Monday, December 16, 2019

Common Council Update for the Week of December 16

Before I get started today, a quick scheduling update: Next week is a committee week for the Appleton Common Council but most of the committee meetings will likely be canceled due to the holidays. We would normally have a council meeting on the first Wednesday in January but that also has been moved back so as to avoid meeting on New Year's Day. As such, after this Wednesday the next scheduled meeting of the Appleton Common Council will be on Wednesday, January 8.

With that out of the way, all I have this week are updates on items from last week's committee agendas:

  • Last week the Municipal Services Committee heard extensive public comment and elected to hold their action item regarding the installation of "The Collective" sculpture near the west end of the College Avenue bridge. That item will return to their agenda when they next meet on January 13.
  • The Municipal Services Committee also held a resolution calling for the former Conway Hotel site on Washington Street to be converted into a surface level parking lot. The city and stakeholders continue to work to determine if adding parking is feasible and if adding said parking would impact the city's ability to have those parcels redeveloped. This item will also be on their January 13 agenda.
  • Last week the City Plan Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of a Special Use Permit for a new ThedaCare facility near their existing Encircle Health facility. The permit would allow them to build a facility up to 95 feet high (the current limit is 60 feet). This item will be on our council agenda this week.
  • Finally, the Board of Health received a great deal of public input regarding a resolution calling for the city to ban "conversion therapy." Because of the volume of public participation received and time constraints, the Board was unable to discuss the issue among themselves on Wednesday morning and held the item. This item will be back on the Board's agenda for their January 8 meeting. It is my understanding that public participation will be closed for this meeting, giving the board time to discuss and arrive at a recommendation.
You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, December 9, 2019

Common Council update for the week of December 9

After a few quiet weeks, the Appleton Common Council has a busy week of committee meetings planned. Here are some of the highlights:

Municipal Services Committee, Monday, 4:30 pm

This committee agenda features a pair of items that should generate some discussion:

First, the committee is expected to reopen discussion on an art installation near the west end of the College Avenue bridge named "The Collective." This installation was approved by council several weeks ago but neighbors have asked for the approval to be reconsidered. You can see more about the meeting here.

The committee will also discuss a proposal to turn the former Conway Hotel site on Washington Street into surface parking. This process has taken several twists and turns and I'm not sure it will be resolved today: The committee will learn the latest on property negotiations in closed session, but may or may not have all the information necessary to make a recommendation.

City Plan Commission, Tuesday, 4 pm

It's been about a month since ThedaCare announced plans for a $144 million project to build a new specialty hospital near their Encircle Health site along Highway 41 and it will come up for discussion this week at the City Plan Commission, where their application for a Special Use Permit will be up for a recommendation for the first time.

The permit calls for a medical office building not to exceed 95 feet in height, which is 35 feet higher than Appleton's ordinances allow without a variance. I do not expect the approval to be controversial.

Board of Health, Wednesday, 7 am

Wednesday morning will feature the Board of Health's second opportunity to discuss and first opportunity to make a recommendation on a resolution banning what is often referred to as "Conversion Therapy" in the city of Appleton.

Conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. It's banned in eighteen states (Utah is about to become the 19th), not backed by science and has been proven harmful to the psychological wellbeing of participants.

Debate on this topic is likely to be heated, but to me the decision is simple: Appleton should follow the lead of well more than a dozen states and draw a firm line when it comes to pseudoscience and protecting the wellbeing of young people in our community.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Common Council Update for the week of November 4

Budget season continues for the Appleton Common Council, and our schedule continues to shift a bit to accommodate deliberations and public comment on our single most important action of the year. In addition to this week's regularly scheduled council meeting, we also have some committee business to take care of:

Community and Economic Development Committee (special meeting), Tuesday, 4:30 pm

The Community Development Block Grant process is underway for the 2020 program year, with an advisory committee meeting last week to discuss and evaluate proposals for an estimated $577,214 in available federal grant dollars.

This year, in addition to those dollars the advisory committee was also asked to make recommendations for $200,000 in available funding from an Affordable Housing Initiative budgeted in a prior year. The advisory committee's recommendations were as follows:

  • A total of just over $275,000 to fund city or city-related programs that serve low to moderate income populations and meet CDBG guidelines, such as the city's Homeowner Rehabilitation Loan Program, Fair Housing Services, the Appleton Housing Authority, the Appleton Police Department's Summer of Service program and the city's administrative costs.
  • $125,000 for Greater Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity to assist in the purchase of properties for renovation or new construction of affordable housing.
  • $94,000 for Rebuilding Together Fox Cities to assist in the rehabilitation of homes in the West Appleton neighborhood, their targeted neighborhood for 2020.
  • $75,000 for Pillars, Inc. Adult & Family Shelter to put toward a project to replace a failing elevator in their facility.
  • $62,334 for St. Bernadette/NAMI Fox Valley to replace windows at their Iris Place facility.
  • $56,100 for The Mooring Programs for needed repairs on their main facility and six homes for clients recovering from substance abuse issues.
  • $14,530.94 for LEAVEN (the max available due to a federal cap on grant money spent for "Public Service" activities) to assist their ongoing work.
This year for the second time I was a participant on the advisory committee and I can tell you it was an extremely challenging decision to choose between many worthy applicants in our community and attempt to distribute these dollars in a way that will lead to a timely and impactful application in our community. In the end, however, I feel we arrived at the right decision and I'll be supporting our recommendation at committee this week.

In addition, this week's CEDC agenda includes an item of local interest to District 13: On Tuesday the committee will be asked to approve a variance request for covenants in the city's Northeast Business Park to allow the former Shopko Express site at the corner of Ballard and Evergreen to be redeveloped as a restaurant. I spoke to the property's potential developer a few weeks ago and while no specific plans or tenants had been identified at that time, I'm excited about the possibility to expand dining options north of Highway 41 while also turning a vacant space back into an asset to our community.

Budget Public Hearing, Wednesday, 6 pm

On Saturday all 15 council members were present for the Finance Committee's annual "Budget Saturday" meeting and spent almost nine hours on a department-by-department review of the mayor's proposed 2020 budget. At that time a few minor amendments were proposed and added to the budget, including funding for maintenance of the city's storm warning sirens, changes to expected 2020 projects at the Wastewater Treatment Facility and the addition of revenue expected to help replace trees lost in this summer's major storm event.

