Budget . . . Budget . . . Budget

Tonight starts the City Council marathon meeting. We will be meeting tonight, tomorrow night and likely Thursday night as well. Here's a few things you should be aware of:

PUBLIC TESTIMONY - WHEN, HOW LONG, HOW OFTEN
Public testimony will be taken tonight. I've talked to several people who expected to be able to speak tomorrow night, but that's not how we traditionally do it. We take all the testimony this evening. However, if people show up on Wednesday or Thursday, I've promised to make a motion to suspend the rules to allow people to speak. However, it is not encouraged and there won't be any forms so you'll have to let an alder know that is why you are there and then the council would have to vote to allow you to speak. And then, the rest of the council will have to vote to allow you to speak and I can't guarantee that the vote would pass.

Also, this is a public hearing, so people have 5 minutes to speak, instead of 3 minutes. It is strongly encouraged that you speak to all the items in those in each of the budgets in those 5 minutes. However, we have over 70 items and you can speak for 5 minutes on the Capital Budget Amendments and then 5 minutes on the Operating Budget Amendments. If you really can't do it and your items are really diverse, it may be possible that the council would suspend the rules and allow you additional time. Again, I can't guarantee that would happen. I can make a motion to suspend the rules, but the vote has to pass the council.

REGISTRATION SLIPS
The meeting starts at 6:30 and it is recommended that you show up at that time. If you're late, you can register as long as you register before we get to your item. However, it is always difficult to know how many people might show up, so we do recommend that you show up around 6:30 so you don't lose out on your opportunity to speak or register.

There will be two registration slips there this evening. One slip is used early testimony, for those who have issues that make it so that they have to leave early. Health issues, transportation issues, childcare issues and the homeless folks who need to get to the homeless shelter by a certain time can use those slips and speak first. Questions can be taken for those folks immediately so that they can leave and get to wherever they need to go. Everyone else's testimony will be taken in order of budget amendments, first Capital, then Operating.

Several people choose not to speak but instead fill out a registration slip. If you want people to know which items you support or oppose, I'd recommend that you fill out a separate slip on each item. It's really hard for the council to keep up if a bunch of items are rattled off by number. On that note, when speaking, it's probably better to not refer to budget amendment numbers unless you also say what the subject is, we don't have the over 70 amendments memorized by number.

IF YOU CAN"T MAKE IT
If you want to give us input and can't make it to the meeting, the easiest way to reach most of us is to send an email to allalders@cityofmadison.com and mayor@cityofmadison.com. Most of us will read our email before (or during) tonight's meetings. And, if you hear things during public testimony tonight on things that we will be voting on later, you can email us over the next two days.

WHERE WILL WE BE?
Tuesday night we will be in our regular room at the City County Building Room 201. If you want to testify, you should show up at 6:30 to register. We will take all public testimony first and then discuss the amendments.

Wednesday night the clerk has it listed as MONONA TERRACE, ONE JOHN NOLEN DRIVE, MEETING ROOM K-R, but yesterday I found out that we will likely be in the same room as Tuesday since the county board finished their budget last night.

Thursday night we will be the MONONA TERRACE, ONE JOHN NOLEN DRIVE, EXHIBIT HALL B.

BIG PICTURE ISSUES
There are two huge issues that we will all be concerned about throughout the budget discussions. The first is if this budget is going to be sustainable into the future. The Mayor very foolishly put the $3.9M of TIF windfall money into the budget. That means that next year, we have a gap of $3.9M in revenues, some of which will come from more of the TIF windfall. In 2010 we won't have that money. This, combined with adding 30 police officers is really stressing our budget. The police officers are of concern because the costs for 2008 are not a full year of costs since the officers start in February or May and the following year we will need to pay the full year of their salaries. So, adding 30 officers will cost far more in 2009.

The second issue is that if we add more than about $364,000 to the budget, we will go over the state imposed levy limits and we will lose about $5M in state aids. Alder Brandon has amendments in place to fix the windfall issue above and to spend that one-time money on one-time costs, but that then will put us over the levy limits and end up costing us $5M in state aids, and we'll have to raise taxes to pay for that. At the moment, that's a lose-lose situation.

