Slow News Week Thursday

The slow news week continues, so I have to make my own . . . luckily I have some material you won't be reading about in the paper, yet.

SUSTAINABLE AG ON COUNTY BOARD AGENDA TONIGHT
The county moved at a city pace on this one, but it was well worth the wait!

IT'S OFFICIAL!
First "This Side of Town" or "Brenda's Blog" show was taped yesterday. It will be played for the first time Saturday at 1:00. If you like it, please donate to WYOU, make sure you mention my show. If people show interest, it could continue, but only if WYOU continues to exist and it can only do that with your support!

SERIOUSLY?
They bought the story, hook. line. and sinker. How's that for a nice Wisconsinesque reference? For the real details, see here. It's not Madison politics that are lopsided, but this article and the survey. It's almost ridiculous.

NEW DIRECTOR OF PLANNING COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Know anyone who would be good?

Employment Opportunity: DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Agency: Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development
Category: PROFESSIONAL/TECHNICAL
Salary: $103,253 - $139,392 annually
Date Posted: 3/30/2010
Application Deadline: 4/30/2010
Residency: Legal Residence within the City of Madison is a Condition of Employment for this Position.

Job Announcement Details

LANDMARKS EDGEWATER MEETING
A special meeting will be held on Wednesday, 4/14 room 260 at 5:00 and:

Madison City Channel will cover the April 14th meeting live on our channel as well as stream it live on our website of www.madisoncitychannel.com. Thanks.

So you won't have to be there and can still follow along from the comfort of your own home where you will likely be able to hear what is going on better.

ORDER YOUR NATIVE PLANTS TODAY

Spring has sprung and thoughts are turning to outdoor projects. If you or your group are considering planting a rain garden, replacing turf with natives or restoring prairie in a park or elsewhere, the Plant Dane! Cost-Share Program provides plants and seed for less than half of retail prices.

Go to http://www.myfairlakes.com for an online application and more information. Orders may be placed through May 15th, 2010.
Plants will be delivered on June 26th.
Now in its 6th year, the Plant Dane! Cost-Share Program provides homeowners, schools and nonprofit organizations with native plants, seeds and information to establish rain gardens and restore prairies through a gift from the Graham-Martin Foundation.

The Plant Dane! Program has provided tens of thousands of plants, resulting in hundreds acres being planted with native species throughout Dane County. Plan your rain garden or prairie restoration today!

EXCITING NEWS FOR RIDE THE DRIVE
I'm not sure if there is more news beyond what they state here, but the successful ride the drive looks to expand.

Join Mayor Dave and the City of Madison, along with John Burke of Trek Bicycle as they announce some VERY exciting news about this year's Ride the Drive events.

Wednesday, April 7
UW Arboretum Visitor Center
9:45am

We will have a short press conference at the Arboretum and then a group bike ride to Vilas Park where refreshments will be served. Hope to see you there!

RSVP is appreciated - ridethedrive@cityofmadison.com

About Ride the Drive
Ride the Drive is a celebration of Madison's commitment to healthy, active lifestyles. This community event is an invitation to leave their cars behind to experience some of Madison's most scenic byways a whole new way - by riding, walking, skating, or strolling along some of Madison's most beautiful streets.

Following the success of last year, we are pleased to announce TWO dates for 2010:

Sunday, June 6
Sunday, August 29

Learn more at cityofmadison.com/ridethedrive

LAKE LEVELS
This might be of interest to some and its FREE!:

NELSON INSTITUTE COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM

Water levels in the Yahara Lakes are heavily influenced by a number of physical factors, both natural (precipitation, groundwater levels) and human-made (paved surfaces, bridges, dams and other land uses). This forum will explore the complex river system that includes the Yahara Lakes and examine how it responds to these influences.

Forums are FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Water Levels in the Upper Yahara Lakes:
Surface and Groundwater Influences

Presentations:
KENNETH POTTER, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Chair, Water Resources Management Program
JEREMY BALOUSEK, Urban Conservation Engineer, Dane County Office of Land and Water Resources
SUE JOSHEFF, Basin Supervisor, Division of Water, Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources
PETER HUGHES, Assistant Center Director, Wisconsin Water Science Center, US Geological Survey

TUESDAY, APRIL 6
5:30 - 7:00 PM
1106 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING BLDG.
1513 UNIVERSITY AVENUE
Bus Routes 2,3, 70, 71, 72, 19, 81, 14, and 15.
Free parking in Lot 17.

Sponsored by:
Yahara Lakes Association, Dane County Office of Lakes and Watersheds Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

For more information: www.nelson.wisc.edu/community/programs/community-environmental-forums
Event Contact: lambersonphi@wisc.edu

Read more!

Snowy, Tenanty Round Up

Snow related items, tenant items and a few others . . . I almost made it without mentioning the E word . . .

CAN'T GET CHARTER'S ATTENTION
Here's one way to do it. See the comment at the end of the entry.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO . . .
The Mailman's Creed:

And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever.

I didn't get my mail yesterday, did you? Not that I care, just sayin'.

WHAT DOES A WORK SNOW DAY MEAN?
This is from a facebook disucssion of people in the know.

City Employees: Use your vacation day or come in. Or, modified by recent economy - with supervisor's approval, unpaid day as a cost saving measure for the city.

County Employees: Paid day.

State Employees: Vacation/personal time or arrange to make up the time.

CAMPUS STRUGGLING WITH TENANT SERVICES
And the saga continues. The Tenant Resource Center became ineligible to services a few years ago with the Roman Catholic Foundation fiasco. We helped set up a student organization that worked out, well, like student run tenant services. It's hard for students to keep it going with classes and everything. So now, there's a new idea. I hope they can work it out, students need the services.

AS AN ASIDE
The Maniaci proposal in the above article needs some work to accomplish what it is being sold as. See, there is a GIANT loophole which renders the whole thing meaningless. See if you can spot it.

If Landlord and Tenant fail to enter into a Non Standard Rental Provision regarding showing premises for rental purposes, then it is presumed that the parties to the lease intend that the Landlord will not rent the leased premises to another tenant for a subsequent lease period until after one-fourth (1/4) one-half (1/2) of the lease period has passed.

So, you go to sign your lease, and the landlord hands you a piece of paper saying that they are going to start showing your apartment a month and a half after you move in, do you sign? And what happens if you don't?

I should be clear, that language isn't Maniaci's fault. It's the current language. It's just that if she really wanted to stop the practice, she'd have to eliminate that language as well, ensuring that it doesn't pass. But if left in, passing means nothing. It's been a dilemna for years. I wish her luck in this latest effort, I'd like to see it changed.

IN OTHER TENANT 'NEWS'
Seriously, I have a hard time believing this is news. 167 Madison apartments received a total of 1,809 ratings and so we ranked 3rd in the top 100 most populated cities in the nation. Seriously? I hardly knew where to begin to explain with why its all be irrelevant. That could be a very, very, very long blog post if I were forced to explain in detail.

ALDER SNOW REMOVAL SERVICE
This went out after 10:00 on Tuesday night.

Also, I doubt that I'll be making it into work tomorrow, so if you have physical/health difficulties and have no other options, feel free to call me and I'll come out and help you shovel your walks/driveways. Please call after 9am Wednesday morning.

Now that's a full-service alder. Which one do you think offered this? I'm glad its not election season, could be considered an ethics issue. Anything for a vote, right.

ALDER RELIEF
One alder's facebook update said that they never thought they'd be happy to be receiving snow plowing complaints. Implying that after the Edgewater phone calls, this was welcomed. "Like."

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
I was going to move my car out of the ramp after the first night of the snow emergency, but truth be told, there was really no place to move it to, unless I wanted to shovel to get IN to a spot, and then get plowed in, and then have to shovel to get back out. You see, even tho the cars were moved, the plowing didn't happen or it was spotty. Makes me furious to look out and see the moved cars and yet no plowing of those spots. Anyways, I left my car in the ramp all day yesterday at $.80/hour (glad I live by the cheaper ramp). Should cost me about $20 once they charge me for the time outside of 9pm - 7am. I guess they get you, one way or the other. Seems odd to be punished for getting your car off the street and cooperating. But, it was worth it! Glad I can afford it. I feel bad for those who can't.