This week council will meet to hold a public hearing on the 2020 budget before our regularly scheduled meeting, and we welcome members of the public to share their thoughts on the budget as we continue through the process. No official action will be taken on the budget at this meeting. 

From here, the process continues with proposed amendments due to the Finance Department by noon on Thursday and the official budget adoption on Wednesday, November 13.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Common Council Update for Week of October 28

The week of the fifth Wednesday of the month is normally an off week for the Appleton Common Council, but this week we'll hold one of the most important meetings of the year:

Finance Committee, Saturday, 8 am

The city's all-day review session for the 2020 budget is scheduled for this Saturday from 8 am until (typically) sometime in the late afternoon. At this meeting we'll have an opportunity to go department by department through the budget for the year ahead and members of the Finance Committee will have their first opportunity to propose amendments.

This year I wrapped up my initial review of the budget on October 21 and pre-submitted 71 questions to the mayor, directors and department heads. This week I'll work my way through those responses and prepare any follow-up questions I need to ask on Saturday.

From there, the budget schedule is as follows:

  • Wednesday, November 6, 6 pm - The 2020 Budget Public Hearing
  • Thursday, November 7 - Proposed budget amendments due to Finance Department
  • Wednesday, November 13, 6 pm - 2020 Budget final deliberations and adoption.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Common Council update for week of October 14

It's a busy time of year for the Appleton Common Council. In addition to our regular meeting schedule (and we have special committee meetings at 6:30 and 6:45 before a full council meeting this Wednesday at 7), here's what I'm working on:

2020 Budget Review

Two weeks ago members of the Common Council received our copies of the city's 2020 budget, a 675-page document outlining plans for our general fund, capital, utility and enterprise fund plans for the year ahead. I'm about halfway through my review at this point. Here's the schedule of upcoming budget-related events:

  • Over the next few weeks individual departments' budgets will be on the agenda as informational items at their committees of jurisdiction for questions and discussion.
  • The Finance Committee will meet all day on Saturday, November 2 to go department by department through the budget to make recommendations to the full council.
  • On Wednesday, November 6 at 6 pm council will hold a public hearing on the budget to allow members of the public to speak on it.
  • On Wednesday, November 13 council will make final decisions on any proposed budget amendments and adopt the final document.
Board of Review

This year for the first time I am a member of the city's Board of Review, the body tasked with deciding any appeals related to this year's property assessments. The board is scheduled to meet all day on Thursday and on Friday if necessary, and many members (including me) also participated in a recent half-day training to understand the rules and procedures.

Community Development Block Grants

Once I've completed my review of the budget I'll move over to reviewing hundreds of pages of documents submitted as part of applications for the non-governmental portion of the city's Community Development Block Grant funds. The Advisory Committee tasked with recommending a distribution of those funds will meet  for a half day on Tuesday, October 29 to compare notes on applications and put together a plan that meets the federal guidelines for distribution of these funds.

That recommendation will come before the Community and Economic Development Committee and full council in November.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, September 9, 2019

What you may not know: Week of September 9

Before we get to this week's meetings, a pair of notes:

The special election to fill council vacancies in District 6 and 15 is happening tomorrow (Tuesday, September 10). The City Clerk's website has more information on polling locations and district maps to help you if needed.

Also, later this week residential property owners should expect a letter from the city about our citywide residential property re-evaluation. Property values across the city have gone up significantly since the last re-evaluation five years ago, so property owners should expect a significant increase in the assessed value of their properties. This isn't a "price increase," it's an effort to ensure that the assessed value of properties matches the actual value of properties, and it's required by state statute.

It's important to note that a large increase in property values doesn't necessarily mean a large increase in property taxes. The city's Communications Coordinator put together a graphic you might find helpful: https://www.appleton.org/Home/Components/News/News/20860/18?backlist=%2f

Even though property values are going up significantly here in Appleton, our tax levy is still limited by state statute and this year it cannot grow more than 1.35%. So, property values going up doesn't mean we're collecting significantly higher taxes.

Finally, just to put the re-evaluation into context: The Assessor's office recently supplied me with a list of 63 residential properties in the 13th District that were sold in 2018. The assessed value of those properties was 84% of their sale price, on average. Only four of them sold for less than their assessed value. This is why we re-evaluate, to try to get the assessed value of properties and their actual value as close as possible and ensure a property tax system that's as fair as it can possibly be.

In addition to those two things, it's a relatively busy committee week for the Appleton Common Council. Here are some items of note:

Finance Committee, Monday, 5:30 pm

One of the big headlines from last week's Common Council meeting related to the US Venture project as the mayor and several stakeholders in the project presented some of the first renderings and proposed potential financing schedules for the underground parking ramp necessary to make the development possible.

Like many other alderpersons, I've received a fair amount of feedback from that discussion and most, if not all of it has been related to the financial element. Our development agreement with US Venture called for both parties to work together to keep the cost of the ramp near $25 million, but the city's new projected contribution is $35 million. This number has changed significantly due to some factors outside our control (inflation, rising and unpredictable construction costs), but also due to some significant design changes and challenges during the process.

I won't comment on ongoing negotiations regarding this project, but I will say I'm disappointed with where we've found ourselves here. One of the key points of emphasis for this project has been that it has to "cash flow" to make sense for the city, meaning the gains from the project need to be able to cover the expenses without impacting the taxpayers. The current potential financing models all include both a loan (sometimes an interest-free loan) from the general fund and a shifting of funds owed to the parking utility to make this work, which does not meet my definition of "cash flow."

Tonight the Finance Committee has an information item on their agenda to allow for more questions on the information we learned last week. No official action is expected at this meeting, and no final action on this item is scheduled at this time. This is just another opportunity for council to gather information on this item to help inform future decisions. 

Parks and Recreation Committee, Monday, 6:30 pm (or following the conclusion of Finance)

Significant efforts to plan for the future of parks and park programming in the city are expected to take a step forward this week as the Parks and Recreation Committee will be asked to make a recommendation on a Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan for 2019-23. The last time the city approved such a plan was in 2009.

The full text of the new plan is available via attachment #4 at this link and it's quite the document: The PDF is 285 pages long and includes an evaluation of all existing parks, proposed land acquisition for future parks and recommendations for the future. This document lays the groundwork for future councils to consider opportunities to continue to improve park and recreational offerings in our community.

