The Community and Economic Development Committee met 09/27/2023. The one item on the agenda was consideration of a contract award to Green Bicycle Company to work with a newly created housing task force. The task force, which consists of members from the Home Builder’s Association of the Fox Cities, Habitat for Humanity, Realtors Association of Northeast Wisconsin, and the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce, is focused on finding solutions to the shortage of affordable housing in Appleton. Green Bicycle Co would help them work on the City of Appleton’s Housing Development Policy. The total contract was for $32,000 which would come from the Mayor’s Economic Development Study Budget ($25,000) and the Community and Economic Development Department’s New/Redevelopment Projects Budget ($7,000). Although the funds were available, because the total cost was over $25,000 it required Council approval.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) expressed concerns about Green Bicycle Company’s qualifications and the absence of other proposals. She also raised a procedural concern regarding the announcement of the contract before Council approval. Community and Economic Development Director Kara Homan addressed these concerns, highlighting the team’s due diligence in evaluating the firm’s capabilities and explaining the lack of competing proposals. Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) also talked about her experience on the Climate Task Force and the benefit they had received from working with an outside consultant.
The committee ended up voting unanimously to recommend the contract for approval.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
Director Kara Homan presented the proposal, outlining that the initial budget was $25,000. The only proposal they received was from Green Bicycle Company for $40,000. So, the initial scope of the project was clarified and reduced to take into account work that had already been done on the College Avenue North Neighborhood Plan as well as Outagamie County’s housing study. This brought the budget down to $32,000, which could be covered by $25,000 from the Mayor’s Economic Development Study Budget and $7,000 from the Community and Economic Development Department’s New/Redevelopment Projects Budget.
Alderperson Hartzheim had several concerns about the proposal including
- Green Bicycle Co.’s ability to do the work given that few similar projects were listed in their history on their website.
- The lack of response from any other companies to the city’s Request For Proposals (RFP).
- The timing of the press conference announcing the creation of the housing task force which was done before the contract with Green Bicycle Co. was approved by the Common Council.
Director Homan said that Green Bicycle Co. was a startup firm that launched in 2020 so they did not appear to have a lot of experience because they were new, but all three of the team members had masters degrees in Urban Planning from UW Milwaukee. The principal had experience in civil engineering, nonprofit management, urban planning, and stakeholder engagement. Another member had worked for a decade in private development. The third member had worked until recently as a city planner. She also noted that established firms might not put in the extra effort a startup firm would.
Director Homan would have preferred to have received more than one proposal; however, it had become common in the last few years for RFPs to receive limited responses. The city did solicit four firms within the State of Wisconsin for proposals, but unfortunately received only one response. “The good news is we felt like the proposal was strong and one that we felt worthy of advancing through Council and worthy of finding some additional money in our budget to make the project work.”
Regarding the timing of the press release, it was discussed in the committee that the creation of the task force was separate from the contract with Green Bicycle Co. The task force would exist whether the contract was approved or not.
Alderperson Hartzheim raised the possibility of the City of Appleton paying $25,000 with the remaining $7,000 being covered by the other member organizations of the housing task force, but the general feeling of the committee seemed to be that the various members were already giving of their time so they should not necessarily also be asked to give money.
It was also felt that although it cost $32,000 it was important to have a consultant that would serve as a neutral third party, given the fact that various members of the task force interact with city staff on a regular basis during the course of developing projects. An outside party was considered valuable for effective data gathering and analysis to help the task force achieve its goals.
The committee ended up voting 4-0 to award the contract to Green Bicycle Company.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1111433&GUID=FF7CB9F3-F463-437C-84A2-E4BF3CA9E511
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