Council Budget Meeting Recap – Night 2 Capital Budget (Amdmts 7 – 12)

This is the last amendments to the Capital Budget (Reindahl Library, Hartmeyer property, Vision Zero, traffic signal), the vote on the entire capital budget and the setting the levy with lots of thank you.

They took a 10 minute recess before moving on.

You can watch along here

Part one and two and three and four are here:

• Common Council Budget Recap – Night One, Part One
• Common Council Budget Recap – Night One, Part Two
• Council Budget Meeting Recap – Night Two, Operating Budget
• Council Budget Meeting Recap – Night 2 Capital Budget (Amdmts 1-6)

Amendment 7 – Reindahl Imagination Center / Library

Sponsors Baldeh, Abbas, Furman

Add $16.6 million for Reindahl Library. The amendment will be funded by the following sources: GO Borrowing of $12,100,000 ($1,100,000 in 2021 and $11,000,000 in 2022); and Private Donations of $4,500,000 in 2022. Funding will be used for the construction of a new library on Madison’s northeast side. As part of planning for the facility, the feasibility of co-locating multiple services (i.e. Public Health, Community Development, Parks, etc.) will be examined. The proposed funding is based on construction estimates for a traditional Library branch. This project may include additional space, which may impact construction costs.

Analysis

The Library’s 2018 capital budget included $500,000 in GO Borrowing for community outreach and scoping of the new library. The 2019 adopted capital budget includes an additional $16,000,000 over the period of 2020 through 2022; $11,600,000 in GO Borrowing and $5,000,000 in Private Donations. To date, less than $11,000 has been spent. This project was moved to the Horizon List in the 2020 Executive Capital Budget.

The Library hired a Planner in August 2018, who is primarily working on this project. The goal of the community outreach is to ascertain which services community members deem most crucial to the health of their region. These services will inform the building program as the design phase begins in 2021.

The Library will partner with Parks, Engineering, Traffic Engineering, Dane County Public Health, Community Development, the Madison Public Library Foundation, Madison Municipal School District, community leadership, and various other public and private entities throughout the lifespan of this project.

The funding included in the proposed amendment is based on the cost to build a library. As the scope of the project is completely defined through the community engagement process and other City activities are potentially included, the cost of the project will likely increase.

Impact

The operating costs are based on a staffing structure similar to the Sequoya branch with the addition of a full-time supervisor and two facility workers.

The operating impacts assume 19.1 FTEs with a cost of $1,497,000; supplies of $38,500; and services of $281,500.

Motion/Questions of staff

Samba Baldeh moves approval.  He asks the Library Director to speak about the history of library for the past few years.  Greg Mickells, the Library Director says that in 2014 the council gave them the charge to create a strategic plan for library siting on the East Side of Madison, it was completed in 2016  and accepted and approved by the Council.  Part of the plan was identifying Reindahl Park as a site, in 2018 in the CIP funds were approved for the scoping of that project for $500,000.  Since then they have been having community conversations and they are currently developing the scoping for the project which should be done in early 2020.  They will move forward with preliminary design and an estimate of what the project would cost for construction.