Some highlights from the document:

  • Appleton has about eight acres of green space for every 1000 residents. This is within the NRPA standard of 7-10 acres per 1000 residents but falls well below the regional average of 20.26 (page 51).
  • A portion of District 13 falls in an area identified as lacking a park: The neighborhoods north of Wisconsin Avenue, south of Northland Avenue and between Ballard Road and Meade Street. (Page 52)
  • Starting on Page 83 the document identifies short, medium and long term needs for each city park with a projected development cost. Parks with short term needs included Alicia, Derks, Ellen Kort Peace Park, Green Meadows, Highview, Hoover, Linwood, Lutz, Mead, Peabody, Providence, Schaefer, Summit, Veterans, Vulcan Heritage, Woodland, Memorial, Erb, Pierce, Telulah and Houdini Plaza. The projected cost for the short term projects is $23.3 million.
Community and Economic Development Committee, Wednesday, 4:30 pm

The first step in our annual Community Development Block Grant process will come this week as the committee is expected to make a recommendation on the first proposals for a portion of our projected $577,214 in available funding. Block grant funding is available through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and is available to city departments and other organizations who can meet a very strict and specific set of criteria to provide services and improvements to our communities. 

The first step in the process for the committee is to review allocations for city programs. This year those are as follows:
  • $77,694 for the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program
  • $75,000 for the Appleton Housing Authority
  • $72,051.56 for the Appleton Police Department's "Summer of Service" program
  • $50,504 for the city's administrative costs and providion of HUD required Fair Housing Services.
The APD item is a relatively new addition to this list and will allow for the further expansion of a program that has been very successful in our community. Per the staff memo on this topic, "the Summer of Service initiative seeks to engage youth in meaningful, team-based community service projects in order to instill positive attitudes towards education and empower youth to acquire valuable life skills. By teaching teens to work on teams, develop a work ethic, and improve their engagement with others, Summer of Service provides students at risk of not graduating high school an opportunity to stay on track or get back on track to graduating high school."

Assuming this item is approved by committee and council, the next step will be to review applications from outside organizations for the balance of the available funding. Those recommendations should appear before committee sometime in November.

Safety and Licensing, Wednesday, 5:30 pm

Over the last month the Safety and Licensing Committee has had a pair of opportunities to learn and ask questions about a recent development regarding Outagamie County's longstanding warning sirens. Earlier this year the County Board voted to turn maintenance of those facilities over to their 21 municipalities, giving them the option to begin caring for the sirens themselves or lose this important safety measure. 

This has created a variety of concerns from public safety personnel across the region and caused multiple local municipalities to ask the county to reconsider this action and consider funding the maintenance of these sirens out of revenue from their new sales tax increase. A resolution recently passed in the City of Kaukauna and last week I introduced a resolution that closely mirrors it in Appleton.

The full text of the resolution reads as follows:
Whereas in early 2018 Outagamie County approached municipalities in the county to discuss transferring maintenance, ownership and replacement of outdoor warning systems as of January 1, 2020; and  
Whereas Outagamie County has adopted County Board Resolution 21-2018-2019 outlining the position of turning over these essential emergency management functions to local municipalities and the county has asked each municipality to identify the future of each local outdoor warning system; and  
Whereas while there is no single medium of communication that can reach all residents at all times, outdoor warning sirens have historically been a cost effective warning system and could easily be coupled with other means of communication to create a more robust and effective system; and  
Whereas emerging technologies and weather radios are great supplemental tools, but the sirens remain a vital component for some of our city's most vulnerable residents; and  
Whereas communities throughout the Midwest continue to rely on and invest in sirens as one tool enabling public agencies to notify large segments of the public during times of inclement weather, including larger metro areas like Dane County, Wisconsin and Nashville, Tennessee; and  
Whereas the costs to operate, maintain and acquire sirens, when averaged over the life cycle of a siren, is less than $2000 per warning siren annually; and  
Whereas the decision to have 21 municipalities in Outagamie County individually determine if they should utilize a countywide system is an ineffective and inefficient policy that could have severe ramifications for all county residents and visitors to our communities,  
Therefore be it resolved that the City of Appleton requests Outagamie County utilize a portion of the County's new one-half percent sales tax to fund, operate and maintain the Outdoor Warning System for the safety of our residents and visitors.

Given our conversations on this topic during previous meetings, I expect the committee to approve this measure and send it to the Common Council on September 18.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, August 19, 2019

What you may not know: Week of August 19

The Appleton Common Council will hold its regularly scheduled full council meeting on Wednesday night at 7 pm, and three topics we discussed in my last update will be back on the agenda:

Truancy Ordinance

Last Wednesday the Safety & Licensing Committee voted 3-2 to recommend Appleton repeal its truancy ordinance in light of the Appleton Area School District's recent decision not to use truancy citations as part of their attendance management plan going forward.

I was one of the dissenting votes on this decision for a pair of reasons:

  • First, as we heard at the meeting, AASD's decision does not cover the thousands of students in the city who attend private schools and have utilized or could utilize this ordinance. 
  • Second, while everyone involved hopes that AASD's new process will be successful, it's still a work in progress. Much still needs to be done to prepare, staff and evaluate their new system, and it continues to be my preference to keep the ordinance on the books until we're certain it won't be needed again.
Golf Carts

The Safety & Licensing Committee voted unanimously to recommend denial of a resolution calling for the city to allow limited use of golf carts on streets. This decision was made at least in part due to a large wave of public backlash to the proposal, but for me the largest factor in the decision was the fact that we received very little public support for it.

E-cigarettes

Finally, the committee also voted 4-1 to recommend approval of a resolution calling for the city to prohibit the use and possession of e-cigarettes for minors. This was a change from what I said I was expecting in last week's update: Discussions during the week made it clear to me that this item did not need to be referred to staff for further dialogue, as there was plenty of precedent to refer to on this item when crafting an ordinance.

