The Common Council met 08/21/2024. One of the items they separated out for an individual vote was the request to take $45,000 of un-used American Recovery Plan Act funds and reallocate/re-obligate them to fund the Human Resources Strategic Planning project which would help the city define its vision and goals in conjunction with the update to the city’s Comprehensive Plan.
The Council ended up voting 9-1 to approve the reallocation and re-obligation of the ARPA dollars toward this project with Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) casting the dissenting vote.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
Alderperson Hartzheim had two concerns.
- $45,000 seemed like a lot of money to update the vision and mission of the city when the “mission and vision for the city should be pretty straightforward: treat taxpayers equally, you know, be fair and kind, etc.”
- She felt that the Strategic Plan update should have been included in the discussion and planning of the Comprehensive Plan update. Instead, it felt like it came out of nowhere.
Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) shared some of her concerns but he was going to vote in favor of it because if ARPA funds were not used to cover the project, the city was going to end up looking elsewhere for dollars to cover it.
Director of Human Resources Jay Ratchman confirmed that, although the project might not be included in the 2025 budget, it was a priority that they would want to bring forward.
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) also thought that Alderperson Hartzheim’s concerns were valid, but, ultimately, she wholeheartedly supported the update of the city’s Comprehensive Plan and if an update to the Strategic Plan should have been included with that, then she did not see a reason to hold back.
The Council voted 9-1 to approve the item.
After it was approved, Mayor Woodford said, “[T]he vision for this this project goes far beyond updating a mission and vision statement, and if anyone has questions about the details of the project plan, please be in touch with Director Rachman or myself. Be happy to share that information with you all.”
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1213514&GUID=81937D7D-E288-43F7-8B2B-974F7E8C9240
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