ONCE I GET MY CAR MOVING
John Nolan outbound is closed this morning due to ice? Glad I'm not going in that direction.
Read more!

Board of Estimates Re-cap

A bit of a preview of issues to come, some revealing of some issues that won't ever get talked about at the council . . . .

Mayor, Bruer, Verveer, Rhodes-Conway, Clear, Clausius present, Sanborn absent.

I'm using my "week ahead" titles as a base for this post so I don't need to re-look up the links. The agenda is here for the rest of the links.

PUBLIC COMMENT
One person, Steve Schooler from Porchlight on 7 & 8, they decide to wait until that item comes up.

PERSONNEL ISSUES
- More advancements for some staff in some departments. See items 1 - 4. [this process seems so totally random]
#1 - Clerical Position in IT Department - Alder Rhodes-Conway asks why this is the second reclassification of this position in 2 years (i.e. 2nd raise in two years). Staff starts to justify, Rhodes-Conway explains the question is more systemic. Asks how often positions are reclassified, staff explains its whenever the supervisor brings it up or the position is vacant. Rhodes-Conway asks if there is a less haphazard way to do this and about training. Staff says that they have training as part of the supervisor's orientation and that with 2700 positions this is the only way to do this. [This is just crap. Some supervisors have been with the city for what seems like forever and there is no on-going training. So, some of them have probably never gotten any formal training and as a result, some departments get lots of reclasses, some get none. And I'm not sure that it's only because of the supervisor and if they bring the issues up. There needs to be a better way to evaluate some of these positions! Just my two cents after having served for nearly a year on a committee that was looking at the personnel issues.]

#2 - GIS Specialist in Planning - Rhodes-Conway notes that there are multiple GIS Speciailists in many departments and asks how they work together. Apparently, according to staff, "they talk". Staff explains that they could look at having one title across departments but that would take a study and they could do it. [But I didn't get the impression that they would.] Rhodes-Conway suggests to Mayor and Department Heads that they try to look for synergies.

#3 & 4 - Combining the Warner Parks Facility Manager with the Pool Manager. Rhodes-Conway asks why? HR Staff say that Warner Park is busy in winter, pool is busy in summer. Kevin Briske from Parks was asked to join conversation - he reiterates and says the staff in the position did double duty last summer and it worked. Rhodes-Conway asked how they determined that winter was busy season at Warner. He says numbers of people using facility - more basketball leagues? That the Warner Park staff is experienced and can handle it and have extra staff in the summer due to MSCR. They keep talking about "levels of efficiency" as if those are the magic words people want to hear.

Rhodes-Conway says that this is the wrong direction to head for the Pool Manager only to work during the summer. Says the Warner Park Director needs to be more focused on Warner Park and that this will hurt the functioning of the Center. She is voting no.

Clear asks about the pool operations. Again "level of efficiencies" buzzwords tossed around. Staff says 2 of 4 Aquatic Supervisors returning from last year, that Brad (Weisinger, the Warner Park Facilities Manager) has experience and training from last year.

Mayor jumps in, defends his guy, says Kevin is good at finds "efficiencies". Says the Council took the position that the Pool had to break even and this is one way to do it. And that they will try this and "figure out how it works" this year.

Kevin jumps back in and says that there are additional full time staff that will support the pool facilities manager.

Verveer asks the Mayor how the current budget picture works with the reclassifications - does the Mayor just approve them all?

Mayor says that he just approves them all. Says this has nothing to do with the hiring freezes, that HR staff does their job and if the person deserves the raise based on the merits, then its only fair since they are doing the work. [Right, so the people suffering by doing two and three jobs while the positions are frozen - it wouldn't be "fair" to give them additional compensation???? Better rethink that answer Mayor.]

1 & 2 pass unanimously.
3 & 4 Rhodes-Conway votes no.

- Al Schumacher, Streets Superintendent gets rewarded with additional duties and additional pay - twice as much as Larry Nelson got paid to do the same job.
#5 - Giving Al Schumacher additional position that Larry Nelson used to have as the Public Works coordinator. Mayor asks if they want to "grill" Schumacher, "in fact encourages it." [Supposed to be a joke.]

Clear asks why Al, is he the senior manager? Al Schumacher says Vandenbrook is more senior of the managers, but that he has been with the City the longers (32 years). Says he's not sure why he was chosen.

Mayor says it was a hard choice, lots of good managers, thinks Schumacher did a good job with streets with the last two years with the snow. Says he's the best choice among the good choices. Someone [Rhodes-Conway or Clear] asked about the extra money. Mayor explains that Larry Nelson got paid more because he was at the top of the scale and that Schumacher gets paid less as a base and so he's getting more money for these additional duties.

Rhodes-Conway says that seems odd to base it on the base pay of the employee, not the job duties involved.

Mayor says Larry Nelson was under-compensated when he did the work. Says the base salary issue just bolsters his argument. Then lots of jokes start . . . blah, blah, blah, Vince Lombardi, football jokes, broken leg, hurry up approve before he changes his mind, blah, blah, blah.

Approved unanimously

- Reappointing Brad Murphy as Director of the Planning Unit.
#5 Passes unanimously with I think some side comments about how great of a job Brad does, but it was hard to hear.

PORCHLIGHT PROPERTIES
- Funding for Porchlight to purchase a house on the 300 block E Mifflin (right across the street from my house) and 500 block E Johnson St. (Funny, not a peep from our neighborhood, unlike Alder Kerr's neighborhood.)

Rhodes-Conway asks for a brief explanation.

Steve Schooler from Porchlight explains that they owned a building on Henry St. for about 20 years, developer wants to demolish, they are making money on the deal, city shares in that appreciation and they wanted to find way to expand their program. They are going from 7 to 16 units. This is the same as they tried to do on Vilas Ave. He said they have $70,000 for rehab of the properties including some energy efficiency.

Bill Clingan also notes that the city has $400,000 in these properties and they were getting foreclosed on and if this didn't happen that money would have to be paid back to the federal government. So, this is a good deal for the city.

Rhodes-Conway asks about energy efficiency and if a revolving loan fund to make energy efficiency improvements would help.

Schooler says that it might, but that the energy savings are really needed for the programs and if there were additional debt service that would make it difficult.

Clingan explains some properties need alot of rehab.

Schooler says that there were some energy efficiencies put into the building last time, that Project Home helped with some furnaces. Schooler reiterates that energy savings really need to go to the programs.

MOVIN' OUT
#9 - Movin' Out funding. No comment, passes unanimously.

LAW ENFORCEMENT MONEY
- How Dane County will spend nearly $1M in law enforcement stimulus funds. (Do you remember seeing a public hearing on this? I don't.)
#10 - Rhodes-Conway asks about Drug Court, how is it working, how funded, how can we expand.

Police staff explain that Drug Courts were funded by Weed and Seed money, now this money and they are working with Community Services staff to figure out how to fund them. They say that this is one year money, essentially.

Rhodes-Conway expresses concern about on-going funding in the future and the expectation that the taxpayers continue to fund programs originally funded by grants.

Police staff say that they have told staff that this is one-time money and they are aware.

Claussius asks about traffic enforcement and if the stimulus money could be used for that? Staff says that JAG money is for one-time costs, likely items, not staff. She says they try to get traffic grants from the state to fund those activities

Verveer asks about DAIS money for Domestic Abuse and what that money will go for.

Police staff says they are expanding hours of existing staff.

Verveer asks about the Grant Assistance program.

Verveer compliments Terri Genin on her work over the years and say she deserves the additional help.

Passes unanimously.

METRO CAPITAL MONEY
11 & 12 - Capital Grant for busses. Passes unanimously without comment.

MONONA TERRACE ROOFTOP CAFE
#13 - Monona Terrace Rooftop Kiosk Project - increase $100,000 in Capital Budget.

