The Municipal Services Committee met 02/07/2022. In addition to approving the Memorandum of Understanding with Bird, Inc to conduct a second e-scooter pilot program and receiving an update on the city’s Pedestrian Crosswalk Enhancement Program, they also approved 3 other action items and received two related items on the Department of Public Work’s operational changes.
The three action items were:
- Request from Hilton Hotel for a permanent street occupancy permit to install a 12′ X 4’7″ blade sign in the College Avenue street right-of-way at 333 W. College Avenue.
- Request from Matt Miller to bag nine (9) meters on Thursday, March 17, 2022 to create a drive-through lane. Meter bagging fee is $9/stall/day plus tax.
- Award Unit I-22 Bridge Deck Sealing to Radtke Contractors Inc. in an amount not to exceed $100,000.
All of these were approved with minimal to no discussion. Mr. Miller did speak briefly in support of his request to bag the 9 meters, but his words were not picked up by the microphone. Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) said he remembered this item from last year and that it sounded as though it worked really well. Although the Downtown area was not typically where they wanted drive-thru things happening, for something like this event, it sounded like a good way to accomplish that.
The committee then moved on to the two related information items of the DPW Operational changes flier and the education video “Abby Learns About Leaf Collection.”
There are a number of changes regarding collection of leaf, yard waste, and bulky overflow items that will be going into effect this April. There had been some questions from alderperson as to how the city was going to get the word out regarding those changes.
The flier was one way they were going to spread the word, and Director of Public Works Paula Vandehey asked the alderpersons to help disseminate it by sending it out in their email lists and including it in their newsletters.
Another way they were going to get the word out was through a series of videos. She showed the first one which was titled “Abby Learns about Leaf Collection”. Unfortunately, the video wasn’t shown on the screen so that members of the public watching remotely could see it, but the audio was evocative. It started out sounding like some kind of 1980s video game fever dream then moved into music I’d expect to hear playing while someone opens up surprise eggs on YouTube. I didn’t hear any talking, but I did hear what sounded like birds chirping, leaves being raked, and cars driving.
Director Vandehey said they were going to continue using Abby to educate the public on the changes. Abby may or may not be the same person. The idea is that the blue wig is what identifies her, so Abby can be male, female, alien, or whatever. She can be very interchangeable.
Director Vandehey said that they were trying to do two things. The obvious one was that they wanted to show the different operational changes they were making, but “the underlying thing is to be kind and help the neighbors no matter where your neighbor is from, what color their hair is, be helpful to your neighbor.”
The first video is about leaf collection, but there will also be ones about the new bulky overflow collection and other things like that. She hoped the committee liked it and thought it was fun. [Hopefully the city will hold an online watch party when the video premieres.]
In addition to the flier and the video, the Public Works guide would include a page that talked about the changes to leaf collection and in which areas those changes would first be implemented. She said that they had just finished that up earlier that day so it was going to go to the printer and then be mailed out soon.
Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) asked what would happen if people raked their leaves into the street.
Director Vandehey said that the vacuum trucks van vacuum up leaves whether they’re on the terrace or in the street. They cannot, however, vacuum up things like branches and pumpkins. She said it was going to take some time to educate residents. But the city would still be able to vacuum leaves even if they were put in the road.
Alderperson Siebers asked what they would do if residents put pumpkins in with the leaves.
Director Vandehey said they would probably do some kind of education such as hanging a tag on the door letting people know pumpkins go in the garbage not with yard waste.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) said she had sent the flier out with her district newsletter and had already heard back from a resident who had said they were glad to get the information because they hadn’t heard about the changes.
Alderperson Joe Prohaska (District 14) confirmed with Director Vandehey that the two-item limit on bulky overflow items starts in April.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) wanted to know how alderpersons should inform their residents about the changes in light of the fact that the new leaf collection procedures were only going to be implemented in specific areas to start out with and not across the whole city.
Director Vandehey said that the Public Works Guide that will come out next month will include a map that identifies which areas will have their leaves collected by the vacuum truck. It will let people know what they are supposed to do depending on the area in which they’re located. She noted that District 13 was not one of the areas that was changing and might not change for a couple years. The city would continue updating the map as they add areas. Once the map comes out, the alderpersons could help educate their constituents. Additionally, the Public Works Guide will be posted on the city’s website once it is available.
Alderperson Hartzheim asked if this information would also be shared on the Public Works Facebook page.
Director Vandehey said it would but they have to be careful about the timing. The changes in leaf collection won’t actually take place until the fall, so getting the word out right now would cause it to be lost on a lot of people. They were going to start by focusing on informing residents about the bulky overflow collection changes because that’s one of the first big changes that will happen. [That will happen April 1.]
Alderperson Firkus check if anyone had any further questions, then commented that it was good to see the material. He thought it was a good idea to engage people with video and thought it would help people remember some of the information better than if the city just threw up a Facebook post.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=922395&GUID=3FA36DA5-7610-4573-8B63-EE3B043367A2
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