- City Meetings
- Plan Commission 9/15
- Common Council 9/16
- Board of Public Works 9/17
- Water Utility Well 15 on the Northeast Side Reopens PFAS-Free!
- Reminder: Woods Farm Park and Canter Park Development Survey Closes 9/18
- Events & Announcements
City Meetings
Plan Commission
Common Council
The Common Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 16, at 6:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include:
- Item 2: an honoring resolution Recognizing September 15-October 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month
- Item 8: a resolution appointing Lydia McComas for confirmation of a five-year contract as our new City Clerk. The new Clerk joins us from Hennepin County, Minnesota where she was the Voter Engagement Division Manager. Read more about her in this City release.
- Item 9: a resolution appointing Jamie Action for confirmation of a five-year term as Transit General Manager. Jamie joins us from Anchorage, Alaska where she lead the Public Transportation Department. Read more about her in this City release.
- Item 28: a resolution changing ordinances related to filling vacancies on the Common Council, requiring candidates to gather elector signatures as part of their application to fill a vacancy on the Common Council (I’m a cosponsor). This is currently required of candidates who seek election on the ballot, but not of candidates being considered to fill vacant seats. I think it’s a good thing for candidates to be talking to their neighbors/potential constituents.
- Item 33: a resolution approving the allocation of City and pass-through Federal funding through a Request for Proposals process according to a funding allocation for homeless services and housing services in 2026. Here is a link to the proposed allocation plan as recommended by City Community Development Division staff, which recommends funds for programs in these categories: Housing Resources, Emergency Shelter, Street Outreach, Extreme Weather Respite Hotel for the Unsheltered, Rapid Rehousing Program, Homelessness Prevention, Permanent Supportive Housing, and an “other” category. I’m a cosponsor. Note that some organizations applied for funding through this process but are recommended for zero funding, including Madison Street Medicine’s proposal for “Dairy Drive 2.0”.
- Item 35: a resolution that extends the City’s contract with MACH Onehealth, Inc., also known as Madison Street Medicine, to continue providing housing and services at the Dairy Drive urban campground on the East Side. I wrote at length about this situation and resolution in a separate blog post, which you can find here.
- Item 37: the Quarterly Crime Report for 2nd quarter 2026 from Chief John Patterson.
Meeting info:
Board of Public Works
The Board of Public Works meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 17, at 4:30 p.m. in virtual format. Agenda items include plans for public works improvements related to a private construction project at 102 South Sprecher Road in District 3 (the northwest corner of Milwaukee Street and Sprecher Road). This project was originally approved in 2022 and the developer told me in 2023 that they decided to delay construction because higher than expected interest rates complicated the project’s financing. Looks like they’re ready to move forward. This item approves the Certified Survey Map for the lot, including a stretch of right-of-way for the future extension of Ethos Lane running north-south along the western edge of the lot, as shown in the drawing on page 2 of this link. Apparently a separate, future developer agreement will cover the construction of the street, utilities, and stormwater improvements.
Water Utility Well 15 on the Northeast Side Reopens PFAS-Free!
Prior to its closure in 2019 due to PFAS contamination concerns, Water Utility Well 15 on the Northeast Side of Madison served multiple Eastside neighborhoods. With the PFAS filtration now system up and running, all measurable PFAS are now being removed from the water and Well 15 can now safely be put back into the distribution system.
PFAS, or Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, are a class of chemicals used in everything from food packaging and cookware to upholstery, clothing and firefighting foam. The chemicals do not break down naturally in the environment and are therefore termed “forever chemicals.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized regulations for PFAS in drinking water, in which new enforcement standards, or maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), were established for PFAS compounds. All Madison wells have been meeting those standards, with the exception of Well 15. With the treatment system in place today, the Madison Water Utility fully expects to meet those standards. PFAS were first discovered at Well 15 in 2017 and the well was later shut down in 2019 amid community concerns and has not operated since…