Discussion

Baldeh thanks the co-sponsors and finance committee for the referral.  He’s been sitting down with alders and talking to people.  He says this is not different from what they were talking about last night.  The young African American women who said she was arrested so many times before she was 16 and at 29 she knows so many dead people that are her age.   He says that this amendments is to put the Imagination Center or the Library back on the CIP.  It was approved by the council and has been in the CIP all these years until this year. At finance there was concern about borrowing in 2020 so they moved it to 2021.  It puts this back on track.  This is important because beyond all the services, the library hired someone to do community outreach and they have been doing it for a year and has been working with the community with a schedule of dates about expectations.  Putting this on the horizon will make that all disappear to the extent that there will be no coherence about when this will be built.  At least having it on the schedule will help continue the community discussions and timeline.  About 6 months ago the Sandburg Elementary did a video about the library, you got a video from them.  At that point he hadn’t spoken to them and he didn’t know they were doing it.  If you look at the services in the area, the closest police station that serves all the way to the American Center where they now have a hospital, is the East Police District on Cottage Grove, the other closest is on Northport.  There are no services that the area has access for.  There are no libraries, that part of the city is the one area of the city that goes further than any other part of the city to get to a library.  The population growth in the area, the immigrant population (African, Mexico, Central America) is growing fast and is getting diverse.  Parks can be a place to go to connect with people who share values and customs and he believes this community center/library will provide the space for a diverse population.  His article in the Cap Times was a clear statement of the impact and he hopes that they read it.  He says the area is also by the interstate and it is easy to sell drugs.  There are a lot of homeless people and Sandburg Elementary is the only place where services can be provided.  Services are needed urgently here.  All the budget amendments are addressing these kinds of issue, he knows we have spent a lot of time on police and ambulances but all the things that the police and ambulances do are impacted by how we grow and what environment we grow up around.  This will provide an opportunity for particularly people of color who are middle income, access to services that people need urgently.  He asks for support. We gave the police three cars just to boost morale, they spoke about $1.5M for railroads, so let’s do something to help the whole city.  He thinks this project will serve our most vulnerable populations.

Barbara Harrington-McKinney asks to be added as a co-sponsor.  She says this is a stretch.  It’s s stretch but she is adding herself as a sponsor because of the steps that have gone into preparing the space for an imagination center.  There was a planner that came to the Library Board and talked about the robust engagement of the community, neighborhood meetings and really imagining what the space could be used for.  We can’t put a fire or police station everywhere but the access to knowledge that a library brings is to critical.  We talk about educational gap and equity and we have a lot of conversations and what we don’t look at is where do we place these very specialized entities.  Where do we put libraries and the other necessities.  She doesn’t live on the Far East side, so its not about her district but she is on the library board and she sees the enormous impact the library has, especially Central.  The other libraries scattered around the city are the focus where kids, adults, all ages come and can be, there is no recreation or library on that side of town and you have a wonderful park space that is underutilized.  The fact that the Alder is saying keep it to the forefront, he doesn’t want it to fall or shift off.  He wants the residents to know it is still one of the priorities for the city, he wants the Library Foundation to get up under it and support it fully.  It’s like the BRT, there has to be a foundation there before additional money comes forward.  She supports it to keep it on the forefront and to generate the energy.  Will there need to be money raised, details that need to be in place, is it a hard stretch – absolutely.  This is an investment in that part of the city that can move forward what the city says their values are.  She’s asking her colleagues to be visionaries and take the stretch with the alders and staff.

Marsha Rummel says that there is a lot that went into this moment.  In 2013 Central Library was getting done and they were looking at the next projects.  They had all pretty much been on the West side.  Baldeh’s predecessor Joe Clausius really, really, really, really wanted a library and we went through a period of time where all the East side libraries wanted their library first.  She jokingly called it the library war.  There was Pinney, Hawethorne and District 17.  What they did in one of their rare moments of brilliance, instead of fighting they hired a planner and they put together a beautiful plan and it settled on Reindahl.  It’s not like this is a later comer, it did a lot of study on the needs and who it could serve.  She was surprised when it was on the Horizon list – that it needed more work.  it seems like they have the basics, who it will serve, the location.  We don’ know the details of the cost.  We have a great library staff that can work with the foundation.  It sounds like a lot of money, but this is the CIP and that is the ideas where we are going to go.  If we are going to follow the mayor’s new vision then yes, this coming year we need to get more details, maybe 2022 is ambitious, lets just say that’s when we’re going to do it and its been a long time coming and it will create an incredible place.  Even the name of it, doesn’t it excite you.  She urges support.

