The Safety and Licensing Committee met 05/11/2022 and took up Resolution 14-R-21, the Excessive Vehicle Noise Resolution.
This had been discussed in September of 2021 at which time the committee voted to hold the resolution to give staff time to research the issues further. Per the memo submitted to the committee ahead of the 05/11/2022 meeting, state law and city code already covers the issues the resolution was trying to address.
Additionally, though not mentioned in the memo, since the resolution was introduced, the Police Department had created a pilot program for a traffic safety unit officer which would run from June 1 through December 31 and would help deal with some of the vehicle noise problems the resolution had been aimed at addressing.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) made a motion to receive and file the resolution. He was seconded by Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12)
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) said, for the record that she thought the resolution had been brought in good faith to start the conversation. She thought the city took the issues it raised seriously, and she appreciated the actions that had been taken. The resolution was being filed because it was no longer necessary because they already got the action they needed.
Alderperson Schultz agreed that the resolution has been introduced for the expressed purpose of taking a look at what was happening in the community because it seemed like it was a new phenomenon although it had some historical underpinnings. He appreciated the Appleton Police Department taking action in this and coming up with an action plan to address the ongoing and increasing noise and disturbance issues. The resolution had essentially done what it was intended to which was why he had made the motion to file it. He did, however, think that they still had some work to do and it remained to be seen what effect the recommended actions and new traffic safety officer would have on the community. He thought they might need to hold some discussions at the state level to see if there were things that could help address this issue moving forward.
There were no other comments or questions and the committee voted 5-0 to receive and file the resolution.
During the Police Chief’s report later on in the meeting, Chief Todd Thomas touched on the traffic safety officer position and said that they were on-schedule to fill that position by June 1st. He thought they might actually be able to fill it a little earlier, and if they could they would because events were already ramping up. In fact, they had their first cruising event on Friday. Some current police department employees were interested in that position, and Chief Thomas thought it was going to help lead to a lot of other changes with how they handle things.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=951448&GUID=EB4101D4-A4E6-4BDF-A9D3-9B707CA29A4B
Be the first to reply