Common Council

Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update - 3/16/20

Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

Yesterday, I shared information related to Coronavirus/COVID-19 and its local impact in this blog post. The situation continues to develop including a declaration of a State of Emergency today by Dane County Executive Parisi. Additional closures have been announced including the closure of all Madison Public Libraries and Olbrich Botanical Gardens.

Most city meetings have also been canceled for this week including the public meeting regarding an Eastside Dog Park. The Alcohol License Review Committee will hold a limited meeting for non-controversial items, but will not take up the item related to Visions Nightclub (this item will be referred to the April meeting.)

The Common Council will hold our meeting with a number of modifications including greater separation between members during the meeting and limited staff and public presence in the council chambers. Anyone wishing to provide public comment on an item is encouraged to send their comments in via email to allalders@cityofmadison.com in lieu of an in-person appearance. One critical item on our agenda is an ordinance change that would allow us to meet via telephone or online in the future. 

The appeal of the Plan Commission decision regarding 3930 Milwaukee Street (proposed Amazon Distribution Center) will be referred to the March 31 meeting at the request of the applicants and will not be taken up tomorrow. You can read more background on this issue here. Those interested in this item may also want to consider watching this Frontline episode that gives some additional context to Amazons global strategy and to that of the East Madison proposal.

Two other items that I am sponsoring on this week's Common Council agenda include: Creating the Ad Hoc Task Force on the Structure of City Government (TFOGS) Final Report Implementation Work Group and a resolution In support of state legislation to allow police officers and firefighters to make workers' compensation claims for post-traumatic stress disorder under expanded circumstances.