Mayor nominates airport opponent for Airport Commission
On the Middleton Common Council's agenda for Tuesday, July 21, are several (long delayed) committee appointments by mayor Gurdip Brar. Of particular interest should be his newest pick for the Airport Commission: Steve Sperling.
On May 19, in a rare move, the Common Council had rejected his bid to reappoint Cynthia Richson to the Airport Commission. Cynthia Richson does not live in the city of Middleton, but in the town of Middleton, where she also chairs the Board. She is an outspoken opponent of the city's Municipal Airport, and several Council members mentioned her anti-airport biases, conflicts of interest, wasting of City resources, and disruptive behavior in committee meetings as reasons for voting against her.
Besides Cynthia Richson, four other people had applied for membership on the Airport Commission by the mayor's own deadline of April 27, 2020. Gurdip Brar, however, did not pick any of them as a replacement for his rejected first choice. Instead, he apparently went on one of his fishing expeditions until he had caught the candidate he wanted to appoint.
It is his modus operandi: He wants to appoint citizens who will serve his interests. To that end, he will either directly contact people he wants to appoint and encourage them to apply, or he will contact political and personal friends to recommend people or to contact prospective candidates for him. In his first term as mayor, he even tried to increase the number of seats on the Sustainability Committee because he had specific people in mind he wanted to appoint while there was no vacancy.
Like all populists, Gurdip Brar has little respect for institutions, and Middleton's system of advisory committees has suffered because of it. Rather than appoint people for their expertise, knowledge and ties to the community, he uses his appointment powers to reward political loyalists and to punish critics. He also uses it to stack committees with supporters of his political agenda because he knows that his opinions and endorsements carry much less weight with the thinking members of the Common Council than committee recommendations do.
On June 16, he suffered another setback when the Common Council voted unanimously to deny his request to reserve two seats on the Airport Commission for representatives of the towns of Middleton and Springfield (to be appointed by him).
By now proposing to appoint Steve Sperling to the Airport Commission, Gurdip Brar is either pretending not to get the message that the Council sent him in its earlier votes, or he is trying to openly defy the Council. Steve Sperling represents exactly what the Council voted against, twice: He is an outspoken airport opponent, and he is a resident of the town of Springfield. He also did not apply for the position until June 22, almost a week after the Council voted against reserving seats for town residents. That indicates that he was specifically recruited to apply by the mayor, either directly or indirectly.
It will be interesting to see which interpretation of the separation and balance of powers will prevail on Tuesday: The one giving the executive branch (the Mayor) absolute power over his appointments, or the one giving the legislative branch (the Council) the right to restrain that power.
SRO program is back on the Council’s agenda
The School Resource Officers (SRO) program and agreement with the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District (MCPASD) will be back on the Middleton Common Council's agenda for Tuesday, July 21.
It seems that Council members Susan West (district 6) and Mark Sullivan (district 8), two of the four alderpersons who voted against the agreement on July 7 (the other two were Robert Burk, district 2, and Katy Nelson, district 3), are reconsidering their votes, and will make motions to bring the issue back before the Council, and to table it until the School District brings back a new agreement for a future meeting. The Council will also hear presentations about the SRO program and agreement from Middleton Police Chief Troy Hellenbrand and from MCPASD Superintendent Dana Monogue.
Madison Metro is putting the squeeze on Middleton
The public bus service provided by Madison Metro in Middleton, which has already been reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, might be reduced even further, or at least not come back to pre-pandemic levels.
At issue is a sizable increase in Middleton's financial contribution to the service demanded by Madison Metro.
Madison Metro, which operates like a monopoly with little oversight, is asking Middleton to increase its financial contribution by up to 60% between now and 2022.
But as City of Middleton Finance Director Bill Burns explains in a memo to the Common Council, not all of it is due to covid-19: "On July 8, 2020 Madison Metro leadership notified Middleton [City] staff that we should expect large increases in the cost of transit service for the remainder of 2020 and in future years. These increases are due in part to reduced revenue and increased costs due to the covid-19 pandemic. The long-term increases are also being driven by Madison’s investment in capital facilities and the inclusion of a depreciation factor in the partner agency cost [i.e. the cost that surrounding municipalities like Middleton pay for bus service] for service calculation."
