The Municipal Services Committee met 07/11/2022. Outside of the informational update on the Modifications To Street Terrace Policy Resolution, they took up two actions items both related to parking ramps.
The first was a request to award a contract for 2022 Parking Ramp Planning and Design Services to Desman Design Management in the amount of $36,560.00 with a 9.4% contingency of $3,440.00 for a project total not to exceed $40,000.00
Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) said that the memo regarding the item talked about short- and long-term recommendations. He was curious what was considered short vs long in terms of years. His understanding was that just a couple years ago Desman had looked at the condition of the ramps, and he wondered if the city had accomplished all of the recommendations or if some of those were still outstanding.
A staff member responded that an original condition analysis was performed in 2019 and a report was provided along with that. The report included both short- and long-term recommended repair and maintenance items. Many of the short-term ones were things such as spalled concrete and crack in corbels and other less significant repairs that were not urgent. The longer-term repairs included things such as installing a membrane system over the top of the ramp to protect it from salt penetration. The long-term repairs were typically bigger-cost items so would need to be spread out over the long-term plan of the ramp.
It had been three years since that report had been made, and they try to get the ramps inspected every three years to stay on top of any potential structural issues. The plan was that Desman would review their previous report, perform another complete inspection of all the ramps, and then update the report with new short- and long-term recommendations and estimated budget numbers to go with those recommendations.
There were no further questions, and the committee approved the item 4-0
The second action item was a requestion to approve a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Appleton and Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce for amenity peninsula beautification at the Green Parking Ramp
Deputy Director of Public Works Ross Buetow told the committee that this was not an arrangement that was initiated by the city but instead originated with the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber had done a major landscaping project on their property which is on the west side of Superior Street just north of the city’s Green Parking Ramp.
The Green Parking Ramp had a small protruding curbed area that had probably been originally designed to be a landscape island. It is, however, in a shaded area [which I took to mean was not particularly conducive to plant growth], and due to parking staff and departmental priorities, the city never did a very good job of maintaining that landscaping.
After observing that, the Chamber approached the city and asked if they could install and maintain landscaping similar to what they just completed on their own property. The Chamber worked with the City Attorney’s Office to prepare the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Right now, that MOU was in draft form, because the attorneys were recommending that it be approved in concept before they get it fully signed. If the committee gave their seal of approval to the concept, the MOU would be signed and then brought to the Common Council in its final form.
If approved, there would be no cost to the city, and the Chamber would run the design past the city. Staff saw no red flags with this and were supportive of it.
Alderperson Doran pointed out that on page two of the agreement it said that the agreement would terminate at the end of 2023. He asked if it was intended to be renewed annually or was this just a trial to see how things worked.
Deputy Director Buetow was not involved in the negotiations, but his understanding was that the intent was that as long as the Chamber was doing a reasonable job of maintaining the area, the agreement would be renewed. [Lol. Even if the Chamber doesn’t do a reasonable job of maintaining the area, it’s not going to end up worse than it currently is. It’s pretty funny to see how shabby it looks. I don’t know why they didn’t just pave it.]
City Attorney Christopher Behrens said that term was basically a fail safe for the city in the event that the it turned out to not be a good arrangement. It allowed for a hard stop. If it ended up being a good arrangement then he anticipated a subsequent amendment to the MOU extending it out for some point in the future.
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) asked if the Parking Utility had any similar agreement with any other company currently, or if any such arrangements had happened in the past, and if so, what were the results?
Deputy Director Buetow was not aware of any similar arrangements where a private company did this sort of thing. This would be the first.
The committee had no further questions and approved the request 4-0.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=982997&GUID=A5A7FDC9-4B4A-4C43-ABB1-47FD6626CEC2
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