Common Council

06/16/20

DISTRICT UPDATE 06/16/20:

The City Council meets tonight (06/16) to discuss several legislative items. Many issues relate to police policy, and there is a specific budget request. The Council will be voting on an amendment to Madison General Ordinance 33.01 as well, which prohibits our Boards Commissions and Committees (BCCs) from the meeting. The Campus Neighborhood Association (CNA) is also holding its first meeting this Thursday. 

COUNCIL MEETING

I'm going to put together a longer in-depth post about the specific policy I'm supporting on the Council, but I wanted to give a brief update regarding tonight's votes. Please feel free to email me (district8@cityofmadison.com) with any questions or comments. 

• #33 Creating MPD Independent Civilian Oversight Committee
  • I am a co-sponsor of this resolution and fully intend to vote in favor of it at Council tonight. Tons of work was put into this that resulted in a synthesis of harm reduction and systemic change. I am a fervent supporter of overhauling our system of public safety to reflect the science of crime mitigation. Still, I recognize that we must reduce harm in the present via the remaining 173 recommendations in our OIR report. Thanks to the thousands of people writing emails to council members, we have 14 sponsoring Alders, which should signal how the vote will likely go tonight. 
• #41 Amending the Police Department's 2020 Capital Budget
  • I've introduced an amendment to this resolution striking all language relating to the 40mm launchers. It's absurd that these two would be in the same resolution--if our amendment fails, we'll be pushing to vote down the resolution in its entirety (which needs 15 votes to pass).
  • Link to Resolution Amendment
    • Currently, Alders Kemble, Heck, Lemmer, Evers, Bidar, Martin, and Foster are sponsors of the amendment. 
• #79 Amending Section 33.01(10)(c) of Madison General Ordinances
  • Since March of this year, the Common Council has not had authority over its subunits and the ability to set and schedule committee meetings. By not having the ability to control our subunits, we've effectively lost the ability to legislate and have been relegated to a Mayor's Advisory Council. The original ordinance--that is still on the books--takes scheduling meetings out of the hands of city staff and into the hands of politicians (scheduling a meeting has now become political). This ordinance amendment is crucial if we are to return to our normal legislative process. Passing this would enable us (the Council) to discuss pressing issues like the climate crisis, mass incarceration, the military occupation of our communities, affordable housing, education, etc... 

CAMPUS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

The Campus Neighborhood Association (CNA) is meeting THIS THURSDAY at 6:30 PM Central. The bylaws have been drafted, and this meeting will be used to elect the Executive Board (attend if you are interested in leadership opportunities!). Continue to fill out the interest form if you want more information about CNA.

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