Introduction: Keith Furman

On August 7th, the Madison Common Council appointed me to fill the remainder of Alder Mark Clear's term which expires on April 16, 2019. I'm honored to have the opportunity to represent the 19th District on the Common Council.

I want to thank Alder Clear for his service to the City of Madison. Alder Clear was elected on April 3, 2007. During his time on the council, he was elected Common Council President Pro Tem (vice president) in 2008 and 2009 and was elected Common Council President for the 2010-2011 term. Alder Clear's dedication, knowledge and tireless commitment to the community will be sorely missed on the council. The City of Madison and the 19th District are better places because of his service. The council passed a resolution honoring Alder Clear on Thursday Night. I wish him the best of luck in his new job. Luckily for all of us, Mark isn't leaving the district and I look forward to his advice and counsel.

About Keith

My wife Sandi, and I have lived in Madison near Spring Harbor for a little over 5 years. I previously lived in Hoboken, NJ and was active in local government. Hoboken is a densely populated city and I initially became involved in grassroots efforts to improve the amount and quality of open space. Through that work, I learned there was more I could do to help improve the quality of life in our community. I was a campaign volunteer for former Mayor Dawn Zimmer in a city council race, as well as her campaigns for Mayor (she's was elected twice to that position). I was later appointed to the city's planning board (a volunteer position), where I eventually became Chairman and helped facilitate the implementation of sound city planning initiatives, including a re-examination of the City's Master Plan for Zoning and Development.

I moved to Madison in 2013 to join a small healthcare technology start-up as their Chief Technology and Chief Strategy Officer. After 5 years helping grow the company into a successful venture, I sold my ownership stake last year and I have since left the company with the desire to focus on efforts that more directly impact my local community. My wife is a Wisconsin native and we have come to love Madison; I am thrilled with the opportunity to serve as Alder.

Since Alder Clear announced he was leaving the council, I've had an opportunity to speak to Alder Clear, former Madison alders, representatives from neighborhood/homeowner associations in our district and neighbors. I believe a big part of the role of an Alder is to be a conduit between the city/council and the residents. I look forward to continuing my outreach and will hold regular office hours throughout the district. I will continue to make announcements about my office hours on my official blog, but here's the first set of office hours for August:

I look forward to continuing a dialogue with residents in the district.,  If you have a question, concern or topic of interest that you would like to discuss, but the times above don't work for you, you can schedule a meeting with me online at http://calendar.keith.net.

I will continue Mark's tradition of using district19@cityofmadison.com as my e-mail address and will post regular updates to my city blog (http://www.cityofmadison.com/council/district19/blog/).

Budget

The biggest issue I'll be working on this fall with be Madison's 2019 Budget. The Capital Budget, as prepared by the Mayor, is scheduled to be introduced on September 4th. The Finance Committee will hold hearings on September 12th & 13th. There will be a public hearing on the budget and Finance Committee Amendments on September 25th. The Operating Budget, also prepared by the Mayor, will be introduced in October with public hearings in both October and early/mid-November. I'll post more information about the budget soon.

Please considering running for Alder in District 19!

Lastly, I wanted to end this note with a call for candidates for the Spring 2019 election for 19th Aldermanic District. I know many of us pay a lot of attention to national politics, but local politics is the place where people can make the most difference on people's daily life. I'm in the process of putting together a few different resources that will be helpful for anyone considering running to be Alder, but in the meantime, if you're interested, please reach out! I'm hopeful residents of the 19th District will have a wide range of candidates to choose from in the Spring.

-Keith F