What you may not know: Week of October 17

I have been traveling for business these last few days (and won't be home until sometime Monday evening at the earliest), so I apologize if anyone has been attempting to reach me and has been unable to.

In the meantime, early voting starts today in the City of Appleton. Voting will be open for Appleton residents at the City Clerk's office on the 6th floor of 100 N Appleton St from 8 am-4:30 pm each weekday between now and November 4. If you come on the right day you may even see me there: I'm spending about 28 hours as an election volunteer over the next three weeks.

This week we also have our regularly-scheduled council meeting on Wednesday night. Here are updates on items that went before committees last week and are on our agenda this week:

• Last Monday the Human Resources Committee voted 5-0 to recommend approval of a new contract with the union employees at Valley Transit. The new agreement calls for a 2% increase in wages across the board and moves Transit employees closer to the non-represented standard for dental and health insurance coverage.
• Also at that meeting the committee voted 4-1 to recommend council salaries increase 2.5% in April of 2018. That would raise the annual rate to $6129.50 two years from now. I don't know that a 2.5% increase (or any feasible increase, really) will address the issues I mentioned last week, but I'm encouraged to see the committee taking a step in the right direction.
• On Tuesday the Utilities Committee voted 4-0 to recommend approval of a wet stormwater pond to address flooding issues near Perkins Street. If approved, that project could happen in 2017.
• Also on Tuesday, the Municipal Services Committee voted unanimously to support a county recommendation to reduce the speed limit on County Highway JJ between Lightning Drive and French Road to 45 miles per hour.

You can see agendas for all of this week's meetings 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.