Appleton Common Council Update for the Week of May 18

Before I get started today, a quick note on the relative quiet in this space: While we've all been navigating through the last couple of months council agendas have been pared down to essential business, emergency operations and the processes related to a new council year, which in this case includes three new alderpersons in addition to a new mayor and city attorney.

This new council year has brought a few changes:

• I'm proud to announce I've been re-elected by my peers to serve for a second year as Council President. I think the role is increasingly important as we navigate the transition to new city leadership, and I'm grateful to my colleagues for their continued trust. This year we're also welcoming a new council vice president, Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland. Alderperson Van Zeeland is still relatively new to council (this is her second year) but has brought excellent energy and attention to detail to her role as an alderperson and I'm excited to work with her going forward.
• In addition, this year for the first time I'll be serving as the chair of the Finance Committee. I'm excited for this new role and expanded presence in the city's 2021 budget process.
• Chairing the Finance Committee does, however, mean leaving my seat as chair of the Safety & Licensing Committee after five years in that role. I remain on the committee this year, but Alderman Bill Siebers will take my place at the helm.
• Finally, I'm pleased to be back for a second year on the city's Board of Review. This board plays a critical role in helping ensure properties are appropriately assessed.

Now that we're somewhat situated as a new council, we're moving on to questions about how we'll function during the ongoing pandemic. During the original emergency declaration the city cancelled ongoing committee meetings, conducting business instead as a "committee of the whole" during our regular full council meetings. We're currently working on the process of resuming regular committee meetings, although when we resume they're likely to continue as semi-virtual meetings with some members participating remotely via Zoom.

Through all of this I've been extremely proud of our city staff, who have demonstrated ingenuity, resilience and determination to get through these challenging times. This is clearly apparent in our meetings, which are very different than they were two months ago but continue to serve their purpose smoothly.

While we work on the transition back to normalcy, however, this week's regularly scheduled council meeting will include the business that would have appeared on last week's committee agendas, including one item that's likely to be of interest for residents on the city's north side:

Highway OO Intergovernmental Agreement

This week council will be asked to approve an agreement between the three parties with a stake in expected 2021 intersection improvements along County Highway OO: The city, Outagamie County and the Town of Grand Chute. The agreement covers anticipated projects at OO's intersections with Oneida Street, Ballard Road and Roemer Road to "provide traffic signal and associated geometric improvements to improve safety and accommodate future traffic volumes."

Recent studies have shown that many of the city's most problematic intersections (by crash volume) are along OO, so I'm happy to see steps toward working together on solutions. The specific plans are not covered in this action item, but the terms include a note that "the municipalities will be kept informed on the project status and will have input regarding the project."

The total cost of improvements at these three intersections is estimated at just over $1 million, and the city's share is estimated to be $383,344, which is 37% of the cost.

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.