The Finance Committee met 03/25/2024. One of the items they discussed was the request to approve Memorandums of Understanding for various projects that utilized ARPA funding.
The committee had questions about five specific programs:
- Safe and Secure Cities Program – $40,000
- Neighborhood Watch Programming Integration – $50,000
- Comprehensive Plan Updates & Sub-area Planning – $400,000
- Neighborhood Leadership Academy – $100,000
- Appleton Transit Center Renovation – $1,800,000
The committee ended up approving the item unanimously.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
SAFE AND SECURE CITIES PROGRAM ($40,000) – Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) was confused as to why this money was coming out of the public safety category of ARPA funds when, based on the description of one of the projects it would be funding (a mural project with local artist) it seemed like it would be more appropriate for the funds to come from the Arts and Culture ARPA bucket.
All of the ARPA funds allocated for Arts and Culture had been designated for the Thompson Center on Lourdes, so there was no money left in that bucket. Although there was an art component to this project, it tied into the Police Department’s community policing efforts and violence prevention by engaging at-risk youth over the summer. The school resource officers were going to be doing a mural project with at risk students to make sure that the students had an “engaged experience” over the summer. Per Appleton Police Department Community Engagement Specialist McKenzy Wagner, “It’s really just a really great culmination between our officers and those students especially to kick off summer and make sure that we’re starting summer on the right foot.”
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH PROGRAMMING INTEGRATION ($50,000) – This aimed at integrating the neighborhood watch program more closely with the registered neighborhood program so that they were not two completely separate programs. City staff hoped to plug the neighborhood watch program a little more to the registered neighborhoods that didn’t have watch programs yet. They also hoped to update signage. The $50,000 would go toward a consultant who, per Ms. Wagner, “would come in to make sure that we are rebranding that appropriately, and everything makes sense, and that’s something that can live for a long time.”
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATES AND SUB-AREA Planning ($400,000) – Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) asked for a sneak peak on this. Community and Economic Development Director Kara Homan said that Mayor Woodford’s housing task force had just wrapped up and would be bringing recommendations to various committees. “A lot of the recommendations and next steps that it outlined had to do with housing policy—not just zoning code updates, but also taking a look at the future land use framework and the future land use map and how we define the future vision for what land use and housing density looks like broadly as part of the comprehensive plan.” The taskforce provided recommendations for the Wisconsin Avenue, Richmond Street, and South Oneida Street corridors where there were opportunities to build infill developments or redevelop existing sites.
NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERSHIP ACADEMY ($100,000) – Appleton used to have a Neighborhood Leadership Academy that was run by staff. They would like to revise that program and hold multiple sessions in 2025 and 2026. These funds would cover the cost of hiring a consultant to produce materials, put together the sessions, and then host the multi-week or multi-months long neighborhood leadership training sessions. Staff also wanted the consultant to put together materials that could be used for the next 5-10 years and provide information to neighborhood leaders on things like grant processes and how to stabilize their neighborhood organizations.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) wanted some justification for spending $100,000 on that. Director Homan responded that there was a chance that the proposals they received from consultants would come in under $100,000 in which case they could reallocate those funds to other projects.
There was also some confusion as to what the Neighborhood Leadership Academy is. It is not the Appycademy program but rather a program that targets the registered neighborhoods; however, it was not restricted to the leaders of registered neighborhoods and, per Olivia Gaylon the Community Development Specialist, could involve “different members of the neighborhood orgs who have participated in the past but maybe want to get more involved in their neighborhood organization now.”
Director Homan said the program was “intended to build capacity within the neighborhoods so that they can continue to serve and improve themselves while minimizing future city resources”
Part of the program was to help leaders identify “aspects of Asset Based Community Development in their neighborhoods.” Ms. Gaylon described this as, “what we’re foreseeing with this would be these consultants would work with the neighborhoods and the neighborhood leaders to identify, like, what are aspects of these assets that they might find. So having a school or multiple schools in an area, having businesses, different kinds of things that can strengthen a neighborhood. So, part of that would be identifying that and then also working with these neighborhood leaders, in terms of, like, their vision of what that could look like in the future.”
[Honestly, the program seems really vague, and the description of it seemed filled with empty consultant-speak. I came away from this discussion baffled that the federal government, through taxes, took away money from someone like Elon Musk who is driving innovation in multiple fields of technology and through that improving the lives of millions of people, and they gave that money to the City of Appleton which in turn is now giving it to local neighborhood leaders so that those neighborhood leaders can be empowered to recognize that the school in their area of the town is an “asset”. It seems to me that $100,000 would have been better used if it had been left in the hands of Elon Musk.]
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) asked what kind of metrics would be used to determine of it was an effective program. Director Homan said they had not set metrics at this point, but some metrics could be (a) the number of registered neighborhoods, (b) the number of activities being held in registered neighborhoods, and (c) how the crime levels in a neighborhood change after a neighborhood association is established.
APPLETON TRANSIT CENTER RENOVATION ($1,800,000) – This funding was meant to supplement the overall transit center project budget, but was not allowed to be used specifically as an incentive for the developer. The city was also applying for a $25 million RAISE grant for the transit related portion of the project (https://allthingsappleton.com/2023/01/31/transit-commission-discusses-mix-use-public-private-transit-center-development-approves-pursuing-25-million-grant-hiring-stafford-rosenbaum-llp-for-legal-representation/). That money could be used to build the infrastructure needed to put a housing complex above the transit center, which would allow Valley Transit to save the developer approximately $3 million. In addition to that, they would have the $1.8 million in ARPA funds that could go toward the housing portion of the project. Although it could not be specifically designated as an incentive, the hope was that Valley Transit being able to provide this much money toward the housing aspect of the project would ensure that some number of affordable housing units would be included in the development.
There was concern about what would happen to the funds if they were obligated toward the transit center project but then the $25 million RAISE grant did not come through. The funds needed to be obligated by the end of 2024, but they didn’t need to be spent until the end of 2026. So, if the RAISE grant didn’t go through this year, there would still be time for Valley Transit to reapply a third time for a RAISE grant in 2025.
The committee voted 5-0 to approve the Memorandums of Understanding for the various programs that were slated to receiving ARPA funds.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1181053&GUID=FD7238A4-490E-408D-B86B-55475CFBDB74
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