Rhodes-Conway says first heard about it, please explain.

McMasters explains this is a permanent rooftop cafe. Open and operating at the moment. Had two donations - one from catering company, Monona Terrace Community Programs Inc, donated money - but after Capital Budget was approved. The project is already done.

Rhodes-Conway asks/goes back and forth with staff, if the project is complete, money donated to cover costs. Costs did exceed what was in the budget, so fundraised more money. The over run is covered by donations.

Clausius asks when it is open. Grand opening coming up in a week, hours are Tues - Sat 11 am - 8 pm. Say that so far so good with limited advertising.

VETERAN'S PARK
#14 Plaza and Purgola for Veteran's Park - more dumb jokes . . . passes unanimously.

FIREWORKS
- Agreement for Elver Park fireworks.
#15 - Verveer asks how much money saved by moving from July 3rd to the 4th - someone off camera talking - was $50,000 now $18,500.

Bruer tries to make more jokes, they fall flat.

FIBER OPTICS FOR BOARD OF REGENTS
#16 - Board of Regents fiber options.

Rhodes-Conway asks if we maintain, and staff say city is getting $40,000 of work on Park St. and Rimrock.

Bruer with another joke that falls flat.

STORMWATER UTILITY BUDGET
#17 - Substitute Stormwater Utility Operating Budget - more jokes . . . much off camera so hard to hear.

REPORTS ON FINANCIAL STATUS OF THE CITY
- How'd the city do financially in 2008? $3.2M saved - remember those amendments I tried to make for where we underspend? Well, we're pretty good at it, so all the handwringing we do is often for naught.

#18 - 2008 preliminary operating budget results. Still working on audited statements. They got it by email mid-May. Report in packet. Says numbers for budget are the amended budget.

Revenue - more in PILOT from Water Utility, State Highway aids was half million more than expected. Licenses and permits, permits under by $1.4M. Charges for services, Ambulance fees were up by $500,000 due to increased collection efforts. Investment income will be talked about more in a moment, $2M below what was budgeted. From $6M to $4M, due to interest rates allowed in the market. More revenue in TIF district, some of the money budgeted wasn't spent, so our return was $2M more than anticipated in the budget. So, under by $139,000 in the end because of offsets by PILOT, State Highway aids, ambulance fees and TIF.

Expenses - All departments within their budgets except City Attorney and Human Resources. Year end resolution we took money from their benefits, they had taken money and it was the fault of the estimates, so it was no fault of their own. Streets was the third department over. Kept snowing through end of December, didn't predict how much more it would cost. More jokes off camera. No blame to department head . . . more jokes. Says miscellaneous category of unallocated employee benefits. Significant under run and in the end, we had $3.24 under budget.

Nothing pointed out on balance sheet.

Brasser talks about the charts. Historical variance from originally adopted budget. Says we should ask how good the original budget is. It shows that historically we have had positive variances with a few exceptions. Its usually 1 - 4%, some over 5%. Generally speaking it is due to the weather. So in 2008 it was 1% or $3.1M which goes into the fund balance that can be applied to next year's budget. Fund balance remains stable from one year to the next. Coming out of a year like last year, we can feel very fortunate with the snow and the economy.

Finaly chart is general fund balance as % of operating budget. Says unreserved, undesignated (amount available for emergencies). Target is 15%, we're at 13.1%, so we're slightly below the target but in good shape since we were predicting to be at 12%.

There will be a big report coming out soon.

Bruer asks something, can't hear him. I think he's asking to get the info to the rest of the council members. Bruer asks about self-insurance funds. Brasser says two fund, general insurance and worker's comp. Says the first is improving, the second we often have to add money at the end of the year. Made progress, but still a deficit and we would like to shore that up if additional general fund balance.

Bruer asks about Room Tax - Brasser says didn't bring details. Each quarter we have a report. Says 1st quarter down 12.7% for first quarter, first time in years he's seen that. We saw something similar after 911, but that was a one time drop in travel. Room Tax has a fund balance, if the room tax stays at this lower level into the future, that would be a problem, but we need another quarter of data. So offers to come back with a report.

Bruer asks about Building Permits, says drifting into next item so they move on . . .

- And how bad is 2009? (Hint, $3M bad. Less in revenues and some over expenditures - take a peek to see where.)

Brasser says don't have all the data, but this is where they try to id potential problems. Building permits are down, based on collections of first few months, could be short by $700,000 no real pattern here so hard to project. Fines and forfeitures seem to be up, increase of $300,000 expected. Investment income went from $6 to $4M and we budgeted $4.75M and based on first quarter, it could be more like $2M. So, $2.75M drop. Drop in interest rates is the issue again. Treasurer will talk about more in a moment. More jokes by Clear . . . State recycling aid is $111,000 less than budgeted. Closing of TIF districts last year had another $508,000.

On expense side, no police overtime additions needed, Clerks office has savings in elections costs $95,000, City Channel peg fees are not coming in at the level we were hoping. Not sure why, but that market is changing. Cable revenues are falling. Predicting they could be over budget (expenses) by about $30,000 (normally wouldn't report that small number, but there is an underlying structural problem).

Clear asks when peg fees go away. Mayor says 2011.

Streets division, not snow, but sale of recyclable materials collected. With downturn in the economy, we got less money for the sale of recyclable materials. $1.25M loss for the city. Also, new state budget increased tipping fees. There is $115,000 more at the moment. Might be further update on that. Community Services, daycare assistance, if they project the commitments to date, they are over by $200,000. Director and staff are reviewing and trying to rectify. Contingent reserve. $1.2M and some has been spent and have $942,000 left to pay for these shortfalls.

Points to spreadsheet, net $3.3M, interest income on revenue and loss in recycling payments are the two major driving factors.

He notes a few other fund areas. Room tax fund, 1st quarter well below what was anticipated. Could also impact the general fund. Golf enterprise fund has been experiencing loss for the last couple years and expecting another loss this year. Parks staff working on it, but year to date we need to track this. Used to make money, market has changed. More jokes by mayor, rounds are up, rain is the big wild card says the Mayor. Charging sales tax now, used to eat it. Clear pointing out the obvious, more jokes. Parks took out positions and changed them to hourly positions. [Ugh, a big trend in that department]

Mayor thanks people, says that 2010 budget starts out $3M in hole, but state news is bad by $1M and worse news on tipping fees. So, its a tough picture for 2010. [FEAR, FEAR, FEAR!!!!]

Clear asks about the $6M swing, $3M positive in 2008 and $3M hole in 2009. Dean says yes, but only if this is the final result, but in 2008 almost every budget under by a bit and we can probably look at the historical chart to show that we have had a positive variance and so we can still expect to find those savings and Clear notes that we also have the hiring freeze. Brasser says its not the expense side that is the worry, its the expense side. Clear points out the revenue is largely out of our control. More jokes by Clear . . .

#20 Treasurer's quarterly briefing on investments. Hands out updates.

Already heard the general themes. We can't control some of these items. Mayor and others are talking as Gawenda is trying to explain and its very distracting. He says he has a few points. Level of return that we get and the rates we earn are volatile. in 7 years he was county treasurer, sometimes rejoiced, sometimes shortfall. He says our benchmark is 90 day treasury bills according to policy, but more practical benchmark is state local government investment pool. Smaller communities use that, so as a practical matter, we should do better. He has a chart that shows city v state. For the last couple years we have done better. Last half of 05 and 06 we lagged the state investment pool. Currently earning twice that amount. When look at monthly comparison, including the school district investments (which we also invest), says its the same rollercoaster, as months go on, reserves drop, so money we earn drops. Explains cash flow of taxes in first of the year and in the bump in August with second payments. Again compares to state investment pool, we're 1% higher for May. We're getting 3 times more. Trying to show the glass is half full. Thinks we might see higher rates at end of the year, but that won't be when we have the cash. 3 months ago he had a 24 page report, now has 6 charts. Talks about 3 buckets of money - cash equivalence (money spending soon, keep it liquid) so lowest return, certificates of deposit we can earn more but not as liquid. Highest return on last second. [His phone keeps going off]. Return on each of the buckets has dropped. Final page, he explains he has done two things to improve returns. May shows cash equivalents lower, cuz trying to push more money into cd's and bonds to get more return. Good as long as keep enough money in cash reserves. Says seen rates gradually increase, report to comptroller looks at average daily balance. Earning more at the end of May so seeing improvement. Market is seeing potential for economic recovery. 2nd derivative recovery, things are still getting bad, but at a slower rate. Recession may end 2nd half of the year.

