There's a lot to cover this week, but as we just had Memorial Day last week, and being a war history buff, June 6th is also the 78th anniversary of D-Day, another important day in our nation's and the world's history that we should remember.
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| Me standing on Omaha Beach near Vierville, Normandy France. |
I was fortunate enough to visit the D-Day beaches on a trip to France several years ago. I remember standing there thinking what it looked like in 1944 vs. how it looks today. I also was able to tour several other landing locations and the American Cemetery there. An incredible experience and we owe a lot to those young men who fought on those sandy beaches that day.
Council Recap
Two things to note from the council meeting last week. The council defeated a resolution regarding a renovation project of sorts for Soliders Square. The resolution that came forward from Aldermen Schultz and Del Toro didn't include an actual plan for the space or specify funding, which is why the resolution was denied.
But there is hope that some private fundraising will come through and that the group spearheading this effort will work with the local businesses that rely on the parking nearby to come up with a fully-funded plan that enhances the square to the level it should be to honor our veterans. I would expect that effort to come back within the next year.
The other item from council to note is the resolution I wrote to use some of our ARPA funding for road infrastructure replacement. I wrote about what happened in detail earlier this week and you can read that at this link.
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| Screenshot from WBAY story on the debate over my resolution |
At the special meeting and council meeting about my resolution, instead of using funds at our disposal, my colleagues voted instead to beg the state to send us money to fund our infrastructure.
In my blog linked above, I note how unrealistic that is and I say that as someone who works in state government in the legislature. I will just add that I hope my colleagues took from this discussion how serious our infrastructure issue is and that they will start thinking about solutions on how to solve it. Because we will be waiting a long time for someone else to solve our own infrastructure problems.
Municipal Services
Monday 4:30 p.m. - We'll be taking up a couple of requests for parking changes and a request from Appleton Downtown Inc. to place dumpsters in Jones Park for summer events, like the concert series.
We'll also have some further discussion about the transportation utility the city is studying, though since we are waiting for our new director of public works to start later this month, I don't know how much we will actually discuss.
Lastly for this committee, the monthly parking report for the parking utility shows our revenue so far this year is up about $30,000 over last year. However, the revenue is still far behind where it was pre-pandemic.
Parks and Recreation Committee
Monday 6:30 p.m. - There are no action items for the Parks & Rec Committee, but there is an update on Reid Golf Course revenues so far this year. The revenues are about $22,000 less to this point this year vs. last year. Expenses are also up a little bit, but golf is very weather dependent and there is a lot of summer left where those numbers could rebound quickly.
Utilities Committee
Tuesday 4:30 p.m. - The Utilities Committee will be asked to approve amending a couple of service contracts for engineering work. We will also be approving the annual Compliance Maintenance Annual Report as required by the state. This report shows the wastewater treatment plant earned perfect scores in all but one category, and that lone deficiency was caused by a construction project at the plant. So this report is once again, excellent news for our well-run Utilities Department.
Board of Health
Wednesday 7 a.m. - The Board of Health meeting will likely be a short one as the only agenda is to recommend approval of several noise variance requests for upcoming events around the city.
City Plan Commission
Wednesday 3:30 p.m. - The main item on the agenda for the City Plan Commission is a public hearing and request to approve a special use permit for a car wash on the corner of Kensington and Express Ct. next to Menards on the east side of the city.
What's interesting about this request is that this is the 2nd car wash plan to come before the city at that corner this year. Recently, council approved a new car wash to replace the former Applebees at the corner of Kensington and College. So if approved, these two facilities will be on opposite corners of the Kensington/Express Ct. intersection.
Community & Economic Development Committee
Safety & Licensing Committee
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