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Agenda Navigation & Let's Talk 2026 Budget

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Preparing for City Meetings

During the last Council meeting (October 7, 2025), we discussed a Legistar file that was initially introduced on August 5, routed to Finance, and returned to Council on September 2. The Legistar file returned to the Council for reconsideration. Most of the information provided at the last meeting was already available in Legistar, and any alder can pull items from the Council's consent agenda or ask their colleagues to pull the item from the committee's consent agenda for clarification.

I have a routine for preparing for city meetings that others may find helpful. I will use the upcoming Finance meeting as an example.

This agenda is packed with various types of budget-related items and contains the first set of 2026 Executive Operating Budget Briefings.

Tips to prep for meetings:

  1. Usually, on Saturday, I open the Legistar calendar
  2. I filter for "Next Week" and "All Boards, Commissions and Committees"
  3. A list of meetings is displayed, and I look for my committees and click on "Meeting details."
  4. I export the "Meeting items" into an Excel file
  5. I return to the "Meeting details" section and open the Legistar file using the first column in the list.
  6. Each file has two tabs: "History" & "Text".
  7. The Text tab contains the Fiscal note and the Body of the item.

As I read each item, I take notes on items where I need clarification. Depending on time constraints, I reach out to staff or pull the item from consent at the meeting.

Repeat this process for any of the committees listed.

Legistar Calendar Next Week View
2. Finance Committee Meeting Items View
3.Legistar 90171 Text tab

Agenda Navigation by topics

After nearly five years of going through this process, a few key phrases have helped me expedite the review process. Here are some things I look for:

  1. District 10 related
  2. Basic information
    1. Agency
    2. Funding Source
    3. Budget year impact
    4. Capital vs Operating budget
    5. Purpose
    6. Type of file (e.g., ordinance, resolution, etc.)
  3. HR related
    1. new classification
    2. position classification
  4. Contract related
    1. non-competitive
    2. sole source
    3. term of the contract
  5. Grants
    1. matching funds
    2. grant term

For the purpose of this blog, I created a document that displays the export of the Finance agenda, including fiscal notes for each item. The fiscal notes include highlights of the keywords I use to navigate the files. Additional information for each file is listed in the "Body" of the document.

Hope you find this information helpful!

4. Meeting Export Headers

Now! Let's talk 2026 budget!

Upcoming Finance Meetings

Legistar 90249 2026 Executive Operating Budget

Register for the Finance Committee - October 13, 2025

The following Agencies will present their operating budgets:

  • Administration: Assessor Attorney Civil Rights Clerk Employee Assistance Program Finance Human Resources Information Technology
  • Public Works: Engineering (including Landfill, Sewer, Stormwater), Fleet, Parks (including Golf), Streets & Water
  • Public Health and Safety: Fire, Police & Office of the Independent Monitor

Watch the Finance Committee - October 14

The following Agencies will continue the presentation of their operating budgets:

  • General Government: Municipal Court, Common Council & Mayor's Office
  • Public Health and Safety: Public Health
  • Public Facilities: Monona Terrace, Library, Transportation, Metro Transit, Parking, Traffic Engineering & Transportation
  • PCED: Building Inspection, CDA Housing Operations, CDA Redevelopment, Community Development Division, Economic Development Division, Planning & PCED Office of the Director

ClearGov Platform

In addition to the regular format, Finance is presenting this year's budget documents, using the ClearGov platform. The digital budget book is web and mobile-friendly, featuring enhanced navigation features and visualizations.

Finance will cover the new format navigation at the finance meeting; I will share the presentation when it becomes available.

In the meantime, here are some navigation steps:

  1. Open the ClearGov platform file & select the preferred language (yahooooo!!!!!)
  2. Use the arrows to expand each section
  3. Find the Agency
  4. Navigate to the agency services
  5. Additional navigation to move up and down the pages, click left or right arrow
  6. To create a PDF file of a single agency, click the PDF tab
  7. Select specific pages
  8. Enter email address
  9. Create PDF
  10. On the Next page, find the agency
  11. Check the services to be included
  12. Click "Create Custom PDF"

The PDF file will be sent to the email provided. For this example, I selected the police services. Click here to review the PDF.

5. ClearGov 1
5. ClearGov 2

 

5. ClearGov 3
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District 10 - Alder Figueroa Cole

Alder Yannette Figueroa Cole

Alder Yannette Figueroa Cole

District 10
Contact Alder Figueroa Cole

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