The Finance Committee met 03/24/2025. They spent some time discussing a couple specific line items in the 2024-2025 Budget carryover appropriations request that Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) asked to be separated from the rest of the carryover requests. One of those items was a request to take $107,625 of funds left over from the 2024 Park Pavilion Roof Replacement Project and direct it toward hiring a consultant to create a sustainability and climate action plan for Appleton. The other was a request to take $20,006 left over from a furniture upgrade project and a fire station lighting upgrade project and put it toward new City Hall signage associated with the Fox Commons/City Center redevelopment project.
The bulk of the budget carryover requests were approved by the committee were approved unanimously by the committee, but the items that were separated out were recommended for denial by a vote of 4-1 with Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) casting the dissenting vote.
The recommendation for denial did not mean that the projects could not be taken up in the future. Rather, if the denial was upheld by the Common Council, the carryover funds would remain in the Facilities capital budget as undesignated funds that could be put toward these projects or any other project the Common Council ended up directing them toward. The general desire by the committee did not seem to be to deny the proposed projects completely but to have them brought forward as individual items that would be subjected to additional scrutiny before potentially approving them.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
HIRING A CONSULTANT TO CREATE A SUSTINABILITY AND CLIMATE ACTION MASTER PLAN ($107,625) – Director of Parks and Recreation Dean Gazza told the committee that this item was submitted prior to the approval of the recent resolution setting the city’s emissions reduction goal, but it both complemented that resolution and also aligned with past actions by the Council regarding sustainability. Project Manager Steve Schrage is the Facilities employee who works on sustainability issues, but his work on that is very limited because he spends 80% of his time doing project management work and only 20% focusing on sustainability issues. Director Gazza believed hiring a consultant to create a sustainability and climate action master plan would greatly enhance the city’s efforts in the area and allow them to move forward more quickly. He also said that a master plan of this nature was the next step for most cities and noted that Green Bay had completed such a plan.
Alderperson Hartzheim thought this was an inappropriate item to direct carryover funds toward. She initially argued that the money should be treated in manner the city treats excess general fund balances with 80% of the money being directed toward debt reduction and then the remaining 20% being allocated toward a project. Finance Director Jeri Ohman said that process was strictly for the general fund. The money under discussion was from the capital project fund, in which case left over money remained in the fund to be used in a future year to go toward another project.
Alderperson Hartzheim was still concerned that the city had borrowed money for a pavilion roof project but were now taking $107,000 of that and directing it toward something that was totally separate from a roof replacement project. She thought the request to hire a consultant should be brought forward through the normal budgeting process.
Alderperson Fenton was in favor of approving the request and moving forward with hiring a consultant sooner rather than waiting. She said that January had been the hottest January on record and she had read an article that as the climate got hotter people use more fuel because they run air conditioners more.
[For what it’s worth, cold is more deadly that heat, and I’m curious if heaters and furnaces burn less fuel than air conditioners.]
Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) said that without the request to hire a consultant coming through the committee it felt like they were taking action on something that they didn’t have any information about. She was not necessarily in favor of denying the request but she did want more information before moving forward. She then confirmed with Director Ohman that if they denied the carryover request the funds would still be available and could be put toward hiring a consultant if such a request was made in the future, separate from the budget carryover request.
NEW CITY CENTER SIGNAGE ($20,006) – The Fox Commons/City Center developer had been talking with impacted parties and tenants (including AZCO, AASD, Lawrence, the Building For Kids, and City Hall) about doing joint signage for the building so that people could find their way throughout the complex. The only sign in City Hall specifically that would be updated would be the sign at the bottom of the elevators. The rest of the signage associated with the project would be throughout the complex. If the city did not participate in the project, they would not be included on the signage throughout the building.
Alderperson Hartzheim felt that $20,000 was high for way-finding signage and pointed out that the outside of the building said “Appleton City Hall” on it and everybody had mobile phones with map apps on them. Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) also didn’t see the need for updated signage. Although people had asked him where the Council chambers were, nobody had ever asked him where City Hall as a whole was located.
[$20,000 seems extremely expensive. I’m curious if all of the various tenants and associated parties are being charged that. If City Hall, Building For Kids, AASD, Lawrence, Prevea, Mosaic, and AZCO are all being charged $20,000, that’s $140,000 for signage right there. Are these signs plated in gold?]
Both of the items were recommended for denial by the Finance Committee. Alderperson Denise Fenton voted against the denial. My assumption is that here nay vote was due to the climate master plan consultant and not so much related to the signage request.
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1274645&GUID=584E2085-0611-4290-9C87-A6F47CD7C576
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