The Appleton Common Council met 10/06/2021. At slightly less than 30 minutes, it was a short meeting, with most of the time taken up by information items. The Council did not separate any of the action items out for individual votes, and the balance of the agenda items were approved without discussion.
That vote did include approving:
- A contract for a transportation utility study
- A 3-year contract with CliftonLarsonAllen for auditing services
- A design, engineering, and permitting services contract for the proposed WE Energies trail on the south side of town
- A rezoning request for a property at 2121 South Schaefer Street
You can download the full agenda here:
As stated, the bulk of the meeting was taken up with information items.
Mayor Woodford presented 6 proclamations. He only read the Mental Health Day proclamation and noted that he would be sharing the others with community members in the coming month.
Interim Health Officer Sonja Jensen gave a brief Covid-19 Update in which she reviewed the various statistics that were included in the agenda packet.
Total case numbers had been very similar for the two previous weeks. Appleton had had 458 cases total over the previous two-week period. 158 of those had been in children under 18.
58.3% of Appleton residents were fully vaccinated and 61.8% partially vaccinated as of October 4. She noted that every two weeks the number of 12–17-year-olds who were vaccinated continued to increase by 2-3%.
She reported that across the 13 hospitals in the Fox Valley Health Emergency Readiness Coalition region, there were 102 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 and 24 in the ICU. Those numbers had remained stable for the last two weeks. She said that greater than 93% of those hospitalized cases were in people who were not fully vaccinated. [During a couple past updates she had reported that 98% were people who were not fully vaccinated, so it sounds like there might be a slight increase in hospitalizations of fully vaccinated individuals.]
She also reported that the City of Appleton has opened a new facility in the old Best Buy building on Kensington and Calumet Streets. On Thursdays from 9-5 and Fridays from 7-12 they offer vaccinations. Currently they have the Johnson and Johnson one dose shot for anyone 18 and older. They also have the two-dose Pfizer shot for anybody 12 and older and in addition to the initial round of shots, they are able to give boosters to anyone who is eligible.
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9-5 the site provides testing to anybody who walks in.
Alderperson Michael Smith (District 12) asked what happens if a person catches Covid after they’ve received the first vaccine doses but before they received a booster. Would they still need to receive the booster if they are an at-risk individual?
Interim Health Officer Jensen said that no one should get vaccinated while they’re infected with the vaccine, but once they’ve recovered it is still recommended that they get the booster even if they have had Covid in between. There were no contraindications regarding getting a booster after having had Covid. She added that it was a good question for a person to ask their doctor about.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) asked if she could start providing a graph illustrating month to month vaccination rates so they Council could understand if the city was plateauing or continuing to gradually increase. He also asked if she could provide a graph showing how Appleton compared to nation-wide vaccination rates.
She said that she would see if she could include that for the next update.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) said that they were entering flu shot season. She wondered if flu shots needed to be staggered with Covid shots or if it was safe to take them at the same time.
Interim Health Officer Jensen said it was safe to get them both at the same time or a day apparent or weeks apart. They don’t need to be staggered.
There were no further questions regarding the Covid-19 Update.
Before they moved on to the remaining business, Mayor Woodford noted that the Council was entering budget season and they had received their budget book.
He encouraged them to read the transmittal memo near the beginning of the budget which included a number of important details that help contextualize some of the issues they will come across as they read the budget. He said that, in particular, they talk a little bit about pandemic related financial assistance from federal and state governments and the role those have played in local municipal finances.
He said that during the 10/11/2021 Finance Committee meeting, he would be providing a comprehensive presentation on the executive budget and that would also include their recommendations on the American Recovery Plan Act funding. He encouraged the alderpersons to attend that meeting if possible or watch the recording because it will be an important meeting in the conversation regarding ARPA. They’re recommending handling ARPA funds in two separate portions. The first would be through a 2021 budget amendment for a certain set of priority and the second would be budgeting in 2022 and beyond. The 2022 budget includes provisional plans, but those are not necessarily set in stone or detailed out yet and there’s a lot more work to be done regarding those specific funds.
He said the memo also talks a bit about debt management, and he will cover that in more detail during the presentation at the Finance Committee meeting.
After some brief organizational discussion related to the Finance Committee meeting and the budget process, they moved on to the balance of the agenda. As I already mentioned, the Council did not separate anything out for an individual vote and approved the agenda with no discussion.
Prior to adjourning, Alderperson Schultz reminded everyone that on Monday, October 11 at 1PM near the Ellen Kort Peace Park, there will be a peace tree planting ceremony by the Menominee Indian Tribe. Governor Tony Evers and Mayor Woodford will be there as well as many distinguished members of the Menominee Tribe. He encouraged his colleagues to attend.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=884421&GUID=1DA59F44-042B-4C69-86B4-073C568348DD
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