The Appleton Common Council met 10/19/2022. It was not a long meeting, clocking it at just under 24 minutes long.
When I posted the agenda for the meeting, I noted that there didn’t seem to be any particularly controversial items or even any items that necessarily seemed to warrant much discussion. I did, however, think that it was possible Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) would separate out the 2023 Add on Water Main Replacement Project List because, although not controversial, this item did generate some discussion in the Utilities Committee meeting, and Alderperson Doran’s concern for the maintenance of the city’s infrastructure is well known. He did indeed request that this item be separated out for an individual vote.
I’ve prepared a PDF transcript of the complete conversation for your downloading pleasure.
These additional water main replacement projects were able to be added because a raw water line improvement project came in well below the budgeted amount, so the city was able to redirect those funds to the Watermain Program.
Alderperson Doran was concerned that although the funds were being redirected from another project, the money was still, ultimately, borrowed. He wanted to make an amendment to use American Recovery Plan Act funds to pay for the projects instead of borrowing. [In the past, he has advocated for using ARPA dollars for infrastructure projects and as a way to reduce borrowing and has made similar motions in the past. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any such motions to amend that have been successful.]
Assistant Attorney Amanda Abshire raised a point of order regarding public notice. The action item before the Council was whether or not to approve the 2023 add-on water main replacement project list. The item as listed on the agenda did not address a budget transfer for ARPA funds.
Mayor Woodford ruled that the motion to amend was out of line because item before the Council was merely the project list and not the funding source for doing those projects.
There was no further discussion and the Council went on to approve the project list 14-0.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=997431&GUID=8F05C46C-FF81-414B-800B-8596ADAE016F
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