Two Neighborhood Meetings and Other Highlights for the Week of September 5, 2022

Administrative offices are closed on Monday, September 5, for Labor Day. Emergency services will be open; please call 911. You may use Report a Problem for non-emergencies.

• Emergency water issue: Call Madison Water Utility, 608-266-4665, 24/7.
• Sanitary sewer backup: Call 608-266-4430. An emergency crew will respond to your call.
• Report a Problem: Report non-emergencies that can wait until the next City working day.

Bus service reduced on Labor Day: Metro buses will follow holiday schedules on Monday, September 5, due to Labor Day. Find out which routes are affected here. In addition, all standing paratransit rides will be canceled on Monday, September 5. Paratransit passengers must schedule casual rides to travel on this date. Rides are eligible according to Holiday schedules. Metro's customer service center will be open from 8am until 4:30p. Metro's administration office will be closed for the holiday. For more information, contact the Metro customer service center at (608) 266-4466 or mymetrobus@cityofmadison.com.

Trash, recycling and large item collection: If your trash and recycling is collected on Mondays, you should place your scheduled cart(s) to the curb for collection by 6:30am on Tuesday, September 6, 2022. Only residents that have a Monday collection day will experience a delay in refuse and recycling pickup services. If you have a Tuesday collection of trash and recycling by the Streets Division, you should also place your scheduled cart(s) out for emptying by 6:30am on September 6.

Due to the holiday, large item collection will begin on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 for residents who submitted work orders to set out items on Sunday, September 4, 2022. As a reminder, all large item collections must be scheduled in advance by submitted a work order. And you should set the items out on the date you selected in the work order – not earlier. Crews do not provide early pickup. Create your large item work order.

Please join me for a virtual neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at 6:30pm, where we will hear about Asbury United Methodist Church's proposal to establish a private school within their existing building at 6101 University Avenue. The beginning student body would be 100-120 9th and 10th graders, with plans to eventually educate students in grades 9-12. School would start around 8am and end at 2:30pm. Approximately 30% of the student body would be involved in after-school activities until approximately 4pm. The proposal will require conditional use approval under existing zoning. Asbury intends to immediately begin a building program to relocate the school to a new environment in three years. You can join the virtual meeting using your computer, smartphone, or tablet, or you can listen in via telephone. You will receive login information after registering at www.cityofmadison.com/MeetingSeptember7University.

Please join me for a virtual neighborhood meeting on Thursday, September 8, 2022, at 6:30pm, where we will hear about Vivo Investments' proposal to convert 517 Grand Canyon Drive from a hotel to a residential use. The proposal would require conditional use approval. You can join the virtual meeting using your computer, smartphone, or tablet, or you can listen in via telephone. You will receive login information after registering at www.cityofmadison.com/MeetingSeptember8GrandCanyon.

Other Meetings

• The Common Council will meet in hybrid format at 6:30pm on Tuesday, September 6.
  • Meeting details
  • Meeting agenda 
  • Watch online

• Well 15 PFAS Treatment Project – Public Information Meeting #2: Please join the Madison Water Utility for a second public information meeting on Thursday, September 8, 6pm-7:30pm, at the East Madison Community Center, 8 Straubel Court. Water Utility staff will present preliminary concepts on PFAS treatment solutions being considered for municipal drinking water Well #15. The presentation will provide an overview of the five treatment options considered along with an explanation of the pros, cons, and cost benefit analysis associated with each approach. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. To learn more about the project, please visit www.cityofmadison.com/water/projects. Visit cityofmadison.com/water to subscribe to the Water Utility email list to receive news and other updates.

To see the full list of City meetings scheduled for the week, please consult the City meeting schedule.

• Project Updates
  • Old Middleton Road and Craig Avenue Resurfacing
  • University Avenue

• The Mayor will release the 2023 Executive Capital Budget on Tuesday

• City and County Announce Additional $9 million Investment in Men's Homeless Shelter

• 11th annual 9/11 'Never Forget' Blood Drive - Donate blood with the Red Cross, Madison Fire and Police Departments

• From City Engineering: Since the 2018 flood, the Engineering Division has done much to improve flooding issues, including updating the Stormwater Ordinance – important for anyone planning to build or redevelop in the Madison community. The latest blog in Engineering's "Since 2018" series focuses on the Stormwater Ordinance.

