Committee notes for the week of 3/7/22

We have a number of talked about items on the docket for committees this week, including a resolution to make No Mow May permanent and make permanent a change to allow residents to grow grass 50% longer than the current ordinance allows. A technology resolution is also back for a recommendation this week and the Common Council will hold a special meeting March 17th to discuss a resolution related to oil and gas pipelines in Canada and Michigan. 

Municipal Services Committee

Monday 4:30 p.m. - The committee will take up several street occupancy permit requests as well as a couple of neighborhood parking changes. There will also be informational discussions on the 2021 parking report, which if not for an infusion of cash from ARPA funds, would have had a roughly $200,000 shortfall for the year. A discussion about the future of Soliders Square could give staff direction as to what the future for that plaza area may hold and we will also discuss the enhanced crosswalk program requirements. 

The big item on this committee agenda is related to a resolution to make No Mow May permanent. The same resolution also calls for changing the city's long grass ordinance from a maximum height of 8" to 12". 

A manicured lawn vs. a lawn participating in No Mow May

In the weeks since this first came up, I've received a lot of feedback from conversations with residents. Two of those people have supported the program, more than two dozen others I've spoken to via phone, email or in person have expressed strong opposition to it. I also spoke to a resident who I know who participated in the program, but admitted to doing so only to not have to mow the lawn for a month, not necessarily to support bees, which is the intent of this resolution. 

In the weeks since this first came up, I reached out to several entomologists who have published papers on bees and bee habitat. I shared this resolution with them and I will be sharing their feedback and information from their studies with the committee. Two of these experts that responded to me noted that their studies showed the optimal frequency for mowing lawns to help bees is two weeks. They also noted that specific types of gardens and flowers are far more effective at helping pollinators. The opinion of one of the professors I spoke with was that the "No Mow May" program could provide minimal additional benefit if the community was willing to allow it. The other noted that the program wouldn't make a difference. 

Making No Mow May permanent as this resolution seeks to do, is not a good idea, based on the feedback I've received, but also because there are a multitude of programs the city does that require approval each year. This gives opportunity to review and make changes based on changing conditions and is a prudent thing to do. Based on feedback, I will also oppose making the change to the long grass ordinance. The city receives a lot of complaints in the summer about long grass and there are times where those complaints are about lawns that aren't even 8" long yet. A change to 12" is not something the majority of this community supports. 

Finance Committee 

Monday 5:30 p.m. - The committee will take up several contract approvals related to facility work and street projects. It will also vote to recommend approval in a solar program with WE Energies. This project comes at no cost to the city and provides financial benefit as well. I am pleased that borrowing costs for the recently completed solar project at the city's municipal services building will be refunded to the city under this program as well. 

The biggest item of interest on this agenda this week is for a technology resolution that has been held at committee for further staff study. This proposal sought to take $400,000 that had been approved for a citywide branding study and move it to this program instead. 

This resolution was held based on concerns I and other aldermen raised about how the funding allocated to three main areas - a new city website, enhanced crosswalk program and to fund computer purchases - was not money the city had the ability to spend at this time anyway. 

A new city website is needed. It has been eight years since the last website was built and user habits have changed as has technology for making searching websites. However, a new IT director for the city has not yet had the chance to properly review all of the work of his department and specifically this program. The resolution requested $100,000 for this project. 

The enhanced crosswalk program originally approved in 2017 still has three more years of projects to complete. Several aldermen, myself included, expressed concern for allocating more money to this program when in three years, the program will have met the goals set forth. If the council wants to see the program expanded, the municipal services committee should be where that discussion happens, since it has jurisdiction over public works and this program. The resolution requested $225,000 for this project. 

The last part of the resolution called for funding computer upgrades in most all departments in the city. However, as mentioned, the new IT Director has not yet had time to review the needs for this program, another reason it was held. The resolution requested $150,000 for this project. 

This week the committee will discuss and make a recommendation on a memo from staff related to the request in the resolution. 

Staff memo related to the technology resolution

The memo recommends holding off on allocating any of the branding study funding for a website project. The IT director is researching this with vendors and a request for proposals needs to be generated before this project can proceed. 

The memo recommends allocating $75,000 of the branding study funding to fund a study on the enhanced crosswalk program. This would hire a consultant to make recommendations on future expansion of this program. I have not had a chance to connect with staff on this recommendation, but I have a number of questions about this that I will raise at the committee meeting. 

The last recommendation in the memo is to allocate $60,000 of the branding study funding for a top-to-bottom review of the city's IT needs, per IT Director Corey Popp. This will generate a set of short, medium and long-term priorities for the city related to IT needs. I support this important review. 

Board of Health

Wednesday 7 a.m. - The Board of Health will hear a COVID-19 update and information about the 4th quarter budget numbers for the department. As a side note, the mayor noted at the council meeting last week that was the last COVID-19 update the council would receive now that case numbers in the city are closing in on zero. 

Appleton Redevelopment Authority

Wednesday 9 a.m. - The ARA will make new appointments to the ARA Exhibition Center Advisory Committee. It will also hear updates on the Valley Transit Center facility upgrade. 

Appleton Library Board 

Wednesday 12:30 p.m. - The personnel committee for the Appleton Library Board will take action on updates to the library director's job description and performance measures and the APL art and scholarship policies. 

City Plan Commission 

Wednesday 3:30 p.m. - The lone action item for the commission is related to made a recommendation for approval of a rezoning for a property at 217 S. Badger Ave. from a commercial use to a mixed-use residential use to allow for redevelopment of the property to multi-family housing. 

A map of the property at 217 S. Badger Ave. 

Community and Economic Development Committee

Wednesday 4:30 p.m. - The CEDC will take up two items related to industrial parks. One for stormwater management at Southpoint Commerce Park and one to keep the selling prices of industrial park land at the current $40,000/acre. 

The other item on the CEDC agenda is to approve the allocations for $250,000 in ARPA grant funds to several recipients listed below.  

The list of organizations receiving funding from the City with ARPA funds

Safety & Licensing 

Wednesday 5:30 p.m. - The committee will take up a number of alcohol license requests and will make a recommendation on an intoxicated bartender ordinance that was pulled from the committee agenda two weeks ago in an attempt to kill the resolution based on new information that would make enforcement difficult. However, that action was not allowed per the rules of order governing our meetings and is now back on the agenda.

The committee will also get an update on the fire department's annual report.

HR/IT Committee 

Wednesday 6:30 p.m. - The lone action item for the committee is to approve the request for an IT department needs review mentioned earlier in this update as part of the technology resolution. Director Popp explains the project in the memo below. 

IT memo for review of IT upgrade needs

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.