City Meetings and Updates Week of April 13
posted- City Meetings:
- Finance Committee 4/13
- Plan Commission 4/13
- Transportation Commission 4/15
- News: Local Air Quality Monitoring Information Now Available Online
- Reminder: Spring Yard Waste Collection Begins Soon; Expanded Hours for Streets Division Drop-Off Sites
- Parks Seeking Public Input: Reimagining Odana Hills Golf Course
- Events & Announcements
City Meetings
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee meeting will take place on Monday, April 13, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include:
- Item 4: a resolution authorizing a competitively selected contract with REDI Transports for emergency detention transport services (I'm a cosponsor). This program provides third-party, non-police transport for mental health-related transports to the Winnebago Mental Health Facility. Here's a 2023 local news story on the topic.
- Item 5: a resolution approving the 2026 Neighborhood Grant Program funding recommendations (I'm a cosponsor). Two District 3 projects are recommended for grant funding: a “wayside area" with a kiosk, planting bed, and bike maintenance area at Sycamore Park proposed by the Burke Heights Neighborhood Association; and a community wellness and violence prevention program at Harmony Apartments proposed by Seein' is Believin' LLC. Here is the full list of scored proposals with more information about each.
- Item 14: a resolution amending the 2026 Operating Budget and setting the 2026 Municipal Services bill rates for the Sewer Utility, Landfill, and Stormwater Utility. For the average residential customer, Sanitary Sewer charge is proposed to increase by 2.7% or $1.06/month, the Landfill charge will stay the same, and the Stormwater charge is proposed to increase by 2.3% or $0.29/month.
Meeting info:
Plan Commission
The Plan Commission meeting will take place on Monday, April 13, at 5:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include development-related requests (none in District 3).
Transportation Commission
The Transportation Commission meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 15, at 5:00 p.m. Agenda items include a discussion about pain points and potential process improvements to Safe Streets Madison, which is the City's program for identifying, ranking, and approving traffic calming projects. Here are a detailed staff memo and a staff presentation to the Transportation Commission members for Wednesday's discussion.
Here are the staff recommendations for Safe Streets Madison program changes according to the memo, each of which aligns with the identified challenges of the program:
- School-related projects – Add 30% weight to a potential project's benefit score for those projects identified through a Safe Routes to School planning process and dedicate a minimum of 10% of funding for each round to these projects.
- Lifetime project costs – Use anticipated 30-year cost in place of construction costs in prioritization process.
- Maximum individual project costs – Direct staff to stop scoring if a proposed project's estimated lifetime cost exceeds $200,000 and develop a formal process to redirect high-cost, high-impact projects to alternative programs.
- Low-scoring project migration – Migrate low-scoring projects from the candidate list to an archived list after 3 years; allow projects from the archived list to return to candidate list if warranted by new data.
- Quick-build projects – Direct staff to consider temporary paint-and-post construction for projects that have a high impact score but a low benefit/cost score.
Meeting info:
News: Local Air Quality Monitoring Information Now Available Online
Madisonians now have a new resource for information about air quality in their neighborhood. Data from City of Madison's low-cost air quality sensors is now available on the Love My Air Wisconsin website. Residents can now access real-time measurements of particulate matter at more than 40 locations across town. The project is a collaboration between the City of Madison and the Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin, which will strengthen local efforts to better understand and improve air quality for residents of all ages.
Love My Air Wisconsin displays hour-by-hour data on fine particulate matter (PM2.5), particles that can cause serious health problems when we breathe them in. Users can explore sensor readings, view air quality trends in their neighborhoods, and learn about actions to reduce exposure.
Love My Air began in 2018 as an initiative by the City of Denver to provide actionable air quality information to residents. Since then, the program has expanded from 9 to more than 35 schools in the Denver Public School System and three health care centers, and other communities in Colorado. Building on this success, the Children's Health Alliance of Wisconsin launched the Love My Air Wisconsin program, installing air quality sensors at 15 schools in partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools. The City of Madison has joined this initiative to provide accessible information about air quality that helps our community know when to take action to protect our health.