Mayor asks about recession and unemployment rates. Says the unemployment rates in WI will start to see pick up in 3rd quarter 2010. Says people hiring have to be convinced things are getting better before they start hiring. So, that will lag a bit before there is a confidence to hire people.

Clear asks how county compares to city. Says that talks to county frequently, we are outperforming them. We have more dollars to work with and county treasurer is newer and more cautious in moving money.

#21 - The annual scareing of the alders, with the briefing on how bad the state budget is. No materials available.

Memo not in the packets [The Mayor's office is the rock star in this department!]. Says bottom line impact is less $900,000 but early in process, both houses and governor vetoes may still impact. Levy limit largely did not change. Levy growth 3- 8%, gravitating around 6%. Payments for municipal services, police fire and garbage for state facilities, 1% cut in the program, about $90,000. Administration will stay at DOA in part due to our. Expenditure restraint program will be adjusted for loss in payments for municipal services. We get 80 cents for every $1 of expense. That short fall will be exempt from the calculations this year. Share revenue, governor recommended 1% and it became 3.5%. We were going to lose $325,000, but we can expect 1.1M and there were changes to the formula, so that is the best guess. RTA language remained in tact, change in board membership and opt out for DeForest possible. Transit aids, 2 -3% increase. Highway aids 1% cut turned into 2- 3% increase. Computer aids the same. Tipping fees is bad news. $5.90 to $13.00 per ton. So increase of $160,000 this year and $400,000 next year. Mayor clarifies that the $400,000 is over 2008.

- Update on stimulus money. You have the info, updated at every meeting. Some new JAG money $110,000. Water utility projects not funded. But they would have been loans, not grants. We are a solar city and we might be able to get some money there. So chances are good there. Early July groundbreaking for first stimulus money streets project. Mayor will blog further updates today on trip to Washington.

Clear asks about local share of projects that are new expenses due to the stimulus money. Brasser sees that you might see more next year, beyond the planning money for upcoming projects.

Meeting adjourned.
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The Friday Snarkarama

I have about 30 blog topics in my queue that I haven't gotten to, I might not have snarky comments about all of them, but somehow, by Friday, some people just inspire me.

ARTICLE ON THE MAYOR
Yawn. Can you imagine what the article might have said if Kristin could have gotten people to speak "ON THE RECORD", that would have been much, much more interesting. Here's a bit of that truth posted to a listserve:

. . . there was nothing about the most recent Property Tax issue. I saw the brief letter he sent out thanking everyone for their work on this issue especially Mario, which is surprising because there was nothing about how his office totally supported what had caused this and what we had been meeting with him for a year trying to get his staff to stop pursuing the tax exemption. Some kind of leadership there and no vision at all of what this policy would create. Late and only supportive when there was political pressure and even then he seemed upset that we were questioning his commitment.

PARKING RATES GOING UP
Rate went up, kinda. Over the next 6 weeks. I usually just keep plugging money in til I get the number of minutes I need, but those who need to know how much they are paying per hour might want to read the meters.

HOUSING DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
Hmmm . . . I find out that when they say they will meet in August for the first time, that what they really mean is the last possible date in August, August 31st. After my blog post, however, there was a scramble to try to get them to meet in June. I wonder if they will be successful. I just love these committees that the council approves and the mayor stalls in appointing and then don't meet. Why bother setting report deadlines if they don't even meet until after the report is due. It says volumes about the Mayor's priorities.

TALK ABOUT PRIORITIES
1. Apparently, the Mayor doesn't care about historic preservation, even tho he says he's a strong supporter. Anyone, EVER, seen any evidence of that? Ever? Worse yet, what about the impact that not filling positions has on staff.

2. Too bad the Council can't weigh in on these priorities - just get the information if they request it. (How about making it truly available and emailing it to them when the statements are written and then putting it on the website?)

3. Most importantly, I've talked to a few staff who are suffering from the lack of support in their units. There are some staff who are working very hard, are very stressed and there doesn't appear to be relief in sight. I didn't hear the Mayor mention the impact on staff in his blog, or that this was part of the decision making process. It makes me really sad to see how hard some of our staff work without recognition and then get insult on top of injury by the Mayor not at least acknowledging it is tough on them. Next time you see some of the hard working staff, not the ones with the high ranking names and titles, but the people who do the work, be sure to thank them!! Our staff is one of the City's greatest assets and it is not being appropriately supported or appreciated, IMHO.

CRIME IS DOWN
For the second year in a row. Go figure. It seems only FEAR is up.

LOBBYIST SPECIAL INVITE

There will be a briefing by city staff on the Zoning Code Rewrite on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 201, CCB (before the Council meeting that evening).

Rick Roll from the Planning, Community & Economic Department will be briefing alders.

Carol Schaeffer and Brian Munson will also be present to provide their perspectives/observations on the Zoning Code Rewrite.

An agenda will be sent out later this week.

Hmmm . . . why just Carole and Brian? Hmmm . . . .

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE WEEK
Mike Verveer. I hate it when it is one of your own! Emily Mills is thoughtful as usual. However, its a free speech, right to assemble, right to use public spaces etc etc etc issue. Street musicians should not be charged! Bad Mike.

WHO KNOWS?
Alder Rhodes-Conway shared and email from someone trying to get some information from the city. This is just embarrassing.

I tried to find out what percentage of City employees live in Madison. The Mayors office didn't know. The city human resources office didn't know. The comptrollers office offered to run some kind of search. The State Journal didn't know but said that they would contact the comptroller and let me know the results. It seems like a valuable indicator of some sort.

For those of you wondering the answer. 61%

THAT'S ALL?
$10,000? My guess is that the city is very, very lucky. I always wondered what was in that envelope that Baumann handed Cieslewicz when she left office - from the looks on the faces of the folks in the room, it was pretty grim. My guess is that, from the rumors I have heard, it should have been more women complaining and more money shelled out!

ITS ABOUT FREAKING TIME!
Jason Joyce from the Isthmus has been a staunch defender of his whiner neighbors and the hiring of 30 cops based on their "whites only" meeting they had. But, he finally caved, and is seeing that maybe, just maybe, there's more to the issue and perhaps some are over-reacting. Now, if we could just get him to support an inclusive neighborhood discussion of the issues going on (instead of a press opportunity) and a discussion about what the solutions, beyond policing, might be! I call it progress, but there's a long way to go in resolving issues that we're sure to keep hearing about as the police look for new "tools". Perhaps, the tools shouldn't come from the police department?

That's it folks, the blogging queue is still quite long . . . but the day is too nice to keep sitting at the computer on a day off!
Read more!

Board of Estimates - Council preview of a few issues

Often, what happens at Board of Estimates is considered to be a preview of what will happen at the Common Council . . . if the Mayor's appointments represent a cross section of the council (plastic bag ban, TIF agreement on Capital West, stimulus money, personnel issues and paid sick leave for city staff).

START
The meeting started with only 4 members there (Bruer, Sanborn, Clear and Clausius). The agenda can be found here.

Stimulus money item was skipped for later.

PERSONNEL ITEMS
They quickly dispensed of items 2 - 19 which were all personnel items. Some of the items I pointed out were
- Mini reorganization in Community Development Block Grant office - here and here.
- Police are getting a new LTE position
- Human Resources folks seem to be getting raises - here, here, here and here.
- Finally, after 3 years, sick leave for hourly employees!! We put it in the budget 3 years in a row and they finally are going to have the ability to spend the money!

