Committee notes for the week of June 7th

I'm starting off this week with a history note. June 6th marks the 77th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy in France. WWII history has fascinated me ever since I made a stop at Pearl Harbor with my wife on our honeymoon in 2002. I bought a book about the Japanese invasion and have been reading about WWII history ever since. 

A few years ago I was able to visit the Normandy beaches with my wife on a trip oversees to France and Italy. It was an incredible moment to walk the same sandy beaches that so many fought and died on. Take a moment to remember those brave young men who changed the course of world history.

Municipal Services Committee

Monday 4:30 p.m. - One of the biggest meetings of the week will be the Municipal Services Committee meeting Monday afternoon. The agenda contains a request from staff to overhaul a number of major city services as the department begins budget planning for 2022. I suspect staff has been working on this plan for some time and I am excited to have conversations about the proposed changes and the benefits they may bring. The changes include meeting DNR regulations we aren't currently meeting, addressing the loss of contractor services and addressing service requests from community members. 

I'll briefly summarize the changes below. DPW notes in the agenda attachment that the changes need to be approved as part of a package and can't be done separately. That is because of some of the staffing changes needed to make these changes happen. There is an overall tax savings by implementing these changes as well. 

• Leaf Collection - DPW is recommending changing the long-standing practice of fall leaf collection. Instead of having residents rake leaves and other yard waste into the street, DPW is proposing retrofitting six older garbage trucks to add vacuum units. DPW would also purchase two additional roll-off dumpsters and up to six trailer vacuums. This change would mean residents will rake leaves and debris to the edge of the terrace and keep streets and storm sewers free of debris. This is also where the DNR regulations come into play. Phosphorus runoff from yard waste runs into the storm sewer system when leaves are left in the street for days and weeks at a time. The change will help us meet DNR requirements for stormwater runoff and help keep more phosphorus out of the Fox River. The change will costs roughly $2.2 million, with purchases spread out over the next five years. 

• Brush Collection - The plan to switch to vacuum collection instead of using the large claw-like attachments to front-end loaders the city currently uses, means that residents will no longer be able to mix brush and other yard waste in with the leaf collection. The vacuums simply can't pick up large, heavy debris. Instead, DPW is proposing to switch to a once/month yard waste collection. It would work just like the annual spring yard waste collection, where debris is bagged and placed at the curb. There would be two weeks of collection in April. This could be done with existing staff, assuming the other changes in this plan are also approved. So residents will have more opportunities to have yard waste collected throughout the spring-fall, at no extra cost. 

• Bulky Item Collection - Bulky item collection would also be affected under this plan. Instead of every other week collection, DPW is proposing having residents place up to five approved items at the curb for collection once a month during April - November. It would have to be on the week opposite brush collection and each item would require a $10 tag/sticker. DPW says this change will free up staff for snow and ice duty in the winter. A new recycling bin will also be purchased for the Glendale Ave. yard waste site. This would be for residents to drop off any extra recycling they have that does not fit in their can for the normal recycling collection. 

• Changes to the brush/bulky item collection would result in an annual savings of roughly $21,000 and begin April 1, 2022. 

• Sidewalk Snow Removal - The city is losing the contractor it has worked with for snow removal on sidewalks for the past 20 years. Several attempts have been made in the last few years to get other companies to bid on the work, without success. Eliminating the contract and bringing the work in-house, will save the city $180,000. But to do so will require purchasing several new pieces of equipment and changing two part-time positions to full-time. Thus the actual savings of this change is closer to $38,000/year. 

Aside from that request for service changes, there will also be public hearings on street design projects for 2023. None of the streets are in District 15, but they are:

    - Alvin Street (Wisconsin Ave to Marquette St) 

    - Alice Street (Drew St to Union St) 

    - Dewey Street (Kernan Ave to Walden Ave) 

    - Walden Avenue (Dewey St to John St) 

So if any readers live on those streets, I would encourage you to look at the proposed plan for reconstruction of those streets and come and speak at the meeting. This is also one of the areas I am really interested in. The city's current funding plan for road projects is on a bad trajectory of debt accumulation. Meaning, we're borrowing more and more for roads and paying less cash up front. As the costs to build roads go up, so do the long term pay backs for those roads. I am really interested in looking at alternatives and finding ways to balance that out. 

