Committee notes for the week of 3/21/22

Hi neighbors! First off, my apologies for this turning into a recap of the council committee week rather than a preview. Between campaigning for the Calumet County Board and some family events, I didn't get time last weekend to get this posted. So, I'll hit the highlights from the most recent council meeting and from this week's committee meetings. 

Council Recap 

The big items discussed at the council meeting on March 16th included the approval of the No Mow May program. However, it is no longer a yearly renewal program as it has been in the past. Instead, the council voted 10-4 to approve a permanent ordinance change to allow the No Mow May program to continue. 

I voted against this permanent change because this program led to more long grass complaints than there were prior to the program starting, including a large increase in 2021 over 2020. While there is a small contingent of the community that believes this program benefits bees and other pollinators, the majority of the community does not support it and I believe it should be scrutinized each year like so many other programs the city does on an annual renewal basis, to be able to make changes to fit the needs of the community. 

The enhanced crosswalk study request that was combined with a technology resolution was also approved. I fully supported the technology study request made by staff as there are a number of critical security IT issues the city needs to address. I amended the resolution to remove the funding for the enhanced crosswalk study which was renamed to a pedestrian safety study during the meeting. My reasoning was that we cannot simply look at enhanced crosswalks or other pedestrian safety measures in a vacuum. It needs to be considered as a larger overall look at our entire road program so we are incorporating the right safety elements from the start. However, that amendment failed and the resolution passed. 

The last item from council that garnered discussion was related to a $250,000 allocation of the city's $15 million ARPA allocation to several non-profits in the community. I did not support this allocation because it also required spending $150,000 of ARPA money just to hire consultants to help allocate the $250,000 to these organizations and track the progress and do the required paperwork to report to the federal government about the use of the grants by these organizations. 

While these organizations do amazing work in our community that is vitally important, it is not the city's role in my view to support them in this way. Local government is supposed to focus on delivering core services and using this ARPA money, which is our tax dollars, to support projects that do the most good to the greatest number of people in our community. Often times the greatest impact is in reducing city debt, or repaving more roads or fixing aging water mains. These certainly are not splashy services that get residents excited, but they are vitally important to a thriving community. 

However, the majority of my colleagues disagreed and voted to approve this allocation. 

Committee Updates

Before I jump into the updates from this week, I wanted to point out that there will be no council meeting next week. March has five Wednesday's and any month with a fifth week ends up being an off week for committee and council. So business from this week will be taken up at the April 6th Common Council meeting. 

Municipal Services

The items up for action this week took a backseat to the informational items on the agenda. We discussed the city's parking utility annual report. The parking utility is a self-funded enterprise, meaning it does not receive general fund dollars from the city. It generates revenue by user fees through daily rate payments or the sale of parking passes. 

The 2021 report was as grim as the 2020 report. Through deferring a number of maintenance and repair projects and an approval from the council to transfer $1.5 million dollars of ARPA funding, the parking utility was able to end the year with a positive balance. Without those changes however, the parking utility would have been in the red. 

Of concern though is the fact that parking permits sales in 2021 reached the lowest level since 2015. In fact, the permit sales are down nearly 50% from that high mark and have declined each of the last two years. Staff reports early 2022 numbers are lagging behind this time period last year. 

We may see some improvement with the addition of downtown apartment projects that are in the works. But this is a trend that needs to be watched and may need to be discussed for possible changes to operations and revenue generation in the near future. 

Changes to the curbside large item collection 

Another item discussed was the changes to the curbside large item collection process that starts in April. This is part of a package of changes I wrote about these services changes several times last year as the recommendations made their way through committee and council. This specific change limits the collection to two items per collection and refines what items will be collected as shown in the graphic. 

Finance Committee

The interesting item to come out of the Finance Committee meeting this week was to approve some seasonal pay changes to help attract and retain summer help for the Parks & Recreation Department. 

The Parks & Recreation Department is struggling to hire summer help, even more than last year. One of the proposed solutions is to offer hiring and retention bonuses and other incentives to lure primarily high school and college age students to take these summer jobs. But as was noted in the meeting, there are a host of reasons younger people aren't willing to take these jobs anymore. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I am also not sure that these incentives will be enough. There are more jobs available than there are people willing to take them at the moment and with most employers offering starting pay exceeding what these jobs pay, I'm not sure this is the incentive the target market is looking for. 

There is also the concern that raising these pay rates will require raising program fees to cover those costs. Staff noted that there are record numbers of residents signed up for many summer programs this year, so there isn't a shortage of desire for the programs themselves, just the workers interested in filling those jobs. 

That said, if you or anyone you know is looking for work, these and a host of other openings can be found on the city's job board. 

This item was also the lone item on the agenda for the Parks & Recreation Department meeting Monday. 

Utilities Committee

The item of interest from the committee this week was a discussion about water main breaks. In 2021, the city experienced the 2nd highest number of water main breaks in over 20 years. The reasons for them vary and include age of the pipes, materials and other factors. 

That resulted in an estimated 317 million gallons of lost water. That number could be higher or lower as the city has no precise way to measure this statistic. However, that estimated water loss comes with a cost of roughly $86,000 to process that water. But more concerning is the $1.2 million spent to fix the 137 water main breaks. 

A consultant study from just a few years ago noted that a city our size with the infrastructure we have should experience around 60 or so water main breaks a year. The city averaged about 95 over the last twenty years. The study noted that to get back closer to that average, the city should replace six miles of water main each year. We replace about one mile per year. 

The amount we spend fixing these breaks is becoming cost-prohibitive and we need to address this issue to start making headway. I'm working on a proposal for that and will have more to share in the weeks ahead. 

April 5th Election

Just a reminder that the April 5th Spring Election is fast approaching. Absentee ballots have been mailed and in-person absentee voting is now available at City Hall. 

I've attached a sample ballot for District 15, where you will also see my name on the ballot to represent portions of our district on the Calumet County Board. We will also be voting for an appeals court race and the AASD school board. 

Sample ballot for the April 5th Election

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.