City Meetings and Updates Week of October 12

posted 
  • City meetings: Finance Committee 10/12 & 10/13, Includes 2027 Executive Operating Budget Agency Briefings
  • Resolution Proposes to Terminate Council's Extension of Interim Monitor Glass's Appointment
  • Important: City of Madison & Dane County Housing Survey Mailed to Renters
  • Focused Interruption Safe Gun Disposal Event at Messiah Lutheran 10/17
  • Events & Announcements

City Meetings

Finance Committee 10/12 & 10/13, Includes 2027 Executive Operating Budget Agency Briefings

The Finance Committee meetings will take place on Monday, October 12 and on Tuesday, October 13, both at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include an item authorizing the City to buy property at 4484 Robertson Road in District 3 for the Clerk's Office to use to securely store election equipment. More details are forthcoming – the Clerk's Office staff told me there would be a detailed memo available before this weekend, but there's no memo attached to the Legistar Item.

The most notable agenda item will be the 2027 Executive Operating Budget agency briefings.

Monday's Finance Committee meeting will include briefing presentations from these City agencies:

  • Administration: Assessor's Office, Office of the City Attorney, Department of Civil Rights, and Clerk's Office
  • Public Works: Engineering (includes Landfill, Sewer, Stormwater utilities), Fleet Services, Madison Park (including Golf), Streets Division, and Water Utility
  • Public Health and Safety: Madison Fire Department, Office of the Independent Monitor, and Madison Police Department

Tuesday's Finance briefings will cover:

  • General Government: Madison Municipal Court, Common Council's Office, and Mayor's Office
  • Administration: Employee Assistance Program, Finance Department, Human Resources, and Information Technology
  • Public Facilities: Madison Public Library, Monona Terrace
  • Public Health and Safety: Madison-Dane County Public Health
  • Planning, Community, and Economic Development: Office of the DPCED Director, Building Inspection, CDA Housing Operations and Redevelopment, Community Development Division, Economic Development Division, and City Planning

This City news page provides a good summary of the Mayor's budget proposal. The full Executive Operating Budget document can be found here; use the menu on the left-hand side to expand sections and select sections to open. After these briefings to the Finance Committee, Finance alders will have the first opportunity to propose budget amendments at their October 26th meeting before the full budget goes to Common Council in mid-November. I will share more about the budget in future posts. Saty tuned!

Finance Committee meeting info:

Resolution Proposes to Terminate Council's Extension of Interim Monitor Glass's Appointment

At last Tuesday's Common Council meeting, District 2 Alder Will Ochowicz introduced a resolution terminating the Common Council's previous extension of  Aeiramique Glass's appointment as the Interim Independent Monitor overseeing Madison's Office of the Independent Monitor.  

Madison's Police Civilian Oversight Board hired Interim Monitor Glass (with approval by the Common Council) in December of 2025 on an interim basis following the resignation of the former Monitor Robin Copley in October 2025. One of Interim Monitor Glass's primary responsibilities during her interim appointment is to hire the permanent Independent Monitor serving as the hiring manager for the position. Interim Monitor Glass's appointment was initially set to expire earlier this year before being extended by a vote of the Common Council in June.

The resolution to terminate the Council's previous extension of Interim Monitor Glass's appointment follows this August 31st staff memo and this October 2nd staff memo that both raise concerns about the management of that Office and about the lack of progress toward hiring a permanent Independent Monitor (the recruitment has not yet been posted). Please consider reading this blog post shared by my colleague, District 5 Alder Regina Vidaver if you'd like more background information about the situation. 

The National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) states in its core principles: “Effective civilian oversight must function with the same integrity, professionalism, and ethical standards it expects from and promotes for law enforcement."

The resolution further provides a path to engage with NACOLE on next steps for supporting functional civilian oversight of the police in Madison. I have signed on to co-sponsor this resolution, which will be up for a vote by the full Common Council at its October 20th meeting.

Important: City of Madison & Dane County Housing Survey Mailed to Renters

The City of Madison and Dane County are collaborating on a Market Rent Study to support an appeal of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) agency's proposed 2027 Fair Market Rents for our area. 

HUD is projecting a rent decrease of nearly 8 percent in Dane Co—a change the City believes does not reflect local rental costs or the experiences of families across our community. This decrease could reduce funding and purchasing power for critical rental assistance programs, including Housing Choice Vouchers, Continuum of Care homeless assistance, and Emergency Solutions Grants. Madison is challenging the proposal by submitting local data gathered through this Market Rent Study.

Starting around October 14, approximately 30,000 randomly selected renters across Dane County will receive a survey. If you receive one, please take a few minutes to complete it. Your response will help provide an accurate picture of local rents and support efforts to protect federal housing assistance. Because participants are randomly selected, many renters will not receive a survey. But it is important for those who receive it to fill it out and return it.

For questions, please contact the Madison Community Development Authority at 608-235-9507.

Focused Interruption Safe Gun Disposal Event at Messiah Lutheran Next Saturday

Message from Focused Interruption:

“On Saturday, October 17, Messiah Lutheran Church, St Paul's AME Church, and Focused Interruption invite you to a unique experience. 

We are asking members of the community to bring in their unneeded guns to Messiah Lutheran Church between 9:00 am and noon. At 12:15, Jeff Wild, a craftsman associated with Raw Tools, will give a forging demonstration on how he breaks down gun parts into garden tools or art pieces. If you attended our Gala on August 27, you would have seen some of his work. We encourage you to come at 12:15 and witness this powerful demonstration."

I joined one of these Guns to Gardens events elsewhere in District 3 in the spring of this year, and I found it to be a very neat experience. Focused Interruption is a human services organization dedicated to ending gun violence, and a member of Madison Dane County Public Health's Violence Prevention Coalition.

Events & Announcements

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.

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