Thanks to Clear for asking what's going on with all the personnel changes. The answer, of course, is "nothing to see here". Except, the impact of all these incremental changes come at budget time, when the council has no ability to do anything. Clear asked the right questions, but I think the answer was tantamount to "none of your business". This is a tough area, as personnel drives so much of the budget, there is no alder on the Personnel committee and the Board of Estimates is mostly told to stay out of it. So, who's looking at the bigger picture and strategy when it comes to personnel costs throughout the city? I think that this is the biggest investment we make, and most of the time the city gets it right, but there are certain things happening that don't seem quite fair.

Also in these items was the paid sick leave. They explained that is it was already being implemented for the unions and the ordinance makes it applicable to non-represented employees. The Mayor bristled at the fact that the Council put the money in the budget instead of it being bargained and the comptroller said it was now going to cost $75,000 - 150,000, which is WAY OFF of the projections they previously made ($60,000). The mayor says that the paid sick leave has already been implemented this year. It's about time after us budgeting it in 2007 (not implemented), 2008 (not implemented) and again in 2009.

All the items passed unanimously on a voice vote.

POLICE OVERTIME
Assistant Chief Davenport said that the fact that it went down was a result of the new police officers. He said that briefing overtime was up, but the demand-driven overtime was better - however, Terri Genin pointed out that there wasn't the extraordinary event overtime as there as been in the past, which seems to be the biggest chunk of savings.

The Mayor seems a little sassy, giving Bidar-Sielaff grief for sitting in Alder Verveers seat "self appointing" herself to the Board of Estimates.

Report passes unanimously on a voice vote.

PLASTIC BAG ORDINANCE
George Dreckman explains this is the only ordinance of the kind in the country. He says that other cities either ban the use (usually restricted to larger stores or those with a certain number of chains), charge a fee or tax the bags (Irish model, but we can't do it), require retailers to take take the bags back (not clear if they actually get recycled) or require biodegradable bags (cost is the biggest issue there). The Mayor asked about if we could ban the use of them, and I don't think he got the answer he thought he would, George says that we do have the legal authority to do it according to at least on assistant city attorney (who no longer works for the city). There also is the issue of how the bags would be picked up - including perhaps another separate container to put the bags in - which is dicey so for now, it sounds like they would have drop off sites. The ordinance they are passing is just the ban and they will figure out how to implement it, and pay for it, later. In the future, we could pay for for recycling in our normal recycling containers when our contract comes up with the people who do the recycling for us - but that will have to wait 2.5 years until the contract is renewed. Alder Compton says she'd like to have curb side pick up a few times a year. George makes clear you can still use plastic bags to pick up after your dog or line your trash can. They want to encourage reuse of the bags. The Mayor makes it clear that the violation for throwing away a bag is the same as throwing away a pop can - which you can be fined for. But, they basically said that no one will really ever get fined. They continued to talk about the issue for nearly an hour. Sanborn spoke most vehemently against the ordinance, and I think the only one to vote against it.

REDOING MDC LOAN FOR THE AVENUE
One quick question - passes unanimously.

STIMULUS MONEY
Bill Clingan explains that we are getting $534,096 in CDBG funds. He says the funds which are usually for suitable living environments, affordable housing and economic opportunities are required to be spent on infrastructure which means rehabilitation, retro-fitting, energy efficiency and conservation activities. He explains that there is a tight time line and that they need to get the information to HUD by June 5th. He says Council would approve general spending categories for not and specific awards of the money would come back to the council later. Bill says 15% can be spent on service and he says that he is looking at foreclosure prevention services (hire an lte to answer questions) and he also said that he might want to have a job development job search with people who are pending homelessness. The rest would perhaps be spent on economic development around energy issues or home rehab.

Bill also talked about the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. He says there is a round 2 of the funding available ($2B nationally) and they have to apply for at least $5M. He says that there will be a need analysis.

The only other update was from Metro on cost of hybrid buses and they are more expensive than anticipated, so there will only be 15 buses instead of 18.

CAPITAL REVOLVING LOAN FUND
There were some questions about the Capital Revolving Loan fund for the Wingra project. Jed Sanborn votes against and speaks against us using the money in these ways.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INTERN
Alder Rhodes-Conway asks why we aren't getting an intern for free. He says that its true that it probably won't cost $9,000. Mayor asks him to explain what the intern will work on. Cooley says working on some projects and research they haven't had time for, looking into commercial real estate database software, and some software for entrepreneurs. He also explains that the $9,000 that should have gone for software isn't enough and not a high priority right now.

I believe it passed unanimously on a voice vote.

PLANNING FOR UNIVERISTY AVENUE
There was some questions and it was approved.

CAPITAL WEST TIF AGREEMENT
Cliff Fisher speaks about how he believes that the City shouldn't have given TIF money to Alexanders because they undercut his condos at Metropolitan Place. He says that the assessment of his project was impacted by $8M as a result of Alexander underselling him. Cliff talks about how he's been on Sly and Mitch Henck and other shows. Cliff publicly asks Alexander to come on Mitch's show to debate - Cliff gets directed to talk to the Board of Estimates problem - Cliff says that the Alexanders won't come on the show and debate them.

Clear asks Cliff about what would happen if Alexanders are required sell the units by the current deadline, won't the units get sold at rock bottom prices and won't that negatively impact him. Cliff doesn't understand the question whatsoever.

Schumacher asks the Alexander folks a few questions and the Mayor says that Cliff's comments seemed irrelevant given they were about the original granting of the TIF, not the current deal.

Sanborn points out the hypocrisy of the compromise, given the principles that people were so adamant about the last time they talked about this.

Clear says that the agreement should be followed and that it shouldn't be renegotiated at this time and that the City should stick to its agreement.

Clausius seems like extending this agreement won't do much, he also says its unfair to other developers.

Verveer and Bruer defend the new agreement. There are more questions of staff. Staff say that this agreement is sound and that they did review the financial info and it did not seem unusual. In fact, they seem to be saying that the new agreement to extend the time is a sound decision given the legal issues and the cost to the city and the market in pursuing a breach of the agreement.

They spent nearly an hour discussing this issue. Which is amazing in that this was a compromise between Bruer and Verveer. It passes, it was a 3-3 tie, with the mayor breaking the tie.

WALGREENS
No discussion - they approve Walgreens getting their money and then go into closed session to talk about several tax cases. I wonder what they learned?

p.s. It looks like alders Schumacher, Rummel, Bidar-Sielaff and Compton attended portions of the meeting and were staying for the closed session, but it was hard to tell from tv. Read more!

Another One Bites the Dust

Interesting, another opening in a major staff position for the City of Madison.

I have no idea why Gerald Pace left the City Treasurer's position besides what I've read here and here, but it seems that our treasurer will be serving his last day of employment with the City of Madison on Friday. As alders, typically we'd get some type of notice when a major staff person leaves, but we didn't this time. Certainly we'd get more than a weeks notice that we read in three paragraphs in the local newspapers.

This was a rather short lived employment. We got the press release on the Mayor's choice Oct. 24th, 2007. We approved his appointment at the council meeting on Nov. 20th, 2007. And less than 3 months later, with 2 months of employment, we get that tiny snipet that he is leaving.

I wonder how long the job will stay open this time? Read more!

Computers, Parks, Same Difference

Interesting "management" strategy. Make the IT Department Manager in charge of Parks? When I first heard it, I thought the person telling me was joking and I didn't take it seriously. And I thought it was another joke when the reason was that we can't hire a Water Utility Manager and a Parks Manager at the same time? What?

When someone gives notification of resignation in August, why do you wait until the new year to start advertising? Isn't the point of getting notice from employees so that you can make a hire and have a transition period where some training/transition can take place?

And with the water utility, I heard the other day that there aren't ANY applications yet, maybe cuz they failed to advertise in the professional journals that they said they were going to advertise in? Glad they're putting all their efforts into that.

Stunning. Read more!

This explains alot . . .

Check out the current City of Madison personnel rules . . .


Yes, those are the current rules they are using. I was almost afraid to look. But I did find this very interesting tidbit that explains alot . . .

