Finance Committee Meeting 03/07/2022 – Will Take Up Resolution Reallocating City Brand Funds

The Finance Committee is meeting 03/07/2022 at 5:30PM.

They will be at a minimum again discussing Resolution 2-R-22 which is the resolution that would take the money currently set aside for the city’s branding study and reallocate it as follows:

• $100,000 for an Appleton.org website re-design
• $225,000 for the city’s enhanced crosswalk program
• $150,000 for technology upgrades

This resolution was first taken up at the 01/24/2022 Finance Committee meeting where it was put on hold to give time to receive staff feedback.

It was discussed again at the 02/07/2022 Finance Committee meeting where it was again held until the 03/07/2022 meeting to give staff time to formulate a better idea of what their department funding needs might be. It looks like they do now have further recommendations and have indicated…

• The creation of a style guide can be undertaken with or without Council action, so no further action is needed at this time.
• The $100,000 designated for website redesign can be held pending further scope development and initiation of vendor procurement process
• The Finance Committee could allocate $75,000 of the $225,000 the resolution allocates for the Enhanced Crosswalk Program for the purpose of hiring a qualified consultant
• The Finance Committee could allocate $60,000 of the $150,000 allocated for technology upgrades for the purpose of contracting for services to provide comprehensive analysis of the City’s IT systems.

There are a number of other action items on the agenda including a request to approve some 2021-22 budget carryover appropriations, several requests regarding pavement and sewer/water/lateral projects, and a request for approval to participate in the Solar Now Program at the Library, Municipal Services Building and Valley Transit.

Regarding that last item, Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza states in his memo to the committee, “WE Energies has invited the City of Appleton to participate in their new Solar Now program. The Solar Now program is a “pilot” program with limited capacity for participation. The program was developed to provide a win-win for WE Energies and their participating customers. Solar Now invites customers to host solar panels with no upfront or ongoing costs.” Staff is recommending approval of the request.

There are also some information items updating the committee on various projects.

View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=925220&GUID=4C325E42-A98E-46B2-B8C6-2FC65BD1C8A4