Appleton Common Council Update for the Week of June 22

The Appleton Common Council is slowly but surely working our way back to normal operations with new precautions in place to keep everyone safe due to the ongoing pandemic. For several months now we've been limiting committee meetings in an effort to exercise social distancing, but this will be the first full week of committee meetings since March.

Over the past few months staff has taken on a tremendous number of challenges, including the effort to make the council chambers a safe place for meetings. Here are some of the steps we've taken in that regard:

• Seating is limited, both for elected officials and staff as well as the public, and the available seating is appropriately distanced.
• In the cases where it's not possible to maintain appropriate distancing (at the front of the chambers and between rows of council desks), Plexiglas has been installed between seats.
• Cleaning practices have been modified and expanded to ensure the chambers are properly sanitized between meetings and at the end of the day.
• Several of our council members and members of citizen boards and commissions are participating in meetings remotely.

In addition to those steps, staff is also continuing to work on a scheduled effort to improve audio and video equipment, which will lead to better audio within the council chambers and an enhanced experience for viewers who watch our meetings online. Unfortunately, this process has led to some gaps in coverage during the transition, which should be resolved soon.

In the meantime, here are some highlights from this week's agendas:

Municipal Services, Monday, 4:30 pm

While it's unlikely to be controversial, today the Municipal Services Committee will be asked to recommend action on a change at an intersection that many residents of District 13 likely regularly use. 

The intersection of Marquette and McDonald Streets is just down the street from Huntley Elementary, and until recently the intersection was controlled by yield signs. As noted in a staff memo (the attachment here), this intersection receives relatively low traffic but crash data suggests it's one of the more challenging yield sign-controlled intersections in the city.

We recently completed a six-month trial where the yield signs were swapped out for stop signs, and staff is recommending that change be made permanent. While the intersection's traffic count is relatively low, it's likely busier around the beginning and end of the school day and I welcome the effort to make it safer.

Utilities Committee, Tuesday, 5:00 pm

Council recently received a lot of feedback to a mailing sent out to property owners by Service Line Warranties of America ("SLWA") advertising insurance plans for the water and sewer lines extending between homes and the street right of way. These lines are the responsibility of the property owner and can be very expensive to repair/replace when needed.  

In an effort to better inform residents about this issue, I wrote a Facebook post about it a couple of weeks ago:

There's also much more about it in this Post Crescent story. This week the Utilities Committee will have an information item about this letter, where I'm hopeful they'll hear about plans to handle situations like this differently going forward.

Safety & Licensing, Wednesday, 5:30 pm

Finally, like many cities, Appleton has been given cause to reflect and re-evaluate the role and priorities of our Police Department following the recent death of George Floyd and the ensuing national conversation on police tactics. Last week we announced one step in that process, the formation of Chief Thomas' Community Advisory Board (applications to be a part of that board are open here). 

This week we'll attempt to continue that conversation at the Safety & Licensing Committee, where we'll receive a ten-year analysis of the city's Use of Force as the first step in a multi-meeting conversation about where the PD stands today. While members of our council and similar bodies across the nation face calls for police reform, I'm grateful we're getting this opportunity to review where we stand now before a likely future discussion on changes going forward.

The ongoing pandemic makes it increasingly difficult for us to safely allow large groups to participate in our governmental meetings, making it all the more valuable to have the tools for residents to contact alderpersons online and view our meetings remotely. If you have thoughts on these or any other action items on our agendas this week I would encourage you to use those links to remain engaged and active in the safest way possible.

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.