What You May Not Know: Week Of January 28

It's a five Wednesday month, which means this is a quiet week for the council. The council meets on first and third Wednesdays and typically has committee meetings on the second and fourth weeks, so weeks like this one create a gap in the schedule.

The only thing I'm watching for this week will be the results of tonight's Community and Economic Development Committee meeting, scheduled for 5 pm. The committee's lone agenda item is approval of award recommendations for $63,000 worth of Community Development Block Grants. This money was set aside in the budget to be distributed among non-government organizations who work on public service and special needs housing.

The committee received six applications for a total requested amount of $144,000, and the current recommendation is that the money they have be distributed as follows:

• Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley requested $15,000, will receive $10,000.
• Habitat for Humanity requested $48,000, will receive $15,000.
• Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities requested $26,000, will receive $13,000.
• Bethesda Thrift Shop and Ability Training Center requested $30,000, will receive $0.
• FISC Self Sufficiency Program requested $10,000, will receive $10,000.
• Harbor House Domestic Abuse Shelter requested $15,000, will receive $15,000.

The mayor, two alderpersons and three private citizens formed the advisory board that arrived at these numbers. The committee could opt to change them, as could the common council.

This week's full schedule and meeting agendas can be found here.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as a candidate for and a potential member of Appleton's City Council. There's a lot going on and a lot of information out there, but I'm happy to do everything I can to make these decisions and the discussions around them as accessible as possible to as many people as are interested.