2019 Borrowing

Finally, I'll close with a bit of good news. Last Monday Brad Viegut of Robert W. Baird and Company presented to the Finance Committee regarding the city's 2019 borrowing package and expected bond issuance. Recent fluctuation in the market and the city's excellent bond rating mean we're projecting an interest rate under 2% for this year's borrowing. This is great news for taxpayers, as the debt service portion of future budgets will be lower as a result.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, August 12, 2019

What you may not know: Week of August 12

It's a committee week for the Appleton Common Council, and nearly all of this week's most notable headlines are likely to come from one committee:

Safety and Licensing, Wednesday, 5:30 pm

The Safety and Licensing Committee has a packed agenda this week, including three resolutions submitted by one or more members of council.

Truancy

One of the resolutions returning to committee this week is Alderman William Siebers' request for the city to repeal its ordinance regarding truancy. This item was discussed by the committee in May but held until this week's meeting to give the Appleton Area School District an opportunity to develop a new plan for the 2019-20 school year. The School Board is expected to meet today (Monday) to take action on a proposed plan, which I expect will inform our discussions on the topic on Wednesday.

Golf Carts

The second resolution returning to committee this week is Alderman Chris Croatt's request for the city to consider allowing the operation of golf carts on some city streets. This item was last discussed at our July 17 meeting and held over until this week's meeting.

At our last meeting I shared my frustration with a request asking city staff to spend time studying this matter because I was not convinced there was enough public demand for this resolution to justify taking their time away from other priorities. Since then the issue has been covered both on television and in the newspaper and while I've heard from a lot of folks with concerns, I've still only heard from two people in support of this proposed change.

Barring some massive groundswell of support between now and Wednesday's meeting, I intend to vote to deny this resolution.

E-Cigarettes

Finally, the Safety & Licensing Committee will also take up a new resolution from Alderperson Cathy Spears calling for the city to prohibit the use and possession of e-cigarettes for minors. This will be the city's second resolution on e-cigarettes this year: Back in May we also voted to expand the city's smoke free indoor air ordinance to include e-cigarettes.

For a resolution like this that has not appeared on our agenda before, the normal first step is to refer the item to staff for further study. I anticipate we'll do that this week and it will return to us for action at a future meeting.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, June 17, 2019

What you may not know: Week of June 17

The Appleton Common Council will hold its regularly scheduled full council meeting on Wednesday night at 7 pm to address items including the following:

2020 Department of Public Works Fees

As part of the leadup to the 2020 budget process, the Municipal Services Committee was recently asked to make recommendations on an array of potential changes in fees and/or practices for the upcoming year:

First, the committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of a change in fees for 30-gallon refuse carts to $.50/week. Council increased fees for the 60 and 90-gallon carts in the 2019 budget but left the 30-gallon carts free as an incentive for users to monitor their waste and recycle more. Even with the fee increase, 30-gallon carts would remain less expensive than their larger counterparts.

Unfortunately, the city recently learned that Outagamie County intends to increase tipping fees for 2020 to make up for revenue decreases in recycling commodities. That increase in fees at the landfill will cost the city's Sanitation Fund around $43,000 annually. The new revenue generated by this fee would cover that cost and eliminate a $52,000 annual payment from the General Fund to the Sanitation Fund.

The committee also voted unanimously to recommend increasing the price of monthly parking permits downtown from $30 to $40 to help the Parking Utility continue to operate without assistance from the General Fund (property taxes). A $40 monthly payment is still much less than the $5 per day a user would have to pay to use the ramp on a daily rate and is equal to or below the monthly rates charged for ramp usage in La Crosse, Eau Claire and Green Bay. This increase in revenue will allow the Parking Utility to continue to operate and maintain the city's parking ramps without assistance from property tax dollars.

Next, the committee voted unanimously to increase the cost of Street Excavation Permits from $40 to $250. About 700 of these permits for contractors to dig in a city roadway are issued annually despite the fact that the practice reduces the quality and longevity of roads. City staff recommended the fee be increased to $100 but the committee recommended an increase to $250 to be more in line with current rates set by Neenah ($200), Grand Chute ($300) and Outagamie County ($1000). This fee increase would generate about $147,000 in new revenue to help cover losses in the viability and longevity in our streets.

Finally, the committee voted 4-0 to recommend the city eliminate its commercial recycling program at the end of this year. The reasons outlined by staff for this recommendation included the following:

  • The truck used for this service is due for replacement and the city would need to borrow additional funds to replace it.
  • The Commercial Recycling service is redundant to those provided by private contractors and is only used by about 16% of all Appleton businesses.
  • The city loses about $15,000 per year providing this service.
I think I can speak for everyone on council when I say that none of us enjoy raising fees or eliminating services. Council has taken steps throughout my time on council to avoid or delay additional costs when possible, but I think the steps outlined above and their unanimous support from the Municipal Services Committee reflect an understanding that these nominal increases are a necessary part of responsible governance.


Aldermanic Vacancies

This week council will be asked to make a decision on how to proceed with a pair of vacant seats: Alderman Keir Dvorachek resigned at the end of April due to a move out of his district and Alderperson Rachel Raasch will be leaving her seat at the end of the month due to a work relocation. Dvorachek's seat (District 15) is next scheduled to come up for election in April of 2021, while Raasch's seat (District 6) was due up next April.

At our last meeting council was briefed on our options to fill these vacancies: Council can seek applications and appoint someone to serve, or order a special election to allow the voters to decide. During my time on council I have always favored the latter and intend to do so again here: I was not elected to represent District 6 or 15 and I do not feel it is appropriate for me to choose a representative for them.

Finally, a quick scheduling note for the weeks ahead: A few weeks ago council voted to shift our meeting schedule for July due to the Independence Day holiday. The month of July has five Wednesdays in 2019 so instead of holding a council meeting on July 3 we've opted to move all of the month's meetings back one week. In the past in a similar situation council has opted to cancel the meeting on the week of the Fourth, but this year we'll proceed with our normal number of meetings as an acknowledgement to the importance of a volume of items on our radar.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Sunday, June 2, 2019

What you may not know: Week of June 3

The Appleton Common Council will hold our regularly scheduled full council meeting on Wednesday night at 7 pm or following the conclusion of two committee meetings scheduled for the evening. Our agenda includes a pair of items of interest:

Renaming Alleys

In a previous update I mentioned that the Public Works Department and Appleton Historical Society were working together to rename several alleys in the city for a pair of reasons:

  • To assist with wayfinding and provide alleys with clear identities.
  • To honor and maintain the memories of prominent Appletonians.
Back in April the City Plan Commission discussed this item and held it for further input and research. On May 21 they took the item up again and voted to recommend approval of 21 alley names. The full list and map of the alleys' locations can be found in the first attachment on this page.