There are a couple of other minor items on the agenda, as well as a discussion of the first month of the Bird scooter program. 

Utilities Committee

Tuesday 5:30 p.m. - The lone item on the agenda for the Utilities Committee is a request to approve an ordinance change. The change is to what is referred to as "triple valving". A scenario where even during a water main break or service disconnection, water service can be continued to the building. This change affects only commercial properties. 

Board of Health

Wednesday 7:00 a.m. - The lone action item for the Board of Health is to approve a noise variance request for Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on Calumet St. to host a movie night during the summer. There will also be a COVID-19 update, where we expect that the city's overall COVID-19 burden will fall into the moderate category. That would be the first time since early in 2020 it has been that low. 

City Plan Commission 

Wednesday 3:30 p.m. - Two public hearings related to a Comprehensive Plan update and associated rezoning of property abutting I-41 and Alvin St. lead the City Plan Commission meeting Wednesday. The property is part of land owned by Pathways Church. The parcel in question is currently undeveloped and a plan has come forward to place commercial development on the property. But before that can happen some changes to the land use need to be made. Following the public hearing, the City Plan Commission will take action on the same items. 

Another item up for a recommendation from the City Plan Commission are regulations related to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). In January, several aldermen introduced a resolution to allow ADUs in Appleton. Since then, city staff have been crafting regulations to allow them. The City Plan Commission will take the first look at the proposed regulations. 

If you aren't familiar with the term, an ADU can be attached or unattached to a primary residential structure. They are small, fully functioning living spaces. The goal of allowing them is to provide flexible housing options for a wide range of incomes and better use of available housing space in the community. This is a first step in determining how to allow these types of housing units to fit in the city while adding to, rather than detracting from, neighborhood aesthetics. 

The last action item on the City Plan Commission agenda is to approve a land dedication for a small portion of right-of-way to help realign Lawrence St. This is related to the downtown YMCA rebuilding the parking ramp next to this portion of land. 

Community & Economic Development Committee

Wednesday 4:30 p.m. - Public hearings regarding the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the annual tourism report from the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau and a presentation from the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce, lead the Community & Economic Development Committee meeting Wednesday afternoon. 

Following those public hearings, the committee will vote to approve the CDBG report and reallocate an additional $9,000 in additional funding for the CDGB program for this year. Those funds are recommended to be awarded to the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), which received less than it's full request of funding for this year. The additional $9,000 would help close that gap and allow the WWBIC to support more small businesses in the community. 

Safety & Licensing Committee

Wednesday 5:30 p.m. - Aside from the normal business for the committee of approving alcohol and various other licenses under the committee's jurisdiction, the committee is expected to vote on updates to the Alcohol License Policy & regulations relating to licensing of convenience stores that sell gasoline. This was a discussion held over from the previous committee meeting as only three of the five committee members were present for the discussion. 

A recent review of the city's municipal code found that an ordinance that prohibits gas stations from selling liquor, was never adopted, despite the city not granting those licenses to gas stations since the 1990s. The item before the committee would direct staff to draft the appropriate ordinance language to be adopted to officially put the policy on the books. 

HR/IT Committee 

Wednesday 6:30 p.m. - The final committee meeting of the week will have the HR/IT committee looking at reclassifying a number of positions in the Department of Public Works to better align with current job duties. This is not related to the service changes mentioned earlier. 

The committee will also be informed that Public Health Nurse Sonja Jensen will fill the role of Interim Health Officer for the Health Department while the search for a new Health Officer is ongoing, following the retirement of Kurt Eggebrecht last week. 

The Human Resources and Technology Services departments are also searching for new department heads, following recent staffing changes to do a retirement and move out of state. 

Get In Touch

I am always available to answer questions at district15@appleton.org or (920) 419-1360. As always, agendas can be found on the agenda and meetings page of the city website. Meetings can be viewed live on the website or watched at a later date. Meetings are also open for anyone to attend in person.