I recently blogged about the Task Force on the Structure of City Government recommendations to reduce the council 10 members, go to full time, have 4 year terms and several other items. They meet again on Wednesday and will be reconsidering their decisions. The time to speak up is now!
If you are interested in this topic, here’s the info you might want to know!
COMMITTEE CONTACT INFO
If you’d like to send them an email, here’s the names and contact info from the city’s website:
Eileen Harrington – no email listed
Eric S. Upchurch – no email listed
John E. Rothschild – rothschild.john@gmail.com
Justice M. Castañeda – justice@cwd.org
Keith Furman – district19@cityofmadison.com
Maggie Northrop – mnorthrop@uwalumni.com
Paul E. Skidmore – district9@cityofmadison.com
Rebecca Kemble – district18@cityofmadison.com
Roger Goodwin – roger.goodwin@att.net
Ronald M. Trachtenberg – rtrachtenberg@fuhrmandodge.com
Syed Abbas – district12@cityofmadison.com
here’s a cut and paste version for you
rothschild.john@gmail.com
justice@cwd.org
district19@cityofmadison.com
mnorthrop@uwalumni.com
district9@cityofmadison.com
district18@cityofmadison.com
roger.goodwin@att.net
rtrachtenberg@fuhrmandodge.com
district12@cityofmadison.com
ATTEND THE MEETING
Or, better yet, attend the meeting Wednesday at 6:30 in room 206 of the Municipal Building. They have an open format where they not only allow people to give their three minutes of testimony, but they have this language on their agendas:
THE TASK FORCE MAY SUSPEND THE RULES TO STAND INFORMALLY AND ALLOW FOR PUBLIC DISCUSSION AND ENGAGEMENT ON ANY AGENDA ITEM
BACKGROUND MATERIALS
Unfortunately, this meeting won’t be video taped, but you can find several others of them here (you have to search citichannel, here are the dates to assist you in doing that 2019 – 10/2, 9/25, 9/19, 6/26, 5/30, 5/15, 4/9, 3/27, 3/12, & 2018 9/13, 7/20, 5/14, 3/26, 3/18) or here (my youtube – 9 videos on playlist). And all of their meeting materials are in this very confusing link. And this is my blog that has their recommendations and conversation about them.
ITEMS THAT WILL BE RECONSIDERED
The committee will have to vote to reconsider these items. If people don’t show up and have opinions, they may not reconsider and stick with their recommendations:
a. Whether to have full-time or part-time Common Council.
b. Whether to change the size of the Common Council.
c. Whether to retain system of representation by geographic aldermanic districts.
d. Whether Common Council members have have 4-year or 2-year terms.
e. Whether Common Council membes should be subject to term limits.
f. Whether to change council leadership positions from 1-year to 2-year terms.
g. When any related structural changes should implemented.
h. How much Common Council members should be paid.
ALSO ON THEIR AGENDA
- DECISIONS REGARDING ANY REMAINING RECOMMENDATIONS TO INCLUDE IN THE FINAL REPORT ON ISSUES PERTAINING TO THE COMMON COUNCIL
- DECISION ON WHETHER THE MAYOR OR COMMON COUNCIL SHOULD MAKE ALDER APPOINTMENTS TO BCCs
- DECISIONS REGARDING RECOMMENDATIONS TO INCLUDE IN THE FINAL REPORT PERTAINING TO RESIDENT PARTICIPATION AND ENGAGEMENT
- DISCUSSION OF TIMELINE AND PROCESS FOR WRITING AND REVIEWING THE FINAL REPORT
MEETING WON’T BE VIDEO TAPED
And reporters haven’t been covering this at all. So, this blows. I’m chairing another meeting during their meeting but I’m on the same floor of the building and I will go set up my audio recorder and blog the Task Force when I find the time.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE COMMITTEE’S RECOMMENDATIONS?
The agenda says this:
NOTE: The deadline for filing a Final Report is December 1, 2019
What will the council do? I presume refer to the Common Council Executive Committee and then ? ? ? ? Perhaps they would refer to the Equal Opportunities Commission? Maybe Finance? I expected more public hearings or opportunities to public input once the committee had recommendations, but they don’t seem to have time to do that. Will the council have those public hearings? Who knows? I haven’t heard.