Council Vacancy

Alderman Keir Dvorachek, who had represented the city's 15th District for the last two years and was just re-elected in April, recently informed the city that he is no longer able to serve in his position and has resigned. On Wednesday there is an information item on our council agenda to discuss options for filling his seat.

In the past council has considered three options for dealing with seats vacated during an alderperson's term:
  • Seeking applications and appointing someone to fulfill the remaining term.
  • Holding a special election to allow the voters to choose a new representative.
  • Leaving the seat vacant until it is due for re-election.
Given the amount of time remaining on the term (through spring 2021), the third option seems unreasonable. I suspect we'll discuss the merits of the others this week. In the past council arguments have often revolved around cost (holding a special election carries a not-insignificant expense). 

During my time on council we have appointed someone to fill a vacant seat (selecting then-candidate Polly Dalton to fill Kole Oswald's seat in District 8 for the final weeks of his term in 2014) and held a special election (the voters eventually selected Tim Trauger to replace Teege Metille in District 1 in 2013). In my opinion this specific situation, with 22 months remaining on the term, is more comparable to the latter event.

At any rate, during my time on council I have never supported efforts to appoint an alderperson: While I recognize we are empowered to do so, I don't feel it's appropriate for council to select a representative on behalf of voters we were not elected to represent. I intend to advocate for a special election at this time.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

What you may not know: Week of May 20

I'm a little pressed for time this week, so please excuse the brief update. I did want to bring some attention, however, to a few items of note this week:

Funeral information for Mitchell Lundgaard

For anyone that may not have been aware, funeral information has been released for Mitchell Lundgaard, the Appleton firefighter shot and killed in last week's incident at the Transit Center.

The full schedule can be seen here. Follow that link for a map of Monday's planned processional and details for the visitation, scheduled for 3:00-5:30 pm at Alliance Church.

Out of respect for the victim and his family and to allow anyone interested to pay their respects, Monday's scheduled meeting of the Finance Committee has been postponed.

Community and Economic Development Committee, Wednesday, 4:30 pm

The Community and Economic Development Committee has a very busy agenda this week, highlighted by the first discussions of a pair of potential housing projects downtown.

This week the committee will be asked to make recommendations on a pair of proposed development agreements within Tax Increment Financing District #11, which generally spans the east end of downtown. The development agreements call for developers to build on a property at 320 E College and on properties located at 309 E Washington Street, 118 and 122 N Durkee Street to add dozens of residential units to the downtown marketplace and add millions to the property tax base in this neighborhood.

The development agreements call for the city to contribute to both projects but, as was also the case with development agreements for the Zuelke and Gabriel buildings, these are "Pay as you go" incentives. In both cases, the city is not on the hook to pay anything to developers until or unless the properties are developed and create enough increment (the increase in tax revenue resulting from the increase in these properties' value).

Furthermore, because both projects are within the city's TIF district #11, these properties can be financed without any impact to property taxes or the general fund. Any contributions made to these projects would be made out of the TIF district proceeds, not the general fund.

It's an exciting and active time for downtown development, and I'm excited to have a pair of low risk, high reward projects to discuss this week.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, April 22, 2019

What you may not know: Week of April 22

It's the first committee week for the new Appleton Common Council and with it come lots of changes: Six of our seven committee chairmanships have turned over since last week and council has four new members since the spring elections.

I'm honored to report that I was selected by the Mayor or elected by my colleagues to the following positions last week:

  • Common Council President (first time)
  • Chairman, Safety & Licensing Committee (My fifth year as chairman and sixth year as a member)
  • Member, Finance Committee (My sixth year in this role)
  • Member, Community and Economic Development (first time)
  • Member, Board of Review (first time)
Now, back to the items of interest from this week's agendas:

Municipal Services Committee, Monday, 4:30 pm

Last month the Municipal Services Committee was asked to consider some pretty significant changes to the way the city maintains sidewalks. The changes were recommended for denial at the committee level but referred back by council, and a new committee will get another chance to discuss them this week.

The City's current policy calls for sidewalk to be repaired or replaced at the city's expense if any of the following conditions occur:
  1. There is a gap of more than 3/4" between sidewalk sections.
  2. A sidewalk has settled out of vertical alignment more than 1" from normal grade.
  3. There is a crack greater than half an inch in or between sidewalk sections
  4. Sidewalk sections are out of conformance with design to a degree where water ponds on them.
  5. Broken corners greater than 3".
Our staff recommendation was to eliminate items 2 and 4 from the list above. In the case of item #4, sidewalk sections where water ponds would be replaced during street reconstructions but would otherwise only be replaced if the homeowner replaces them at their own expense.

I have concerns about this proposal as it relates to snow and ice removal: Sidewalks where water is ponding are also likely to be sidewalks that are irreparably icy during the winter months.

City Plan Commission, Tuesday, 4 pm

A few weeks ago the City Plan Commission and Municipal Services Committee were asked to approve the vacation of Kimball Street south of downtown as part of development in that area. You may not have known (I didn't) that Kimball Street was named for Eliza Kimball Smith, husband of Reeder Smith, a founder of Lawrence University.

In an effort to keep names like this from being lost to history, the Department of Public Works, Alderperson Christine Williams and Gwen Sargeant of the Appleton Historical Society have worked together to propose 22 new names for alleys around the city with the stated goal of "promoting safety, consistency, and could activate these alleys by giving them a sense of place."

A full list of the 22 proposed new names and their locations can be seen in the attachment at this link

Safety & Licensing Committee, Wednesday, 5:30 pm

Finally, this week the Safety & Licensing Committee will get a long-awaited opportunity to have a discussion on the city's ambulance service. 

The committee agenda includes a presentation from Nick Romenesko of Gold Cross Ambulance on their service throughout the Fox Valley and their response times in emergencies in the city. As I mentioned above, I've been on the Safety & Licensing Committee for six years now and this is the first time I recall seeing a presentation like this or having the opportunity to discuss our public/private partnership for emergency medical services.