This means that Madison is paying for the new facilities through borrowing and increased debt-service payments, but the 'partner agency' share is calculated based on depreciation. By State law, debt-service payments are exempt from the property tax levy limit, but Middleton's payments are not. In other words, Madison can increase its property tax levy to cover the increased debt-payments, but Middleton cannot. This may or may not be a good thing.
Bill Burns continues: "Federal CARES funds [Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security funds] for transportation are available to help mitigate the impact of these increases in 2020 and 2021. However, since those funds will not be available in future years, the City may need to consider a significant increase in its transit budget and/or reductions in service levels. Middleton’s 2020 approved budget for Metro transit service is $499,582 based on 10,352 annual vehicle hours. This was an increase of $69,594 (17.6%) over the 2019 cost. Metro staff have informed [the City] that prior to the applying any federal CARES funds, Middleton’s projected cost for 2020 transit service is now $600,000 to $650,000. They explained that fare revenues are down significantly while costs have remained constant due to additional time spent sanitizing busses. Metro staff calculate the cost of 2021 transit service based on 2019 vehicle hours at $810,254, a 62% increase over the 2020 budget assuming a continuation of pre-pandemic service levels in Middleton."
According to Bill Burns, Middleton can expect a share of federal CARES funds, and could put some or all of those towards bus service:
"The City of Madison expects to receive federal CARES funds intended to offset higher transit service costs during the pandemic. As a partner agency, Middleton would receive an allocation of these funds which is estimated at $350,000 to $400,000. These funds are specifically for transit and are separate from the City of Middleton’s allocation under the Wisconsin Route to Recovery grants. The CARES transportation funds must be used in 2020 and 2021."
On Thursday, July 16, 2020, the Middleton Pedestrian, Bike and Transit Committee (PBTC) passed a motion recommending that the Council accept Metro Transit's proposal for 2020, assuming that CARES funding is in place, while not committing to any specific future service and funding level until more information is available.
The staff memo continues: "Metro’s proposal recommended in the PBTC motion is for 9,771 annual vehicle hours based on routes 70 and 73 operating hourly on weekdays, route 72 operating during peak periods on weekdays, and route 78 operating on Saturdays only. Route 71, which is a peak-hour route serving the southern portion of Middleton, would be discontinued for the foreseeable future. (...) This would lower the 2021 service cost from $810,254 to $774,329, prior to applying CARES funds. Based on the PBTC recommendation, staff recommends implementing the proposed service changes for the remainder of 2020, and reviewing this further during the 2021 budget process for potential further service changes beginning in January 2021. With the application of CARES transit funds, the net cost for the City of Middleton is expected to be limited to the 2020 approved budget level of approximately $500,000 per year in 2020 and 2021. Additional changes will likely need to be considered in 2022, unless costs can be reduced or alternative revenue sources are available."
The issue is on the agendas of both the Finance Committee and the Common Council on Tuesday, July 21.
Protesters challenge coffee shop’s no-mask policy
A group organized at short notice on social media calling itself 'Say Hell No To Helbachs' staged a demonstration in front of Helbachs [sic] Coffee Roasters and Kitchen in Middleton this morning (Saturday, July 18) to protest the coffee shop's no-mask policy. As of 10:00 o'clock, about a dozen people wearing masks, and carrying various signs had assembled in front of the business. Occasionally somebody would yell anti-Helbach slogans through a megaphone, or challenge mask-less people walking by or entering the coffee shop. Overall, it remained peaceful and good-natured, though, at least as of this writing. The protest was scheduled to continue until 2:00 pm.
And to end on a positive note …
This Saturday morning (July 18), at about 8:30, the trash cans at the downtown plaza were filled to the point of overflowing. Since the City did not have any trash pick-up scheduled before next week, the plaza was set to become an unsightly garbage dump by the end of the weekend.
Noticing the situation, and not wanting to wait for the government to act, City Administrator Mike Davis and his wife Julann Jatczak took the initiative, brought their own private trash bin from home (they live about a block away), and used it to take the trash from the plaza to the dumpster at the Senior Center.
The trash cans at the plaza are now ready for the weekend crowd. Kudos to the volunteer garbage people!