Appleton council to consider climate change proposal | Fox Cities Notebook

APPLETON - Aldermen may dip their toes into some partisan politics this week — something not often seen under the nonpartisan local government structure in Appleton — as they debate whether to create a climate change board and follow the Paris agreement on climate change.

The proposal would:

Create a climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Join the Climate Mayors network, an organization of mayors nationwide committed to action plans in accordance with the Paris agreement

Form a climate change board with membership made up of Appleton residents, city officials and staff to create a plan and ensure the plan is implemented

Explore "the potential benefits and costs of adopting policies and programs that promote the long-term goal of (greenhouse gas) emissions reduction while maximizing economic and social co-benefits of such action"

RELATED: Alderman proposes aligning Appleton with Paris climate agreement

The usual talk when implementing new programs or policies like this between aldermen is how much staff time will be used, how much the program will cost, etc. At Monday night's Parks and Recreation Committee meeting, that discussion happened, but there was a hint of politics too — debating whether climate change is real, whether it's caused by human activity, and whether that lends itself to this proposal.

Alderman Bob Baker, the author of the proposal and former Democratic Assembly candidate, told the committee that it's easy to think his proposal is backed by "a partisan opinion," but then in true Wisconsin fashion, cited a Vince Lombardi quote to make his point: "You don't do the right thing once in a while … you do the right thing all the time."

In contrast, Alderman Matt Reed said he didn't want to get into the politics of President Donald Trump's decision over pulling out of the agreement and called the scientific consensus around climate change "debatable at best."

"It's become so ingrained in our culture, so ingrained in our media, so ingrained in our education system that you're viewed as a crazy person, a backwards hick, if you don't buy into it," Reed said. "I just happen to disagree with the necessity of taking this step at this point."

As a regular observer of local governments across the Fox Cities, I can say that it's rare to see officials take a deliberate political stance on something. More often the discussions on the local level focus on neighborhood issues, roads, and more — not partisan issues. The voting blocs on local issues from week to week can vary widely, unlike Madison, where you can most often predict state legislators' votes by the letter behind their name.

This dichotomy is what makes local government so interesting, and yet difficult to follow as observers look for key traits, words or topics to see where officials' political affiliations likely fall. It's the difference between discussing gun control or Second Amendment rights, discussing income inequality versus tax cuts across the board, climate change or ensuring businesses aren't burdened by environmental regulations.

I'm interested to see what the discussion will focus on at this week's Common Council meeting (7 p.m. Wednesday at Appleton City Hall): changes in the bureaucracy in implementing a policy like this or the politics behind the policy.

Hortonville to hire new police chief soon

After the investigation and later resignation of its former police chief, Michael Sullivan, Hortonville is working to hire a new police chief.

So far, the village's Police Commission has held interviews with top candidates. The Village Board will do the same, with interviews tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, wrote Diane Wessel, village administrator, in an email to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

The Village Board met in closed session Thursday with a representative from the Police Commission about the candidates and the commission's recommendations, Wessel said.

The hiring comes after the village voted earlier this year to stick with its own police department rather than dissolve the department and contract with the sheriff's department for law enforcement needs.