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.

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.

Appleton Common Council Update for Week of March 16

As you might imagine, it's not exactly a routine week for the Appleton Common Council.

If you haven't seen it already, follow this link for a comprehensive statement from Mayor Hanna on the steps the city is taking to help slow the spread of the Coronavirus, including:

• Asking people to call City Hall or visit the city's website for information instead of visiting in person, when possible.
• Paying city invoices online, via mail or in the city's drop boxes instead of visiting in person.
• Encouraging residents to vote via absentee ballot for the upcoming spring elections (more information here). 

Since that message went out the Appleton Public Library has also announced they will be closed until further notice. 

The Appleton Common Council and its committees will still meet when necessary to conduct city business and those meetings are required to be open to the public, but in-person public participation in city meetings has been suspended until further notice. Residents can still watch meetings online and contact one or all council members at this link, but we're asking you to please exercise social distancing and avoid attending meetings in person.

With that said, the full council will meet on Wednesday to take up items including the following:

• Last week the Municipal Services Committee voted 3-1 to recommend the city rescind approval of the placement of "The Collective" sculpture near the west end of the College Avenue bridge. My thoughts on the matter were pretty thoroughly captured in this Post Crescent story.
• The committee also voted 3-1 to recommend denial of a resolution designating the month of May as "No Mow May" and temporarily suspending a city ordinance related to required lawn length to allow residents to support pollenator-friendly environments.
• Last week the Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend the council approve a resolution stating our opposition to the State Department's efforts to deport Hmong and Lao US residents to the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The resolution is similar to many passed or in process in other cities and counties across the state, including Oshkosh and Outagamie County.

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.

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.

Common Council Update for the week of January 12

Before I get started with this week's update a quick note on our council schedule, which has been shuffled a bit due to the holidays:

Council normally meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month but did not meet on January 1, instead opting to push our January committee and council meetings back a week. Our boards and commissions are largely meeting on their regular schedule, however, which will leave us out of sync a bit for forwarding recommendations to council. This will only last a few weeks, as our schedule is back to normal in February.

As such, this week would normally be a council week but is instead a partial committee week. Here are some of the highlights:

Municipal Services Committee, Monday, 4:30 pm

This committee meeting has a loaded agenda, including some items we've discussed before:

• The committee will again be asked to make a recommendation regarding "The Collective" sculpture along College Avenue. I continue to be opposed to removing the statue: I recognize that not everyone enjoys this specific piece of art but I don't feel that's a good enough reason to force its removal. Furthermore, it's a temporary installation and will be gone in a year and a half anyway.
• The committee will also get another opportunity to discuss a resolution calling for some or all of the vacant space behind the City Center mall to be turned into surface parking. While I recognize the goal the resolution's author was trying to achieve, I don't think surface parking is the best use of these parcels and even a temporary lot will add another challenge to efforts to redevelop these spaces and get them back on the tax rolls.
• For the first time the committee will be asked to consider a policy allowing the city to demolish nuisance properties provided they meet criteria related to their state of disrepair and inaction by their owner. This furthers a discussion that came up during 2020 budget deliberations last November and would allow staff to proceed with the removal of a small number of properties that have become a safety risk.

Finance Committee, Monday, 5:30 pm

In among a relatively large collection of collection of relatively routine items are a pair of items I wanted to highlight: Staff recommendations to reject bids for a pair of related projects at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. 

As the memo attached to the item notes, the city recently received and opened bids for about $4.4 million in budgeted work (between two projects) at the treatment plant but found in both cases that the low bid was above the budgeted amount. This happens sometimes and usually leads staff to discuss and make one of two recommendations:

1. Find available money elsewhere in the budget to cover the shortfall, often from another project that came in under estimates, or
2. Reject the bids and work to either restructure the project or resubmit it for bids at a more favorable time.

In this case staff and our consulting engineers arrived at the conclusion that it would be best to pursue the latter option and rebid the project later.