THE AMENDMENTS, WHAT ARE WE VOTING ON
Here are all of the amendments.
Capital Budget
Operating Budget

What we actually end up voting on is the Mayor's Capital Budget and the Mayors Operating Budget, plus the Capital Budget Amendments and Operating Budget Amendments that pass over the next three nights, plus the amendments that passed the Board of Estimates. Read more!

Tonight's Council Agenda

Because we think we can get away with only having one meeting in August, our agenda for tonight is really 99 pages long with 233 items. That's alot of items, many will be referred for introduction or quickly disposed of because they are routine, but this agenda does have more than usual items of interest, here there are.

2 - Hiring Brad Wirtz as our new Human Resources Director
4 & 5 - Finally appointing the James Madison Park Committee, after all this time! (It only took 7 months)
20 - "Placing on file" the 1,000 square foot garages (My house is only 1200 square feet!)
27 - Re-referring the Demolition ordinance
29 - Putting the nail in the coffin on a good project on the Westside of Madison?
34 - Approving changing 625 E Mifflin St from a 5-story building to a 3-story building at the request of the developer.
53 - Fixing our Living Wage Ordinance so that non-profits and for-profit businesses are treated equally
56 & 57 - Warner Park Mallards Stadium
62 - Finally approving the consultant to help us update our 1980 Economic Development Plan for the City
69 - Issuing an RFP to hire somone to Advertise the BioAg Gateway
70 - Police Overtime Report
72 - Approving Frank Productions to help with Halloween on State St.
136 - Small tweak to reporting on the lobbying ordinance
137 - Allied Drive rush job
150 - Alcohol and Gambling Bus Wraps
152 - Another goofy Water Utility Contract
155 - The latest and greatest Zatch Act Ordinance
156 - Police horse and dog crap
159 - RTA
160 - Impeachment

Items of interest to be referred
180 - Expanding reverse mortgage program
197 - Water Utility Manager buy out
198- Charge if use more than 4 carts for garbage pick up
199 - Pool overrun
208 - Capital Budget

Should be a long night. But before the meeting even starts, I'm going to try to be in two places at once and attend the emergency Housing Committee meeting on Allied Drive while also attending to the Common Council Organizational Committee meeting that is full of items I placed on the agenda, so I'll miss everyone at that Impeachment Rally prior to the Council meeting. (Still working on more links!) Read more!

Is Scott Milfred at the WSJ Stupid, Incompetent or Just So Arrogant He Doesn't Think People will Realize the Truth?

Or maybe he just thinks that the readers of the Wisconsin State Journal are dumb? Just when I think he can't top himself, Scott Milfred and the Wisconsin State Journal prove, once again, that they just don't care if what they print is the truth or not. Milfred's latest, PD Distraction Isn't Worth a Vote is just precious. I'll let the co-chairs of PD tell you about how dead wrong that headline is. And here's Lukas Diaz's expansion on the letter to the editor.

For me, Milfred's complete misunderstanding of how the City Council works is mind-blowing. Here's a few of his laughable comments:

1. "233 items for consideration". I don't think he realizes that of the 233 items "up for consideration", several of them are first being introduced and then referred to committees for action as well as several referrals. Several examples of how he gets this wrong will follow.

2. "Getting rid of a failed water utility director". This item is first being introduced and will not be voted on at the meeting.

3. "Courtesy of the hard-left political party Progressive Dane, the Madison City Council will debate whether to urge Congress to begin impeachment investigations against President Bush and Vice President Cheney." See above links about why this is so wrong. This was an initiative started and supported by the Green Party and the Democratic Party, Progressive Dane never even endorsed this resolution. (It was more of an oversight than a conscious decision.)

4. "Instead of pouring over a report on police overtime, instead of carefully considering the expansion of a city program to help more elderly people stay in their homes, a handful of PD council members want to pretend they are members of Congress." Most of us read the routine report on police overtime weeks ago and the city program discussed is on the agenda for introduction and referral.

