Monday, September 23, 2013

What you may not know: Week of September 23

If you're planning on attending a meeting during this committee week for the Appleton Common Council, odds are you'll see me there: I'm planning on attending six standing committee gatherings and the Fox Cities Transit Commission. Here are some highlights of interest:

Community and Economic Development, Monday, 5pm

It's been about a month since the last time we discussed Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), but they're back on the agenda this week. Here's a quick recap of how we got to this point:

  • CDBG grants are part of a federal program designed to provide money to projects that benefit low-to-moderate income residents. 
  • The city establishes a committee annually to review applications for these grants and make a recommendation on how they'll be distributed.
  • The city ran into an unexpected issue when they received about $90,000 more than their projected allotment this year. Staff made a recommendation to increase the awards of some existing projects, and proposed a new parking lot project at Einstein Park and Middle School.
  • After a month of debate, I proposed an amendment at the August 21 council meeting removing the Einstein project from the awards list and reopening the application process. It passed by a 7-5 vote.
A month has passed since then, and the city has received five applications for the $37,133 in remaining funds. You can see more details about the proposals in an attachment to the CEDC agenda at this link, but five departments and organizations have applied:
  • Appleton's Parks and Rec Department (for a different project)
  • Compassionate Home Health Care, Inc.
  • Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley
  • Harbor House
  • Sustainable Fox Valley
It's now up to the CEDC committee to make a recommendation on what to do with these funds. There are tough decisions to be made here, but I'm excited for the chance to use this money to help one or more of these great causes.

Utilities, Tuesday, 4:30 pm

For many, many months now the city has been looking into ways to alleviate stormwater issues north of Wisconsin Avenue along the city's western edge. More than a dozen proposals have been considered and we've finally reached a staff recommendation, which includes a stormwater pond along Birchwood Avenue that would require the city to purchase and demolish four residences.

This project will resolve flooding issues in the area, which neighboring residents have experienced as recently as 2001 and 2010. Obviously the decision to purchase and demolish homes is never made lightly, but of the multitude of options considered, this plan represents the highest cost-efficient level of stormwater improvement.

Projects like this are critical to preserve the quality of life for residents in flood-impacted areas, but they also come with a significant cost. This proposal, if approved, will cost an estimated $13.6 million between now and 2016.

Municipal Services, Tuesday, 5:30 pm

Speaking of longstanding issues, on Tuesday night the Municipal Services committee has an information item dealing with Appleton's new (can we still call them new?) blue recycling bins. Months ago the council passed a resolution asking for a review of options regarding the new bins, which have received mixed reviews.

On Tuesday the committee will, for the first time, discuss staff's findings regarding alternatives. Staff has presented us with two possible amendments to the 2014 budget that would allow us to purchase and distribute alternative-sized recycling containers, but both come with a significant financial impact. Replacing current 96-gallon bins with 35 or 65 gallon alternatives will cost roughly $80/bin.

We've been hearing for months that our constituents would like to see alternatives to the current blue bins, and I've been saying all along that the rubber will hit the road when we find out what a change might cost and see who's willing to pay for it. Certainly, some people want a change enough to justify the cost. How many people, though? That's a tougher question to answer.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Making the council's activity as accessible as possible to as many people as are interested is part of my goal to make it easier for more people to get involved with issues that matter to them.

Monday, September 16, 2013

What you may not know: Week of September 16

The City of Appleton's Common Council will meet on Wednesday, September 18, to discuss agenda items including the following:

Tax Increment Financing

The council will discuss resolutions Wednesday night that would create two new Tax Increment Financing districts within the city, an economic development tool designed to spur growth in areas that otherwise would continue to stagnate.

I could probably spend 1000 words attempting to define tax increment financing, but Nick Penzenstadler of the Post Crescent nailed it in a recent edition of City Notes:
When a TIF district is created, the amount of property taxes collected by local schools and governments is frozen at the “base” year's value. Any new tax revenue generated from the rising values — or increment — goes toward paying off the investments — and is diverted from the other taxing entities.
The proposed districts would be the ninth and tenth for the city. #9 covers an area near E. Wisconsin Avenue around Appvion, and #10 includes the vacant CVS Pharmacy and former K-Mart site along W College Avenue.

One of the most challenging decisions to make regarding TIF districts is called the "but-for" clause. TIF districts are only supposed to be created in situations where development would not happen but for this expenditure. It's hard to pull out our crystal balls and figure out what may happen here if we don't step in.

I recognize the challenge of doing economic development well while also being responsible financially. As things stand right now I intend to listen intently to arguments against doing this but I'm leaning towards voting yes for both districts.

Finance

The report from last week's Finance Committee meeting has two items that I think are interesting.