• Latest Madison Water Utility Annual Report is Available!

• Applications Now Being Accepted for Police Civilian Oversight Board At-Large Seats - Deadline to apply is Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022

• Madison Fire Department Announces Recruitment Open Houses - starting on Sept. 7

• Trucks & Treasure: See, climb, and explore the big rigs! Sell or shop the gently used toys, games, books, and more at the kids-to-kids garage sale. Join Madison Parks at Trucks & Treasures on Saturday, September 17, 9am-12pm, at Reindahl Park.

• Homebuyer education classes: The City of Madison, in partnership with the Home Buyers Round Table of Dane County and Consumer Credit Counseling Service, want to share with you these HUD Approved Homebuyer Education classes occurring monthly through the rest of 2022. Find all the events here. The next class is September 24, 8am-3pm, at the Villager Mall, Atrium entrance (2300 S. Park Street). You will learn more about what it takes to buy your first home, securing a mortgage, and down payment assistance programs. Hear from content experts like realtors, lenders, insurance agents, home inspectors, and housing counselors. Register for the free class here. If you have questions, please contact Maria Davila-Martinez at mdavila-martinez@cityofmadison.com or 608-266-6557.

• Brush collection: The Streets Division would like to remind residents that the final curbside brush collection opportunity for 2022 is fast approaching. Most residents will receive their fifth and final opportunity for curbside brush collection during the month of September. You can learn the dates when you should set out brush for pickup by going to the Streets Division website, www.cityofmadison.com/BrushCollection. Enter your address into the form, and you will see the dates when you can set out brush for pickup.

• Dane CORE 2.0 portal closing: In September of 2021, Dane County and the City of Madison launched Dane CORE 2.0, a federally funded emergency rental assistance program designed to help renter households struggling to meet their housing costs. The program has distributed nearly $40 million of rent and utility assistance to more than 6,300 households.

During the early days of the pandemic, Dane County and the City of Madison sought these federal funds to assist those in our community struggling to pay rent. While Dane CORE partners have distributed a tremendous amount of federal assistance, many in our community continue to struggle to meet their basic needs.

At this time, the federal funds available to Dane CORE 2.0 are nearly depleted. The County and City have already requested additional funding from the federal government through the U.S. Department of Treasury and are working with our federal Congressional delegation to advocate for additional funds. We are hopeful that more funding will be provided, but we don't yet know when that decision will be made or how much funding might be offered.

Many households already have requests for assistance pending. To better ensure funds are available to pay existing eligible claims, we have decided to close the Dane CORE 2.0 application portal as of 12:00 AM on September 15, 2022. The Dane CORE 2.0 program partners will continue to process applications received prior to the portal closure at 12:00 AM on September 15.

Applications will be processed under existing program criteria, in the order in which they are received, until remaining funds are gone. To learn about program eligibility and apply for Dane CORE 2.0, please visit www.danecore.org.

If new federal funding is provided, important changes will be made regarding its use if applications are re-opened after September 15.

First, program benefits will be reserved only for those households facing the harshest of economic hardships. This was the approach adopted when the federal emergency rental assistance program was first introduced in 2021.

Additional guidelines after September 15 include:

• Program benefits would be available to those with household incomes at or below 50% of the County Median Income. (Currently the income threshold is 80% of County Median Income).
• The program will provide assistance only for past-due (unpaid) rents.
• Only arrears accrued since July 1, 2021, will be eligible.
• Assistance will not be available for forward/future rent payments unless paired with security deposit assistance.

In addition to providing direct rent support for high needs households, the City and County also funds services through the Eviction Diversion and Defense Partnership. The Program provides legal representation to renters who face eviction actions, mediates disputes between tenants and landlords, and helps address other potential threats to housing stability. Services through the Eviction Diversion and Defense Partnership are currently available at no cost to eligible households, and they will continue after the Dane CORE application portal closes on September 15.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, etc., feel free to reach out: district19@cityofmadison.com

-Keith F