The Community and Economic Development Committee met 08/09/2023. Resolution 6-R-23, which would add bird safe glass requirements to the municipal code, appeared on the agenda, but the committee did not discuss it in detail but rather voted to hold it until the September 13 committee meeting in order to give the authors of the resolution more time to consider potential amendments to the resolution.
The Madison ordinance on which this resolution is based is currently undergoing legal challenge. There are also a host of questions regarding the financial and economic impact the resolution would have on the city and developers hoping to build in Appleton, that have not been answered with any degree of clarity. Both Mayor Woodford and City Attorney Christopher Behrens submitted memos recommending that action on this resolution be paused until the legal issues have been resolved. Presumably, some of that factors into why the authors want to amend the resolution.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9), the lead author of the resolution, was present at the meeting, but the co-authors of the resolution, Alderpersons Vered Meltzer (District 2) and Israel Del Toro (District 4), were not present.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6), the chair of the committee, made a motion to hold the resolution until the September 13 meeting, explaining, “So my reasoning for holding it is one of the authors was unable to make this meeting, and the lead author who is present—we’ve had a discussion, and we agree that we’d like to make some changes. And—but the authors would like to have some more time to discuss potential amendments to the resolution given what we have been advised by city staff, the city attorney’s office, et cetera. And then we have the third author who was unable to make this meeting. So I think that the authors should, you know—we should be able to have some discussion.”
Alderperson Schultz said that he had only been made aware of the fact that the resolution was on the agenda about an hour and a half before the meeting started. He hoped that some mechanism would be put in place so that, in the future, when a resolution comes before a committee that the resolution’s author does not serve on, that the resolution’s author would be alerted to the fact that it was coming before the committee.
Alderperson Fenton recognized that not every alderperson read the entire agenda for every committee meeting when the weekly aldermanic agenda packet comes out on Friday afternoon. She thought, as the chair of the committee, that she had dropped the ball somewhat by not reaching out to Alderpersons Schultz, Meltzer, and Del Toro. She wondered if the alderpersons should have a discussion with staff about making a formal process. Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) felt that it was the responsibility of committee chairs and alderpersons and was not something they should be tasked with. Alderperson Fenton agreed.
The committee voted 4-0 to hold the resolution until the September 13 meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee.
[The entire exchange seemed somewhat strange to me. Although he’s not the resolution’s lead author, Alderperson Del Toro serves on the Community and Economic Development Committee so presumably would have been in a position to review the agendas for the committees he was a part of, note that this resolution was up for a vote, and give his fellow co-authors a heads up.
Additionally, the fact that there are ongoing legal issues with the Madison ordinance should not come as any surprise to the resolution authors given that Attorney Behrens had made one of the resolution’s authors aware of this back in January and suggested waiting to submit anything until the courts had resolved the matter.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1107158&GUID=6160F606-C9F9-4B39-AA19-76E1C413A4B6
3 thoughts on “Community And Economic Development Committee Votes To Hold Bird Safe Glass Resolution Until September 13 To Give Resolution’s Authors Time To Consider Amendments”