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.