Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for the Week of February 23, 2025

Photo from ADI

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

I hope a lot of people got a chance to get downtown over the weekend to see the ice sculptures during the Avenue of Ice – the warmup today and the rest of the week will probably be the end of the frozen creations.

As noted in last week’s newsletter, we got an update on the I-41 construction project which will lead to closures and detours in various spots around the Fox Cities over the next two years. You can keep up with the project at a special website: https://i41project.wisconsindot.gov/

The five-month saga around the proposed spiked coffee bar turned board game lounge proposed for 823 W. College Avenue came to a close last week with the vote to deny applicant David Boulanger of West Bend an alcohol license. He spoke pretty heatedly during the public participation period at the Common Council meeting, but the 13-2 vote against granting the license indicated that the majority of the council did not believe his assertions that he did not intend to install gambling machines in the establishment after hearing a recording from a contractor at the Safety and Licensing Committee meeting that indicated otherwise. Alder Hartzheim, in an apparent reversal of her position at the committee meeting,  and Alder Croatt voted for granting the license. Related to this matter, Council President Van Zeeland and I met recently with two of the city attorneys and the City Clerk to discuss clarifications in the city code relating to gambling machines and amusement machines.

We also had quite a bit of discussion on the request to approve a sole source contract to replace the decorative streetlight poles on the College Avenue bridge. While the decorative poles would be about $12,000 more expensive for the total project (within the budgeted amount for the project), I am more comfortable that the new specifications would ensure that their useful life would take them to the point that the bridge would have to be resurfaced. I had occasion to drive across the bridge a couple of times and noticed that the decorative poles are used beyond the bridge around the College Avenue/Walter St./John St. roundabout, so replacing the light poles on the bridge itself with the plain aluminum poles would definitely change the look of the corridor. Another concern was the expiration of the quote at the end of last week and the uncertainty about the availability and pricing of both aluminum and steel going forward. The final vote was 12-3 for the decorative poles with Alders Siebers, Firkus and Hartzheim voting against.

The council also voted to make the budget amendment to use an energy conservation grant of $134,180 for the purchase of electric vehicle(s) and an EV charging station for the city fleet and voted for the contract with Ehlers (funded by reimbursement from Thrivent) for consulting about potential TID creation and other fiscal analysis for the Thrivent property development after approving an amendment making clear that the work would be only for analyzing a potential TID.

Moving to this week’s committee meetings:

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, February 24, 4:30 p.m.

Our first agenda item today is approving the permanent reconfiguration of College Avenue from Richmond Avenue to Drew Street to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane and bike lanes in each direction. We approved the project as an 18-month trial in the spring of 2023. We’ll get a report on the metrics, including the almost 13% reduction in crashes since the change went into effect. I got a preview of a video that will be shown at the meeting and was especially impressed by hearing  some College Avenue business owners who were initially skeptical of the project who now believe it has been a big success.

I am personally a huge fan of the change – I make a point of timing my trips along the avenue at various times of the day and even if I hit more than one light, it rarely takes me more than two minutes to get from Drew St. to Richmond Ave. I find parking much easier now that I am not worried about backing into traffic to parallel park and I don’t worry about losing a car door when getting out of my vehicle.

We will also take up the DPW fee increases, including the proposed increase for refuse carts that was part of the 2025 budget. Tipping fees as the county landfill are increasing by $115,000 for 2025 – the refuse container fee increase is an attempt to offset that increase. The fees would increase 5 cents per week for the 35-40 gallon cart, 10 cents per week for the 60-65 gallon cart and 15 cents per week for the 90-95 gallon cart. Remember, that if you find that your cart isn’t full each week, you can downsize by calling (920) 832-5580. There is no charge to switch. There is no fee for recycling carts, so you can also make sure that you are doing your wallet and the environment a favor by recycling applicable materials. Here’s a refresher from Outagamie County Recycling and Solid Waste: https://www.recyclemoreoutagamie.org/residential-recycling/

The fee schedule increase also includes replacement for lost parking cards going from $3 to $5 and a new $70 fee for a water tap inspection fee – this fee would be applied when new construction needs a tap to the water main where there is not already a lateral.

We’ll be looking at a contract amendment that would increase the city’s share of the design services contract for the Olde Oneida Street Bridge over the power canal (DOT pays 80% of the project and the city pays 20%) by $12,614.13. This is to change the substructure of the bridge “from drilled shafts to a more traditional type.” DPW informs me that this will result in lower costs for construction with no loss of safety, functionality or longevity. There are sufficient funds in the budget to cover the change.

Staying with Olde Oneida St., we’re being asked to approve a single source contract (AECOM-$155,442 lump sum for design and $153,345 based on hourly rate for inspection services) for the Olde Oneida Street Bascule Bridge. The sole source request is due to the fact that AECOM is currently in a five-year contract to provide consulting services for this bridge and the Lawe St. bridge. The Olde Oneida Street construction project was delayed until 2026-2027 for budget reasons and DPW would like to keep the relationship with the firm which has provided consistent design and inspection services. Note that this is the bridge over the navigation canal and not the one over the power canal above. And… in fun facts that I learned by chairing this committee – a bascule bridge is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that balances a span throughout its upward swing to provide clearance to boat traffic. There are multiple types of drawbridges – the bascule bridge being one.