5. "Forget about careful consideration of zoning changes that would allow larger garages and sheds to go up on certain property without city approval (Item No. 20)." This was an idea that didn't work and is being "placed on file" i.e. tossed in the garbage.

6. "And if the five PD supporters of the resolution soliloquy on Bush's follies for about five minutes each, that's another half hour wasted." This is laughable. The biggest time wasters on these issues are the 7 or 8 alders who make a speech about how this isn't City business. Thereby usually wasting more time than the item itself.

Nevermind the obvious that City Council members are perfectly capable of multi-tasking and dealing with more than one issue at a time. Nevermind that many of us Madisonians have friends or family members who served in the bogus war in Iraq and feel that this is an issue that affects us here in Madison. Nevermind the impact that the actions of the President have had on our state and local budgets while we spend billions of dollars in Iraq and Madison taxpayers are forced to fill in the gaps that the federal government isn't funding. Yeah, that's right, the war in Iraq and the President's actions have nothing to do with Madison . . .

For me, my vote for impeachment will be dedicated to those who survived Hurricane Katrina, and even more so for those who did not.

p.s. Here's what is really on the agenda for tonight. Read more!

Tonight's Council Meeting: Items of Interest

There's only one meeting in August, and so you'd expect us to have a long one, but due to absences (Kerr & Bruer) and for other reasons several items are expected to be referred. So, it could be a shorter one than expected and September agendas are going to be very packed. Here's the items of interest.

1. Honoring the life of Jeff Erlanger.
We'll be honoring a great volunteer for the City of Madison.

2. Congratulating Dorothy Conniff on her retirement after 30 years with the City of Madison.
Another great loss for the City of Madison. While I've known Dorothy Conniff for years, its been a pleasure getting to know her even better the last few years on the Early Childhood Care and Education Board. She, and all the knowledge she carries with her, will be greatly missed. And unfortunately, it was previously thought that her position would simply be filled, but it looks like the Mayor might take this opportunity to do yet another consolidation and eliminate the position. A big mistake in my mind, as we need someone in a leadership position for the Office of Community Services. As the City continues to grow and we can't solve everything through policing, it becomes more and more critical that we have strong city services for families.

4. Mayor's appointments.
There's some interesting Plan Commission appointments. It seems the Kelly Thompson-Frater has been unceremoniously dumped from the Plan Commission. In fact, she didn't even know about it until someone pointed it out to her last night. Instead, former Ald. Judy Olson, who is already on three other committees and a "vice president of governmental affairs" a.k.a. lobbyist (?!) is being appointed. So far, that's not working out so well on the Urban Design Commission, I"m surprised he wants to try it again. Interesting, former Alder Ken Golden ends up on no committees at all, and former Ald. Olson is now going to be on 4 committees. And appointing lobbyists? The Mayor's appointments get curiouser and curiouser.

6. Expressing support and appreciation for Erin Davies recent efforts.
This is an interesting set of co-sponsors.

24. Development in Cherokee Park.
I don't think this project has been all worked out with the neighbors.

26. Redevelopment of the State owned Hill Farms property.
We'll be getting a recommendation tonight based on last night's plan commission meeting. Ald. Rummel and I stayed as long as we could, but it was so cold, we eventually left, so I don't know what the plan commission final recommendations were, but there seemed to be some controversy left on this project as well.

46, 47, 48 - Halloween Resolutions regarding fencing and funding, glass ban and amending budgets (i.e. giving the cops more money, again.) You'd think we could have done this in the regular budget process.

50. Agreement to continue with cops in the schools.

52. $2.7M TIF for the Southside.
We didn't follow our new process outlined in our TIF policies. One has to ask, what's the point of passing policies that just get ignored? This better be the first and last time this happens and I suppose one can overlook it cuz the application is "the first one".

70. Approving noise on the Westside.
I hope this "routine item" doesn't bite them the way a recent decision did on the Isthmus. Looks like it won't, but I guess you never know. Don't worry, it eventually stops.