PLEASE NOTE: The original version of the agenda for this meeting included Alderman William Siebers' resolution regarding the city's truancy ordinance, but that item has been moved back to our May 8 meeting to allow appropriate time for discussion and questions on this presentation.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, April 8, 2019

What you may not know: Week of April 8

Before I get to the update today, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who supported me in seeking a fourth term on the Appleton Common Council. I'm honored to have the opportunity to continue representing District 13, and to have received nearly 200 votes more than I did in my last contested race.

This is something of a transitional week for the Appleton Common Council: Our new alderpersons will be sworn in and a new council year will start next week, but this week the old council's committees meet one last time. Six of this week's eleven meetings have been cancelled, but here are some of the highlights from the meetings that will happen:

Municipal Services, Monday, 4:30 pm
City Plan Commission, Tuesday, 4:00 pm


Last week's council agenda included a pair of items related to the city's plan to vacate a small portion of Kimball St, a small street south of Lawrence Street on the "Bluff Site," as part of the redevelopment of that area with the new construction of Oneida Street and the construction of the US Venture building. The portions of the street to be vacated are all west of the intersection of Kimball and Allen Streets.

Council has since been made aware of the historical significance of the Kimball name and asked to do something to ensure it is preserved, leading to the items being referred back to their respective committees. This week I anticipate the Municipal Services Committee will hear more about options to preserve the history of the Kimball name.

The Municipal Services Committee will also be asked to make a recommendation on a minor parking change along Ashbury Drive near North High School. Last year staff received a complaint that parking during school days along Ashbury near Mya Drive had gotten out of hand and was starting to limit visibility at that intersection. Staff initiated a six month trial of parking restrictions in that area and received no complaints, so they're recommending the changes become permanent.

The changes would create a "No Parking" zone from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm on school days along the south side of Ashbury over a 170-foot stretch surrounding the intersection of Ashbury and Mya.

Finally, the Municipal Services Committee is also expected to receive an update on the implementation of the Railroad Quiet Zone. I don't have any further information on this topic at this time but would encourage anyone interested in that process to watch the video of the meeting once it's posted to learn more about what's going on.

Board of Health, Wednesday, 7 am

The Board of Health will meet on Wednesday to take up two items I'll be watching.

The first is one we've discussed before: Last month the Board voted to recommend approval of a resolution calling for the city to add e-cigarettes to its smoking ordinance, banning their use inside businesses and other public buildings. After much public input and discussion, in March Council approved the resolution with an amendment that was intended to make an exemption for vape shops that allow customers to sample products within their place of business.

That item was approved as amended, but an issue later came up with the amendment language that would have left a loophole for any business that checks ID at the door and only allows adults inside to allow sampling of e-cigarettes. Given that issue, the item was brought up for reconsideration at council on Wednesday and eventually referred back to committee.

Finally, the Board of Health will also be asked to consider a request for a noise variance for Fox River House for their 2019 outdoor music schedule. These requests have been controversial in the past as FRH is located within the city's Central Business District but on the edge of a residential neighborhood, creating some conflict between the two neighboring uses.

In the interest of compromise, Fox River House's variance request has gotten smaller every year I've been on council and this year is down to just 17 weekends, Fridays and Saturdays only, with many of the Saturday shows to be scheduled in the afternoon. I hope the Board and Council will recognize the volume to which FRH has already scaled back their outdoor music and approve this variance without asking for further concessions.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.



Monday, April 1, 2019

What you may not know: Week of April 1

First and foremost, I'll open today with one final reminder that the State of Wisconsin's spring elections are this week. There is a statewide race on the ballot for the Supreme Court, three candidates running for two spots on the Appleton School Board and contested elections for four seats on the Appleton Common Council, including mine.

If you live in District 13, your polling location is Celebration Ministry Center (aka Faith Lutheran Church), located at the corner of Evergreen and Providence. If you live anywhere else in the state of Wisconsin you can find your polling place at myvote.wi.gov. Polls will be open from 7 am-8 pm.

It's been an honor and a privilege to serve on council these last six years, and tomorrow I'll be back on the ballot seeking a fourth term. I'd be honored to have your support to remain in office and continue these updates.

With that said, regardless of what happens on Tuesday the common council will hold its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night. Here are updates on some items we discussed last week:

Special Event Policy

Last week the Finance Committee voted 3-1 to recommend denial of a resolution calling for the city to rewrite its Special Event Policy with the goal of recouping more expenses incurred by the city's various departments related to those events.

I voted against the resolution for a pair of reasons:

  • First, it was repetitive of work that has been done very recently. The current policy was adopted in 2017, and fees for special events were increased at that time. That process took several months, involved feedback from many city departments and stakeholder organizations and largely took into consideration the factors cited in this resolution. It's my belief that reopening that process would require repeating a lot of that work but is unlikely to lead to any major change in the policy.
  • I think, on the whole, the good these special events do for the community outweighs any small benefit we could bring back by raising their fees for the second time in three years. 
Truancy Ordinance

Last week the Safety & Licensing Committee also voted 3-2 to recommend denial of a resolution by Alderman William Siebers calling for the city to repeal our ordinance related to truancy.

There's a lot of emotion and concern tied up in this discussion as it relates to the publicly reported concerns about the former truancy court practices, a procedure that has since been discontinued. Given those concerns, I understand the desire for the city to take action to ensure that those issues will not resurface.

I voted against this resolution, however, because I do not feel like repealing the truancy ordinance would be a positive step in reforming the process. As the ordinance is written right now the Appleton Police Department (in conjunction with the school district) has the authority to cite students for truancy but rarely does so (recent data shows about 100 citations written per year as compared to over 700 cases of habitual truancy). Truancy citations are issued as a last resort, but other options are pursued first to help us meet the end goal of keeping students in school.

If this ordinance were to be repealed, the Police Department would no longer have the opportunity to prosecute truancy as an ordinance violation. Instead, truancy offenses would be prosecuted as misdemeanors under state statute, a process which takes much longer to resolve and could result in a student ending up with a misdemeanor conviction on their record.

As I said above, I understand the impetus to take some action in response to what we've heard about truancy court in recent months. This proposal, however, would limit our ability to get truant students back in school and could lead to young people with increasingly serious criminal records. I don't think this resolution is the solution we're looking for.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.


