Madison Mayor and Council Leadership to Prohibit City Committees from Meeting

Under the proposal of the Madison Mayor and Council leadership – only 6 committees would be allowed to meet.  All others would be prohibited.

WHAT IS THE COUNCIL VOTING ON TUESDAY?

I wrote  about the city and county plans to hold meetings remotely just yesterday.  Here are the two proposals:

This is item number 10 on the Council agenda for Tuesday:

WHAT ARE THE REST OF THE DETAILS?

Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway and Council President Shiva Bidar filled the rest of the council in on their plans this evening.  Their plans include the following:

• All committee meetings except those allowed by the Mayor and Council President will be cancelled.
• Only committees that perform “essential functions” and “support to the operations of the City” will be allowed to meet.
• Council will meet as scheduled – in person on Tuesday, perhaps remote in the future.
• The council meeting room will limit attendance to 50 people, but there will be an overflow room.
• They will receive ample notice about remote technology to be used.
• The public will have an opportunity to comment and view all meetings.
• Some items may be acted on by the council without action by the committees, other items will be delayed.
• Committees that will be allowed to continue to meet are:
  • Common Council Executive Committee
  • Finance Committee
  • Alcohol License Review Committee
  • Plan Commission
  • Police & Fire Commission
  • Board of Public Works
• 3/19 Downtown Coordinating Committee will be allowed to meet, along with /30 Transportation Policy and Planning Board
• In person meetings will follow best practices on social distancing.
• Staff will be reviewing what other critical items need to be acted on by committees.
• Committee postings will include how the public can participate.
• Items the would normally have public information meetings or neighborhood meeting ay be delayed, to the extent possible.  Some meetings can be held electronically or with input by email, but some may move forward without a public meeting.

This is the email that was sent:

Dear colleagues,

Attached is a memo from the Mayor, VP Harrington-McKinney and me related to items #10 and #11 on our 3/17 Council agenda. It is also going to be entered into the legistar files for those items.

Best, Shiva

This is the attached memo:

To: Madison Common Council
From: Council President Bidar and Mayor Rhodes-Conway

March 15, 2020

Colleagues –

Governor Evers declared a public health emergency on Thursday (3/12/2020).

At the 3/17/2020 council meeting, an ordinance amendment will be considered that provides for the cancellation of all city board, commission, and committee meetings in the event of an officially declared emergency or if the Public Health Director determines it is necessary for the prevention or suppression of disease to limit public gatherings.

This legislation also provides the Mayor and Council President the authority to reinstate any committee meetings deemed necessary to provide essential functions and support to the operations of the City.

If this ordinance is enacted, all committee meetings other than those we designate, will officially be cancelled.

First, let us be clear that the Common Council will keep meeting as scheduled. The only question is if we will meet in person or remotely. The March 17th Council meeting will be held in person, but the room capacity will be limited to 50 people. We have already prepared an overflow room.

You will receive ample notice of, and instruction on, any remote meeting technology. We will at all times comply with open meeting law and provide opportunity for public comment and viewing of our meetings. We believe that it is critical for the Council to continue as scheduled because the Council is the final and official actor on the vast majority of the business done by our boards, commissions and committees. It is possible that some items may be acted on by the council without recommendations from our boards, commissions and committees, while other items may be delayed.

At this point, we anticipate that, at minimum, the following bodies will continue to meet and we will be evaluating on an ongoing basis whether the meetings will take place in person or remotely:

• • • Common Council Executive Committee
    • Finance Committee
    • Alcohol License Review Committee
    • Plan Commission
    • Police & Fire Commission
    • Board of Public Works

We also expect that the 3/19 Downtown Coordinating Committee and the 3/30 Transportation Policy and Planning Board will meet as scheduled so as not to delay time sensitive funding applications.

Any in-person meetings will need to follow best practices on social distancing. Staff will are receiving guidance on this.

We are aware of the important role our boards, commissions and committees serve and will be reviewing this weekly, or more often if needed, to ensure that those that have a critical need to meet will be allowed to do so. We have asked staff to identify critical items that need to be acted on by boards, commissions, committees and the Council so we can prioritize those items and the bodies that need to act on them. We will communicate regularly so that chairs, members, and staff have sufficient time to prepare and notice necessary meetings. All public posting and notification requirements remain the same, and postings will indicate how the public can participate remotely in meetings.

We want to acknowledge that many of the items we consider are normally taken to public information meetings or neighborhood meetings before they come to Council. At this point, it is not prudent to hold such meetings. To the extent possible, we will delay those items until the meetings can be held, and will consult with you about items that impact your districts. We may be able to hold some meetings electronically or solicit input from constituents by email, and in some cases, we may need to move forward without a public meeting.

Please keep in mind that as this situation develops, there will be an increasing need to hold all meetings remotely. Please also keep in mind, that while our IT department is working diligently, we do have limited capacity. We are balancing the need to limit exposure to the COVID-19 virus, the need to train staff and committee members on remote meeting technology, the need to maintain transparency and follow open meetings law, the IT department’s need to work on other critical functions related to COVID-19, and the need to continue the city’s business as much as possible. We ask that you remain patient and understanding as we all work through this together.

OPINION

This is insane.

I understand the emergency situation.  There is no need to pass an ordinance.  This would be better done by resolution for this incident.

As I said in my other article, the language is too broad, it covers situations where there is flooding in Mazomanie – if the County Executive declares and emergency, no City committees can meet without the blessing of the mayor and council president. Imagine a different mayor or different council president and the games they could play with this if they are so inclined.

This list makes no sense.  Look at the message this is sending to the community.  Businesses can hold their meetings (Plan Commission, ALRC), but Community Services (funding for community programs) and CDA (public housing, section 8) and CDBG Commission (funding for community programs and affordable housing)  are prohibited from  meeting?  What if there was a proposal to increase assistance to low-income communities and seniors?  These committees can’t even meet to discuss it or even propose it.  Now is the time for the best in our community to be working together to solve the issues we are going to be seeing, and allowing people to come forward and let those issues be known.  The Mayor and the Council President can’t do this on their own – the committee systems we have in place are meant for times like these.  It makes no sense to shut them down.

Of course, the meetings should be held remotely/electronically.  But the meetings should be held.  This proposal seems surprisingly tone deaf.  It’s disappointing that after all the talk about equity of all kinds, there seems to be no equity here.  Quite the opposite.  And its eliminating any chance of hearing the voices of those most impacted.

Check out the difference in how the county is handling things, allowing the committees to decide.

I hope on Tuesday the council stands up against this and it won’t be known as the day democracy died in the City of Madison.