Appleton Common Council Update for Week of March 22

The Appleton Common Council has a full slate of committee meetings on the schedule this week, our last committee week before the spring elections on April 6. Here are some of the highlights:

Finance Committee, Monday, 5:30 pm

The process of closing out the 2020 budget continues this week as we look at carryover requests for projects that were budgeted but not completed during the 2020 calendar year. As you might expect, the unique nature of 2020 made it difficult to complete many of our planned projects and caused others to be moved back a bit in priority.

This week the committee will be asked to recommend approval of two groups of projects. The first is over $9 million in projects budgeted but not yet under contract. This number includes over $2 million of routine carryover of contingency fund balances, but also an array of projects that were delayed in 2020, often due to the pandemic, but still necessary and anticipated to be completed in 2021.

The second group is referred to as "special consideration," and contains $500,000 in requests for new or expanded projects with savings from items that came in under budget in 2020. These projects are:

• $267,102 towards construction of the David and Rita Nelson River Crossing, a previously-discussed new pedestrian crossing on the Fox River.
• $223,519 in projects for the Water Utility, largely funded by projects that came in below budget for the Water Utility in 2020.
• $9580 for a total of three small projects at the Police Department.

Per usual, the city's internal policy requires that the majority of all unspent budget dollars from the previous year go into debt reduction, which helps keep our municipal debt low and directly reduces the need for future property tax dollars for debt service. These expenditures are above and beyond that requirement.

Landfill Expansion

Finally, I wanted to take a moment to give an update on information I've received related to the process of expansion for the Outagamie County Landfill. The Wisconsin DNR has opened a public comment period for anyone wishing to share concerns about this project. The full public notice about the project, which includes a highlighting of the items specifically open to public comment can be seen at this link (look for "Outagamie" on the list). Concerns or public comment should be sent to Beth Perk with the DNR at Beth.perk@Wisconsin.gov.

The DNR has also scheduled a virtual public hearing on this item for Monday, April 5 at 11 am. Per a notice from the DNR:

Participants can join the hearing online: https://meet.wisconsin.gov/beth.perk/4PD76HN5
Participants can join the hearing via telephone: Call (608) 316-9000 Enter 88744694 followed by #

Additionally, as I've noted previously, the landfill falls under the jurisdiction of Outagamie County, so decisions about this project are being made at the county level, not the city. I've previously advised concerned constituents to forward their concerns to their county supervisor:

• For residents of the 13th district who live east of Ballard Road, your county supervisor is Joy Hagen and her email is joy.hagen@outagamie.org
• For residents of the 13th district who live west of Ballard Road, your county supervisor is Kelly Schroeder and her email is kelly.schroeder@outagamie.org

All other county supervisors and district maps can be found at this link. 

As I've noted previously, the city has appointed City Attorney Chris Behrens to represent us in any negotiations between the city and county related to the landfill expansion. I've previously received some questions (and "questions") about why I'm referring people to their county supervisors instead of sending them to our city negotiator. The reason is simple: If it's your goal to change the process of landfill expansion, the best course of action is to talk to your representatives who will actually make that decision. I'm happy to help you navigate that system, but this item is outside of the city's jurisdiction.

The ongoing pandemic makes it increasingly difficult for us to safely allow large groups to participate in our governmental meetings, making it all the more valuable to have the tools for residents to contact alderpersons online and view our meetings remotely. If you have thoughts on these or any other action items on our agendas this week I would encourage you to use those links to remain engaged and active in the safest way possible.

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.