What is this committee voting on tonight?

This is the City-County Liaison Committee, so it has alders, county board supervisors and the county executive’s and mayor’s office representatives on it, so you’d think they could get this right. This committee makes final decisions and there are no other votes on these matters, so whatever they decide is final. Sure would be nice to know what they are voting on. All three items are a bit of a mystery to me and they meet tonight.

ITEM ONE: WILSON ST. DOORS
1. What is being proposed to be changed?
Here’s the policy they appear to be considering
E. 1. City-County Building Policies and Operating Rules: Building Schedule 2.1.3 Wilson Street Doors
Attached are the building policies. Currently (January 2014) the building policies say:

2.1. The CCB has three entrances used by the general public:
2.1.1. Except on holidays, the entrance facing Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. will be open Monday through Friday from 6:00 am until 6:00 pm or until all meetings open to the public are adjourned.
2.1.2. Except on holidays, the entrance facing Carroll Street will be open Monday through Friday from 6:00 am until 6:00 pm
2.1.3. The entrance facing Wilson Street will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

2. Wrong information?
Of course, these policies are wrong since they recently changed the hours of the building:

From: Alwin, Steve
Date: Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 3:29 PM
Subject: Implementing New City-County Building Hours of Operation
To: #All CCB Recipients , “allemailusers@cityofmadison.com”

To all City-County Building Staff,

As of today, the work to make the Wilson Street entrance card-accessible has been completed. Access cards and elevator keys have been processed and distributed. Signage is being changed. New procedures for opening the CCB in the morning and locking it up at night and on weekends/holidays have been developed.

Here’s what to expect next…nothing changes this weekend. The routine weekend accessibility and security procedures are still being followed this Saturday and Sunday, April 18th and 19th.

Nothing changes Monday morning April 20th. Entrances, elevators, restrooms will be open at their usual times.

Monday late afternoon/early evening, things change.

Here’s what happens:

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Street entrance will be locked at 5:00P OR when the last public meeting in the building has concluded.

The Carroll Street entrance will be locked at 5:00P, but card (and elevator key) accessible for employees as it has been for some time now. The Wilson Street entrance will be open until 10:00P for Jail Visitation, after which it will be locked, but card accessible for building employees. Securing of the restrooms and elevators coincide with the MLK entrance lockdown.

At 10:30P, JBM Security will perform a sweep of the building to check secured entrances and areas to make sure everyone who is not an employee, has left the building.

On Tuesday morning April 21st, Facilities Management staff will start at 4:30A, turning on lights, opening restrooms, putting up gates, and turning on elevators, making these available to building staff, most likely earlier than when the building opened at 6:00A, because of the card accessibility for employees at the Wilson and Carroll Street entrances. Facilities staff will open the MLK entrance manually at 7:20A, Wilson and Carroll Street entrances will switch to a ‘free access’ schedule at 7:20A (the CCB Controlled Access computer changes the Wilson and Carroll Street entrances from “card access only” to “free access”).

This is the new weekday lockdown and opening process for the new building hours.

On weekends, beginning with April 25th-26th , the MLK entrance will be locked. The Wilson and Carroll Street entrances will be card accessible. Saturdays and Sundays, JBM Security will be at the Wilson Street entrance from the beginning of “weekend” jail visitation to the end, checking individuals in for their scheduled visits.

Recognizing any change of this magnitude may require some “tweaking”, please be patient with the process and thanks for your cooperation in making our workplace more secure than it previously was.

Thanks,

Steve Alwin
Dane County Facilities Management

Dan Lowndes
Dane County Risk Management

So, on top of having no clue what is being proposed, there also is inaccurate information being provided.

ITEM TWO: Dane County Safe Working Conditions Committee: Concerns Regarding Items on City-County Building Porch
1. Open meeting violation?
I’ve never heard of this committee, its never been publicly noticed that I am aware of. So, depending upon what this committee is, that might be the first issue, a violation of open meetings law. I know the Corporation Council at the County will deny it, but the city attorney will read the law and come to a different conclusion. More and more staff committees are being publicly noticed depending upon how they are created, which is the legal test.

2. Why is this attached?

ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICES MANUAL – SAFETY MANUAL – SAFETY COMMITTEES:
1.0 Scope and Application
Safety committees play an integral role in maintaining an effective workplace safety program. Dane County has different types of safety committees, County-wide and departmental. Both types are explained in detail below.

2.0 Responsibilities
Risk Manager: Support and management of this policy.
Department Heads: Provides support and resources needed to implement this policy and ensures that meeting minutes are forwarded to the Risk Manager.
Supervisors: Provides time for member employees to meet.
Employees: Member employees attend committee meetings.

3.0 Departmental Polices and Requirements
Departmental safety committees me be established for individual departments or organizations. Different departmental committees that have been established are (but not limited to) as follows; Alliant Energy Center; Badger Prairie Health Care Center; Highway Dept., and Dane County Sheriff’s Office. Departments wishing to form a safety committee should consult with the Risk Management department.

The Dane County Safe Working Conditions Study Committee is County wide and has representatives from all represented locals.

4.0 Definitions
Dane County Safe Working Conditions Study Committee – (S.W.C.S.C.) Committee that has representatives from each Local Union, formed to discuss and network safety concerns, ideas, and review injury data.

Departmental Safety Committee – Department, group or organization that is formed to discuss safety concerns pertinent to their specific department.

Note: These committees are advisory committees only. There is no policy authority with safety committees.

5.0 Training
All employees will be informed of the existence of the various safety committees at their time of assignment and whenever this policy is revised.

6.0 Documentation Requirements
Safety committees will keep meeting minutes. Minutes shall be taken by an assigned secretary and distributed to all committee members and forwarded to Risk Management.

3. What is their recommendation or what is being proposed?
I can’t tell what the attachment is. Is it new language? Is this a proposal for a committee? Is it background information? The agenda seems to indicate that the committee has concerns, but what are they? Assuming that is what the agenda item means.

ITEM THREE: Action to Address Bags on City-County Building Porch
And the action is . . . . . ?????????? What are they proposing? If you were showing up to the meeting to testify on this, what would you even say? How can the public give input on this item if they don’t know what is being proposed?