Questions of staff

Patrick Heck asks about the email they got about the park adjacent scenario.  Has that been considered or does it have the potential to be considered?  Greg Mickells says that through the history of the project they had an urban planner working on the project for over 2 years.  They have brought on an additional urban planner that has had community conversations and has been collecting input and organizing stakeholders for an additional year.  There is an individual in the community that has some questions and other ideas and he has met and corresponded with that person.  He says you can’t underestimate the amount of work that has gone into this project that was purposeful and intentional to reach voices we typically don’t hear from.  He appreciates Rummel pointing out the strategic plan.  They were purposeful in reaching populations that are typically underserved or don’t have a voice in the planning process.  He’s confident in the work that has been done and they are currently developing the scope of the project and that will guide them to the next level.  They are being very systematic and intentional and taking the years that we put in and the voices that they heard and applying that.  He feels they have been very conscientious and transparent and accountable.

Discussion

Syed Abbas seconds Baldeh’s comments about immigrant populations and how important it is for the underserved community.  As a 1st generation immigrant, he moved to the US in 2011 and the thing that makes US different from the rest of the world, particularly developing countries is the education system and libraries.  Libraries in the US are a center for the movement – LGBTQ, immigration movement, for people of color.  The library is such a crucial part of our social fiber where we lift and help people.  In that particular he was at River Food Pantry, which is in district 12 but all east and north side people come there and there were a lot of immigrants from Sudan, Seria, Somalia, Africa, Middle East and they have a language difficulty.  They thought I speak Arabic, he learned it but doesn’t remember any more.  With the broken language he tried to asked where they live – they live east and north because of the affordable housing.  Libraries provide English Language course, ESL, free education.  This is a huge equity opportunity to provide successful infrastructure for out immigrant community for those who are underserved.  He also sees it as part of economic development.  People have free internet and apply for jobs.  They can make their lives better and that location will serve it well.  He urges support.

Vote

Passes seemingly unanimously on a voice vote.

Amendment 8 – Forestry Capital Projects

Sponsors Mayor Rhodes-Conway, Alder Bidar

Transfer the Street Tree Program and Urban Tree Initiatives capital programs from the Parks Division Capital Budget to the Streets Division Capital Budget. Create a new Emerald Ash Borer project in the Streets Division Capital Budget and appropriate $550,000 in GO Borrowing for the project.

Eliminate the Transfer In From Other Restricted funding sources in the Parks Division Emerald Ash Borer project and reduce the GO Borrowing to $450,000 in 2020, $400,000 in 2021, $350,000 in 2022, and $300,000 in 2023. GO Borrowing in 2024 and 2025 remain the unchanged, $180,000 and $100,000 respectively.

Analysis

The 2020 Executive Operating Budget transferred Forestry Services from the Parks Division to the Streets Division, both operationally and fiscally. This amendment transfers the Forestry-related capital projects to the Streets Division. The Street Tree and the Urban Tree Initiatives programs will be transferred in their entirety.

The Parks Division will retain some funding for the Parks Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) project and will retain responsibility for removing and replacing ash trees within City parks. The GO Borrowing for the EAB project in the Parks Division was $2,820,000 across the CIP in the 2020 Executive Budget. This amendment will change it to $1,780,000, a reduction of $1,040,000. The Streets Division EAB project will receive $550,000 of GO Borrowing authority for their EAB project, a net city-wide reduction of $490,000 in GO Borrowing.

Impact

The 2020 Executive budget currently reflects the Forestry operating costs in the Street Division budget. There are no additional operating impacts from this amendment.

Motion/Questions of staff/Discussion/Vote.

Bidar moves adoption.  No questions, no discussion, passes on a voice vote.

Amendment 9 – North Side Park Land Acquisition/Metro Satellite Facility

Sponsors Abbas,  Lemmer

Remove $1.25m from GO Borrowing from the Metro Satellite Facility project intended for the purchase of the North Transfer Point and increase GO Borrowing ($1.25m) and Impact Fees ($250k) in the Parks Land Acquisition program to purchase parkland on the City’s north side.

Analysis

The 2020 Executive Budget includes $28.9 million ($12.9m in 2020 and $16.1m in 2021) to construct a Satellite Facility for Metro Transit. The total project budget also assumes the City will purchase the existing North Transfer Point with funding in 2020 for $1.25 million. The proposed amendment removes funding for the North Transfer Point and transfers the GO Borrowing in the Parks Division Capital Budget to purchase land for a new park on the City’s north side.