In case you can't read it, here is what it says:
Whenever the appointing authority establishes that a given vacancy requires a man of specialized training or pertinent prior experience . . .

And I always thought the Economic Development Plan from 1980 was embarassing. Here we have personnel rules that were written before the Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress, Title IX and Roe v Wade. No wonder we have gender issues!
Read more!

City Wages: Disturbing Trend

I guess when you ask for a study, you kind of want it to show what you thought it would. However, in this case, I think I wish I had been wrong.

Here's the average wages of men vs. women and non-minorities and minorities in the City of Madison.

2003
Men $65,403
Women $62,344

Non-minority $64,367
Minority $61,282

2004
Men $67,022
Women $62,315

Non-minority $65,231
Minority $60,849

2005
Men $67,806
Women $63,821

Non-minority $66,173
Minority $62,467

2006
Men $71,282
Women $67,104

Non-minority $69,378
Minority $67,159

Additionally, when you just look at the average and median wages of Agency Heads and how men and women compare, here's what you find:

2007 Average
Men - $110,836
Women - $95,073

2007 Median
Men - $120,267
Women - $96,541

When you combine the information about salaries with the fact that in 2003 there were
31% women in these positions and in 2006 there were 21% I find these trends more and more disturbing.
Read more!

Hiring Problems: 4 in the last two years.

Did something go wrong in the hiring of Bill Clingan? Are there similarities to other hires I've been critical of? The answer for me is that I still don't know and I won't until I get the information that I requested from Human Resources (still waiting!). In the cases where I thought Jeanne Hoffman, and Enis Ragland were unqualified for their jobs, there were clearer reasons why. And in the case of the Clerk/Treasurer the process was clearly flawed.

In the case of the Clerk/Treasurer, we advertised for a Clerk/Treasurer. There were certain people who were "certified" as being qualified. However, it became clear that the position was not one which you could find someone with both sets of skills. The Mayor then recommended that we hire a Clerk and re-advertise for the Treasurer. This was unfair as people who looked at the job description and decided that they didn't have the Treasurer experience likely did not apply. The Council ultimately made the Mayor go back and re-advertise both positions and while we hired a Clerk, the Treasurer position still remains open.

In the case of Jeanne Hoffman being hired for the Facilities Manager she had no facilities management experience. And, in that case, the job description called for a certain college degree in a technical area and abilities like CAD drawing experience. The issue here, again, is that we simply didn't advertise for the qualifications that we ultimately hired for. And again, people who may have the same qualifications as the person hired, were likely turned away when they saw they didn't have the right degree or experience. This case was similar to what happened when the Mayor advertised for a Clerk/Treasurer and then just hired a Clerk. The issue was false advertising of positions.

In the case of hiring Enis Ragland to head up the Office of Community Services, he has no experience in early childhood development or non-profit contract administration. In fact, some might argue, that he is almost openly hostile about the amount of money the City puts into non-profit agencies and into certain neighborhoods through the non-profit agencies. It's hard for me to see that he has the best interests of that office at heart. Luckily, this is a position that only last for one year.

In the case of Bill Clingan, I think we have quite a different problem. Here, I think the argument is over if he has the right kind of Economic Development experience. Again, I need to review all the documents to find out if there is some critical skill or degree that is missing as in the cases above. However, I agree, this whole hiring process was botched, but I think the "botching" here that is most obvious is more political. Here are the issues I see at the moment pending review of additional information.

1. The job description.
Like the Clerk/Treasurer position, this is a position that is very difficult to find someone with two different sets of skills. The person hired has to know Economic Development and Community Development. Yes, the two go hand in hand, but if the business community is expecting someone who can go out there and proactively bring in high tech businesses to Madison, the likelihood that they will also have experience in Community Development issues faced by the Senior Center, CDBG office and Office of Community Services is unlikely. Someone who has experience with Community Development is likely to have a different philosophy about what Economic Development entails.

2. What is Economic Development?
The business community folks who are upset by this hiring are upset because the candidates' background in Economic Development is not the background they want to see. Which leads to a question I've been asking for a couple years now. What do we mean when we say Economic Development? What are our goals? How will we create jobs in this community? What kinds of jobs will they be? One could argue, that the chosen candidate has Economic Development skills, depending on your definition of Economic Development.

3. The Mayor's promises.
The biggest problem here, is the expectations that the Mayor set up. He held several press conferences and told nearly everyone that this new person was going to be an Economic Development czar. He told people he was elevating the position to a "cabinet" level position in his office to elevate the importance of Economic Development. (Which begs the question, who is on the current the "cabinet"? And what exactly does that mean in local governement?) He included the business community in the process of writing the job description, the questions asked and included them in the interview panel, presumably, because he wanted to make sure that he hired someone that they were confident in having the Economic Development skills they were looking for.

I'm guessing that, in this case, as in the Hoffman case, the process was followed. The issue is, were the people certified actually qualified? In the Hoffman case, I'd say not. The question in this newer case is, was the Economic and Community Development job description one which advertised one set of skills and we hired another set of skills. Unfortunately, in this case, I think there are going to be differences of opinion based on your definition of Economic Development.

Hopefully, all those open records requests that were filed will be filled soon and the answers will become more clear.
Read more!

Gender & City Employment - The Controversy Continues

So, Vikki Kratz calls me and asks me what I think about the Mayor hiring another man. I say, you can't look at this on a case by case basis. I don't know who applied so I can't really comment. I also say that until the report comes out, I don't expect anything to change and that likely, our problem is in recruitment and maybe not in the actual hiring decision and that I look forward to the committees recommendations about how to get more women to apply for jobs.

So, Vikki writes a story, Jason Joyce starts a thread on thedailypage, I get attacked (again) and the thread goes to hell. And so it goes. However, it does give me an opportunity to update you on some information I have about how the City of Madison is doing in general.

The Department of Workforce Development groups jobs into job families and somehow, they can tell you the percentage of women and people in racial/ethnic groups are available in those jobs. We can then compare this to the number of women and people in certain racial/ethnic groups that are currently in those positions. Here's the areas in the City where women are being under-hired compared to their availability in the job market:

Job Family 1A - 1B (Senior Official & Executives; Unit Directors & Managers)
Available in the Job Market: 36.6%
Currently Hired: 28.89%
Women are 13 of 45 employees in these job families

Job Family 1C - 1F (Program Managers & Supervisors; Major Program, Project or Operations Administrators and Supervisors; Program, Project and/or Operations Administrators and Supervisors; Program, Project or Operations Supervisors)
Available in the Job Market: 49.9%
Currently Hired: 36.11%
Women are 39 of 108 employees in these job families

Job Family 2F - 2J (Police Captains; Police Lieutenants; Fire Captains; Fire Lieutenants)
Available in the Job Market: 21.9%
Currently Hired: 17.28
Women are 14 of 81 employees in these job families

Job Family 2K - 2M (Expert Consultants; Public Health Protection; Heath Care Services)
Available in the Job Market: 87.4%
Currently Hired: 80%
Women are 36 of 45 employees in these job families

Job Family 3A - 3E (Police Sergeants and Special Investigators; Firefighters/Paramedics; Fire Inspectors and Investigators; Advanced Specialized Regulatory and/or Code Enforcement; Specialized Regulatory and/or Code Enforcement; Inspectors)
Available in the Job Market: 32.6%
Currently Hired: 27.62%
Women are 50 of 81 employees in these job families

Job Family 3F - 3K (Engineering Program Specialists and Surveyors; Engineering/Planning Technicians; Architectural/Engineering and Related Aides; Property Assessment and Real Estate Aides; Biological and Chemical Science Technicians)
Available in the Job Market: 32.6%
Currently Hired: 19.67%
Women are 12 of 61 employees in these job families

Job Family 6A - 6K (Advanced Administrative and Program Support; Fiscal Processing; Resource Assignment; Administrative and Program Support; Advanced Administrative and Clerical Support; Administrative and Clerical Support; Clerical Support; Library Clerks; Library Page; Cashiers; Inventory Clerks)
Available in the Job Market: 84.3%
Currently Hired: 76.98%
Women are 408 of 530 employees in these job families

