The Appleton Common Council met 12/16/2020. The meeting started out with Mayor Woodford announcing the reappointments to the Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee. As you may recall, when I posted the agenda for this meeting I had wondered about reappointments vs. vacancies. The mayor stated that reappointments are separate from filling vacancies and that the city is still looking to fill vacancies on this committee as well as others. He encouraged the alderpersons to let their constituents know. He will bring those new appointments to the Common Council in January.
Mayor Woodford then announced his proclamation declaring September through December Hmong New Year Season. (You can read more about that here.)
Health Officer Eggebrecht then gave a Coronavirus update. We had a slight uptick in weekly cases from last week; nonetheless he found the numbers to be very encouraging given that they are following the Thanksgiving holiday. Appleton’s burden as of 12/16/2020 was 761 [note: it’s only 628 if you calculate it using only confirmed cases]. Appleton’s burden is in the “Very High” category instead of the “Critically High” category. The change in weekly totals has not been greater than 10%, so our trajectory is neither growing nor declining.
Health Officer Eggebrecht believed the lower numbers were a credit to our community. He believed that these lower numbers are the result of people heeding the advice to not gather over the Thanksgiving holiday, to wash their hands frequently, and to wear their masks. He was very appreciative of people making those efforts as individuals and as a community. He stated that things could go in either direction based on how people gather over Christmas and New Years, and so the health department is suggesting that, as with Thanksgiving, people really take coronavirus seriously as they celebrate during the holiday season.
Alderperson Michael Smith pointed out that back in March at the onset of coronavirus the point of social distancing and mask-wearing was to “flatten the curve”. He wanted to know what a flattened curve would look like for Appleton?
Health Officer Eggebrecht would like to see the city’s burden down to the Moderate level (which would be more than 10 but less than 50 per 100,000). He then went on to say that when we look at flattening the curve what we’re really describing is the number of cases in our community, and what we know is that when we have more cases there is mathematically a greater likelihood of people being hospitalized. The more people who are hospitalized, the greater the risk of adverse outcomes. Flattening the curve means bringing the case count down in the community. [I found that answer inadequate. When you’re asking people to take actions that are hugely harmful to their mental well-being and economic security; it behooves you to clearly explain how long those actions will be necessary.]
Mayor Woodford wanted to underscore Health Officer Eggebrecht’s praise regarding the community. He wanted to thank the community for the efforts they have been making–whether those efforts are inconveniences or downright sacrifices. Those efforts in his opinion are exactly what will see us through this.
After the Coronavirus update, the Council moved on to business. They separated a few items out to be voted on individually.
The first item, which was separated out at Alderperson Lobner’s request, was the recommendation from Safety and Licensing to deny the liquor and beer license the Poonsiri Parncharn, the new owner of the Jai Sung Mah Pool Club, applied for. The property is very near residences, and the last time it operated as a bar it created issues for the neighbors. The liquor license that used to go with that building was surrendered under threat that the city was going to revoke it. There had been concerns at this establishment in the past and the previous owner had been convicted of a serious felony offense related to the operation of the establishment. The new license applicant is the daughter of the former owner. The current application was for a beer and liquor license. The previous permit at that establishment was only for a beer license and they still had problems. For all these reasons, Alderperson Lobner was not comfortable approving that license, and he expressed concern about the possibility of carryover from the historical issues at the establishment, given that the operation is just moving from the mother to the daughter.
The Council voted 15 – 0 to deny the application
The second item was to approve the J Restaurant Patio Premise to lease space in Vulcan Heritage Park for 2021-2025.
That situation has turned into a really beneficial venture. The outdoor dining adds to things, and this agreement also makes clear that the patio area is open to the public to use whether they are dining at the restaurant or not.
It was approved 15 – 0
The Trails Master Plan Amendment was also separated out. Alderperson Joe Martin thought it was a really well laid out plan.
That also passed 15 – 0
Another item separated out was the request to amend the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 2020 Annual Action Plan (AAP) to reallocate $78,386, originally awarded under the federal CARES act to Habitat for Humanity’s Homeownership Program, to the City of Appleton’s Motel Voucher Program.
Since originally awarding the money to Habitat for Humanity, the city was informed that Habitat’s program did not meet the requirements for the grant, so they needed to reallocate it to something that did meet the requirements.
The change was approved 14 – 0. Alderperson Schultz dropped off the call or in some other way disappeared during that vote.
The final item separated out was the vote on renewing the Memorandum of Agreement between the city of Appleton and the Appleton Housing Authority. As presented to the Common Council the Memorandum of Understanding stated that the Appleton Housing Authority would continue their participation in the city of Appleton’s group dental, life, long term disability insurance and voluntary insurance plans through December 31, 2022; and allows participation in the city’s medical plan through December 31, 2021 2022 at which time AHA’s participation in the city’s medical plan will conclude.
Discussion on this took up much of the meeting. As I explained in further detail here, Alderperson Lobner moved to amend the Memorandum to remove the last line stating that AHA’s participation in the city of Appleton’s health insurance plan would terminate at the end of December 2022. 10 out of 15 alderpersons voted to approve this amendment, and then 12 of 15 alderpersons voted to approve the amended Memorandum of Understanding even though by doing so they are opening the city up to needless financial risk at a time when taxpayers are already financially hurting due to Covid.
Finally, they reviewed the library project. They are putting out Library Request for Proposals and will have those proposals back by February 5. The proposals will be brought to the Finance Committee on March 8 and then be brought before the Common Council for approval on March 17. At that point the city could hire an architect and proceed with the development of the Library.
Alderperson Lobner made a couple good suggestions, particularly I thought in regards to rewording it in such a way that it was clear the parking lot will be available to be utilized for the expansion project but does not necessarily have to be utilized.
Alderperson Schultz wanted to see more language about renewable energy and resources being used for this project.
Dean Gazza said they’d look at energy savings, but they would not be looking at having the project be carbon neutral because that would make the cost prohibitive.
Alderperson Thao thanked the Mayor for his Hmong New Year Season proclamation, and that pretty much wound up the meeting.
You can view the full meeting details and watch the video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=825728&GUID=F4BACD05-29A7-4421-A7EA-1CAB4DE18D75&Options&Search
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