The Parks Division 2020 Executive Capital Budget includes $8,000,000 from Impact Fee funding for Land Acquisition over the life of the CIP, with $6,500,000 in 2020. This funding comes from the Citywide Parkland Impact Fee District account and the Executive Budget projects a remaining balance in that account of $1,770,000 at the end of 2020. In 2017, the Impact Fee Districts were recreated and the old district accounts are being spent down and closed. The Citywide Parkland District is one of these old districts. The new district that will fund land acquisitions, Park Land, is projected to have a balance of $5,850,000 at the end of 2019 and over $7,000,000 at the end of 2020.

Impact

Unknown – There will be an increase in the Parks Division operating costs for ongoing maintenance of the new park that will need to be accommodated in future Parks operating budgets. These costs will be determined based on the amenities identified through the master planning process and the design of the park.

Motion

Abbas moves adoption of the substitute.  They make sure everyone has copies. I’m not sure what is different because its not attached in legistar.  Check back later?

Discussion

He says that the Hartmeyer land is 31 acres next to Oscar Mayers.  There were presenters yesterday with good information and at your desk Friends of Hartmeyer did an analysis and shared a good map.  This is an untouched 31 acres for the past 100 years.  There used to be a ? league here and they used to pump the water on the upland, but then they moved to Eken Park.  There is a precious area where crane national habitat, wetland and it helps with the environmental changes.  He says this is important not only for the northside residents but the whole city of Madison, especially considering what happened with the flooding and how much the water table is up. His house has two sump pumps and still his basement floods.  He took a walk in the Brentwood Village and landlords want me to come and see the situation there.  The apartments are cheaper than the market rate – the landlords are helping the community.  What he saw when he was there they are draining all the water from the sump pump on to the road and he asked why.  They said that the water table is so high and because of the wetland and the flooding that area was heavily impacted, but didn’t get coverage.  The Isthmus got all the coverage because all the money is there.  With the special area planning for the Oscar Mayer site, this area is key to preserve and because of global warming.  District 12 is badly impacted by environmental impacts from Truax, PFAS, the F-35s have a high carbon footprint and we are expanding flights and focusing on economic development but at the same time how will that impact the carbon footprint.  We recently added 5 more flights and they all fly over District 12.  We need to preserve urban land for our kids. This land has a huge social justice value for our schools close by without them leaving Madison. This is accessible by Metro.  He thinks this area can be used as a nature park.  In his day job he studies building design and he was reading about sustainable design from a public safety point of view.  He learned that communities with more green space and daylight, more parks has “7 person less crime” (?)  as compared to other communities.  Looking at District 12, household income, number of cars, he thinks this area is so important for the area, not just for the animals and birds.  The substitute gives them an opportunity to do an assessment and appraise, see the soil testing and go through the planning process so they can make an educated decision in the future.

Vote

Passes seemingly unanimously on a voice vote

Amendment 10 – Traffic Signal Installation: Prairie Road & Raymond Road

Sponsors Bidar, Albouras

Appropriate $280,000 in GO Borrowing to install a Traffic Signal at Prairie Road and Raymond Road.

Analysis

The proposed amendment increases the 2020 funding for Traffic Signal Installation. In February 2019 the Transportation Commission recommended installation of the new signal in the intersection. As proposed, the full cost of the project will be funded by GO Borrowing.

Impact

The annual maintenance and electrical costs are estimated to be $3,500. These costs will be absorbed within Traffic Engineering’s existing purchased service budget.

Motion/Discussion

Albouras moves adoption.  Says this is a stoplight for Raymond Road and Prairie Road.  That area is a primary corridor of the Meadowood Neighborhood.  The reason this is before them is because before he was there a decision was made to approve this and Traffic Engineering was going to have it be an amendment in 2019 but time has expired for that, so Traffic Engineering and Finance determined this would be a good budget amendment for 2020 and he was approached to sponsor it and he’s happy to have Alder Bidar support.  Dr. Yang is available to answer questions if there are any.