Job Family 7A - 7F (Crafts Group; Advanced Electrical Systems Installation, Maintenance and Repair; Facilities and Buildings Maintenance/Construction; Water Supply Operators, Skilled Mechanical Maintenance)
Available in the Job Market: 12.1%
Currently Hired: 1.35%
Women are 2 of 148 employees in these job families

Job Family 8A - 8B (Service and Maintenance Leadworkers, Coordinators and Crew Leaders; Specialized Grounds, Conservatory and Arborist Workers)
Available in the Job Market: 23.20%
Currently Hired: 12.96%
Women are 7 of 54 employees in these job families

Job Family 8D - 8P (General Public Works Maintenance and Equipment Operations; Advanced Public Works Maintenance and Equipment Operations; Advanced Equipment Operators; Refuse Collection, Street and Sewage Maintenance Operators; General Facility/Equipment Repair and Maintenance; General Maintenance/Mechanical Repair Work; Custodial and Facility Maintenance; Metro Transit Custodial and Service Workers; Hourly Public Facility Service Providers)
Available in the Job Market: 30.8%
Currently Hired: 22.28%
Women are 123 of 552 employees in these job families

So, for those who think that we don't take various factors into account, such as availability in the market place, you're wrong, we do. And even after taking those factors into account, we're still failing. Read more!

Thursday's Thoughts

Again, today, still much to blog about. So here's the schmorgasborg.
(How often do you get to use that word?!)

D'ANGELO

This whole D'Angelo thing is just a sad, disgusting situation. They should just give up the documents, now. Let's not make a bad situation worse.

REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

Well, its about time. Tho I'm quite certain, no one really knows what they actually agreed to. Speculation is running rampant about what the agreement means and doesn't mean. In reading the press release and the "fact sheet" that was sent out with it, it seems that there are a few unresolved issues, listed as "next steps" that need to be resolved, such as:

• Work with the Governor and the Legislature to authorize the RTA.
• File the New Starts Application for Transport 2020 with the Federal Government at the end of this summer.
  
• Pass the intergovernmental agreements to form the RTA.
• Receive Federal funding.
  
• Ask citizens to decide if the sales tax is the right way to fund these transportation improvements.
  

No matter what, at least Mayor Dave and County Executive Falk at least pretending to get along. (Tho some are convinced they were only pretending to argue.) However, there is one HUGE outstanding question about all of this. Does it include trolleys? The press release and information don't even mention the word trolley, or streetcar as the Mayor prefers. However, in listening to AM radio yesterday, I heard audio of the the reporter asking if this means the trolley is dead and the Mayor replied "No. No. Not at all." Its also in the Cap Times. It looks dead. I wonder how he'll Dick Cheney his way out of this one?

BAD LANDLORDS

Disgusting Landlord of the day.

ANTI-BUSINESS

Sometimes, I gotta agree, the City of Madison is anti-business. Check out this email the entire City Council got yesterday. I don't really blame this person for being upset.

Dear Alders,

I want to give you an update on the adventures of being a small bookstore in this fine city. I have been waiting for the application I must now fill out to be able to buy secondhand textbooks in the city of Madison starting July 1 ( this coming Sunday). It is still not on the city clerk's web page, but my alderperson Ms. Konkel did have the city atty. office e-mail me a copy on Tuesday. It took me a day and a half to get the information from my employees, since it is information that is not legal for an employer to ask when hiring people ( i.e. birth dates, and if they have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor). But I did take the time and call everyone that was not working that day and filled out the form. Today, Wed., I checked the city web page to find the hours of the city clerk's office and it states that the office is open until 4:30pm. I biked up the street and got there at 4:20 to hand in my application and pay my fee only to be told that they turn off the computers at 4:15 since they leave at 4:30 and have buses to catch. Yes, indeed, everyone had their bags and flowers from the market in hand ready to head out.

Now, I know everyone works hard, and the staff was nice, but they did not have anything to offer me except to come back tomorrow.

I know this is not the way I run my business, and I don't think it is the way to run a city. I close at 8pm and pay my employees until 8:15 so they have time to close down the computers, etc. At the very least, the city web page should state that the office closes at 4:15pm.

Maybe it is not just rhetoric when people say the city is not business friendly. I certainly I am feeling that way today.

Read more!

Wednesday's wanderings.

Yesterday's blogging frenzy continues as there is so much to comment on. Today's topics are broccoli, trash cans, stalled Tenney Lapham Neighborhood plan and Allied Drive. And later today, more landlord stories.

BROCCOLI/HIRING PRACTICES
Yes, I do like broccoli, both raw and cooked. However, for the record, whether I like or don't like Mayor Dave has nothing to do with my criticisms of our hiring practices, no matter how he tries to spin it or discredit my criticisms. The fact remains, we haven't followed our own hiring procedures and we either need to change our procedures or change our practices. The latest update is that when I asked to see the questions and benchmark answers as required in APM 2-29, I found out that while they prepared questions, no benchmark answers were ever developed. (See page 3, 2nd paragraph in the APM. "The Hiring Agency prepares a set of interview questions with appropriate benchmark answers for the final interview.")

TRASH CANS
While some alders are obsessed with how to dispose of the old trash cans when the new trash cans come out, I continue to wonder where the heck people are going to put these HUGE trash cans everyone is going to be getting? I'm wondering how many people are going to be asking to exchange the trash can after 90 days? I was relieved when I checked in with Rob and he said we chose the medium sized cart, and we're thinking we could have probably taken the even smaller one.

TENNEY LAPHAM NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN
When I went to the Pedestrian Bike Motor Vehicle Committee yesterday to discuss the Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Plan, I was informed that they were going to delay talking about the plan because they had just received information from Traffic Engineering. While the City Staff and the Neighborhood Association President stayed, I went to the business community meet and greet over at the Brink Lounge. However, I think the main points that need to be made at this point are that the traffic planning that the traffic engineers are so vociferously opposing at this time are already in the current Tenney Lapham Old Marketplace Neighborhood Plan and the Comprehensive Plan. This isn't necessarily new stuff.

ALLIED DRIVE
Tick. Tock. We've owned the properties since last May. We had a huge public planing process last September that went no where and wasted $100,000. Now, we may have a request for proposals coming out next month, that has to pass the council, then be issued, the a group chosen and as one city staff person said yesterday, "We're at least 18 months away from seeing anything happen." Read more!

Possible Ordinance violations?

Someone over at thedailypage.com asked what ordinances might have been violated in the hiring of Jeanne Hoffman. It's hard to say if there were violations as the information about the hiring is a little hard to come by. I think the Isthmus has had an open records request in for a couple weeks and they still haven't gotten the info they asked for. At least, that was the case as of last Thursday. However, based on a review of the applications, the ordinances that I would be concerned about are as follows:

1. This is the major one that I would consider a problem.

3.35(7)(g) If there are any changes in the duties of a position that would affect the classification, compensation, or training and experience requirements of the position between the time of initial posting of the position opening and the time of selection, the position shall not be filled; rather, the position as changed shall be posted again and a new application and selection process will be started. (Cr. by ORD-06-00136)

2. Somehow, this job had 6 final applicants, which doesn't seem to follow this procedure.

3.35(8)(b) Certification Procedure . Upon receiving written notice that a position in the civil service is to be filled, the Human Resources Director, or designee, shall forthwith certify the names and addresses of the four (4) highest ranking eligible candidates from the most appropriate eligible list, or of qualified candidates eligible through transfer, reinstatement, or demotion. In case of two (2) vacancies in the same classification, two (2) additional ranks shall be certified for each additional vacancy up to a maximum of twenty (20) ranks.

