What you may not know: Week of May 22

Before I get to this week's (relatively light) update on the Appleton Common Council's Committee schedule, an update on an item we've discussed at great length previously:

Dogs in Parks

As you may have heard, last week the Appleton Common Council (with Mayor Hanna breaking a 7-7 tie) voted to approve a resolution amended to allow dogs on sidewalks and trails within our city parks. The resolution was amended down to include just the sidewalks and trails in parks, but will include the sidewalks and trails in all parks (as opposed to a previous amendment limiting the number of parks) once the final ordinance is adopted.

And there lies the point I want to emphasize: The current ordinance banning dogs in parks remains in place until the new ordinance is adopted. This will likely happen at our next full council meeting on June 7. Until then, please continue to follow the existing ordinance.

Now, on to this week's committee agendas:

Finance Committee, Monday, 5:30 pm
Safety & Licensing Committee, Wednesday, 5:30 pm

This week both of the committees listed above will be asked to make a recommendation on an intergovernmental agreement with Outagamie County that could lead to new voting equipment for the city's 2018 elections.

All told, Outagamie County has 33 municipalities conducting elections during each cycle, and they're using a wide array of voting and vote tabulating equipment on each election day. This creates significant challenges when the time comes to count the votes, so the county has a vested interest in making sure as many municipalities as possible are using the same equipment going forward. They've proposed a cost-sharing measure to help municipalities get on the same page.

Of course, trying to get all of the municipalities on the same page regarding what equipment is best creates a new set of challenges. For the city, this includes the following:

• A seven-member procurement team for new voting equipment would include just one representative from the City of Appleton.
• Outagamie County understandably has no interest in purchasing equipment for use in other counties, so the city could bear some additional expenses to purchase matching equipment for the portions of our jurisdiction in Winnebago and Calumet counties.

While I understand the county's motivations for pursuing this action, we have a responsibility to make sure the city's interests are protected to the fullest extent possible. I'll be interested in hearing more about how this could work for all parties.

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.

What you may not know: Week of May 15

The Appleton Common Council has our regularly-scheduled Wednesday meeting this week, and our agenda includes a few items we discussed in last week's update:

Auto sales on Clark Street

Last week the City Plan Commission voted unanimously to reaffirm their recommendation that the city grant a Special Use Permit to an existing car repair shop at 524 N Clark Street (north of downtown between Packard and Atlantic Street) to allow them to also display and sell cars from that location.

As I wrote in last week's update Clark Street is very narrow and the properties along it are mostly residential, so the neighbors have some very understandable concerns about noise, traffic and parking as they relate to the potential impact of the business expanding. This street is not an appropriate place for the increased traffic or test driving of vehicles, especially high-performance vehicles, and as such I do not intend to support the permit.

Dogs in parks

Last week the Parks & Recreation Committee again amended my resolution calling for the city to lift its outdated ban on dogs in city parks. Their amendments included the following:

• Removing a previous amendment that called for dogs to only be allowed in six parks near the river.
• Adding a proposed restriction calling for dogs to remain on sidewalks, trails or roads and be restricted from access to playgrounds, athletic fields, picnic areas, lawns, courts, skateboard parks, disc golf courses, pavilions and pool areas.
• Doubling the fines for violations of dog-related ordinances.

These amendments are something of a mixed bag for me: I requested the first one and was pleased to see it pass. The second is, in my opinion, an overreaction to a set of far-out circumstances that are unlikely to occur (although I'm amused by the premise of dogs taking over a swimming pool), and the third is problematic: Fines for dog-related offenses in the city already exceed $300, so a ~$700 fine for a first offense being caught with an unleashed dog seems excessive to me.

At any rate, I'm pleased to see this item continuing to move forward and I'm hopeful we can make some adjustments to it before casting a final vote on Wednesday night.

Bees and chickens

Last week the Board of Health voted unanimously to approve a resolution calling for the city to expand urban beekeeping to be allowed on the rooftops of commercial buildings.  They voted against, however, a resolution calling for the city to amend its rules regarding urban chickens to allow chicken runs larger than 24 square feet. 

I'm concerned by the latter vote, which seems to go against all good science and best practices regarding the keeping of urban chickens. I'm hoping we'll fix that on the council floor.

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.

What you may not know: Week of May 8

The Appleton Common Council has a busy committee week ahead (I have five meetings on my calendar, for those of you that like to count my workload and determine if I've earned my salary). Here are some of the highlights:

City Plan Commission, Monday, 4 pm

Last week the Common Council referred a request for a Special Use Permit along North Clark Street back to the Plan Commission for further discussion, so it will appear on their agenda again this week.

North Clark Street is a very narrow street north of downtown with no parking on both sides and homes very close to the road. In this area (the 500 block) it's also a border between residential properties to the north and west and commercial properties to the east. VL Performance operates an auto repair shop in this neighborhood and has recently applied for permission to expand their business to include automobile sales and display. This has drawn some concern from their neighbors, who have concerns about adequate parking, noise and congestion on their narrow road.

Across the city, borders between zoning types create occasional challenges due to differences in usage, hours of operation, infrastructure needs and the like. The commission and eventually the council will have a challenge here to balance these issues.

Parks & Recreation, Monday, 6:30 pm

Our discussion on dogs in parks resumes tonight as the Parks & Recreation committee will receive and could act upon a report from staff on the possibility of partially or entirely lifting the city's longstanding and outdated ban.

I submitted the original resolution calling for the city to lift its ban three weeks ago, and two weeks ago the committee voted to amend the resolution to lift the ban in six parks along the Fox River: Lutz Park, Vulcan Heritage Park, Peabody Park, Telulah Park, Jones Park and the future Ellen Kort Peace Park. They then referred the item to staff for further study.

While I appreciate the compromise the committee is discussing and will support it if we can't do better, tonight I plan to ask the committee to please return to discussing my original resolution. In the past I've argued against creating two different sets of rules in our parks, as I feel it will create confusion about which parks fall into which category and make an ordinance that's already difficult to enforce even more challenging to follow.

Either way, I'm hoping this committee will take action tonight so the item can go to council next week.

Board of Health, Wednesday, 7 am

A couple of old favorite topics will be back on the agenda this week for the Board of Health, as they will be asked to consider the following:

• A resolution to expand urban beekeeping to allow bees on commercial rooftops.
• A resolution to amend the ordinance regarding urban chickens to expand the maximum chicken run size from 24 square feet to 100 square feet.

The former resolution is, at least in part, a response to the fact that our existing ordinance and the challenges it creates have led to zero applications for urban beekeeping in the city since its approval. The latter is an attempt to correct the damage done by an amendment on the council floor during our debate on chickens, and restore our ordinance to something that better reflects best practices. I intend to support both.

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.