The Appleton Common Council met 12/07/2022. It was a brief meeting lasting around 20 minutes. Only two items were separated out for individual votes: (1) the Public Works Fee Schedule and (2) the Public Facility Needs Assessment. Both items were approved, the Facility Needs Assessment unanimously and the Public Works Fee Schedule by a vote of 10 to 4.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the entire Council meeting as well as a transcript of only the items that were separated out for discussion and a vote.
The Public Works Fee Schedule for 2023 increased to the monthly downtown parking ramp permit fee by $5 moving it from $35 to $40. This was the main focus of discussion at the 11/21/2022 Municipal Services Committee meeting during which committee was told staff estimated the increase in fees would increase revenue by $76,560.
The fee increase received pushback during the public comment portion of the Common Council meeting. Jennifer Stephany, the Executive Director of Appleton Downtown Incorporated, expressed concern with how the increase would impact downtown businesses. She told the Council that parking rates played a significant role in downtown business recruitment. There was currently nearly 379,000 square feet of vacant office space in downtown Appleton. City-wide, vacant office space in Appleton as a whole (not for the downtown specifically) had increased from 9.4% to 10.7%, and filling larger office spaces was difficult and would continue to be challenging for some time.
Ms. Stephany told the Council that an increase in parking permit rates would “be another barrier to attracting and retaining businesses within the downtown. I ask you to please keep this top of mind as you’re making decisions on permit rates that will impact the entire downtown.”
The Council discussion was not too extensive. Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) felt it was a complicated issue and thought that they should be watching carefully over the next few years to see how the parking utility and revenue was impacted by fewer businesses being downtown. He thought things had been trending in a troublesome direction over the last few years.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) asked if staff had an estimate of the effect that raising the permit price by $5 would have on the number of permits sold, but Director of Public Works Danielle Block did not have an estimate of the impact.
In answer to a question from Alderperson Alex Schultz, Director Block reiterated that the change was estimated to increase revenue by $76,560.
The Council went on to vote 10-4 to approve the increase with Alderpersons Vered Meltzer (District 2), Israel Del Toro (District 4), Fenton, and Schultz voting against.
The second item separated out was the Public Facility Needs Assessment. This item was discussed and voted on during the 11/07/2022 Parks and Recreation Committee meeting. There were technical issues the week of that meeting and the record of the meeting is 30 minutes of silence.
I emailed Deputy Director Tom Flick and asked him what the Public Facility Needs Assessment was. He was very helpful and provided a copy of the needs assessment, explaining, “The city hired Baker Tilly to complete a needs assessment. Attached is the needs assessment. If you read the executive summary, this will explain the document in detail.
Adopting the needs assessment is one step in updating the current fee-in-lieu of land dedication ordinance. If the council adopts the needs assessment on Wednesday, then Economic Development will move forward with updating the ordinance that addresses the fee-in-lieu of land dedication and the council will approve new charged fees. The final new fee amount is to be determined, the council can leave the fee as is or increase it. “
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) requested the item be separated out and noted [I felt for the benefit of the public] that the item they were voting on that evening was approving the assessment, not the fee schedule. The fee schedule was still to be determined by the Parks and Recreation Department and the Community and Economic Development Department. She wanted to make that clear because that had been a question she had had during the November meeting.
There was no further discussion and the item was approved 14-0.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1001701&GUID=F328A7F5-BC1B-4C83-9C82-689DCB1FF254
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