In situations where a position falls in a job family that is underutilized, the Human Resources Director, or designee, shall certify the names and addresses of the eight (8) highest ranking eligible candidates from the most appropriate eligible list as provided above. In case of two (2) vacancies in the same classification, two (2) additional ranks shall be certified for each additional vacancy up to a maximum of twenty (20) ranks. The Human Resources Director and Director of Affirmative Action shall annually update the job family utilization data. (Am. by Ord. 10,984, 9-14-94)

3. I don't think this happens unless they post them in the Council Office, but I don't think that I've ever seen these notices and I'm quite certain they are not distributed in any fashion.

3.35(11) Notice of Vacancies. (a) Upon receiving notice of a vacancy of any position in the civil service, the Human Resources Department shall forward written notice of such vacancy or vacancies to every member of the Common Council prior to the commencement of recruitment or the taking of any other action to fill such positions. (Am. by Ord. 10,052, Adopted 6-19-90)

(c) The filing of written notice of vacancies in the Office of the Secretary of the Common Council for posting and distribution pursuant to administrative directive shall fulfill the requirements of forwarding written notice of vacancies to every member of the Common Council as set forth above.

Additionally, there may be violations in procedure set out in a couple different Administrative Procedure Memoranda 2-8, and 2-29. I haven't gotten any answers to if there are other written rules and procedures from the Human Resources Office (also a request from two weeks ago), so I only have what one of the City Attorney's gave me. So, I'm still not apologizing. And instead, I've introduced this resolution (with Michael Schumacher, Satya Rhodes-Conway and Marsha Rummel) which we should be voting on tomorrow. Then hopefully we can get additional information and make sure that we don't let this happen again. Read more!

Apologize?

No. I didn't accuse anyone of any official misconduct, the Mayor's office did. Apparently, the Mayor thinks I should apologize to Larry Nelson. Apparently they think that I'm accusing Larry Nelson of "official misconduct". Wow. That's a pretty cool tactic, put inflammatory words in someone else's mouth and personalize it.

Here's what I think about this situation. It's oddly similar to the whole Clerk/Treasurer situation we had a few months ago. The City of Madison advertised for a Clerk/Treasurer. Apparently no one was qualified, so they came up with a candidate and tried to hire a Clerk. The Council had to approve the position and instead, we sent it back to re-advertise the position. It didn't seem fair to advertise for one position and then hire a person qualified for a different position. Sound familiar?

Seems as though it's the Mayor's office that has a history of creating jobs that are hard to fill based on the job descriptions that they create. Apparently, according to the Isthmus, Larry was looking for someone with a different set of skills than what was advertised. And apparently, the HR department qualified people for interviews without regard for the advertised skills and knowledge. And apparently, the Mayor's office, for the second time, thinks this is ok.

Well, I don't. This doesn't pass the "smell test" any more than the Clerk/Treasurer situation. Now I'm wondering, is this a common City practice? Is this a pattern that is emerging? And does the Mayor really condone this practice? Read more!

More Qualified.

Many of you have been following the hiring issues with our Facilities and Sustainability Manager, well, here's the qualifications of the other candidates:

Applicant One:
Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technologies

Facilities Manager 2002 - present
Corporate Facilities Engineer Sept 2001 - April 2002
Facilities Engineer Aug 2000 - 2001
Regional Facilities Manager July 1998 - Dec 1999
Chief Engineer Apr 1991 - July 1998

Applicant Two:
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering

Project Engineer Feb 2006 - present
Superintendent April 1990 - Sept 2005
Design Engineer Jan 1988 - April 1990

Applicant Three:
Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources
Masters in Architecture

Project Manager Aug 1998 - present
Association Institutional Facilities Group Leader Feb 1987 - Aug 1998
Designer and Job Captain Mar 1986 - Jan 1987
Designer/Draftsperson Sept 1984 - Dec 1985

Applicant Four:
Law Degree
Masters in Business Administration

Information redacted for current job
Financial Specialist March 2004 - Feb 2005

Applicant Five:
Master of Science in Energy Management
PhD in Air Resources Management

Program Manager July 2006 - present
Air Management Specialist Aug 1997 - June 2006
Climate Protection Engineer Nov 1998 - April 2001
Manager, Renewable Energy March 1990 to April 1997
Energy Engineer Jan 1989 - March 1990 Read more!

Unqualified.

Warning: This post might not be "nice", but after thinking about it for a few days, I believe it is right. Unfortunately, doing what is right isn't always "nice".

Late Monday afternoon on my way to a meeting, I ran into a City Staff person who asked me if I had seen the announcement about the new staff person in the Mayor's office and the new Facilities and Sustainability Manager. I said yes. Then, this staff person, proceeded to get so upset they were red in the face. What upset this City staff person? The fact that this person felt that people who were much more qualified for the Facilities and Sustainability Manager job - engineers and architects - were turned down, and instead a person who was clearly not qualified for the job, a former Mayoral staff person, got the job. They felt that it was nothing but political favoritism. So I decided to look into it.

In the job description it listed

QUALIFICATIONS

Knowledges, Skills and Abilities:

Considerable knowledge of facility planning and construction principles, techniques, practices, and materials. Thorough knowledge of construction plan review, cost estimating, governmental bidding and contract processes, overall building construction contract administration, and space needs analysis principles and practices. Thorough knowledge of environmental engineering principles and practices incorporating energy conservation, energy utilization analysis and building maintenance. Working knowledge of computer aided design systems relevant to building design and construction. Working knowledge of construction inspection techniques. Ability to plan, assign, and carry out a comprehensive municipal facility development and maintenance program. Ability to manage building maintenance and cleaning. Ability to prepare and evaluate working construction plans and specifications, determine appropriate change orders, and authorize payments. Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships. Ability to prepare comprehensive reports and recommendations. Ability to maintain adequate attendance.

Training and Experience:

Three years of directly related managerial and professional work in directing a facility design and management/maintenance program, emphasizing cost-effective energy management considerations. Such experience would normally be gained after graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor’s Degree in environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, or architecture. Other combinations of training and/or experience which can be demonstrated to result in the possession of the knowledges, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of this position will also be considered.

So, I asked for the application for the person who got the job. It's fair to say that they listed none of the experience, knowledge or skills bolded above. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

Here's the experience listed:

Mayoral Aide, City of Madison April 2003 - Present: I am responsible for working with city agencies regarding issues such as, planning and development, environmental, transportation, and public works. I also am involved in developing annual Executive Capital and Operating Budgets, coordinating the Federal Appropriation requests, and tracking Federal policies. I have worked extensively with policy makers and community stakeholders through the City's legislative process. Finally, I coordinated major policy initiatives of the mayor. Highlights of these initiatives include, adoption Inclusionary Zoning, an affordable housing program, implementing a new recycling and refuse program and negotiating the acquisition of 230 acres of open space in the Cherokee Marsh.

Deputy Campaign Manager July 2002 - April 2003: Developed a fundraising plan and raised approximately $200,000 for primary and general election through a combination of events, direct mail and phone solicitation.

Executive Director, Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin July 1996 - July 2002: Supervised approximately five full time employees. Under my direction the members grew from 150 to 1000 members and the annual budget went from $21,000 to $150,000 through increased grants, advertising, donations and membership revenues. The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin developed bicycle education programs, produced state bike maps, published a bicycling event booklet and opened a Milwaukee office.

Administrative Assistant, Citizens Community Fund 1994 - 1996: Administrative: Payroll, Accounts Payable, etc. Human Resources: Health Insurance, Retirement Plans

Project Assistant, UW, Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources 1993 - 1994: Project Assistant: Assisted in organizing a conference regarding ethanol production in Wisconsin. The conference theme was the effectiveness of taking various biomass and agricultural waste streams and converting them to ethanol.

B.S. in Business Administration - Marketing UW-Stout 1993

It wouldn't be so bad, but the position is Comp Group 18, Range 16. Which means the salary is $68,068.52 - $85,124.52. This is the same amount of money paid to a Senior Administrative Analyst, City Architect, Principal Engineer - Water, Personnel Services Manager, Principal Engineer IV, Transportation Planning Manager.

Bottom Line: This is not good government. That employee was right to be upset. I'm sure its not considered "nice" that I pointed this out, but taxpayers deserve to know. Read more!