Resolutions for concrete pavement, driveway aprons and sidewalks in new subdivisions and for sanitary laterals, storm laterals and storm main construction for street reconstructions will be voted on and then referred to the Finance Committee to determine the assessment rate.

Finally, we’ll look at parking changes on Glendale Avenue that will be required to change the Glendale/Meade intersection to a left lane/left turn only.

Finance Committee – Monday, February 24, 5:30 p.m.

The committee will be voting on a contract for the Pierce Park Renovation Project (RJM Construction, LLC - $449,995 with contingency). The project was over the budget amount due to the discovery of lead paint which will need to be remediated as part of the project. A budget amendment to transfer $38,867 in unused funds from the 2024 Telulah Pavilion Renovation Project is included in the action item.

We’ll address the assessment resolutions discussed above for pavement and storm/sanitary laterals and vote on awarding the 2025 contract for asphalt paving to Vinton Construction Company ($1,326,258.51 with contingency).

Several contracts for projects at the wastewater treatment plant are on the agenda:

• L-Building HVAC and Receiving Station Upgrades Project (August Winter & Sons, Inc.- $4,445,809 with contingency). This bid would require a budget carryover of unspent funds from 2024 projects.
• 2025 Appleton Wastewater Tunnel Painting Project (Bosk Paint and Sandblast, Inc. - $221,281)
• Anaerobic Digester Inspection, Maintenance, and Improvements Project engineering and consulting (Donohue & Associates, Inc. - $323,130 with contingency)
• Phase II Solids Dewatering Equipment Upgrades Contract Amendment #2 for additional design and construction management services (McMahon - $13,300 increasing total contract to $202,200)
• Column and Plank Storage Upgrades to the sludge storage building (Staab Construction - $361,825 with contingency)

 

Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, February 25, 2:50 p.m.

 

The commission will vote on the November and December 2024 and January 2025 payments and on an extension of the contract with Red Shoes, Inc. for public relations services through the end of 2025.

The financial reports for November 2024 and January 2025 and the ridership reports for November and December 2024 and January 2025 and 4th Quarter KPIs are presented as information items.

 

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, February 25, 4:30 p.m.

 

The sole action item for the committee is requesting approval to award a sole source contract for Native Landscape Management to NES Ecological Services - A Division of Robert E. Lee &

Associates - $181,899.05. The sole source contract is based on the firm’s winning 2022 bid and continued high quality work in 2024.

Work under this contract includes the following:

• Native vegetation maintenance and new installations at City stormwater facilities.
• Provide vegetation inspections and recommendations.
• Provide invasive species and algae control through herbicide, mowing, brushing, and/or
• controlled burns.
• Provide preparation, seeding, planting, and erosion control at sparsely established areas and
• new sites.
• Maintain pond aerators.

I was able to participate in a tour of one of the stormwater facilities last year and based on my interaction with a couple of members of the NES team, they are knowledgeable and committed to their work.

The committee will receive the January water main break as an information item.

Community Development Committee – Wednesday, February 26, 4:30 p.m.

The only action item on the agenda is the request from Merge, LLC to extend the purchase date (again) on the site of the former Blue Ramp until May 1, 2025. This is the site of the future second Urbane complex. The company has a pending sale of a property in their real estate portfolio and believes they will be able to finance Urbane II with this final delay.

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, February 26, 5:30 p.m.

The committee has a couple of demerit points appearances on the schedule – both for not having a licensed operator on premises. The notices for these appearances are not invitations, but we have had a rash of no-shows in the not quite a year that I have served on the committee. I spoke with a city attorney and with some of my colleagues about the possibility of updating the city code to apply some kind of penalty for failure to appear – likely additional demerit points. We need to hear from these establishments about the changes they intend to make to prevent future violations, and not showing up for the required appearance does not give the impression (to me at least) that the owners are serious about following the law.

In a twist given our Delaire’s saga, we have an establishment that has applied for an amusements license (these are for games that are NOT gambling machines) for a dart board and what turn out to be four illegal gambling machines. The owner is appealing the denial for the four machines. The owner is also applying for an alcohol license.

The other alcohol license application is for a bar in the location of the former Speakeasy Lounge. The owner is already in the restaurant business locally, so perhaps we’ll have a better environment in the location.

The Parks and Recreation Committee, Plan Commission and Human Resources and Information Technology Committee will not be meeting this week.

Have a great week and enjoy the thaw – I’ve been listening to snow sliding off of my roof (much to the consternation of one of the cats who seems convinced that something in the attic is out to get him) the whole time I’ve been writing this.

Denise