see him on the video from inside his car (hopefully pulled over).
On this week’s committee agendas:
Municipal Services Committee – Monday, September 23, 4:30 p.m.
There will be a public hearing for the design of three 2026 paving projects - Alexander Street (Melrose Ave to Glendale Ave), Melrose Avenue (Alexander St to Ballard Rd), Bell Avenue (Summit St to Richmond St), and Bellaire Court (Atlantic St to cul de sac). Water and sewer laterals would be replaced in 2025, and the paving work completed in 2026. Neighbors have received letters detailing the work – details are here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=3efe765f-3566-41c8-afce-1aff48c5aa4d.pdf
Action items include the utility easement release of rights for Richmond St/I-41 to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Unlike the Ballard St./I-41 interchange, the City of Appleton does not have any utility lines in the easement, so this is basically a formality.
We’ll also be voting on a request from Prevea Health to purchase two on-street parking spots on the south side of Washington St. (the back side of Fox Commons toward the transit center and the library) for their physical therapy patients who may have reduce mobility. I get a little excited about simple items like this because it tells me that we are very close to the Fox Commons opening. We already have Lawrence University students moved into some of the new apartments. https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/education/2024/09/12/fox-commons-offers-lawrence-university-students-taste-of-adulthood/75193913007/
Finally, the driveway extension on Ballard St. is back yet again. I understand from Alder Croatt that the homeowner is planning to be back to plead his case again. I feel bad if the contractor did indeed mislead the homeowners by telling them that they didn’t need a permit for the work and by not knowing the requirements, but I don’t believe I can vote for an exception here. The city code prohibits driveway extensions more than four feet into the front yard and, while the homeowner states that the 15 by 15 extension is only used as a turnaround, the Google Maps photo clearly shows a car parked on the new concrete.
Finance Committee – Monday, September 23, 5:30 p.m.
The committee is being asked to approve a sole source contract (Werner Electric - $35,573) to replace a variable frequency drive (VFD) on one of five pumps (two to three of which are running at any given time) that sends treated water through UV light to kill microorganisms. One of the drives has failed, and while there is redundancy, some of the VFDs are approaching the end of the 20 year expected useful life and staff recommends replacing this one promptly. Werner is the local authorized distributor of the drives.
The other action item is approval of forms required by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in relation to the Ballard St./I-41 interchange construction. The DOT requires completion of these forms confirming certain non-compensable costs for utilities not located within a city easement, such as manhole adjustments and water valve adjustments. These items are eligible for the 90% state/10% local cost sharing under the State Municipal Finance Agreement for the project. We recently approved compensation from the DOT for moving a water line that IS in the utility easement for this project.
Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, September 24, 2:50 p.m.
The Commission’s only action item is the approval of August payments. Information items include a review of the August Financial Statements, the August Ridership Report (ridership is down 21% from last year), a staffing update and an update on the evening and weekend service changes.
Utilities Committee – Tuesday, September 24, 4:30 p.m.
The committee will vote on increasing the contract with Brown and Caldwell for Stormwater Management Review by $38,000 for a total of $113,000. These funds are based on hourly billing and are used as needed. The budget is available for the additional costs.
They will also get the final report on the December 2022 polymer incident at the water treatment plant and in some great news, note that Appleton was voted the best tasting tap water in Wisconsin at the state conference of the American Water Works Association (AWWA). Appleton will compete for the “Best of the Best” at the national conference in June of 2025. No need for bottled water in this town, folks!
City Plan Commission – Wednesday, September 25, 3:30 p.m.
We have no action items this week but will be reviewing a number of proposed changes to the municipal code to better coordinate with the city’s comprehensive plan. These are code sections related to driveways, official map amendments, and alcohol consumption special use permits.
Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, September 25, 5:30 p.m.
In addition to the normal license applications and renewals, the committee has another recommendation for denial of a bartender license for an applicant with a felony OWI conviction. This situation seems very different from the recent case where we granted the license. In this case, the 4th (felony) OWI happened this January while the applicant held a city granted bartender license. I will keep an open mind, but this does not seem to be the same situation as our previous case where the applicant had been sober for quite some time and where his employer appeared at several different meetings to vouch for him.
We will also review proposed changes to the municipal code related to fire.
Information items include hiring updates from the fire and police departments.
Human Resources and Information Technology Committee, Wednesday, September 25, 6:30 p.m.
The committee has as its only agenda item my personal least favorite subject – alderperson salaries. We are required by statute to address this every year rather than just having some sort of cost-of-living increase built into the city code. It’s awkward to have to vote yourself a raise even though we theoretically vote on the salary for the council being seated two elections ahead. In reality, most alders serve more than one term, so we really are voting on what could be our own salary for a future term.
I’ve made my thoughts about alder salaries pretty clear – being an alderperson is not a full-time job and we can’t expect a “living wage” for it. However, it requires time, in some cases time that a self-employed person or contractor could otherwise spend earning. It also can require childcare expenses. I feel like we have to walk the line between gatekeeping who is able to serve, and thus having a governing body that doesn’t look much like the city we are representing and looking like we are trying to enrich ourselves at the taxpayers’ expense. The current salary is $6750 per year. We have two full council meetings per month, and most of us serve on at least two committees, which meet twice monthly. Some of us also serve on other boards (several of us will be serving on the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Group and on the Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board) as well. Many of us attend committee meetings for committees of which we are not members, and most of us watch the videos of all the committee meetings in preparation for each council meeting. We take calls and respond to emails from constituents and attend community events when we can. I expect that the committee will not recommend a raise for 2026 because the 2023 raise was large in comparison to past history (but equated to about $10 per week).
The Parks and Recreation and Community Development committees will not be meeting this week.
I wanted to remind everyone that applications are open for the housing rehab loan program. This program provides low to moderate income households in the City of Appleton with financial and related technical assistance for the rehabilitation of their owner-occupied homes or duplexes. These are interest-free loans with no payment until you sell, transfer, lease or vacate the home. There are income and asset restrictions on the program – more information is here:
Have a great week!
Denise
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