Meetings and Updates Week of January 8th
posted- City Meetings:
- Plan Commission 1/8
- Common Council 1/9
- Galaxy Park Virtual Public Information Meeting 1/11 at 6pm
- Events & Announcements
City Meetings
Plan Commission
The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Monday, January 8, in virtual format at 5:30 p.m. Agenda items include development related requests (none in District 3).
Common Council
The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 9, in hybrid format at 6:30 p.m.
Notable agenda items include:
- A resolution celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Establishing in-person absentee voting locations for the 2024 spring elections (I’m cosponsoring) as well as the Spring Primary Polling Locations for February 20th (note that there are no spring primary locations in District 3 as no spring races covering District 3 have a primary)
- Financing the Phase 1 redevelopment of the Triangle public housing site
- A proposal to raise salaries for alders.
- The proposal increases the annual salary of alders from $15,128 to $24,218 effective April 15, 2025 (note that Council can’t raise its own pay during the same term). Effective every two years thereafter, the salaries would be adjusted by a percentage equal to the percentage of any increases for managerial employees in the previous two years. Funding for the increase would need to be included in the 2025 adopted operating budget. Along with appropriating funds in the 2025 budget, the increase must also be codified in ordinance, which is what this resolution proposes to do. It needs a three-fourths vote of the Council to pass.
- I generally support raising alder pay by a modest amount in the next Council term. I think it will make the job more appealing to feasible for well-qualified and diverse candidates, help alders spend more time to do the job (it takes a lot of time to do it well), and result in residents getting better service and engagement from their alder.
- However, the City’s Operating Budget faces a large deficit again in 2025: projections shared by City Finance staff in the October budget hearing show that expenses are estimated to exceed revenues by at least $30 million next year. State law requires that we pass a balanced Operating Budget, meaning we’ll need to make some hard choices to close that ~$30 million gap. That's going to be a big challenge. For this reason I‘m very concerned that the council is voting on such a large pay increase for alders in 2025 without yet knowing how we’ll balance the 2025 Operating Budget.
- A resolution authorizing a contract with Union Cab and awarding Accessible Taxi Cab funds for the purchase of three accessible cabs (I’m cosponsoring). This is the next step in bringing more accessible cab options to Madison under the program created by Council last year, spearheaded by former District 3 Alder Erik Paulson.
Galaxy Park Virtual Public Information Meeting 1/18 at 6pm
Madison Parks is planning to make improvements to Galaxy Park, the neighborhood park in the North Grandview area, in 2024! The park currently offers a playground and sun shelter. Parks has prepared two plan options to add additional amenities. We want your input! Please consider joining us virtually on Thursday 1/18 at 6pm.
This will be a virtual Public Input Meeting via Zoom. Addresses within a quarter mile of Galaxy Park should receive a postcard invitation in the mail soon. The meeting will be recorded for those who cannot attend. Here's the link to register in advance!
Check out the Plan Options:
- Plan Option 1 (link): full-court basketball, a “gaga ball pit”, a managed meadow at the southern/uphill half of the park, retains the existing playground and shelter.
- Plan Option 2 (link): half basketball court, a mountain biking skills course (question from me: would residents prefer a paved “all wheels” course that accommodates road bikes instead of just mountain bikes?), a managed meadow at the southern/uphill half of the park, retains existing playground and shelter.
Events & Announcements
- Public Nominations for the Police Civilian Oversight Board: MADISON, [1/5/2024] — The Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) is currently seeking nominations from the community to fill vacancies on the Board. The PCOB supervises and works collaboratively with the City of Madison’s Office of the Independent Monitor.
- Job shadow program looks to connect officers, community members in new way: Madison, Wis. – The Madison Police Department has created a special job shadow program allowing community members and officers to learn from one another. The Madison Proximity Project pairs a Madison resident with an officer.
- Madison police create Hate Crimes Task Force: Madison, Wis. – The Madison Police Department has created a new task force to help identify and prevent hate crimes in Madison.The task force was proactively formed to address bias-motivated threats, harassment and violence throughout Madison.
- Reduced Service on January 15: Buses follow Saturday schedules due to Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
- Pick Up Native Wisconsin Seeds: Native Wisconsin Seeds are now available in six - yes SIX - of our libraries! This year, we've added another new library location to the Seed Library(link is external) - Hawthorne Library! You can now pick up seed packets at Sequoya, Meadowridge, Pinney, Goodman South Madison, Lakeview and Hawthorne Libraries - no library card needed. Why Native seeds now? Native Wisconsin plant seeds are best sown in the fall and left to overwinter.
- Winter Information: The City of Madison has a hub for all things winter from how to use salt correctly to winter recreation opportunities to free sand locations to snowplowing update email signups. All of that is available at www.cityofmadison.com/Winter