103. Water Utility Contract for Surveillance Cameras.

121. Fining kids for playing with toys.
As has been noted by Lisa Subeck, police have efficiently used their full time public relations officer to make sure we're all aware of the dangers of toy guns.

125. Regional Transportation Authority.
Known to many as the "trolley tax" and likely to be referred mostly for that reason. If you ask me the RTA has alot of potential to help fund Madison Metro in ways that increases ridership, keeps flexibility and extends services both geographically and hours of service. However, the Dave and Kathleen deal that was cut hasn't gone over well with many council members. Look for this to be referred to see if there is any way to get to 11 votes, cuz at the moment, it's looking grim. Perhaps we should go back to the original proposal, it had 15 sponsors. Now, Mayor Dave's deal only has 9.

129. Restricting Poll Workers from Participating in the Political Process
There's supposed to be a re-draft, but no one has seen it. I would expect it would get referred, but you just never know.

130. Housing Plan for Allied Drive.
This is where we decide if we take the recommendations of the Allied Drive residents seriously, or pat them on the head and promptly ignore them. This plan and report from the Allied Drive Task for is supposed to be what we use to go out for an Request for Proposals to see who the best developer for Allied Drive is, but some people, have changed what they have been telling people for months and switched game plans.

131. Impeachment
That is being referred until September at the request of the main sponsor.

184. Water Utility Do-Over.
We'll see if the City Council approves the Water Utility contract this time.

That's it. And then we take a break until September, sort of, kinda, not really.
Read more!

Tonight's agenda: Items of Interest

Looks can be deceiving. The agenda looks shorter than usual, but there is more on the agenda to talk about than usual. Here's the items I thought people might be interested in.

#1 - Honoring the life of Jeff Erlanger - This item is going to be referred until a date that the family can be there.

# 2 - Confirming the re-appointment of Larry D. Nelson to the position of City Engineer,
Director and Manager of the Engineering Division, Department of Public Works

#3 - Supporting a Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) - This item is going to be referred, however, we could be taking public input tonight. For more info on the referral, look here for my thoughts, and here for the local media coverage on why its being referred. The short story is - at least according to the paper:

The resolution, which has not been drafted yet, was supposed to come before the council and board this week, but after the leaders met with the Dane County Towns Association and the Dane County Cities and Villages Association last week, they agreed to postpone their votes until August.

If you're interested, Transport 2020 will be taking this up on Wednesday. Long Range Transportation (LRTPC) and Transit and Parking Commission (TPC) will be taking this up on Thursday (It's still not on the LRTPC agenda when I'm writing this, TPC) and perhaps other committees, depending upon what the council decides. And here's an interesting note, posted by a TPC member to a list:

At the TPC meeting of 7/10, WE (the TPC) decided that it should be referred to TPC and LRTPC and that the only way to do this with the timeline requested (passed by the end of August) was to have a joint meeting.

My guess is that the Mayor wouldn't have had ANY referrals for this resolution. And HE didn't ask for a joint meeting.

Again, he seems to be taking credit for things that are the work or ideas of others. It isn't a big deal once in awhile, but it gets pretty irritating when it is repeated again, and again, and again.

The responses were even funnier ("I'm shocked, SHOCKED!"), but I'll refrain from posting the rest of those.

#4 Citizen Appointments, to be approved at the next council meeting. Months later, still no appointments for James Madison Park Planning Committee or the Office of Neighborhood Support Committee.

#11 - Office building for Meriter on the far southwest side of Madison. Approving more sprawl and medical facilities without bus service. (Also #39)

#13 - Referring 1501 Monroe Street for another 120 days. This is the project Paul Soglin likes and was upset about referral. I think the issues here are a little deeper than his analysis. Starting with, some developers are their own worst enemies when it comes to dealing with neighborhoods, especially those neighborhoods that have worked with developers in the past and know that things can we worked out to address concerns of the neighborhood. Makes those developers that draw lines in the sand look really unreasonable.

#19 - Establishing rules and procedures for Common Council deliberation on the City of
Madison's 2008 Capital and Operating Budgets. This includes the calendar for the fall budget process. Including the Mayor's "public" hearings.