Monday, March 25, 2019

What you may not know: Week of March 25

It's a relatively light week in terms of meeting volume for the Appleton Common Council, but a pair of committees have packed agendas. Here are some of the highlights:

Finance Committee, Monday, 5:30 pm

Excessive Assessment Claim

Monday's Finance agenda will be one of the busier I've seen in quite some time. First, the committee will be asked to make a recommendation on a Claim for Excessive Assessment from Wal Mart in regards to their property taxes for 2018. The City assessed the property on E. Calumet St. at $10.8 million, while Wal Mart is requesting a 12% reduction to $9.5 million and a refund of over $31,000 in taxes on the difference. Wal Mart's assessed value was already lowered from $11.9 million in 2017.

I don't know if it's a factor in this specific case, but in situations like this the oft-discussed "Dark Store loophole" has been an issue. The loophole stems from an issue with state statute that allows big box retailers to compare their properties to vacant stores for the purpose of assessment. Those stores, some of which have been on the market for a long time, typically have an assessed value much lower than their active counterparts. Appleton is among several municipalities that have asked the state to step in and end that process, but it has yet to come to fruition.

In the meantime, our inability to assess these properties at their full value has a very real impact on the city's remaining taxpayers. These reductions in tax collections are spread out over the rest of the tax levy and cause everyone else's property taxes to increase to make up the difference. Closing the Dark Store loophole and solving this issue would allow us to return to a fairer balance of tax contributions across the city.

"Carryover" budgets

Next, it's time for the committee's annual consideration of "carryover" dollars from the previous year's budget. Per longstanding city policy, unspent dollars from the previous year's budget that aren't currently under contract for an active project are subject to the carryover appropriation process. 75% of those unspent funds are automatically applied to debt service (part of the reason we're routinely able to pay off debt early), and the other 25% is available for projects that we may not have been able to fund in previous budgets or urgent needs that have come up since the budget was discussed in November.

This year the general fund's portion of that remaining 25% is just under $175,000. Most of that money is requested for a special salt purchase to cover the gap while the city waits for its final shipment from our vendor, which was delayed due to icing on the Great Lakes.

Special Event Policy

Tonight the committee is also expected to have their first opportunity to discuss a resolution submitted by three alderpersons at last Wednesday's meeting related to the city's Special Event Policy.

Large special events throughout the year in the city attract visitors and improve quality of life, but there's always been a challenging balance between the city working to help promote these events and ensuring our departments are able to recoup their expenses for the extra hours worked during these events to keep the costs from falling on the taxpayers. Council most recently updated the policy in early 2017 to increase the cost for Special Event licenses to cover more of the city's associated costs.

Alderpersons Kathleen Plank, Patti Coenen and Chris Croatt's resolution calls for that process to be reopened to consider including a portion of the Department of Public Works' cost for cleanup following events. I'll be interested to see how this debate unfolds, given previous discussions about the importance of preserving this balance.

Safety & Licensing Committee, Wednesday, 5:30 pm

A discussion that has been rippling through the community for several months now will appear on an Appleton committee agenda once again this week.

Concerns regarding truancy court and the Appleton Area School District have been well-documented in recent months, with the Eighth Judicial District recently announcing that their judges will no longer participate in the program. Before the process was discontinued representatives from the City Attorney's office had participated in the hearings, at least partially because the city has an anti-truancy ordinance that parallels state statute on the matter.

Last week Alderman William Siebers presented a resolution calling for the city to repeal that ordinance, effectively removing itself from the truancy enforcement process. That resolution will be heard for the first time on Wednesday.

As part of that meeting I'm anticipating an active discussion on Appleton's role in the efforts to prevent truancy. I'm not sure if any official action will be taken at this meeting or if the discussion will be extended to a later date.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, March 18, 2019

What you may not know: Week of March 18

The Appleton Common Council will hold our regularly-scheduled meeting on Wednesday at 7 pm to take up items including the following:

Rezoning along Glenhurst Lane

Several weeks ago the City Plan Commission heard and discussed a proposal from a developer to rezone two large parcels near the corner of Glenhurst and Lightning Drive from CO (Commercial) to R3 (Multi-family). This proposal has drawn a fair amount of concern from neighboring property owners, many of whom built new houses in the area within the last few years under the assumption that the property was to remain commercial.

One of the challenges of this discussion has been the relatively wide array of property types allowed under R3 zoning. Just within a few hundred yards of this parcel, R3 zoning is being used for:

  • Townhomes (to the south)
  • A pair of senior living facilities (to the west)
  • Apartment complexes (to the north)
While townhomes or senior living facilities might be an appropriate use of these properties and could create a low-impact, positive impact on this neighborhood, the neighbors are concerned about the possibility of apartments. Under the current zoning laws as many as 180 units of apartments could be built on these properties if rezoned. This could have a significant impact on the property value of the surrounding homes, none of whom had any reason to expect this when they built in the neighborhood.

I and several other alderpersons have heard from the developer proposing this rezoning and have been told that max occupancy and/or low quality isn't their plan, but as part of the rezoning process we have to consider all possibilities and cannot obligate the developer to follow their current plan once the property is rezoned.

At the Plan Commission a few weeks ago the vote was split on this issue, with the commission voting 3-2 to recommend approval of the change. I was one of the dissenting votes then, and I'm planning on voting against the proposal again on Wednesday night.

Vaping and e-cigarettes

For the past few months the Board of Health has been discussing relatively new developments in the tobacco industry and how they may or should impact the city's ordinances on smoking. 

As vaping increases in popularity we're seeing it more often in public spaces. At the same time we're also learning more about the chemical composition of what's breathed back into the air by someone using an e-cigarette. Secondhand material from an e-cigarette may lack some of the smell and chemical content of a traditional cigarette but, as we've come to learn, it still contains chemicals like dicetyl, linked to lung disease, benzene, and multiple heavy metals.

Last week the Board of Health voted to recommend the city expand our current smoking ordinances to include e-cigarettes, and ban them in all of the same locations where smoking a regular cigarette is currently banned. We've received some negative feedback on this, but I'd hope most people will understand and/or appreciate our efforts to protect them from unwanted secondhand materials indoors and in their places of business and other public spaces.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, February 4, 2019

Clarifications on Valley Transit Bus Purchases

The Appleton Common Council is back on its regular schedule this week following a couple of light weeks and weather delays. The agenda for our full council meeting on Wednesday is relatively light on items of interest, and should wrap up without much controversy or debate.

