Common Council Update for the week of February 24

The Appleton Common Council has a busy committee week ahead, with much of the action happening later today:

Municipal Services Committee, Monday, 4:30 pm

It probably won't be the item that attracts the most headlines this week, but at today's meeting the Municipal Services Committee will be asked to recommend postponing four utility projects under city streets due to bid prices exceeding our budget. Postponing these projects also means delaying the related street reconstructions from 2021 to 2022.

The projects proposed for delay are:

• Jackson Street
• Madison Street
• Minor Street
• Riverview Lane

While none of these are major projects, they continue a trend of concerns regarding bidding for construction contracts. Last week council learned that our major concrete street reconstruction project for 2020, valued at over $4 million, received just one bidder, and the same thing happened in 2019. As a result, staff has reached out to the Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association to discuss what can be done to prevent this from happening in the future.

Bids coming in over budget and in excess of our available resources create major challenges for both staff and council as they force us to decide between overspending or delaying necessary work. In this case, high bids will cause at least four needed projects to be delayed for a full year.

Also at this meeting the committee will get their first chance to discuss a resolution designating the month of May as "No Mow May."The resolution is designed to offer residents the opportunity to wait to mow their lawns this spring in an effort to provide additional pollinator-friendly habitat during a critical time of year for many species.

The resolution calls for the city to suspend enforcement of its ordinances related to lawn care through the month of May and early June to allow residents to support bee-friendly environments. I've received a fair amount of feedback on this proposal, nearly all positive.

While I don't expect to participate in "No Mow May" (I hear enough from folks in my neighborhood about my lawn care as it is), I will note that participation in this program is optional and largely harmless. I intend to support the resolution.

Finance Committee, Monday, 5:30 pm

Last week I submitted a resolution along with 12 other alderpersons calling for the Wisconsin State Legislature to change course and adopt a plan for non-partisan redistricting for the State of Wisconsin following the 2020 Census. 

As noted in the resolution, an Outagamie County advisory referendum in 2017 and a Marquette University Law School poll in 2018 both showed better than 70% of participants supported non-partisan redistricting. Redistricting is supposed to be used to ensure fair representation in Madison and Washington, not as a tool to consolidate power.

This resolution is non-binding, as the decision on redistricting needs to come at the state level. However, I'm hopeful that more local governments will take this step to make a clear statement that non-partisan redistricting is important to our constituents.

Also at this meeting the Committee will be asked to recommend approval of a pre-annexation agreement between the city and Outagamie County regarding Plamann Park.

The two sides have been in negotiations for some time now to work out an arrangement for the city to run utilities under Plamann Park in the interest of serving our residents to the north of the facility. The document, however, notes that "the COUNTY and CITY mutually desire the PROPERTY continue to function as a County Park for the foreseeable future and believe it is in the public’s interest that the PROPERTY’S operations continue under the exclusive management and control of the COUNTY."

As such, I'm planning to support this agreement and hope the work can be done with minimal disruption to the activities and programming at the park.

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

Finally, on Wednesday the CED Committee will be asked to review the city's asking price for land available in Southpoint Commerce Park and the Northeast Business Park. The current asking price is $40,000/acre and staff has recommended it remain at that level.

The city still has property available in both parks despite several recent sales and a few more properties that could be repurchased by the city due to developer inactivity. Trying to set an appropriate asking price for these parcels is always a bit of a challenge due to varied demands from other municipalities in the valley, including some that will give property to developers free of charge.

In the end, I think our staff has done a good job evaluating our options and I intend to support their recommendation to keep the asking price as-is.

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.