#20 - More modifications to the Parks budget - taking "Specific Parks Improvement" funds to fix a maintenance facility.

#22 - Taking money from downtown parks to pay for Breese Stevens Field. I've written about this here and here.

#35 - Approving secondhand book dealer licenses.

#38 - Creating Section 3.35(8)(g) of the Madison General Ordinances to establish limitations
on political and campaign activities of election employees. This was thoroughly rejected by the Madison Area Elections Committee and the Ethics Board, so apparently this will be referred while the authors come up with a new version.

#56 - Water Utility Contract with EMA. Here's info on the last discussion the council had and the water utility in general. (Sorry, I meant to write more about this, but ran out of time, since Sunday night, I've been doing nothing but working. I had meetings on Sunday 4 - 8 then worked 22 of the next 26 hours so I can go on vacation starting early tomorrow morning. Will try to blog from 10K Lakes Festival, if electricity and internet connections cooperate with me.)

There's quite a few items being introduced, but the agenda essentially ends there, with a relatively low number of items, but plenty to talk about. Read more!

Tomorrow's Council Meeting

When most people are off on family vacations or doing something fun and interesting this week, at least 19 of the council members will be in a meeting Tuesday night. Technically, I have the week "off", but I'll be going in to work tomorrow and the Council work never stops. The highlight of my week "off" is Rob's band Baghdad Scuba Review is playing at Summerfest on Thursday and my sister and I will be on the bus. Today, we're off the zoo with the nieces.

Here's the highlights of the actions we'll be taking on Tuesday.

#58 - Orpheum (Also #8)
Accept the following stipulated agreement: 1) License holder will pay fine of $1,747. 2) License holder will confiscate false ID's during events and give to MPD monthly. 3) All employees will attend MPD Tavern Safety by October 1, 2007. 4) License holder will serve a three-day suspension, which will be deemed served upon compliance with stipulated agreement.

#59 - City Bar (Also #9)
Accept the following stipulated agreement: 1) License holder will pay fine of $1,810. 2) License holder will provide brighter lighting and a blacklight for bouncers to check ID's. 3) License holder will confiscate false ID's and give to MPD monthly. 4) All employees will attend MPD Tavern Safety by October 1, 2007. 5) License holder will serve a three-day suspension, which will be deemed served upon compliance with stipulated agreement.

# 60 - Kollege Klub (Also #6)
Accept the following stipulated agreement: 1) License holder will pay fine of $3,826. 2) License holder will confiscate false ID's and give to MPD monthly. 3) All employees will attend MPD Tavern Safety by October 1, 2007. 4) License holder will discontinue all-you-can-drink specials. 5) Employees at the front door to the establishment will use a tape measure and blacklight to aid in identifying false ID's. 6) License holder will serve a five-day suspension for the dates of September 6th through September 10th.

#61 - Bullfeathers (Also #5)
Accept the following stipulated agreement: 1) License holder will pay fine of $4,834. 2) License holder will confiscate false ID's and give to MPD monthly. 3) All employees will attend MPD Tavern Safety by October 1, 2007. 4) License holder will serve a ten-day suspension for the dates of September 6th through September 15th.

#62 - Church Key (Also #7)
Accept the following stipulated agreement: 1) License holder will pay fine of $5,069. 2) License holder will confiscate false ID's and give to MPD monthly. 3) License holder will utilize an ID scanner at the front door to the establishment. 4) License holder will serve a three-day suspension from July 8th through July 10th.

#72 - More money for Garbage Cans
It seems as tho the budget for the new garbage collection process is going to cost us a half of million dollars more than projected. The reasons given are that

a) more people are getting the 95 gallon carts (most recycling bins are 65 gallons) because that is the size you get if you didn't respond to a postcard months ago.
b) petroleum prices.

#74 - Transfats

#83 - Throwing in the towel on Mid-State St. Parking Ramp.

#103 - Spending $300,000 to find out what is wrong with the Water Utility.

