Hello neighbors!
My apologies that it has been a few weeks since I've had time to write a blog about council business. There hasn't been a lot of big issues taken up and I've also been extremely busy with my day job as well as my work representing at least some of you on the Calumet County Board as well.
Recap
The two biggest issues of the last few weeks came up for votes at council last Wednesday. The first was a measure to allow staff to have discussions with the Trout Museum of Art on potentially building a new museum on a small portion of the land at the Ellen Kort Peace Park along the river.
There was a lot of discussion, but without any real answers available as to what this would even look like as far as the building goes and as far as an agreement with the city goes, the council approved the discussion phase moving forward.
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| Ellen Kort Peace Park rendering |
I and other council members have a lot of questions and we have heard both positive and negative feedback on this proposal. But as of yet, all we know is the museum is looking to move from it's current downtown space to build a new, more suitable location. That would open up a prime downtown building to go back on the tax rolls. But as for where it goes, whether it be the Peace Park or elsewhere, much work remains to be done.
The other big item was a resolution to do a referendum in November, asking Appleton residents if they want to see recreational marijuana use be allowed.
This was a long and frustrating discussion for a number of reasons. If you care to recap the meeting and this specific discussion, you can watch it here.
I'll just note the two biggest things I was frustrated with about this discussion. The first is that there has been a long-standing practice by council members to allow an item to be referred back to committee if an alderman asks for it to be done. In fact, our rules state the practice is automatic the first time it is requested. However, we do allow for an objection of that refer back, which is what happened in this instance when I asked for it to be referred back to the safety and licensing committee for further discussion.
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| Smoking recreational marijuana will be on the ballot in November |
I had concerns that this resolution for a referendum created an unfunded mandate without specifying where the money to hold this referendum would come from. That to me was something that should have been discussed at the committee level and was not. Even the chair of the committee agreed in asking it to be referred back. That my colleagues have disregarded this courtesy is disappointing.
The other frustrating aspect of this discussion was the council's disregard for funding this mandate that the majority of them wanted to approve without concern of where the money would come from.
Disregarding the request to refer the item back to committee for this express purpose, none of the authors or sponsors of the resolution bothered to offer any suggestions at committee or during the council debate for funding. So during discussion, I made an amendment to take the remainder of the year's council parking passes away and put the funding toward the referendum. The council votes each year to take tax dollars from the general fund to give ourselves parking passes for the Yellow Parking Ramp. This covers the cost of our attendance at the roughly four meetings per month we would need to pay parking costs for.
As a side note, I tried to remove the council parking passes from the 2022 budget and put the roughly $6,000/year toward the city's on-going computer replacement program, but it did not receive enough support to even get a vote at budget time.
Like then, the amendment this time was roundly criticized by some colleagues as a gimmick and received very little support. Ultimately the resolution for the marijuana referendum passed council with only four members in opposition, myself included.
Voters will have the chance to weigh in on whether or not they support legalized marijuana in November, and now the staff will have to find a place within the budget to fund it from.
Municipal Services Committee
Monday 4:30 p.m. - Action items for the committee include a driveway variance request and a contract change order for some geotechnical soil sampling on the Olde Oneida St. bridge.
Finance Committee
Monday 5:30 p.m. - The Finance Committee also has a couple of contracts to approve. One is for a permanent sanitary sewer easement, one is for a change order to some reconstruction work at the Waste Water Utility and one is a contract change to add more sanitary sewer to a project already under contract.
Parks & Recreation Committee
Monday 6:30 p.m. - This committee has two action items. To recommend approval of a contract for some shoreline restoration and trail relocation work at Lutz Park.
The other item is a resolution that was introduced last week to climate change taskforce. If this item sounds familiar, it's because it appears to be very similar, if not identical to a previous climate change taskforce that was disbanded earlier this year by Mayor Woodford, following the completion of the taskforce's work to create a report on sustainable activities the city could undertake.
That report gave a number of recommendations, most of which have not yet been implemented since the report was just presented a few months ago.
This resolution calls for this new task force to undertake similar work, so I am not really sure of the necessity for this taskforce. I am sure there will be discussion of it at the committee level and we will see what happens there Monday evening.
Utilities Committee
Tuesday 4:30 p.m. - The Utilities Committee has several contracts to recommend for approval, but the big item is to recommend approval of the city's updated stormwater management plan. This is a DNR requirement several years in the making and is a comprehensive plan to help the city address stormwater runoff for the next few decades. It was a huge effort by staff to compile and while we are approving the plan as a whole at this point, there will be individual items that come up for further discussion over the following years to implement the requirements of this plan.
Board of Health
Wednesday 7:00 a.m. - The lone action item for the board is to approve the weights and measures contract, but there are no details associated with it, so I don't have any more info on it than that at the moment.
There is also a public hearing for a dangerous dog, but there are no more details for that item either.
There is also a public hearing for a dangerous dog, but there are no more details for that item either.
City Plan Commission
Wednesday 3:30 p.m. - The City Plan Commission meets to take up a special use permit request for a new car wash at 1000 W. Northland Ave. The commission will also take up a request for a certified survey map change to three adjoining parcels and will be asked to recommend approval of new land use application fees for the Community & Economic Development Department.
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.
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