In the meantime, I wanted to take this opportunity to share some information and insight into another recent decision that has generated some discussion: New bus purchases for Valley Transit. As I noted in my last update, Valley Transit has recently made progress on a longstanding concern regarding its aging fleet by submitting an order for five new clean diesel buses. Issues regarding the age of VT's fleet have been difficult to solve for a pair of reasons:

  • First, nearly all of VT's active fleet was purchased around the same point in time, meaning those buses also reached the end of their depreciation cycle and useful life around the same time.
  • Second, Valley Transit's capital expenditures are paid for by an 80/20 federal/local match program. As such, capital expenditures can only occur when federal funds are available to cover their share of the projects. These funds have been difficult to come by in recent years.
With that said, I'm happy to report that we're well on our way to solving some of these issues and Valley Transit has a plan to replace buses over the span of the next several years to avoid the aforementioned fleet aging issue occurring again. Our expenditures, however, brought up another question: At what point does it make sense for Appleton to consider making the jump from clean diesel to electric or other renewable fuels?

My colleagues and I have been getting a fair amount of feedback on this topic since a Post Crescent article discussed the matter back in December. I've been happy for the opportunity to discuss our decision with a few interested folks individually, but wanted to share my thoughts here in case anyone else might be curious.

The decision to acquire clean diesel vs electric buses was driven by a couple of factors. The first, as you might imagine, was cost. Until recently Valley Transit's entire fleet was purchased in or before 2005 and nearly every bus had more than a million miles in service. As mentioned above, our need for new buses had stacked up for a long time and left us in a position where we had an enormous number of buses due for replacement at the same time. As such, we needed to stretch available replacement dollars as far as possible to replace our aging fleet. In the last year we've gone as far as accepting buses phased out of service by Go Transit in Oshkosh because they were still newer and in better condition than some of our fleet.

As an organization with big needs, we need to maximize the return on our investment. As part of a recent grant distributed by the state in the VW settlement, the city of Racine received around $6 million for bus replacement and, to my understanding, used it to purchase six electric buses. Valley Transit recently placed an order for seven diesel buses at a cost of $3.5 million. By that math, the cost difference between electric/diesel is about $500,000 per bus. We'd have to save a lot of fuel to make up that cost, and recent history shows that other Wisconsin bus companies that have purchased electric buses are still burning some fossil fuels to heat them.

The other issue is long-term reliability. As I mentioned above, Valley Transit buses are operated near constantly and may put on 1,000,000 miles over more than a decade before being replaced. We have track records to show that a clean diesel bus can manage that workload, but don't have the same data to prove that an electric bus will hold up that long without needing extensive repair, frequent battery replacement, etc. Within the last decade Valley Transit took a step in this direction by buying small hybrid buses to operate downtown. The hybrid element of those engines did not operate reliably and ended up being removed. As an organization with limited resources, it's difficult for us to take risks on early-generation technology.

With all of this said, I'm glad that cities like Racine and Madison are taking the plunge and trying out electric buses. I hope those experiments serve them well, as increased proof of performance for electric buses would make it much easier for an organization like Valley Transit to consider them in the future. In the end, however, the combination of our large need, limited resources and reliability concerns made clean diesel buses the right decision for us at this time.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, January 7, 2019

What you may not know: Week of January 7

The Appleton Common Council is back from our holiday break and we have a full slate of committee meetings this week. Here are some of the highlights from our agendas:

Municipal Services Committee, Monday, 4:30 pm

The first step in a long overdue process to improve safety along the French Road corridor will likely take place today as the Municipal Services committee will be asked to make a recommendation on a intermunicipal agreement calling for a study of the corridor from State Highway 96 (Wisconsin Avenue) to County Highway JJ (Edgewood Drive). The portion of the road being studied passes through Appleton, Little Chute and Grand Chute, and the three municipalities along with the county are expected to participate in the study.

The primary focus of the study is the intersection of French Road and County Highway OO (Northland Avenue), which has been experiencing traffic delays and safety issues for some time now. The issue is complicated by the close proximity of State Highway 441, which limits the options for this intersection somewhat.

The county and the three municipalities are expected to contribute a combined $40,000 to this study, with Appleton's share valued at $6,666.66. I expect this item to pass committee without issue today and applaud all that's being done to improve the viability and safety of an intersection so many drivers use daily.

Finance Committee, Monday, 5:30 pm
Fox Cities Transit Commission, Tuesday, 2 pm


This week the Finance Committee and Transit Commission will both be asked to make a recommendation on another long-overdue project: Replacing seven buses on Valley Transit's operating fleet.

Valley Transit has long struggled with the challenges related to an aging fleet: The Federal Transit Administration considers a bus to be eligible for replacement when it has been operated for a minimum of 12 years or 500,000 miles. Until recently, every bus in Valley Transit's fleet exceeded that threshold and many were over 1 million miles.

The process of purchasing new buses is complicated by Valley Transit's funding structure: Capital purchases for Valley Transit are funded via an 80/20 match, where 80% of the funds come directly from the Federal Transit Administration and 20% are paid locally. VT has had money in its depreciation account for a long time to pay the local share but the federal portion of the funds have not always been available when needed, hence the aforementioned backlog in buses due for replacement.

The funds available at this time will allow Valley Transit to purchase seven new 35-foot New Flyer buses using just $700,000 in local funds, which will be paid entirely out of Valley Transit's depreciation fund. As such, there will be no local tax impact from this transaction.

Utilities Committee, Tuesday, 5 pm

Finally, we're back to the topic of French Road. Increase of development along that corridor north of County Highway JJ has sparked a conversation about the need to modernize that portion of the road. This week the Utilities Committee will be asked to make a recommendation on a proposed stormwater analysis for that area in anticipation of further upcoming work.

In this case the project will be completed by raSmith, an organization with extensive expertise in the area. They previously consulted on other stormwater ponds and projects within the local area, including the existing Emerald Valley Pond.

As is the case with the other French Road item mentioned above, this is just an early step in the process to modernize, urbanize and improve French Road to make it safer and more usable for residents in this area. Both, however, are important steps in that effort.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.