#122 - Regional Transportation Authority
Well, after all the splash this week, the Council's vote on the RTA will be largely insignificant. And once again, we're left out of the conversation. When it looked like Mayor Dave and County Exec Kathleen were going to continue fighting, this resolution was a good idea. Now its useless. However, it is important to note that this resolution DOES NOT ratify the agreement the two of them struck. In fact, I'm still not sure I understand all the ins and outs of what they agreed to, as Paul Soglin notes, keep a close eye on what folks are saying. Read more!

Tuesday's Council Meeting - June 19th

Here's some items of interest on the agenda for Tuesday's Common Council Meeting:

At 5:30, we're having a special meeting on some of the many transit/transportation alternatives that the City is in the midst of considering. Dave Trowbridge will give us an update on Transport 2020 and the Trolley Study.

#1 - Honoring 2nd districts very own Isabel Jacobson for her third place win at the National Spelling Bee Championship.

#5 - Approving the City paying for insurance and city police services for Elver Park Fireworks.

#7 - Approving a study to look at our hiring practices.

#18 - Approving a study on the gender and salaries of top management positions. (Race/ethnicity and disability were added to these resolution at Affirmative Action, however, that is currently not reflected in the resolution. I believe that there will be a substitute resolution prepared.)

#19 - Approving a study of the gender of persons appointed to city committees, commissions and board. (Race/ethnicity and disability were added to these resolution at Affirmative Action, however, that is currently not reflected in the resolution. I believe that there will be a substitute resolution prepared.)

#35 - Approving 2007 Neighborhood Grants.

#41 - Rejecting the proposal to ban alcohol in Law Park. (For some reason, even though the Park Commission voted against the proposal and that should be the recommendation, the agenda says "approval".

#83 - Annexation of parts of the lands in the Cherokee Park Special Area Plan to the City of Madison.

#84 - Allowing Neighborhood Electric Vehicles on roads that are 25 miles per hour or less.

#89 & #90 - Approving unlimited bus pass programs for MATC and Edgewood.

#95 - Making changes to the Rental Rehab Program. Read more!

What's on Tomorrow Night's Council Agenda

Here's all the fun and excitement on the Common Council Agenda for Tuesday night . . .with the following conditions:

#4 and #157 - We'll be appointing more men and a lobbyist to City Committees.

#6, #7, #8 & #9 - Issuing a summons to to appear before the Alcohol License Review Committee for

• Bull Feathers
• Kollege Klub
  
• City Bar and Restaurant
• Orpheum

#11 - Neighborhood Conservation Districts, hopefully for the final time. The most vocal former opponents of this ordinance, the REALTORS and Downtown Madison Inc are now either nuetral or supporting this ordinance. Oddly enough, the sponsors have been removed from this ordinance, but they should be Konkel, Kerr, Verveer, Webber, Rummel.

Liquor licenses are all up for renewal July 1st every year. So, there are quite a few Alcohol License related items on this agenda. I've highlighted some of the problem licenses. To see the rest of the information on the liquor licenses, click here. It's in item #31 on the agenda.

#27, #28 and #29 - Liquor License Renewals that got separated, which include

• Good Times Bar - requested to be separated by the Police. Recommended to refer for Non-Renewal Hearing. #27
• Tres Amigos - requested to be separated by the Police. Recommended to refer for Non-Renewal Hearing. #28
• Cue-Nique Billiards - requested to be separated by the Police. Recommended to approve with following conditions: 1) Building Inspection and Fire Inspection shall audit the capacity of this establishment. 2) Establishment shall maintain a written incident log documenting any type of disturbance in detail, the employees involved and, if possible, the patrons involved. This log will be available to the Madison Police Department upon request. 3) Applicant will surrender Nightclub License. #29

#31 - Approving liquor license renewals. This year, there was an attempt to level the playing field and have consistent conditions based on liquor licenses as follows:

Class A Beer licenses granted to convenience stores or gas stations; conditions to take effect October 1, 2007: 1) No sale of single bottles or cans of beer or fermented malt beverage. 2) No sale of forty-ounce bottles or containers of beer or fermented malt beverage. 3) Display area for beer and/or fermented malt beverage limited to one fifteen-square-foot section of cooler.

