Hello once again, Neighbors. Thanks for tuning in for this week’s installment of your alderman’s blog post. This week is the first Full Council Meeting Week of 2025 so, of course, there is that meeting scheduled. In addition, there is one other meeting on the calendar. Here’s what you can expect:
Tuesday, 01/14/2024
Library Board – 5pm There are a number of new and revised policies on the agenda for this board’s approval — library space use policies and a revised naming opportunities policy. Of interest is the proposed fee schedule for rental of the community room at the library. When this community meeting room space was made an important part of the construction project for the “new” library, I hadn’t expected fees for usage. (A reservation policy? Yes. But fees? No.) But it looks as though there will be fees… and a four-hour minimum length of rental requirement. The minimum amount due for the four-hour use of the smallest space available (a divided 1/3 of the full community room space) would cost public users $200. Four hours in the full meeting space (all three of the subdivided spaces) would be $400! Those rates would be within normal operating hours of the library. After-hours rental of that 1/3 meeting room space would be $600 and the full space would be $800. The proposed fee schedule includes a nonprofit/government rate reduction of 25% — but only within standard library hours of operation. Check out the proposal and let me know your thoughts.
Board members will also be asked to approve the acceptance of a grant (from the State of Wisconsin but, for some reason, specifically termed a “non-state grant”) in the amount of $274,000 for the library construction project. The included summary of the library building project for December still shows that fundraising for the project is at $11.8M of the $12 promised, though. So… still coming up a couple hundred thousand dollars short of what is needed.
Wednesday, 01/15/2024
City of Appleton Common Council – 7pm Most everything discussed last week in committee meetings will, of course, come forward for full council approval at this meeting. Here is a summary (with links to last previous blog posts for reference) of the highlights on the full council’s agenda:
- From the Safety and Licensing Committee: The potential denial of two operator’s (bartender’s) licenses from last week’s committee meeting (mentioned here) were held by this committee until their next meeting so they will not be discussed by the full council this week. However, the affirming of the approval of a liquor license for a new establishment in the downtown area is finally back to the full council (see here and here for mention of this in previous agendas). This new establishment — named Delaires — was identified early on as a place in which gaming/gambling machines (with illegal payouts) might be put in use. At last week’s committee meeting, the owner and his attorney attempted to make it clear that that is not the plan for Delaires. Here is the owner’s business plan as presented to the committee. With assurances that illegal gaming/gambling will not take place there, the committee voted to approve this liquor license. And without any firm evidence that illegalities will take place there, I don’t believe that the council has any choice but to approve this license. If illegal gaming/gambling are found to take place there, the city would need to take steps to revoke the license later.
- From the Finance Committee: During last week’s committee meeting, committee members were assured that the city will be made whole with insurance payments for the significant damage and subsequent extensive and expensive repairs to the city’s Green Parking Ramp. The full council will look to approve an additional ~$17k for additional temporary shoring-up measures that were needed to keep the ramp safe while repairs were made. The total expense to the city for the repairs required to get that wall panel of the ramp back in safe working order (after a driver had an accident in the ramp — perhaps as a result of inebriation?) was over $220,000, all of which should come back to the city through insurance claims.
- From the Community Development Committee: The initial proposed allocation of federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to numerous “internal” (i.e. city) initiatives is up for full council approval. Below is a listing of the proposed allocations.
- Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program (maintained by the city with loans repaid as homeowners pay them off early or as they come due by contract): $200,000
- Community Resource Navigator (imbedded in the Appleton Police Department to help folks in need find community resources for housing, work, etc): $88,231
- Neighborhood Grant Program: $40,000
- Appleton Housing Authority: $25,000
- Fair Housing: $25,000
- CDBG Administration: $65,000
Should this initial proposed allocation be approved (and pending the federal government’s approval of final total of this year’s grant funding to the city), there will be approximately $145,000 in CDBG funds remaining for the city’s allocation to external non-profit organizations through a competitive application process (already in process and coming to the council for preliminary approval next month).
Also on the council’s agenda is a closed session notice indicating that the council may have some discussions regarding “disposition (selling) of land in the Downtown District.” We will all no doubt hear more about whatever is discussed during the closed session in subsequent city meetings. But until then, we are all to speculate on what could be in the works. My expectation is that it might have something to do with the lands surrounding the current downtown transit center. But I am really not certain at this moment. When I am able to share more with you in this regard, I certainly will!
So it seems as though it will be a fairly uneventful full council meeting this week. But one never knows in our fair city, right?!
If you have any questions or concerns about any of the information noted here or any other city-government-related issue, please reach out to me. I am always happy to hear from you.
Thanks again for tuning in this week… and have a great week!