Human Resources, Wednesday, 6:30 pm

At our council meeting last week alderpersons Patti Coenen and Cathy Spears co-submitted a resolution to open a discussion about city government structure and possibilities for change in the future. Specifically, their resolution calls for the city to consider creating a city administrator position "in lieu of or in addition to a mayor."

This discussion has come up over the years, including briefly four years ago when the position was last up for election. It's too late for this discussion to change much in the short term: Council has already set the next mayor's salary for their four-year term beginning this April, so any major changes to the position at this point could not include a change in salary. 

With that said, more than half of the members of council have changed over since the last time we had this conversation so at bare minimum it's likely time for a review.

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.

Common Council Update for the Week of December 16

Before I get started today, a quick scheduling update: Next week is a committee week for the Appleton Common Council but most of the committee meetings will likely be canceled due to the holidays. We would normally have a council meeting on the first Wednesday in January but that also has been moved back so as to avoid meeting on New Year's Day. As such, after this Wednesday the next scheduled meeting of the Appleton Common Council will be on Wednesday, January 8.

With that out of the way, all I have this week are updates on items from last week's committee agendas:

• Last week the Municipal Services Committee heard extensive public comment and elected to hold their action item regarding the installation of "The Collective" sculpture near the west end of the College Avenue bridge. That item will return to their agenda when they next meet on January 13.
• The Municipal Services Committee also held a resolution calling for the former Conway Hotel site on Washington Street to be converted into a surface level parking lot. The city and stakeholders continue to work to determine if adding parking is feasible and if adding said parking would impact the city's ability to have those parcels redeveloped. This item will also be on their January 13 agenda.
• Last week the City Plan Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of a Special Use Permit for a new ThedaCare facility near their existing Encircle Health facility. The permit would allow them to build a facility up to 95 feet high (the current limit is 60 feet). This item will be on our council agenda this week.
• Finally, the Board of Health received a great deal of public input regarding a resolution calling for the city to ban "conversion therapy." Because of the volume of public participation received and time constraints, the Board was unable to discuss the issue among themselves on Wednesday morning and held the item. This item will be back on the Board's agenda for their January 8 meeting. It is my understanding that public participation will be closed for this meeting, giving the board time to discuss and arrive at a recommendation.

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.

Common Council update for the week of December 9

After a few quiet weeks, the Appleton Common Council has a busy week of committee meetings planned. Here are some of the highlights:

Municipal Services Committee, Monday, 4:30 pm

This committee agenda features a pair of items that should generate some discussion:

First, the committee is expected to reopen discussion on an art installation near the west end of the College Avenue bridge named "The Collective." This installation was approved by council several weeks ago but neighbors have asked for the approval to be reconsidered. You can see more about the meeting here.

The committee will also discuss a proposal to turn the former Conway Hotel site on Washington Street into surface parking. This process has taken several twists and turns and I'm not sure it will be resolved today: The committee will learn the latest on property negotiations in closed session, but may or may not have all the information necessary to make a recommendation.

City Plan Commission, Tuesday, 4 pm

It's been about a month since ThedaCare announced plans for a $144 million project to build a new specialty hospital near their Encircle Health site along Highway 41 and it will come up for discussion this week at the City Plan Commission, where their application for a Special Use Permit will be up for a recommendation for the first time.

The permit calls for a medical office building not to exceed 95 feet in height, which is 35 feet higher than Appleton's ordinances allow without a variance. I do not expect the approval to be controversial.

Board of Health, Wednesday, 7 am

Wednesday morning will feature the Board of Health's second opportunity to discuss and first opportunity to make a recommendation on a resolution banning what is often referred to as "Conversion Therapy" in the city of Appleton.

Conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. It's banned in eighteen states (Utah is about to become the 19th), not backed by science and has been proven harmful to the psychological wellbeing of participants.

Debate on this topic is likely to be heated, but to me the decision is simple: Appleton should follow the lead of well more than a dozen states and draw a firm line when it comes to pseudoscience and protecting the wellbeing of young people in our community.

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.