Questions of staff

Verveer asks the Traffic Engineer Yang Tao to explain why the traffic signal is not assessable under the policy.  He says that they tried to set up an assessment district, they did the excercise. But the city has a policy that gives each parcel 10 trips as a credit, so for single family homes that generate about 10 trips a day, they would not need to pay, so the city is picking up those shares.  If they draw an assessment district almost all the properties are single family houses and the City will pick up all the costs.  The cost to do the assessment district would not cover the cost to administer the assessment district.  Verveer asks why it never went to the Board of Public Works?  Yang says that he needs to discuss with Rob Phillips and they need to decide if they should take it there.  Verveer asks if the residents ever got a mailing proposing an assessment district and there has never been a hearing.  He says yes. The staff looked at it and never went forward.  They did notify the neighborhood association and the residents who request signals.  During the approval process there are some public comment opportunities and the alder was notified as well.

McKinney asks to be added as a co-sponsor.  She asks what the traffic counts are in that area.  Tao says that Raymond Rd is  15,000 vehicles a day. Prairie Rd is about 5,000 per day.  He says its one of the busier arterials roads in the areas.  There is also a school south of the intersection on Prairie Rd.  They have had many requests over the years.  They study all the requests – last year there were over 100.  They only recommend three, this is one of the three recommended by Traffic Engineering and approved by the Transportation Commission.

McKinney asks about crashes or crossing concerns.  Tao says that there are a significant amount of crashes.  In the past 5 years they had 22 reported crashes. 12 can be corrected by traffic signals.  There is a congestion issue and there are not a lot of opportunities to cross Raymond road at the intersection and the nearby intersection because the next signaled intersection to the west at McKenna and on the East is Whitney Way and they are a mile apart.  There are not a lot of gaps for side streets during peak hours.  It has been difficult.  The signal here is almost in the middle.  It creates a gap for Prairie Rd but also the side streets as well.

Vote

Passes on a voice vote seemingly unanimously.

Amendment 11 – Vision Zero Traffic Safety

Sponsors Alder Heck, Alder Lemmer, Alder Verveer, Alder Bidar, Alder Rummel, Alder Evers, Alder Tierney, Alder Kemble

Appropriate $350,000 in GO Borrowing in 2020 to advance the implementation of Vision Zero, which seeks to eliminate all severe injury and fatal crashes on City streets.

Analysis

The proposed amendment is intended to fund an analysis of traffic conditions and crash history and implement recommendations that will reduce the severity of specific crashes being experienced. Applications may include signage, pavement markings, speed reductions, and more permanent changes to the traffic geometry. Funding may also be used to assist with an application for Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (FHSI) funding. A list of potential recommendations prepared by Traffic Engineering can be found attached to Legistar file #58026. Final recommended safety improvements will be approved by Transportation Commission prior to implementation.

The Traffic Engineering 2020 Executive Capital Budget includes $50,000 in each year of the CIP in the Traffic Safety Infrastructure program. This program is for traffic control devices and the design of the local share of the State Highway Hazard Elimination program, signs, and traffic safety studies.

Impact

Unknown – The operating impact of the capital project is unknown at this time. Specific expenditures identified within the project may not meet the City’s capitalization policy.

Motion/Questions of staff/Discussion

Foster moves adoption, there are no questions of staff.  He thanks the co-sponsors and he is excited to take an early step towards something he thinks they are all passionate about.  Vision Zero is something that they will be taking up in the coming year more formally so look for that and a more formal work plan for 2020.  He highlights that there are real opportunities with money they are already allocating in their budget so this $350,00 in capital funding to get this going is a good start but it will take a lot more money to deal with the issues they have across the city.   He is excited to work with staff and Transportation Planning and Policy Board – there are a lot of good ideas out there where they can shift money already being spent on public works projects towards accomplishing the same goals they have with Vision Zero.  Urges support.

