Budget Update, Jail moves forward, and VOTE!!!

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Dear Neighbors,
We are on the cusp of the most important election of our lifetimes. Democracy is in peril. The president is actively trying to disrupt the election with misinformation and by crippling institutions like the US Postal Service. District 6 is always among the statewide leaders in voter turnout. Let’s push for 100 percent voter turnout. In this update, I cover the County Budget process and updates on the Jail project.

VOTE!!!

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It is critical to vote early absentee in-person or drop off your ballot by hand at one of the cities drop boxes or early voting locations. You can always vote at your polling location on election day but I look at that as more of a deadline since there are so many voting options right now.

Many of our constituents live in the Town of Blooming Grove. If so, please use a County NOT City drop box. The clerks do the best to sort this all out but it is not guaranteed. Here is a list of County drop off sites:

https://pdf.countyofdane.com/clerk/Drop-Box-In-Person-Absentee-Nov-2020.pdf

Here are the City of Madison drop off sites:

https://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/elections-voting/voting/vote-absentee/ballot-drop-off-sites

Our friends at the Schenk Atwood Starkweather Yahara (SASY) Neighborhood Association have an excellent local voting guide and I link to that here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sasyna/permalink/10157303112862167

Even if you have submitted your ballot, make sure to check https://myvote.wi.gov/en-US/TrackMyBallot to see the status of your ballot. I was happy to see mine was received and is complete:

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If your ballot has issues, you can still rectify them by contacting the clerk’s office. I have worked an election official for years so feel free to reach out to me personally if you like.

Our vote is our power to create the community and society that reflects our values. Wisconsin will determine who our next president is so it is critically important that you vote!

Budget Update

We are in the thick of our budget deliberations this week. The Personnel and Finance Committee is taking up budget amendments. There are a few budget amendments that I want to highlight:

I co-sponsored $2 million in County funds to help purchase San Damiano property on Lake Monona.

I co-sponsored $2 million in County funds to help purchase San Damiano property on Lake Monona.

  • I submitted a $2 million dollar budget amendment to supplement our Flood Land Acquisition Fund. The County Exec’s budget had $1 million in the budget for this. This fund targets land in the County which will help provide flooding resiliency. In the past we have purchased internally draining wetlands and other critical green infrastructure. I want to see these funds target the Yahara watershed. We are no more resilient to flooding than we were in 2018. Dredging is a five phased, five year process which can’t protect us right now. Land acquisition is a really powerful tool to help increase our flooding resiliency. We still have huge flooding pressures on our neighborhood as was outlined in this recent quarterly flooding report.

  • I co-sponsored a $2 million dollar budget amendment to purchase the San Damiano property on the shores of Lake Monona. This property has 1,000 feet of frontage on Lake Monona and is one of the last largely undeveloped pieces of property on Lake Monona. It will also provide critical green infrastructure to help our flooding concerns. Thanks to Sup. Sarah Smith and the elected officials in Monona for their leadership on this.

  • I co-sponsored a budget amendment for $7.7 million for planning, site acquisition and creation of a mental health crisis and triage center. Currently there is 300k for a study of this project but we need to put our money where our values are. $8 million pales in comparison to the $225 million dollar jail project. We need to treat mental health issues in a public health not criminal justice context.

  • I also fully support an amendment to have Dane County no longer be members of the Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA). The WCA has taken positions in the past that made it harder and more unsafe to vote in elections during a pandemic. That was the last straw for me as we need to do everything we can for the health and safety of our neighbors and to make sure everyone eligible to cast a ballot can do so and have it count.

Jail Update

Two crucial votes to pause and re-imagine the jail project failed. The first vote was on Resolution 145 (the Doyle Resolution). The vote to bring this out of committee and to the County Board failed. It was indefinitely postponed by the Public Works committee after passing both Public Protection and Judiciary (PPJ) and Health and Human Needs (HHN) committees. This means the County Board refused to even consider discussing the resolution on the floor and it is essentially stalled permanently in committee.

Resolution 180 which has a number of important requests of our partners in the Criminal Justice system passed. Much of what is in resolution 180 is not actionable by the County Board alone and relies heavily on external partners making changes. I proposed the following amendment:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Dane County Board of Supervisors will pause the jail project and postpone any new contracts until the design team and architects present a plan that the board approves to keep the project in budget, but also to adapt the project to be built in a way that space can be converted from beds to program space when we are able to achieve enough long lasting systems change to permanently decrease the jail population.

I thank the 10 supervisors who joined me in supporting this amendment although it failed 11-25. Going forward, we must work together to ensure that the reforms proposed in Res 180 become a reality as there are many important efforts in that resolution.

Quick Updates

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  • I am voting Yes to Invest in our Madison Public Schools. A Yes vote is an investment in our students, teachers and schools. There is lots of good info here on why to vote yes. There are two questions on your ballot for a capital and operating referendum which both deserve Yes votes.

  • I support a County Land purchase to expand Indian Lake County park. This is a good use of our conservation fund to provide additional recreational opportunities in Dane County and expand a popular county park.

  • Winter is coming so please be mindful of your salt usage on sidewalks and paved surfaces. More great info is available here: http://www.wisaltwise.com/. If you want to take a deep dive and see how salt brine can help reduce salt usage, please see this presentation.

  • I had a great discussion with students at Shabazz High School about our criminal justice system. We talked about racial disparities in our jail, how to improve initial appearances, crimeless revocations and expungement laws. The scholars asked insightful questions and were eager to get involved and attend meetings. Thanks to the teachers for inviting me!

  • Big thanks to our neighbors in the Marquette Neighborhood Association for inviting me to the annual meeting. I couldn’t make it but here is my recorded message:

Sorry I can't make the annual meeting, but here is an update on what is happening at the Dane County level.

Thanks for hanging all the way to the end of another long update. The coming weeks and month are going to be difficult with the election and acceleration of Covid-19 in Wisconsin. Let’s do everything we can to help and support each other’s mental and physical health. It is and always will be my honor to represent my friends and neighbors in District 6!