Hello Neighbors,
The new council year is underway and we'll have our first week of new committee meetings this week. Once again, I will be representing our district and our city on the Municipal Services Committee and Utilities Committee. As I have been mentioning throughout my firs two years on the council, infrastructure is an area where the city is critically behind and I will continue to look for and propose ways to address this.
No Mow May
My resolution to do away with the ordinance that allows residents to grow their grass as long as they want in May was defeated 11-3 in our first full council meeting of the year last week.
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| Common Council meeting from 4/19 |
For those that want to go back and watch the discussion, you can do so at this link.
Sadly, some of my colleagues decided to make this personal and behaved rather unprofessionally both in the meetings, in public, and on social media. Alderman Del Toro and a colleague of his at Lawrence University authored a study that was retracted because of multiple documented errors. That study became the basis of why the council voted last year to approve waiving the long grass ordinance for the Month of May. However, while Alderman Del Toro surely knew the study was being questioned and was likely already in the process of being retracted by the time council used it to pass the ordinance, he chose not to mention this or bring forward the fact the study was retracted later in 2022.
As I said in the meeting, the community deserved to know this information and the information that refutes the idea that long grass benefits bees and other pollinators. That is why I brought the resolution forward for discussion. Frustratingly, when the science was no longer on the side of those who wanted to support this ordinance, the conversation shifted to feelings, rather than facts and logic, and the council ultimately supported keeping the ordinance in place, because they hope it is being helpful.
As I said in the meeting, the community deserved to know this information and the information that refutes the idea that long grass benefits bees and other pollinators. That is why I brought the resolution forward for discussion. Frustratingly, when the science was no longer on the side of those who wanted to support this ordinance, the conversation shifted to feelings, rather than facts and logic, and the council ultimately supported keeping the ordinance in place, because they hope it is being helpful.
No Mow May in Ellen Kort Peace Park
Following the council meeting last week, a new resolution was introduced to have city staff leave Ellen Kort Peace Park be un-mowed for the month of May.
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| Resolution to let grass grow in Ellen Kort Peace Park |
This resolution is problematic for several reasons. First, the authors never reached out to staff to discuss this before submitting it. Alderman Wolff who is the lead author on this resolution, ironically also was the lead author of a council rule we just passed last week to ensure that council members work with staff on resolutions before they are introduced.
Aside from that, in conversations I had with staff regarding this resolution, they have concerns about how difficult it will be for the grounds crews to mow the park after May. The Parks Dept. does not using bagging equipment and instead using mulching equipment which is a turf management best practice. But that equipment will not be able to handle the long grass and weeds that will grow during the month in the park.
In addition, the city does not even own the entirety of the park. It does maintain it in an agreement with the portion still owned by WE Energies, but it is unclear if WE Energies would be willing to allow the grass on it's portion of the park to remain un-mowed.
These are things the authors easily could have been made aware of by checking with staff. So we will see what the committee does with this resolution.
Street Lighting Resolution
Alderman Wolff also put in a resolution last week to have staff review the city's street lighting policy. I am not exactly sure what the aim of the resolution is at this point as it doesn't really specify in the resolution itself.
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| Street Lighting Resolution |
However, I am supportive of staff reviewing the policy as it has been many years since it has been reviewed and there could be reasons to make updates based on the staff review. This is before the Municipal Services Committee Monday and I will support sending this to staff after speaking with one of our traffic engineers about the policy and the resolution.
Municipal Services Committee
Monday 4:30 p.m. - In addition to the aforementioned resolution, the committee will take up the striping contract for the College Avenue road diet plan. This is the last step in this process to approve the plan that council gave the go-ahead to a few weeks ago. Assuming this contract comes in at or near the cost expected, I would expect the committee and council to approve this contract for the work to begin.
Finance Committee
Monday 5:30 p.m. - The committee will review and vote to approve a request to apply for federal grant funding for some energy efficiency and conservation work as well as vote on a proposed move for the parks department's dance studios to space in the Northland Mall from the City Center. The new lease will cost more but provide slightly more space. The move is necessary because of future development plans for the City Center.
The committee will also be asked to take action on accepting a grant for improvements at the Miracle League Field at Memorial Park and to award $200,000 in ARPA funds to Habitat for Humanity for low income housing.
Parks, Recreation and Facilities Management Committee
Monday 6:30 p.m. - In addition to the resolution about Ellen Kort Peace Park mentioned earlier, the committee will take up a few informational items which include an update on the fundraising progress for Lundgaard Park by Fire Station #6.
Utilities Committee
Tuesday 4:30 p.m. - There are no real action items for the committee this week, just a few informational items on the first quarter reports from the water and waste water utilities.
City Plan Commission
Wednesday 3:30 p.m. - The City Plan Commission will take up a rezoning request for recently acquired farm land on the north side of the city to make it multi-family.
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| Parcel up for rezoning at the Plan Commission |
The Commission will also discuss the annexation of several small parcels from Grand chute on the Northeast side of the city for future street connections and a stormwater pond.
Community & Economic Development Committee
Wednesday 4:30 p.m. - The committee will take up a formal request to continue as the fiscal agent for federal grants to be distributed in the community and may go into closed session "deliberating or discussing negotiations for a potential development agreement and investing of public funds in certain real property located in downtown Appleton."
Safety and Licensing Committee
Wednesday 5:30 p.m. - The committee will hold a hearing on a possible licensing suspension for Chadwicks Bar for several violations of selling alcohol to minors dating back to 2022.
HR/IT Committee
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. - The main item for the committee is to take up a request to approve a contract for some managed service agreements for the IT Department. Director Popp has written a memo detailing the change which comes with a fairly significant up-front cost, but it appears he believes will be advantageous for the city in the long-term.
I would just note that, in my opinion, Director Popp to this point has done an impressive job in his short tenure with the city to revamp the IT services the department provides to the other city departments and position the city well for the future and the challenges that lie ahead.
I would just note that, in my opinion, Director Popp to this point has done an impressive job in his short tenure with the city to revamp the IT services the department provides to the other city departments and position the city well for the future and the challenges that lie ahead.
On the HR side of things, the committee will also take up a request to approve a new community engagement position in the police department. The new position would work in public information and be partially offset by the elimination of an admin support services position that is no longer needed. I will be interested to hear how the new position will be utilized and impact operations.
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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