McKinney asks to be added as a cosponsor.  She is pleased this is being moved forward.  During the finance committee, this one got her, that they had to turn it down.  When she was first elected alder there was a 23 year old woman killed in her district and it was traumatic and the family is still wresting with the loss of a bright young engineer from Epic, so she is pleased they are moving this forward and looking at the city as a whole.

Abbas asks to be added as a cosponsor.

Albouras asks to be added as a co-sponsor.

They decide to add everyone.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway speaks from the chair without objection.  She says that she was accepted into the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Institute and she has been participating in that over the course of the year.  One of the opportunities is to apply for technical assistance from Bloomberg Associates which is a pro bono consulting firm that works with cities all around the world and they put in 4 proposals and the proposal for assistance around Vision Zero was accepted so they will be starting in early December to scope out the project and expect to get a focused amount of technical assistance over several months that will help them kick start the planning for the Vision Zero project.

Motion

Passes unanimously on a voice vote.

Amendment 12 – Madison in Motion

Sponsors Foster, Kemble, Furman

Change the title of the project to be ‘Madison in Motion: Complete Streets Implementation Study.’ Update the project description to read:

‘This project is for a study to inform and direct implementation of the Complete Streets framework adopted by the Madison Common Council in 2009 (legistar # 16250). Complete Streets is a national movement to ensure that streets are designed to enable safe access for all users, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities to be able to move safely along and across the street. Madison has a long history of following Complete Streets concepts without naming these as such.

The study will outline policy options for sidewalks and curb ramps for pedestrians, bike lanes, accessible bus stops and a variety of ways to make street crossings easier and safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. It will address issues of modal hierarchies, street typologies and create design guildelines, giving guidance to staff on concepts for all new developments, redevelopments, new street construction and street reconstruction projects.’

Analysis

The 2020 Executive Budget authorized $160,000 in 2020 as a follow-up to the Madison in Motion, which was adopted in 2017. As outlined in the Executive Budget, this project would be focused on identifying policy solutions for pedestrian crossing and ped/bike interactions. The proposed amendment provides updated information regarding the project’s scope but does not alter funding for the project.

Impact

The operating impact is unknown at this time. Specific expenditures identified by the study may not meet the City’s capitalization policy.

Motion/Questions of Staff/Discussion

Foster moves to approve.  No questions of staff.  Foster says this is a text amendment to funds already included in the Executive Budget.  He says it shifts the description and focus from a pedestrian study to a complete streets implementation study. It’s supported by the Transportation Planning and Policy Board (TPPB) and is along with Vision Zero, complete streets and making some real headway on that is one of their other key priorities.

Rebecca Kemble says the three alders sponsoring this are the three alders on the TPPB and she points out the last sentence that says “it will address issues of modal hierarchies, street typologies and create design guidelines, giving guidance to staff on concepts for all new developments, redevelopments, new street construction and street reconstruction projects.”  This and the previous amendment are the young fruits of what they intended through TORC process of streamlining the transportation committees, developing the policy body and an implementation body in the Transportation Commission to think through policy issues, create the guidelines and rationalize processes around the transportation system – two we develop it and think about it and to avoid a lot of the frustration, conflict, time wasting, reinventing the wheels on every project that came forward which is what they experienced with he previous constellation of transportation related committees.  This is a small text amendment but it marks a major step forward on how the council, through its Transportation Policy Planning Board is proactively developing policy creating a vision and taking ownership of that space of what does our transportation system look like in the future and what are the values we want to build in to it.  She wanted to grandstand a bit on that, she hasn’t talked to night but she is proud of them collectively for having developed the board and figuring out how to use it in a really productive way.

Foster says that both Vision Zero, Complete Streets and all the work they have put in around expansion of our transit system really owes a lot also to Director Lynch.  That TORC process along with reorganizing the committee structure lead to the hiring of a long vacant Transportation position and he’s been thrilled with not just the position but the person filling the position and he’s really excited about what the next several years have in front of them.

Vote

Passes on a voice vote

CAPITAL BUDGET VOTE

No discussion.  Passes seemingly unanimously on a voice vote.

SETTING THE LEVY