City Meetings and Updates Week of July 20
posted- City Meetings:
- Common Council 7/21
- Housing Policy Committee 7/23
- Parks Alive at Galaxy Park 7/20 OR 7/27 Pending Air Quality Index
- Report A Problem Form: Planned Maintenance Outage 7/23-7/27
- Take the 2026 Recycle Better Course 7/23 and 7/30
- Events & Announcements
City Meetings
Note: This is not a complete list of meetings for this upcoming week. All meetings and their details can be found at the Meeting Schedule page.
Common Council
The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 21, at 6:30 p.m. in hybrid format. Agenda items include:
- Item 2: Presentation from the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE).
- Item 4: A resolution reappointing Building Inspection Director Matt Tucker another five-year term in that role.
- Item 19: A resolution establishing rules and procedures for Common Council deliberations on the 2027 City Capital and Operating Budgets.
- Item 23: A resolution authorizing a jurisdictional transfer agreement with the WI Department of Transportation for South Park St., West Washington Ave., Profit St, North Shore Dr., John Nolen Dr., and South Blair St. Under this agreement, these streets transfer to the City of Madison's jurisdiction coinciding with a one-time State payment of $37 million to the City to help with future reconstruction needs and Bus Rapid Transit upgrades. Representing an Eastside district, I'm very familiar with the challenges of having many of our streets subject to WisDOT's control as we try to implement traffic calming and make our neighborhoods more connected, walkable, and livable. Here's a staff presentation and here's a memo from WisDOT.
- 36: A resolution calling on UW-Health and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to resume providing gender-affirming health care to transgender youth.
Meeting info:
Housing Policy Committee
The Housing Policy Committee meeting will take place on Thursday, July 23, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include a presentation from Building Inspection regarding "minimum housing and property maintenance services", meaning regulations and enforcement programs designed to ensure that all residential properties remain safe, sanitary, and fit for human habitation.
If you would like more information about becoming a member of the City board, commission, or committee, please visit the page linked here.
Parks Alive at Galaxy Park Monday the 20th OR Monday the 27th Pending Air Quality Index
Galaxy Park in the North Star neighborhood in District 3 will once again host three Parks Alive events this summer. This program is collaborative effort involving City agencies, community organizations, and mobile resource providers working together to activate parks located in and around Neighborhood Resource Team areas like East Milwaukee Street.
Parks Alive builds stronger neighborhoods and connects neighbors to their parks through fun, family-friendly activities, music and free food. Connect with your neighbors and engage with your community at a Parks Alive event near you!
This second Parks Alive at Galaxy Park is “sports and games" themed!
- Where: Galaxy Park, 132 Milky Way
- When: Monday, July 20th from 5pm-7pm
For more information: Parks Alive | Galaxy Park, Monday, July 20
Please note: Madison Parks is closely monitoring the Canadian wildfires' impact on our air quality for the health and safety of all participants and volunteers. If the Air Quality Index stays over 100 through Monday, they will have to cancel Parks Alive in Galaxy Park on Monday. There may be a make-up event on July 27th, in which case I will share that news in next weekend's blog post. Consider watching the event webpage for updates, too.
Interested in volunteering for Parks Alive? Learn more and register online!
Report A Problem Form: Planned Maintenance Outage Thursday-Monday
The system that powers the City's large item work orders and some of the Report-A-Problem forms will be down for scheduled maintenance from 6pm on Thursday, July 23 to 6am on Monday, July 27.
This means residents will not be able to make new work orders from around 6pm Thursday, July 23 until the system comes back online on early Monday, July 27.
However, residents will be able to call or email the Streets Division with their concerns during the outage period.
- Phone: 608-246-4532
- Email: streets@cityofmadison
The forms that will be down are the following:
- trash and recycling concerns
- junk, trash, and debris issues
- brush concerns
- yard waste concerns
- damaged mailboxes
- potholes issues
Residents will still be able to use Report-A-Problem forms during this outage period for graffiti issues, collection cart exchanges & reports, urban forestry issues, and bikeway issues.
For additional details and to sign up for updates related to this outage period, please visit the IT Scheduled Maintenance webpage.
Take the 2026 Recycle Better Course Thursday the 23rd and Thursday the 30th
The City of Madison Streets Division has partnered again this year with Sustain Dane to offer the Recycle Better class. The class will teach you why it's important to recycle right, and it will give you the knowledge and confidence to help your community recycle better, too. Once you're done with both class sessions, you can become a Certified Recycling Steward to share useful recycling knowledge that your family, friends, and neighbors would like to know, but maybe just don't know who to ask.
We have seen fires here in Madison from things put into the recycling that do not belong. When you place things into the recycling cart that do not belong, it raises the costs of the Resource Recovery Special Charge because the trash needs to be removed from the good recyclables. And, the wrong items can even be dangerous to the people who work at the facilities, too.
Each online course has two 90-minute sessions. The first session will be on July 23, 2026, from 6:30pm to 8:00pm with its concluding session on July 30 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.
You must register first to attend the class. More details can be found on the Sustain Dane registration webpage, or the Streets Division's website.
Sustain Dane charges a small tuition ($15) to attend. If cost is a burden, please contact Sam Wordette at Sustain Dane to ask about having the tuition waived.
For more information about the City of Madison Streets Division's recycling program, please visit our website.
Events & Announcements
- Help Your Trees: Urban Forestry Reminds Residents to Water Newly Planted Trees: If a tree has been planted on the terrace in front of your home by Urban Forestry within the last five years, or if you had a tree planted on your private property in that same window of time, please water the tree as needed to increase its chance…[posted July 14, 2026]
- Alder John W. Duncan Announces Resignation from Madison Common Council: Alder John W. Duncan, District 1, is resigning from the Madison Common Council, effective July 31, 2026. “My last day as your alder will be Friday, July 31, 2026. My husband and I have decided to move from Madison. While we are excited for this… [posted July 13, 2026]
- Learn to Kayak, Monday, July 20: Learn to Kayak with Madison Boats! Register online for this free class offered at Marshall Park. All ages are welcome and most appropriate for ages 10 and older. Anyone under 18 must have a guardian present and may need to be in the kayak with child.
- Concerts on the Rooftop: Gold Dust Women (Fleetwood Mac/Heart Tribute), Thursday, July 23: Gold Dust Women isn't just a tribute band—it's a powerhouse of top-tier musicians, each a standout performer in their own right. When these dynamic personalities come together on stage, they create pure magic, bringing the music of Fleetwood Mac, Heart, and a few unexpected surprises to life with electrifying energy.
- Brat Fry Friday, Friday, July 24: Come join us for lunch at the links! The grill will be fired up from 11am-3pm for a delicious afternoon treat.
- Bird & Nature Adventures | Edna Taylor, Saturday, July 25: Join a naturalist for an easy, family-friendly walk from Aldo Leopold Nature Center into beautiful Edna Taylor Conservation Park and enjoy a bit of nature education along the way. Walks through the Edna Taylor Conservation Park are held on the 4th Saturday, 10-11:30am of each month.
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.