First, we'll need a two-thirds vote from council to make a budget adjustment to allocate $25,000 for a consultant to work on the Fox Cities Exhibition Center project. You may recall that this is the same matter we discussed at Council two weeks ago, when Alderman Jischele's resolution on this matter passed by a 9-6 vote. It had previously been rejected on a 6-6 vote with several alderpersons absent.

In theory this is a paper transaction: The council has made their will known on this matter, and now it's simply a matter of approving the budget adjustment. It's unlikely to be that easy, though, as alderpersons who disagreed with the resolution in the first place get another chance to attempt to prevent it from going through.

Second, it's likely to be less controversial but the council will be asked to approve an agreement for short term cash loans involving the city and the Appleton Area School District to cover potential incidental temporary shortfalls in their budget. This is a pretty good win-win arrangement: The city lends money to the school district as needed, usually for short periods of time, and receives a better rate of return than is usually available to them.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Making the council's activity as accessible as possible to as many people as are interested is part of my goal to make it easier for more people to get involved with issues that matter to them.

Monday, September 9, 2013

What you may not know: Week of September 9

It's an abbreviated week for the Appleton Common Council, as several of our standing committees will not meet. There are still some pretty significant items on the calendar, though:

Utilities, Tuesday, 4:30 pm

The Utilities Committee has just one action item on its agenda this week, but it's a big one: A proposal to overhaul the way we charge multi-family properties for stormwater runoff.

The city currently uses a mathematical formula to assess stormwater charges based on ERU (equivalent runoff units). Properties are assessed based on whether they're accessed from the regular street right-of-way or a private road and the number of units in the facility.

Technology has given us a fairer way to determine the amount of impervious space in a facility, though, and this proposal calls for aerial photography to be used to assess properties based on their actual footprint. Being able to better determine a property's stormwater impact and charge accordingly is good news for the ratepayers all around.

However, early numbers suggest this adjustment is going to come with a cost. As part of the explanation of the new plan we've been presented with the previous and new stormwater bills for eight multi-family properties, and their bill went up an average of 35%. In some cases that's as much as $65 per unit per year.

Furthermore, that increase comes at a time when Appleton's stormwater rates are already higher than our neighboring communities. Our rate represents a strong commitment to providing quality stormwater service, but our current price position makes it hard to accept further increases. The city's ERU rate went up from $125 to $155 this summer and is scheduled to make another increase of size to be determined in 2016.

After studying all the materials I'm convinced that moving to the new aerial photography adjustment system is the correct decision, but we need more study to determine its impact. The eight properties we've been given as examples show a cause for concern regarding potential cost increases, so I'd like to see a larger sample to determine if that's an accurate representation of what we're going to see across the board.

Once we've got a better understanding there, then we need to take a look at the impact of a cost increase. Considering that we've already raised the ERU rate in 2013, we're scheduled to do so again in 2016 and we're already higher than our neighbors, we need to be careful to make sure we're not going beyond what's reasonable.

Municipal Services, Tuesday, 5:30 pm

We'll move straight from that conversation into another big one, as the reconstruction of Glendale Avenue is up for debate Tuesday night at Municipal Services. I wrote about this issue last week, before it came before the full council.

Last Wednesday at council we passed two amendments that I think allow this street to remain a safe passage for pedestrians and bicyclists but also greatly reduce the negative impact on the businesses on the street. First, we changed the plan to move the proposed on-street parking from the north to the south side of the street, so the small businesses on that side of the street can have better access for their customers (Amendment passed 10-5). Second, we voted (8-7) to remove the proposed sidewalk from the south side of the street.

Here's what I wrote about these two amendments a week ago, and I stand by it: I think moving the parking from the north to the south side of the street and installing sidewalk on the north side allows us to maximize bicycle and pedestrian safety on this street while also minimizing the inconvenience to small business owners in this neighborhood. It's not a perfect scenario for anyone, but it's the closest thing to a fair compromise I think we're going to find.

After those two amendments passed (and a third failed), the amended action item was referred back to the Municipal Services Committee for further discussion.

With the exception of a few minutes when things got a bit out of hand, I think we had a great conversation last week about finding a way to construct a safe, usable street while also minimizing negative impact on our small businesses. I hope we'll continue to keep both of those priorities in mind in future conversations.

Finance, Wednesday, 4:30 pm

Last week the full council reconsidered a previous vote and approved a resolution proposed by Alderman Jirschele that calls for the city to retain a consultant to help negotiate terms for the proposed Fox Cities Exhibition Center project. The resolution passed but now faces another hurdle, as a budget adjustment to allocate $25,000 for the hiring of this consultant requires Finance Committee approval and a 2/3 council vote.

The cash on hand here will come from within the Community and Economic Development Department, where enough vacant salary dollars exist to cover the expenditure.

