More about Agenda Navigation

Hello! I am preparing for next week's Board and Commission Meetings, trying to get ahead of the curve, next week I have Plan Commission and the Board of Public Health. Since the Plan Commission agenda is short this week, I am sharing additional tips on navigating agendas.

Plan Commission staff and the Board have a well-oiled machine regarding agenda and meeting processes. The PC agenda contains resources, information, and alerts, such as the items scheduled for discussion, updates on past topics taken by the council, and future agenda items.

Legistar Navigation: General & Plan Commission Agenda

Link for the City of Madison  Agenda depository:  https://madison.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
General Meetings Tab Information

1. Click on the Meetings tab 
2. Click on List View
3. From the first Drop Down select a date period (Today, This Week, Next Week, a specific year, etc.) 
4. From the second Drop Down, Select "All Boards, Commission and Committees", or pick a committee from the list
   1. I selected Next Week and all Boards
   2. I am member of the Planned Commission and Board of Health - Reviewing these agendas
   3. I am interested on the Urban Design meeting since this Board advices Plan Commission - Reviewing agenda
   4. The Community Development is another one of interest, the agenda is not out yet - in my calendar for later review
5. The Meetings - List View page contains:
   1. Date, Time, Location of the meeting
   2. Meeting Details (export capabilities) & Agenda (PDF format)
   3. Meeting cancelations can also be found here

General Meetings Tab Information: Agenda - Meeting Details - Export View

1. From the List View above, Click on the "Meeting details" hyperlink for the agenda of interest
2. The agenda items is displayed in a table view
3. Click export to open table is Excel or CSV
   1. This is very helpful for long Council agendas.

Plan Commission  Agenda - Grouped by Projects

1. For Plan Commission, the Agenda is organized by projects
2. Look for notes from staff highlighting the combined items
   1. Public comment is also organized by project
   2. But each line decision is voted on separately 
3. Click on the agenda hyperlinks to open the entire file
   1. The file contains attachments (project plan specifications, letter of intent, application, staff & public comments) - dates are included as part of file names
4. The agenda also contains the date of the meeting and the date the agenda was approved (Printed Date)

Plan Commission  Agenda - Secretary's Report

1. This area of the Plan Commission agenda covers updates from Council on prior actions the committee has taken
2. But more importantly, it contains a list of upcoming agenda items
   1. This is another place to look for future developments, zoning changes, conditional uses and demolitions

Agenda Item Plan Commission - Attachments & Item Actions

1. Clicking on the agenda item legistar's hyperlink takes you to the Legislation tab.
2. The top level contains the file number, file type, file name, status, lead committee, final action, title, etc.
3. For Plan Commission, the attachments' labels contain the names of the documents, as well as dates, to indicate changes to the original files.
4. The Staff Comments brings together all the required documents, the Standards of Approval justifications, information about area plans, and zoning details.
   1. I review all attachments, starting with the latest Staff Comments.
5. The Staff Report is a lengthy document that represents the entire project, including:
   1. historical information
   2. other agencies feedback
   3. other committees decisions
   4. Staff's recommendations are based on their interpretation of the Standards of approval.

Agenda Item General Information - Actions

6. The History tab above, provides access to the Item's routing and actions taken
7. Each action (eg. refer, re-refer, pass, fail) has an "action details" link 
8. Clicking on the link opens the "action" information (What was the motion, who put it forward, who second it and the voting history)

Hope you find this information useful and empowering!  Knowledge is Power!