Happy New Year neighbors!
I hope you and your families had a blessed Christmas and holiday season.
A new year is upon us as we turn the page to January and there are many things to look forward to. We are on hiatus from city business until next week when committees begin their work for the new year, so there isn't a lot of news to share, but there are a few things to highlight.
New Police Chief
There is a swearing-in ceremony for new Police Chief Polly Olson Tuesday, January 2nd. Chief Olson was the city's Assistant Police Chief and will be the first female chief in the department's history. Chief Olson has been with APD for many years and moved up through the ranks.
 |
| Police Chief Polly Olson |
Wastewater Treatment Troubles
The day after Christmas an issue was detected at the wastewater treatment plant. Though it did not and will not impact the wastewater treatment in any noticeable way for residents or businesses, there was a chemical in the treatment process that was somehow introduced at the wrong stage.
As noted in a statement from Mayor Woodford:
"On Monday, December 26, a high concentration of a liquid polymer used in the wastewater treatment process was offloaded at the hauled waste receiving station of the plant.
The polymer, a standard product used in the wastewater treatment process that separates water from solids, entered the plant process as hauled waste, which was then pumped from the receiving station into the anaerobic digesters. This resulted in obstructed piping and interruption of the anaerobic digestion process. The issue resulted in a brief emergency suspension of Appleton Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWWTP) operations on Tuesday, December 27. An Emergency Operations Center was established, emergency procurement policies were activated, and incident tracking and documentation was initiated – all of which remain active as response continues. Plant operations resumed the same day."
The mayor went on to note that there will be some residual impact and cost to clean up from the issue. That process is just getting started and I will share updates as we hear of them.
 |
| View of the Appleton Wastewater Plant from across the Fox River |
Property Tax Bills
The majority of us pay our property tax bills in full by year's end, but for those of you who chose to pay in installments, the first is due this month. I'm sure you all noted an increase in the city portion of your tax bill for 2022. You will see another increase for the city portion of your bill in 2023. That increase will be 6.6%, so you can start planning for that now if it's helpful. This article was from when the mayor's budget was introduced, but it was not changed, despite a number of amendments that were proposed, but not supported by the council. I ultimately voted against the budget this year because of the increase and the fact that it does not dedicate any more money to fixing our road and infrastructure problem I have written about numerous times before. Spring Elections
In April of this year all aldermen in odd numbered districts will be up for reelection, that includes our district, District 15 here on the South/Southeast side of the city.
In spending time leading up to making a decision, I reflected on the campaign promises I made when I first ran for this seat in 2021. I have fought hard for those things, including raising awareness about our road/infrastructure issues and trying to find solutions to them. I received a lot of support and some great feedback from many of you in the district during that time, and ultimately decided that I will be running again this spring.
 |
| My re-election campaign announcement |
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.
Comments
Post a Comment