Class A Liquor licenses granted to Open Pantry on Beltline Highway, Old Sauk Mobil on Junction Court, Open Pantry on Park Street, Madison Pantry Food Mart on Park Street, Mobil Mart on Shopko Drive, PDQ on Third Street, PDQ on Buckeye Road, Mobil Mart on West Washington Avenue, and Mobil Mart on Watts Road; conditions to take effect October 1, 2007: 1) No sale of liquor bottles smaller than 750 ml. 2) Display area for wine and wine coolers limited to one shelf of walk-in cooler and one
five-square-foot rack of wine.

This items is rumored to be referred and instead we would be passing an ordinance to the same effect.

#32 - Madcity Restaurant Group - The Comptroller determined that the establishment has been operating as a tavern. i.e. selling more alcohol than food. It is recommended that we grant with the following conditions: 1) Establishment will meet the definition of a restaurant as defined in Madison General Ordinances section 38.02. 2) Food will be available all hours of operation. 3) Establishment will close one hour before bar time. 4) On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, two employees will staff the outdoor seating area--one stationed at the entrance, and one stationed at the dead end. 5) If audited again, license holder must provide the Comptroller with adequate proof of operating as a restaurant within 20 days of the request, or the establishment will automatically be deemed a tavern and will be referred back to the ALRC for revocation.

#33 thru #37 Licenses that were approved over a year ago and have not yet been issued.

#41 Madison Avenue - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department, because of concerns regarding capacity, underage patrons, and general disorder. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department Central District to come up with a plan to address the concerns of the Police Department. The applicant will then present this plan to the Alcohol License Review Committee.

#42 Orpheum Theatre - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding capacity and underage patrons. Recommended to grant.

#43 Stadium Bar and Eatery - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding beer tent closure on Football Saturdays. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department to resolve concerns regarding the beer garden. Otherwise the applicant will be brought back before the Alcohol License Review Committee, which will ask the Plan Commission to revoke their conditional use permit.

#44 Big 10 Pub - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding beer tent closure on Football Saturdays. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department to resolve concerns regarding the beer garden. Otherwise the applicant will be brought back before the Alcohol License Review Committee, which will ask the Plan Commission to revoke their conditional use permit.

#45 Regent Street Retreat - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding beer tent closure on Football Saturdays. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department to resolve concerns regarding the beer garden. Otherwise the applicant will be brought back before the Alcohol License Review Committee, which will ask the Plan Commission to revoke their conditional use permit.

#46 Angelic Brewing Company - Separation requested by the Madison Police Dept because of concerns regarding capacity and underage patrons. Recommended to grant with the following condition: Must meet the definition of a restaurant, as defined by Madison General Ordinance 38.02.

#47 Bull Feathers - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of underage concerns. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department once litigation is settled, and the committee will not grant an increase in capacity, change of license premise, or any additional license to this establishment until prosecution is fully adjudicated.

#48 City Bar and Restaurant - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding underage patrons. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department once litigation is settled, and the committee will not grant an increase in capacity, change of license premise, or any additional license to this establishment until prosecution is fully adjudicated.

#49 Mondays -Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns
regarding capacity and underage patrons. Recommended to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department once litigation is settled, and the committee will not grant an increase in capacity, change of license premise, or any additional license to this establishment until prosecution is fully adjudicated.

#50 Red Shed - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns
regarding capacity. Recommend to grant with the following conditions: 1) Capacity shall be monitored at all times. 2) Front door shall be staffed with a hand-held counter on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. 3) Side door shall be used as an emergency exit only, equipped
with panic-release hardware.

#51 Parthenon Gyros - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding general disorder. Recommended to grant with the following condition: Alcohol shall not be served upstairs.

#52 Vintage Spirits and Grill - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding noise. Recommend to grant.