Reminder: Spring Yard Waste Collection Begins Soon; Expanded Hours for Streets Division Drop-Off Sites
- REMINDER: Yard Waste Collection Set-Out Dates for Spring 2026 Now Available; Spring Collection Begins Soon: The 2026 set-out date schedule for the Streets Division's springtime yard waste collection is now available on the yard waste website. You need to look up your home's yard waste set-out dates before you put out your bags of leaves or piles of… [posted April 6, 2026]
- Streets Division Drop-off Sites Hours Expand Starting April 11, 2026; Quann-Olin Drop-off Site Opens: Starting on Saturday, April 11, 2026, the Streets Division drop-off sites begin their summer hours. Also on Saturday, April 11, the drop-off site at 1504 Quann-Olin Parkway will open for the first time. Streets Division drop-off sites are for Madison… [posted April 6, 2026]
Parks Seeking Public Input: Reimagining Odana Hills Golf Course
The City of Madison Parks Division is excited for the new partnership with Michael and Jocelyn Keiser and the Madison Parks Foundation. Through the Keisers' philanthropic vision and generous donation, we have an opportunity to reimagine, redesign and reconstruct Odana Hills Golf Course. The baseline course improvements will address tee boxes, green complexes and surrounds, along with some potential for routing adjustments.
In addition to the golf course improvement project, the City is planning to leverage the private donation and take advantage of the temporary closure of the property in a way that allows for public infrastructure improvements to both Odana Hills Golf Course and Odana Hills East Park.
Get Involved!
- Attend the virtual public information meeting
- Thursday, April 30, 2026, 6:00 - 8:00pm
- Register to attend
- Provide input in the online survey
- Open through Sunday, April 19, 2026
- Take the Survey
- Check out the project page and following along
Events & Announcements
- Public Input Meeting - Eastmorland Park, Tuesday, April 14: The City of Madison Parks Division is improving the playground at Eastmorland Park and we want your input. At this meeting City staff will present revised playground equipment options from input gathered at the playground workshop.
- MPD seeking participants for the Black Youth Academy: MADISON, Wis. — The Madison Police Department will once again host a summer camp to help foster trust between law enforcement and youth. The Black Youth Academy is designed for middle school students from the Madison area. The free, weeklong camp… [posted April 9, 2026]
- Urban Forestry Planting 1,400 Trees in Spring 2026: Urban Forestry's annual spring planting season begins on Monday, April 13, 2026.Crews will be planting approximately 1,400 trees along City of Madison streets. There will be 35 different tree species planted. When selecting trees, Urban… [posted April 9, 2026]
- Celebrate National Library Week April 19-25 at Madison Public Library: MADISON, WI – From April 19-25, Madison Public Library is celebrating National Library Week, an annual celebration that highlights the important role libraries, librarians, and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening communities… [posted April 8, 2026]
- Madison police offer free training to prepare people for active shooter events: MADISON, Wis. – The Madison Police Department is offering a training designed to save lives in an active shooter situation. The next session of the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) will be held the morning of April 15. [posted April 7, 2026]
- LINKcat Will Be Offline April 12-16 as New Features Get Added; All Madison Public Libraries Will Open Late April 16: MADISON, WI--Library users across the South Central Library System should prepare for down time in the LINKcat app and website beginning at 5pm on Sunday, April 12 and continuing through Thursday, April 16. [posted April 6, 2026]
- Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) Training, Wednesday, April 15: Come join us for our in-person CRASE Training session where you'll learn crucial strategies for handling active shooter situations. Led by experienced instructors, this event will cover life-saving techniques and emergency response protocols.
- Coffee with a Cop - North District, Wednesday, April 15: Coffee with a Cop is a chance for community members to connect with the officers who serve their city. Officers can speak about recent cases to department wide initiatives to lower crime in our community.
- Vaccine Clinic at Mendota Elementary School, Saturday, April 18:All vaccines are free for eligible individuals. Children six months and older who lack insurance, are under 19, and are either Alaskan Native or American Indian, as well as those with BadgerCare or most other types of insurance, can receive vaccinations at no cost.
- Bird & Nature Adventures | Starkweather Creek Area, Saturday, April 18: Earth Week Creek Cleanup ~ Join Lance Green and Friends of Starkweather Creek to help pick up trash in and along the beautiful Starkweather Creek greenway that winds through the east side of Madison from Lake Monona all the way to MATC and East Town! Join Friends of Starkweather Creek to help with cleanups by canoe and on foot.
Please visit the City news webpage to find additional news and announcements and to subscribe to receive notification of news releases as they are posted. Additional upcoming events can also be found on the City events calendar.