This has been a tough issue for me for weeks, because I'm something of an Exhibition Center skeptic. I'm not sold on the notion that the city's commitment to this project is a good use of tax dollars, and I'm concerned about our ability to find any mutually beneficial middle ground with a very widespread group of stakeholders with varying interests. However, I voted for this resolution both the first time and again under reconsideration because if we intend to pursue this at all, it's my opinion that we need to have someone with experience in this field watching out for our interests.

I hope that Alderman Hill won't mind me quoting him here, but I think he more or less summed up my thinking on this matter at Council last Wednesday when he said the following (starting at 2:18:00 or so in the video):

Engaging in this deal, we're swimming with some pretty big fish. I don't want to call them sharks, but these are businesspeople who are going to take every advantage there is to take. This $25,000 is going to be used to hire our own big fish to see to the interests of Appleton and the taxpayers of Appleton, to protect us. If we're going to go ahead with this, to me this is a small price to pay. We need to protect ourselves.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Making the council's activity as accessible as possible to as many people as are interested is part of my goal to make it easier for more people to get involved with issues that matter to them.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

What you may not know: Week of September 2

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Mine got off to a late start, but I'm spending a couple of days in Milwaukee early this week enjoying some baseball and some of the last days of summer.

When I get back to work on Wednesday, here's what I'll be watching this week:

Board of Health, Wednesday, 7 am

The city's Board of Health meets bright and early on Wednesday morning and one of their two action items is my first resolution as an alderman, a request for this board to be expanded to include a pharmacist. State statute (251.04) requires that local boards of health shall:

  • Assess public health needs and advocate for the provision of reasonable and necessary public health services.
  • Develop policy and provide leadership that fosters local involvement and commitment, that emphasizes public health needs and that advocates for equitable distribution of public health resources and complementary private activities commensurate with public health needs.
  • Assure that measures are taken to provide an environment in which individuals can be healthy.
  • Coordinate the activities of any sanitarian employed by the governing body of the jurisdiction that the local board of health serves.
Appleton currently has seven members on its Board of Health, and state statute requires that a "good faith effort" be made to have a doctor and a registered nurse among them. In the past the city has also worked to have a dentist and mortician on the board.

As stated in my resolution, pharmacists play a key role in maintaining and improving the health of our citizens, and possess a unique area of expertise in the field of medicine. As such, I think the Board of Health would be improved by adding a practicing pharmacist to their membership and on Wednesday morning I'll pour my first cup of coffee extra early so I can go make the case for it.

The Board's recommendation on this matter will appear before the full council at their regularly scheduled 7 pm meeting on Wednesday night. At that time, the council will also consider these items:

Non-union compensation plan

The Human Resources Committee voted 4-0 on Monday to recommend approval of a new non-union worker compensation plan. This is one of the final steps in a long process to develop and implement a new system in the aftermath of Act 10.

This plan is one of the most challenging things I've had to attempt to wrap my brain around since getting elected, and it's also one of the most important. Establishing a fair and evolving pay structure is a critical step in the effort to attract and retain quality employees to our city while also being as responsible as we can be with tax dollars. 

I've learned a lot about the process and this proposal by watching meeting video over the last few weeks, and I suspect I'll learn even more before casting my vote Wednesday night.

Bike lanes and road reconstruction

Last Tuesday the Municipal Services Committee voted 2-1 to approve a reconstruction plan for Glendale Avenue east of Ballard Road that calls for, among other things, the following changes to that road as it travels through the industrial park:
  • The addition of bike lanes on both sides of the road.
  • The addition of sidewalks on both sides of the road.
  • The elimination of parking on the south side of the road.
At the meeting last week I encouraged members of the committee to consider two potential changes. First, it's my opinion that the on-street parking needs to be moved from the north to the south side of the street. There are several small businesses on the south side of the street that would be better served by having parking on their side of the road, and many of them will lose current parking space if sidewalks are installed.

Second, I think we need to have a real conversation about whether it's necessary to have sidewalks on both sides of this road. I think sidewalk on one side is a critical addition for pedestrian safety, but putting it on both sides will not necessarily make the street safer. Putting sidewalk on the south side will also create a certain level of hardship for the business owners on that side of the street. As you can see below, many of these buildings are very close to the street and a sidewalk would wipe out most of the parking in front of their businesses:
(click the photo to enlarge)

I think moving the parking from the north to the south side of the street and installing sidewalk on the north side allows us to maximize bicycle and pedestrian safety on this street while also minimizing the inconvenience to small business owners in this neighborhood. It's not a perfect scenario for anyone, but it's the closest thing to a fair compromise I think we're going to find.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Making the council's activity as accessible as possible to as many people as are interested is part of my goal to make it easier for more people to get involved with issues that matter to them.