#53 Kollege Klub - Separation requested by the Madison Police Department because of concerns regarding general disorder. Recommend to grant with the understanding that the applicant will meet with the Madison Police Department once litigation is settled, and the committee will not grant an increase in capacity, change of license premise, or any additional license to this establishment until prosecution is fully adjudicated.

#114 - We're placing the recycling cart issue on file. This would have made covenants and restrictions in certain neighborhoods invalid if they said that you couldn't have your recycling cart outside or visible. ("Placing on file" means that we are voting to not vote on it, or we're defeating it.)

#116 - Authorizing a Request for Proposals for Garver Feed Mill.

#121 - Changing the Rental Rehab Program to loan landlord money to fix up the exterior of their buidlings on Lake Point Drive.

#150 - The Chronic Nusiance Ordinance is being referred for further discussion.

#151 - The ordinance of loopholes is up for a vote. It is rumored that this will be referred to the Madison Election Advisory Committee.
Read more!

Tonight's Council Meeting

What's interesting on tonight's Council Agenda?

#1 - The Mayor sticks with the current trend when making new committee appointments. Only 12, or 37.5% of the people being appointed are women. To be fair, 27 of the appointments are re-appointments. Of the 5 new appointments 2 of the 5 are women. These appointments are only being introduced and get referred to the next meeting.

#2 - The Mayor's appointments to the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission (The new RPC) are somewhat curious. He is appointing two people who really have no background or experience sitting on committees that deal with planning or transportation issues. (Do a people search here to see what committees Alders Palm and Brandon sit on.)

#3 - 11 - Here's a geeky thing to notice, but did you ever notice if you click on the legislative file (see example here) for Alcohol Licenses you get no information? You'd never know that number 4 on the agenda is being denied if you just looked at the item we are voting on. You have to look here at the legislative history or on the agenda.

#14 - We will be authorizing condemnation for pieces of 4 properties for the Starkweather Creek bike path. (Sponsored by Larry Palm)

#36 - Once again we're giving more money to the Fire Department, outside of the budget process. And reducing our $1M Contingent reserve by $156,330. (Sponsored by Mayor and Paul Skidmore)

#57 - We're approving plans for up to 7 bus shelters on the Capital Square. For the same amount of money in the budget, we can get an extra one or two shelters. (This item just comes to council without sponsors)

#66 - We're approving a policy that city vehicles can't idle for more than 5 minutes with a few exceptions. Hopefully we can make this a little stronger at the meeting. (Sponsored by Larry Palm, expect additional people to add their names tonight.)

#76 - We're making covenants in deeds and other neighborhood documents unenforceable when it comes to the storage, placement or location of the recycling and garbage carts. This item got stuck in the system for TWO YEARS! The Urban Design Commission recommended denial of this in 2005! Solid Waste Advisory Committee recommended approval 4/5/07. I don't think the Plan Commission ever voted on it, or at least not recently. On 4/4/05 we asked for a legal opinion which I don't believe we ever got. The notes say that on 4/18/07, when there was no meeting, the Plan Commission recommended approval, but that can't be right . . . (Sponsored by Mayor)

#78 - We'll be passing approval of an Request for Proposals (RFP) for a bus pass pool that would allow small businesses to get the same benefits of offering unlimited ride bus passes to the employers as the largest employers such as the UW and the Hospitals. (Sponsored by Satya Rhodes-Conway, Mark Clear, Brenda Konkel and expect names like Robbie Webber, who should already be on there, to be added tonight.)

#79 - We'll be asking the Common Council Organizational Committee to explore putting an additional alder on the Board of Water Commissioners and discuss additional information that the Common Council would like to receive from the Water Utility. (Sponsored by Brenda Konkel, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Robbie Webber, Marsha Rummel, Tim Gruber, Brian Solomon, Mike Verveer, Tim Bruer and Julia Kerr - this was passed around the council but no one else chose to sign on.)

The resolutions to look at gender balance for top management positions and commissions and committees are being referred to the Affirmative Action Commission for input prior to the Council approving them. (These are currently sponsored by Brenda Konkel, Lauren Cnare, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Marsha Rummel is being added and they will be passed around tonight to get additional sponsors.) Read more!