Committee Notes for the week of 7/26

It will be a slightly quieter week this week with the committee meeting schedule. I expect the biggest discussion to come at the Finance Committee meeting where the committee will take up a plan for a fund balance surplus from 2020.  That item was referred back from council by Ald. Van Zeeland because of an amendment I made to the plan. 

Municipal Services Committee

Monday 4:30 p.m. - Back before the committee again is a referred back proposal to ban shipping containers and pole buildings as accessory buildings. This initially was approved by the committee 4-1 and then I referred it back when it went to council. The concerns some of us on the committee had included the size and finish of these structures. But last week I sat down with some of the staff and believe we have come to a compromise that I am happy with. I will make an amendment to the plan to allow pole buildings with a restriction of no more than 200 sq. feet in size, while still prohibiting shipping containers. 

This will allow homeowners to take advantage of the lower building costs that pole buildings can provide. The city will not restrict the finish of pole buildings, which we determined would be too difficult and cumbersome to enforce. I think this will satisfy our concerns and I would hope my colleagues will support this change. 

Finance Committee 

Monday 5:30 p.m. - As I mentioned at the top, the Finance Committee will again take up how to use some excess fund balance from 2020. As I wrote about a few weeks ago, council policy requires the majority of the $5 million balance (75%) go to pay off debt. That left about $1.2 million available for use on some projects that have been deferred. 

Outside of the amendment that I offered when this first came to committee, no council member spoke about this plan. My amendment was to take money from two other projects on this list to fund a transportation utility study now in 2021, rather than ask the mayor to budget for the study in 2022.

Since I first offered this amendment, which has the support of the mayor and Ald. Firkus who authored the resolution for the study, I have not received any questions about the amendment from any council members. I am not sure what further discussion will happen at committee this week, but I am interested to hear how my colleagues feel about it. 

In referring this item back, Ald. Van Zeeland and Ald. Fenton mentioned wanting to do more study on a transportation utility. This is a complex funding mechanism and while I am glad my colleagues want to learn more, I think it would be wise of us to take this opportunity to hire a professional consultant to help us determine if a transportation utility is right for Appleton. Any decisions about whether or not to actually implement a transportation utility would come after the study is complete. 

The committee will also vote to accept a $500,000 donation from Mary Beth Nienhaus to construct a pickleball complex at Telulah Park. The complex would be named in her honor and her donation will allow the complex to be built in 2022, rather than 2024 or later when it may have been able to secure funding in the city's capital improvement plan. 

Parks and Recreation Committee

Monday 6:30 p.m. - There are no action items for the committee to vote on, but it will also hear about the aforementioned donation for the pickleball court complex as well as a mid-year update on the parks, recreation and facilities management department's budget.

Utilities Committee

Tuesday 5 p.m. - The department of public works is bringing forward two contract adjustment requests for stormwater consulting services. Each contract will see an additional $20,000 from the stormwater budget for 2021 be added. DPW notes that the number of stormwater projects coming forward in the first half of the year is the reason for the requested adjustments. There is still more than $300,000 in the stormwater consulting budget for the year. 

City Plan Commission 

Wednesday 3:30 p.m. - The commission will take up a rezoning request for a parcel of property that was recently annexed into the city. The land is currently zoned for agricultural use. The rezoning request will change it to single family residential.

Safety & Licensing Committee

Wednesday 5:30 p.m. - The committee has a couple of liquor license applications to take action on and reports about several special events coming up, including: 

• Made To Order, Trout Museum of Art, Houdini Plaza, August 27, 2021 
• Take Time for God, Real Hope Today, Houdini Plaza, August 28, 2021 
• Community First Fox Cities Marathon, September 19, 2021 
• Appleton West Homecoming, October 15, 2021 
• Appleton Houdini 10K, Run Away Events, November 6, 2021 
• Santa Scamper, Run Away Events, November 23, 2021 

HR/IT Committee

Wednesday 6:30 p.m. - There is one action item, which is a request to over-hire for a help-desk analyst position. There are two of these positions for the city. One was to be vacated at the end of the month with the retirement of a long-time employee. Her replacement has been hired and is currently being trained on an over-hire approval from the council. The other help-desk position is also going to be open at the end of this month. The retiring employee with decades of institutional knowledge is willing to delay her retirement two more months to allow the department to hire another help-desk analyst and train that person as well. This is a request for a two-month over-hire approval.

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 and all meetings take place in the Common Council chambers on the 6th floor of City Hall, unless otherwise noted.