Appleton City Council Update: July 14, 2024

Well, hello again, Neighbors! Happy Mid-July! I cannot believe how quickly this summer is passing us by these days. And with the strange weather we’ve experienced recently… it’s been an even weirder Wisconsin summer than usual. Not only was it a wild July 5th. But then again last night, there was more flash flooding in the city and throughout the Fox Valley.

My heart goes out to all of the District 13 neighbors who have experienced flooding on these dates. I’ve had some email exchanges with some of you and will continue to help keep you in connection with the city in this regard. There is an official “flood page” on the city’s website now with information regarding the city’s response to the heavy rainfall and street flooding on that day. Here are some words from the mayor in this regard:

“We have developed a landing page with information regarding the recent flooding event in the City of Appleton. This includes statements, communication with the Governor, and the Governor’s disaster declaration. It is possible that additional resources and information will be added to this page in the coming days and weeks, however, there are a number of considerations to what should be included. Additionally, as we do not have a local disaster relief fund available as a City, unfortunately we do not have direct financial assistance options available.

Staff have already begun the process of reviewing the details of the Governor’s declaration to better understand what, if any, support resources it might make available for individual residents. If any programs are made available, we will communicate those to the public as quickly as possible.

I am also working with some community philanthropic organizations to try to develop local relief efforts for our residents. If anything materializes out of these efforts I will be sure to share those with you and the public also.

To summarize efforts on the relief front – this is a very challenging scenario, where the nature of the disaster (flooding) means most homeowners’ insurance policies will not cover losses, and the scale of the damage does not qualify the event for FEMA individual assistance. I remain hopeful that we will be able to identify something to provide assistance to those in need, but it has been a very difficult process thus far. We will keep trying.”

The city is also looking to gather information from any of you who have had home damage from flooding. So, please reach out to the city’s Department of Public Works in one of the following ways, detailed by the DPW’s Deputy Director:

1. 1. Contact Us pages on City website to generate an email: https://www.appleton.org/government/contact-us-public-works
   2. Call DPW Engineering customer service 920-832-6474
   3. Call DPW Operations customer service 920-832-5580

DPW standard response to these is for Customer Service staff to create a Customer Service Report (CSR) that includes information on the nature of the problem. Drainage problems are bundled by the system into emails that go to a DPW Supervisor for follow-up investigation depending on the nature of the issue.

For reporting to City, more detail is always helpful, if available. For example:

Location of Flooding (Address/Intersection)?

Extent of Flooding
-up to curb?
-up to property line/sidewalk?
-onto yard?
-into residence?

Depth of Flooding in street?

If flooding occurred in residence, what was source?
-Backup from floor drain in basement?
-Backup from sump pit in basement?
-Came in from above ground (surface flooding)?

I have already made the DPW aware that there was flooding on Apple view Drive and Fallcreek Lane in District 13 as those are the two flooded streets that I was alerted to on social media during the flooding and via emails after. But since I do not have all of the details from each of the affected homeowners, I could not answer the specific questions the DPW folks asked above to further clarify each situation to them. So… I encourage you to please reach out to them if you had any flooding damage to your property. Let me know if you do not hear back from the DPW before too long so that I can then follow up with them on your behalf if needed.

Now for your regular update on the upcoming week’s local government happenings. It is once again a Full Council Meeting Week. And since the council did not meet during the week of July 4th, there are a few items from committee meetings past that will finally be taken up by the council. There are also a couple of other meetings scheduled for the week. So here’s what to expect:

Tuesday, 07/16/2024

Historic Preservation Commission – 3pmThe last time this commission was supposed to meet, they were unable to obtain a quorum so the meeting was cancelled. They’ll apparently try again this week. The agenda for the meeting remains the same with one action item — the potential approval of the nomination of the 222 Building (222 W College Avenue) to the National Register of Historic Places. The building, as you’ve likely heard by now, is now owned by and expected to be renovated for the new headquarters of US Venture. Placement of the building on the historic registry will likely garner grant money and other government funding to US Venture for the renovation project (in addition to the TIF money already set aside by the City of Appleton for this work).

Library Board – 4:30pm After taking up approval of the bill register and review of the financial statements for June, board members will review the minutes of their recent sub-committee on personnel and policy. They will also look to approve the mid-year performance evaluation of the library director. The June 2024 building project update to this committee states the following: “Friends of Appleton Public Library and the Capital Campaign Committee continue to make strong fundraising progress. To date, they have raised $11.2M of their $12M goal.” In case you are keeping track at home, this is still $800,000 short of the funds need to complete this project.

Wednesday, 07/17/2024

City of Appleton Common Council – 7pmAs usual, the mayor’s business portion will kick off the meeting. There will be a presentation of awards for this year’s Flag Day Parade and four mayoral proclamations. Then there will be a public hearing on a proposed rezoning on a property on the corner of Amelia and Owaissa Streets (which was mentioned briefly here). The following items from the balance of the agenda are most likely to be separated for further discussion:

From the Municipal Services Committee: A resolution to rescind the city’s No Mow May municipal code language is still hanging out there to be finally decided upon by the full council. I wrote about this first here and then followed up with the results of the committee meeting in this regard here. As I mentioned in the latter post, I am concerned that the city would be backsliding into more unkempt and contentious neighborhoods should the resolution as amended in committee — allowing for 10″ long grasses all growing season instead of allowing only for 12″ long grasses in one month of the year — go into effect. I intend to vote against the amended resolution as it stands today as I believe that the current No Mow May policy is less intrusive on the lives of neighbors throughout this city, living in close proximity to others.

I prefer, though, that the city change directions altogether and move back to a respectable maximum of 8″ long grasses all growing season but with a changed focus on what Thousand Islands Nature Center and the City of Kaukauna have touted for the last few years: the promotion of Slow Mow Summer. I believe that we as a city can do both things — promote and assist pollinators throughout the city and allow for clean, kempt yards which do not negatively impact neighboring properties — through a shifted focus on this Slow Mow Summer program. And I hope that the rest of the council can see their way past their own biases in this regard to allow for this focus shift for the betterment of the entire city and its citizens. What are your thoughts on this?

From the Safety and Licensing Committee: In the last few weeks, committee members have heard a lot about an issue at the Corner Pub (1123 N Mason Street) and their inability to get their business location ready to again open and be able to serve alcohol in a safe environment. It has been over a year since they have actually used their liquor license due to extensive property damage at that location. Therefore, their license is up for non-renewal.

I empathize with the owners of this business as their year of not being open has been fraught with challenges; but the city has limited liquor licenses available. I prefer that an available liquor license not be held from being used by any business that’s ready, willing, and able to open due to another currently non-functioning business holding onto it and unable to use it. The committee has approved the non-renewal of this license (which I agree with) with the understanding that, when and if the business location is safely again cleaned up, fixed, and ready to reopen, the owners can then apply for whatever other liquor license might be available to them in the city. I intend to vote to affirm that committee decision. Do you agree?

All other items from committee meetings over the last few weeks will also be taken up and likely all approved as they came out of those committee meetings. If you have any questions on what those might be or know of any specific issue that will be taken up but was not mentioned above, please let me know. I’m happy to discuss anything city-government related with you!

I hope that you have a safe — and dry! — week. I look forward to hearing from you if you have any questions or concerns about any of the above items or issues. Be well!