Meetings and Updates Week of Sept 30

• City Meetings: Finance Committee 9/30
• Park Sun Shelters Coming to Sycamore and North Star Parks in D3
• Fall Yard Waste Collection Begins 10/6
• Duplicate Absentee Ballots Mistakenly Mailed to Some D3 Voters
• Events & Announcements

City Meetings: Finance Committee

The Finance Committee meeting will take place on Monday, September 30, at 4:30 p.m. in hybrid format. Agenda items include proposed amendments to the 2025 Executive Capital Budget. You can review the proposed amendments here if interested. The largest one is for an additional $5m for the Triangle Redevelopment project in 2025 financed by GO borrowing in Tax Increment District #48 (near south side), not the general City property tax levy. The other amendments are all much smaller or have little to no fiscal impact.

I’m cosponsoring amendment #8 which adds $155k to Traffic Engineering’s budget for street lighting upgrades along South Stoughton Road near the recently approved tiny home village to improve nighttime bike, pedestrian, and vehicle safety in the area. The amendment’s source of funds is the remaining tax increment in TID #44 (Royster Oaks) which is scheduled to close after 2025 so this may be the last opportunity to use those TIF funds for improvements in/near the TID. The amendment doesn’t involve any borrowing.

• Meeting Details
• Meeting Agenda
• Register for Public Comment
• Watch Online

If you would like more information about becoming a member of a City board, commission, or committee, please visit the page linked here.

Park Sun Shelters Coming to Sycamore and North Star Parks in District 3

Madison Parks notified me of an upcoming contract that the City will soon put out to bid for sun shelters in Sycamore Park and North Star Park. Both of these shelters would be constructed in the locations established in the Sycamore Park Master Plan and the North Star Park Master Plan. 

The shelters are currently in the "design and permitting phase", which will lead to the City writing a contract for the shelters' construction. The contract will be considered by the City’s Board of Public Works soon where there will be an opportunity for public input. Watch for future weekly updates blog posts for more details about that contract approval process.

Fall Yard Waste Collection Begins October 6

The Streets Division’s fall yard waste and leaves collection begins the week of October 6, 2024. All residents will receive three collection opportunities this fall, weather permitting. The exact dates when you should set out your leaves and yard waste for pickup can be found on the Streets Division yard waste website. Your set out dates can also be found on the map lookup tool.

What will yard waste collect crews collect?

When curbside collection begins in October, crews will pick up leaves, weeds, and other plant debris you have raked or pulled from your lawn or garden.

Yard waste is not the same as brush. Piles of brush and yard waste mixed together will not be picked up by the yard waste collection crews.

How do you set out yard waste for collection?

Place the leaves and yard waste at the street edge or on the terrace. Do not place yard waste into the street. Keep the material at least four feet from obstructions. Street signs, utility poles, mailboxes, trees, stumps, and parked cars get in the way of crews.

If you bag your leaves and yard waste, please use compostable paper leaf and lawn bags and keep them open so crews can see what is inside. Other bags are acceptable if they are kept open as well, but keep in mind that crews may need to rip or slice open plastic bags to get the yard waste out. Crews will need to leave the split bags behind at the curb, too.

What are other options besides curbside pickup?

You can compost your yard waste to help your lawns and gardens grow next year. Free guides on how to compost are available at City of Madison libraries and additional composting resources can be found on the Streets Division’s website.

You can also mulch your leaves in place with your lawnmower. It’s an easy way to help manage your leaves, help the lakes, and improve your lawns.

More information is available on this Streets Division webpage.

Duplicate Absentee Ballots Mistakenly Mailed to Some District 3 Voters 

Some district 3 voters who vote absentee reached out to me this past week to let me know they had received two ballots in the mail for the upcoming November election. This was a result of a data merge error that occurred in the Clerk’s Office as they were preparing voter address lists for the mailing of absentee ballots. Within District 3, the error applied to absentee voter addresses in wards 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.  Each voter who received a duplicate should have been contacted by the Clerk’s Office by now with instructions to destroy one of the ballots and return the other.

Here's what the City Clerk’s Office shared in a statement about how ballot processing measures guarantee that every voter’s vote is counted once:

“Because the duplicate ballot envelopes have identical barcodes, in the unlikely event that a voter submits two absentee ballots, only one can be counted. Once that envelope barcode is scanned, the voting system does not allow a ballot with the same barcode to be submitted. The voter is also marked in the poll book as having submitted their absentee ballot as another safeguard against the voter submitting a second ballot.”

The City has received questions about this from a northwoods congressman and City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl provided this letter in response. As an occasional election worker myself, I very much appreciated this passage in her letter:

“In closing, I would simply note that elections are conducted by humans and occasionally human error occurs. When errors occur, we own up to them, correct them as soon as possible, and are transparent about them – precisely as we have done here. Our staff works incredibly hard to conduct elections in a professional, nonpartisan and fair manner and works to continually assess and improve our processes. This task is made more challenging every day as the conduct of elections becomes more complex and as election officials have become the target of attacks that seek to undermine the confidence of voters in our election results.”

Voters with remaining questions about their ballot should feel free to contact the Clerk’s Office at 608-266-4601 or clerk@cityofmadison.com. Other inquiries can be sent to City Communications Manager Dylan Brogan at dbrogdan@cityofmadison.com.

Announcements and News Releases

• Capitol View Farmers' Market, Wednesday, October 2: The Capitol View Farmers' Market is held weekly on Wednesdays (3:00-7:00pm) from late May through mid-October. Join us each week for great local vendors, live music, food carts, and special activities from week to week. Visit our website and follow us on social media for the most up-to-date information and schedules! (Location: far Eastside of Madison, near the Great Dane Eastside, 5901 Sharpsburg Dr.)
• Last Call for Your Electric Truck Name Ideas: The City of Madison recently unveiled the first two fully electric trash collection vehicles in all of Wisconsin.  Naturally, we must provide these two trucks with names. The opportunity to submit names closes at 4:00pm on Tuesday,… [posted September 27, 2024]]
• Art installed along Atwood Ave. multi-use path as part of Percent for Art program: People biking, running and strolling along Atwood Avenue will notice some new artwork on the paths near Olbrich Park as several designs are in the process of being installed on the multi-use path. [posted September 26, 2024]
• Highlights from the Bus Rapid Transit Ribbon-Cutting : Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway was joined by local, state, and federal leaders at a celebration ceremony located near the new Eau Claire BRT Station. [posted September 24, 2024]
• South Madison residents get first look at site plan for future Park Badger redevelopment: People living in South Madison got their first look at a proposed master plan for the Park Badger redevelopment site on Monday. [posted September 24, 2024]
• Emerald Ash Borer Treatments Completed for 2024; Over 3,000 Trees Treated Again This Year: The Urban Forestry section of the Streets Division has completed this year’s round of treatment of public ash trees against the invasive emerald ash borer. Public ash trees are treated once every three years. In total, the City of Madison has 10,544… [posted September 23, 2024]
• Cherokee Marsh Phragmites Workday, Monday, September 30: Assist in keeping the high-quality wetlands in Cherokee Marsh free from invasive phragmites. Volunteers are needed to use twine to tie stalks in bundles. We will then cut the stalks above the twine and treat the cut ends.
• Energy Resource Fair, Friday, October 4: MGE will provide energy saving tips and a chance to win a SMART Thermostat, Energy Services will be on site to assist with Energy Assistance qualifications, and Project Home will discuss our Weatherization program and how they can improve health, safety and save energy in your home.

For the full list of upcoming events, please visit the City events calendar.